101 Industrial and EBM ect Conspiracy/Political songs you probably didn't know about.

Ok, so I rarely have made my own threads or post so hopefully I do this all right, or else its gonna take me forever to fix lol... *fingers crossed*

Well, honestly I'm a little surprised more people here aren't into or really aware I guess, of Industrial music, besides a few of the more popular bands. Yeah I know theres gotta be at least a few other rivetheads lurking about but.. Seems like when a lot people hear someone talk about Industrial music the first thing they think of or say is that its just harsh electro music, or a variation techno with darker/harsher sounds. There are many similarities in the music, especially when getting into subgenre's of Industrial music such as EBM, But Techno's origins came from Industrial among other styles of music. The first Industrial bands began appearing in the mid 1970's and nearly 10 years later, Techno arrived in the mid 1980's. Even EBM came before techno, emerging in the early 1980's. So if anything, Techno and subgenres came from Industrial, not the other way around.

A Bit of History on the Origins of industrial music:

William S. Burroughs discovered the cutup in 1959 in Paris through his friend Brion Gysin , a painter. The cutup is a mechanical method of juxtaposition in which Burroughs literally cuts up passages of prose by himself and other writers and then pastes them back together at random. This literary version of the collage technique is also supplemented by literary use of other media. Burroughs transcribes taped cutups (several tapes spliced into each other), film cutups (montage), and mixed media experiments (results of combining tapes with television, movies, or actual events).

Link

In 1976, industrial music found a name, when Throbbing Gristle formed Industrial Records (``Industrial Music for Industrial People'') along with such bands as Cabaret Voltaire and ClockDVA. These bands were heavily influenced by Burroughs' ideas, and cut-up theory made its way into their music, when the bands would make tape recordings of found sounds (machinery, short-wave radio, television newscasts, public conversations) and cut up, rearrange, and splice the tapes, turning it into music.

This was long before digital audio: this was done with razor blades. Today, it's called sampling, and the influence of these bands is felt in nearly all branches of modern pop music.

(emphasis added by me)

This wasn't the first time ``natural'' sounds had been used in musical compositions; that sort of thing had been going on at least as far back as the 19th century, and the surrealists and futurists of the 1920s and 1930s were way into this kind of thing.

Link

The most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music, industrial was initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments (tape music, musique concrète, white noise, synthesizers, sequencers, etc.) and punk provocation. As industrial evolved, its avant-garde influences became far less important than its pounding, relentless, jackhammer beats, which helped transform it into a darker alternative to the hedonism of mainstream dance music. Industrial's trademark sound was harsh and menacing, but its rage was subordinate to the intentionally mechanical, numbingly repetitive qualities of the music, which fit the lyrics' themes of alienation and dehumanization quite well.

(Continued below....)

The second generation of industrial artists -- including Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb -- added pummeling dance beats to their predecessors' confrontational sounds, for a substyle often referred to as electronic body music (centered around labels like Wax Trax). Meanwhile, bands like Ministry and KMFDM added metal-guitar riffs, which helped Ministry break through to a wider audience in the late '80s and early '90s. Still, after industrial metal began to fade, a near-exclusively electronic form of industrial dance continued to thrive as an uncompromisingly underground style, with many artists coming from the U.S. and Germany.

Link

Many of the first industrial musicians were interested in, though not necessarily sympathetic with, fascism. Throbbing Gristle's logo was based on the lightning symbol of the British Union of Fascists, while the Industrial Records logo was a photo of Auschwitz. Boyd Rice is a particularly controversial figure for his interest in social Darwinism, The Church of Satan, misogyny, and Charles Manson.

Cabaret Voltaire's song "Do the Mussolini (Headkick)" was inspired by the titular dictator's murder by an Italian mob. As Kirk recalls, "We'd get National Front people coming to gigs 'cos they'd got the wrong idea. But, at the same time, we kinda liked the ambiguity."Cabaret Voltaire were also interested in the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and the U.S. Christian right, particularly on the Red Mecca album. Some groups, such as Test Dept, were explicitly left-wing.

