Industrial

[DJ_Ghost]

DJ Ghost, have you ever heard of Millennium (Ashes to Ashes Mix) from Reclamation album by Frontline Assembly? I am currently addicted to that track. It rrrroooccckksss!

Yes, its rather good.

Ghost

 

[Qyöt27]

Can anybody tell me what is the difference of punk, ska, gothic, industrial, techno, house music? Thanx.

Punk as a culture arose from the political turmoil in the 1970s, especially in Britain, where it was much more popular than in America for a long time. The lyrics, therefore, often are very political, and have anarchistic or socialist overtones much of the time it gets really political. The sound of the music itself is rooted in various types of music from the 1960s, including Garage Rock, some other underground British music that I have yet to hear since it's incredibly rare (and the names of the bands escape me at the moment), and what I often like to call the Experimental Music Movement - a sort of counterculture response to the counterculture in the 1960s - essentially, rebelling against psychedelia and acid rock - that was largely divided between two camps, organic guitar-driven music, and early Electronic music. The organic side of the movement is often referred to as Proto-Punk (glam rock is usually included in this also), and includes artists like The Stooges, David Bowie, The New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, etc. From what I've heard, what we know as Punk started out in New York with bands like The Ramones and then spread to Britain, where it's popularity exploded in the mid 70s. That distinction created the difference between New York Punk and British Punk, the two most popular forms of Punk from the 70s (British Punk would eventually branch off into several different subgenres, such as oi!, and inspire Hardcore [originally California Hardcore, after the region it was spawned in], which would be the predominant form of Punk in the 1980s).

Ska was a form of Jamaican R&B and Rock 'n' Roll, which were in turn inspired by American Rock 'n' Roll and New Orleans R&B. It originated in Jamaica in the late 50s/early 60s; reggae would grow out of it in the mid-60s, mostly by slowing down the tempo. In the late 70s, several Punk bands incorporated a ska sound into their music. This is often referred to as Ska Revivalist, Ska-Punk, or 2-Tone. Third Wave Ska Revival is the most current form, and is sometimes also simply referred to as Ska-Punk. It started in the mid-80s as a crossbreed of late 70s Ska Revivalist and Hardcore (with some Heavy Metal thrown in for good measure), but has far less R&B influences than the 2-Tone artists had.

House is a crossbreed of Electronic synthesizer music and the remainder of disco after that style of music went out of vogue. Apparently, Techno grew out of this style, but stripped away the disco elements, leaving it purely synth-based dance music. I would suppose that while House is harder sounding than many Eurodisco or Italo Disco acts that came out throughout the 80s, that those styles at least influenced it to some degree, since both of those are mixtures of disco and synthesizer music as well.

Techno grew out of House music. It largely stripped the disco and soul out of House music; 'Techno' usually refers to the synth-driven dance music that was popular in the mid-to-late 80s.

Goth Rock grew out of Post-Punk, a movement in the late 70s and early 80s that, logically, grew out of Punk (particularly British Punk, but there is a wide variety of influences elsewhere). Post-Punk artists took the do-it-yourself attitude and some of the rhythms of Punk, but often experimented with it more, harnessing it in various ways, from more conventional rock (which would later be classified as Alt. Rock), to New Romantic and New Wave (both very pop-friendly styles that blended light, airy Electronic music into itself; the darker Electronic Rock and Alternative Dance styles would grow out of this, at least in part; it also influenced later 80s Pop/Rock which downplayed the synthesizers but left the cheery atmosphere of the guitar music). Goth Rock was one of these many genres to come out of Post-Punk. It varies in itself quite a bit, from upbeat and dance-y to slower and more operatic to folksy or AOR-esque (AOR = Adult-Oriented Rock). Goth Metal is a subgenre that is much heavier, and IIRC, was a source of inspiration for Death Metal and Black Metal (nowadays, Goth Metal is split between the heavier, more intense bands like Christian Death and the lighter, usually female-lead, pop-friendlier bands that seem to be catching a lot of limelight at the moment). Goth Rock was very popular in the 80s, especially in Britain. It wasn't very popular in the U.S., even though several of the artists (The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, etc.) did manage to cross-over onto the American charts near the end of the decade.

Industrial grew out of the Electronic side of the Experimental Music Movement I mentioned earlier. It originated in Britain during the mid-70s (1975 or '76) as a culmination of abrasive electronic experiments, social commentary, and art-rock. The same social conditions that drove British Punk music drove early Industrial. Throbbing Gristle was the first Industrial band, and the name of their record label (Industrial Records) was what gave the genre its name. In the early 80s, many new artists started injecting dance beats or more organized rhythms into the music, which while it made the music slightly more listenable, it didn't lessen its