If modernism is described as a family of aesthetic practices expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo and seeking to imagine the world otherwise, industrial music is at home within the scene of modernist musics. The birth of industrial music was a response to "an age [in which] the access and control of information were becoming the primary tools of power. "At its birth, the genre of industrial music was different than any other music, and its use of technology and disturbing lyrics and themes to tear apart preconceptions about the necessary rules of musical form supports the suggestion that industrial music is modernist music. The artists themselves made these goals explicit, even drawing connections to social changes they wished to argue for through their music.

The Industrial Records website explains that the musicians wanted to "re-invent Rock music with content, motivation and risk." and that their records were " a combination of files on our relationship with the world and a Newspaper without censorship. "They go on to say that they wanted their music to be an awakening for listeners so that they would begin to think for themselves and question the world around them.

They probe their listeners by saying: "You Get what you deserve. Or do you? Well, from the people with a vested interest in controlling and guiding society to follow their recommendations as to what attitudes you should have, what motivations should govern your behaviour and what goals you should be satisfied with, you DO NOT get what you deserve. You get what you are given, and what you are given is primarily conditioning that pushes you towards blind acceptance, wasted labour, frustrated relationships and a vast sense of hopelessness. We are trained to feel we are not responsible or in control of our society and world so that we will continue to let "Leaders" look after us like parents with retarded children.

(Continued below....)

"Industrial Records intended the term "industrial" to evoke the idea of music created for a new generation, with previous music being more "agricultural": Genesis P-Orridge would say that "there's an irony in the word 'industrial' because there's the music industry. And then there's the joke we often used to make in interviews about churning out our records like motorcars —that sense of industrial. And ... up till then the music had been kind of based on the blues and slavery, and we thought it was time to update it to at least Victorian times—you know, the Industrial Revolution".

Link
Link

(all emphasis added by me)

Now, Since that is out of the way, I would like to say, I love industrial music, always have since a young age, Its my opinion they have alot of great messages behind the music. However, like all great genres of music with actual meaning behind it, its been highjacked and perverted into basicly a fashion show with the younger generation not even being aware of founding artists or the meaning within the songs. A lot of the newer music being devoid of any meaningful lyrics, not that I dont still like the music or the fashion, It's just sad to me that it seems to have lost its way from its origins.

I would also like to say I am not anti american, anti government, anti military, left or right, ect, ect. I am a military wife, my husband has been in the army for 6 years, been deployed to Iraq twice for a total of 2.5 years and I've supported everything he has done. I may not agree with everything our government is doing, what our military is doing, and so on, BUT I AM BY NO MEANS Anti or Pro mil/gov/left/right/whatever. So please do not jump on me for this.

The point in me making this thread and compiling a big list of songs(and believe me theres many many more I just couldn't find on youtube or couldn't think of) is to show that theres a vast majority of Industrial music and subgenres of Industrial involve alot of conspiracy and political topics that I see talked about on ATS every day. I think its a shame that more people have not discovered industrial music. I see lots of threads on BTS about metal, rap, rock, etc conspiracy/political songs, top 5 conspiracy songs, which are all mostly the genres ive mentioned, which may have 1 or 2 lines in them, rarely whole songs about, and a few more popularized industrial bands like Skinny puppy, ministry, etc. But no one seems to be aware that industrial, especially old school industrial is chocked full of political and conspiracy references. Also, I'm not here to argue semantics about these songs, in my opinion they all have significant value and reference to conspiracy or political based topics.

Sadly, a lot of the conspiracy based industrial songs are not available on youtube, It's sometimes hard to even find the cds for sale. Quite a few of the meaningful industrial and EBM artists made 1 cd, never to be heard from again, and for quite a few its nearly impossible to even find information on these bands any more. Which honestly makes me wonder if theres a conspiracy going on involving that. Hopefully my thread will be appreciated by at least a few, I spent alot of time searching for songs and whatnot.. Anyway, Now for the music:

(WARNING!!!!! Some of these songs contain contraversial/adult lyrics and/or images not appropriate for all, including but not limited to: minors, people easily offended and some may be NSFW. Some of them are fine, some are just the songs, Watch at your own risk. Thanks.)

Theres way to many for me to embed, so I'm going to embed a few of my personal favorites, and link the rest in alphabetical order.

(Continued...)

Lights of Euphoria - One Nation
Lyrics

Stromkern - Stand up
Lyrics

Angelspit - 100%
Lyrics

VNV Nation - Sentinel
Lyrics

FGFC820 Society
Lyrics

Grendel - Pax Psychosis
Lyrics

Apoptygma Berzerk - Non Stop Violence
Lyrics

Icon of coil - Simulated
Lyrics

Zero Defects - Transform Me
No lyrics available online

Suicide Commando - Evildoer
Lyrics


Advanced Art - No Answers No Solutions

And One - A Kind of Deutsch

And One - Goodbye Germany

And one - Life Isn't Easy in Germany

And One - Master Master

And One - Tell Me Lies

Angelspit - Kill Kitty

Angelspit Homo-machinery

Angelspit - Lustworthy

Angelspit - Red

Assemblage 23- I am the Rain

Apoptygma Berzerk - Asleep or awake?

Apoptygma Berzerk - Rebel

Apoptygma Berzerk - Starsign

Apoptygma Berzerk - United states of Credit

Apoptygma Berzerk - Weight of the World

Aslan Faction - Hell on Earth

Aslan Faction - Soul Obstruction

Birmingham 6 - Policestate

Borghesia - Discipline

Consolidated - Meat Kills

Consolidated - Consolidated Anthem

Contagion - Ingest

Frozen Plasma - Warmongers

E-craft - Kill the fakes

E-craft - Die Last

Funker Vogt - Fallen Hero

Funker Vogt - Black Market Dealers

Funker Vogt - Under Control

FGFC820 - Democracy

(Continued...)

FGFC820 - God Bless America

FGFC820 - Hello, Baghdad

Grendel - Iterrogation Leash

Front Line Assembly - Colombian Neck Tie

Hanzel und Gretyl - Mutant Starseed Creation

Hanzel und Gretyl - Pleiadian Agenda

Hocico - Doomed to Perish

Hocico - Fed Up

Hocico - The Shape of Things to Come

Icon of coil - Android

Icon of coil - Everlasting

Icon of coil - Shelter

Informatik - Revolutions

Ionic Vision - Mass Madness

KMFDM - Megalomaniac

KMFDM - Search and Destroy

KMFDM - Terror

Laibach - Life is Life

Laibach - In the Army Now

Laibach - War

Leaether Strip - Antius

Leaether Strip - Civil Disobedience

Leaether Strip - Japanese Bodies

Leaether Strip - Under my control

Manufacture - Armed Forces

Neuroticfish - Can't Stop a Riot

Nitzer Ebb - Join in the Chant

Nitzer Ebb - Warsaw Ghetto

Orange Sector - R.I.P.

Paranoid - Warlike

Pop Will eat Itself - Def Con One

project pitchfork - In the year 2525(yes i know its a cover)

Project Pitchfork - Promises

Rabia Sorda - Insurrection

Rabia Sorda - Monkeyland

Retrosic - Bomb

Retrosic - Ground Zero

Retrosic - New World Order

Retrosic - Revolution

Scapa Flow - Servant

Sequenz-E - Elite

SITD - Crusade

Skinny Puppy - Assimilate

Skinny Puppy - Dig it

Skinny Puppy - Tin Omen

Skinny Puppy - Vx Gas Attack

Snog - corporate Slave

Snog - Late Twentieth Century Boy

(Continued....)

Spahn Ranch - Remnants

Stromkern - Heretic

Stromkern - Reminders

Stromkern - The Debate

Suicide Commando - One Nation under God

Syntec - Puppets

Tactical Sekt - American me

Titan - Men of Science

Velvet Acid Christ - Collapsed

VNV Nation - Tomorrow Never Comes

VNV Nation - Kingdom

VNV Nation - Solitary

Zero Defects - Clone Breeders

In closing, Thanks for reading/listening =^_^=

Very well done. I really have nothing to add by way of rhetoric (nice presentation by the way) save for the inclusion of one of my favs...





[edit on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:07:06 -0600 by MemoryShock]

Thanks, I've wanted to make this thread for over a month now, spent the last week putting it together. I really just wanted to bring up the point that Industrial was pretty founded on the basis of what I feel the spirit of ats is really about. Underground thinking, getting away from the mainstream in many aspects, conspiracy, politics, war, the elite, ect.

I know a lot of people are probably turned off by the music because its just not what they like, and some confuse the messages conveyed, assuming most are a bunch of racists and nazis, which really is not at all true. The lyrics are powerful, its all about breaking down the conventional mainstream pop music industries idea's about what music should be and what messages the artists should be spreading.

Most of these guys make no money, the money they do make is spent on making their own cds, or poured into making labels to sign up new bands, buying new equipment to make a new cd or tour again, end up breaking even after touring, or even losing money... but they continue doing it, because they love music, they love the freedom they have being underground and not being told what to sing about, and what demographics they should be trying to 'sell' to. they want their voices heard, and to share the music... Thanks to the internet and youtube its much easier for them to be heard now.

Awesome additions! Thanks!

Originally posted by Mitskye
The point in me making this thread and compiling a big list of songs(and believe me theres many many more I just couldn't find on youtube or couldn't think of) is to show that theres a vast majority of Industrial music and subgenres of Industrial involve alot of conspiracy and political topics that I see talked about on ATS every day.

Too right. I am a fan of the genre and have produced similar stuff myself.

Industrial music tends to come from people who look at life slightly differently, and see something of a bit of order in chaos, and I think that is where the conspiracy angle comes in.

There is also the underlying structure of the music - its almost trance inducing because the type of beats seem to (in my case anyway) sync my thoughts together. If I'm stuck with a problem or stressed I find that listening to a bit of decent industrial gets me past the issue.

Maybe it invokes some kind of different thought processes in the same way as some tribal music does?

Anyway, nice thread - hope it takes off

You can't mention industrial without this track though....

Ministry - Stigmata

Not particularly my style of music, but I'm giving it a chance. S&F for the immense amount of effort! Some of the songs are very interesting.

Also, this is a very intimidating thread due to the sheer volume of content.
Where does one begin? Anyone have any particular favorites?

reply to post by patmac


Start with Skinny Puppy's Assimilate. Its (and they'd kill me for saying it!) more mainstream. Then pick any point from there on.

Its all good

Excellent OP

Thank you,

I am sure many wont know much about this genre and styles history, and some great links, knew a few but loads of good quality stuff there.

Njoy all

Elf

Also, this is a very intimidating thread due to the sheer volume of content. Where does one begin? Anyone have any particular favorites?

reply to post by patmac


The high volume of content is what makes the point of this thread so interesting. The fact that these 101 songs by SEVERAL different artists is just the tip of the ice burg, so to speak. There are hundreds more artists, and countless more songs in the genre/sub-genres of the industrial scene. A lot of the artists can't even be found anymore, except through the mentioning of other people online or wherever. most of the artists just disappeared. The whole scene went under rather quickly in the mid 90's leaving only NIN and other more mainstream acts behind, who dont really even touch the political aspect anymore. A lot of the earlier bands like Nitzer ebb, and Skinny Puppy have the more "industrial" feel to their music, with the same message, keeping it true to the origins of the industrial scene. But there are more modernist bands like VNV Nation or Icon of coil, and Apoptygma Berzerk who have a more "traditional" electronic feel. If you are interested in the music style itself, it is very avant garde at times, but also more melodic. which makes it in itself an interesting genre. But what i find most interesting about it is how all the old labels who used to carry these artists are now gone. Such as Industrial records, WaxTrax, etc... And the artists themselves, no where to be found. All old cassettes and CD's are "out of stock" The videos stripped from YOUTUBE.COM, lyrics, impossible to find.

Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that, the fact that there are this many bands, all with a very similar theme and are all popular, but very underground, is an interesting point worth noting. And that more people should continue to check these bands out, and find more. And hey, you might even come to like and appreciate the style.

This stuff hurts my ears.

reply to post by MR BOB

This stuff hurts my ears.

Then try some of the less aggressive stuff:





or a more rock/metally ones ;p





Theres a little somethin for just about everyone in industrial/sub genres ehe

Oh, on a side note, a few interesting facts:

Since industrial is really based around synthesizers, the worlds first comprehensive music synth was invented in 1897 by a man named Thaddeus Cahill. Called the Telharmonium, Cahill made 3 versions, the last 2 weighing nearly 200 tons and I believe was some where around 60 feet long. It was very well recieved in 1906 when preformed for the public at the Telharmonic Hall in NY.

It was capable of producing sine tones by means of tone wheels, each wheel corresponding to a note, and he added extra tone wheels to expand harmonic capabilities. It was controlled by multiple keyboards and foot pedals..

The Telharmonium was essentially a collection of 145 modified dynamos employing a number of specially geared shafts and associated inductors to produce alternating currents of different audio frequencies. These signals were controlled by a multiple set of polyphonic velocity sensitive keyboards ( of seven octaves, 36 notes per octave tuneable to frequencies between 40-4000Hz) and associated banks of controls.

Some more information on the Telharmonium with some pictures..

So essentially, the first electronic music was being played in 1906

Next, the whole industrial concept as I mentioned earlier came about in the early 1900's by the futurists in Italy and Russia...

Futurism was a twentieth century Italian and Russian avant-garde movement in literature and arts. It promoted extreme artistic innovation and experimentation, declaring a radical disassociation from the past and a focus on new art, technology, and politics, commonly manifested through primitivism.

Source

Noise was Futurism's contribution to music, The principle of noise was not introduced by a musician but by the most eccentric of the Futuristpainters, Luigi Russolo. He was one of the few Futurists who actively dared to branch out into another field, and he explained his temerity in the following way: "I am not a musician, I have therefore no acoustical predilections, nor anyworks to defend. I am a Futurist painter using a much loved art to project my determination to renew everything. And so, bolder than a professional musician could be, unconcerned by my apparent incompetence, and convinced that all rights and all possibilities open up to daring, I have been able to initiate the great renewal of music by means of the Art of Noises."

Source

The Art of noise is a good read and a translated version can be found Here

Historians like to link the futurist movement with Italian fascism, but thats not exactly how it went down.

Italian Futurism began with a manifesto by F. T. Marinetti titled The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, which declared that artistic work without an aggressive element could not be considered a masterpiece.

Source with more info about the futurist movement

Marinetti was friends with Mussolini when he was younger, Mussolini was a journalist and socialist. Marinetti distanced himself when his political views transformed and aim became more discernable.

But the Futurists unintentionally laid out a scheme for control that Mussolini pickedup as his own. They were very good at manipulating and mastering all of the communications media at their disposal.

Futurists and Fascists had some common grounds, both believed the youth to be the hope for the future, had romantic but shortsighted ideas with the use of technology in society, and no fear of fighting as a means to an end. But thats where the similarities end.

Fascist governments, to manipulate the masses and promote their ideals, use art, music, literature, etc to make acceptable the progression of true oppression.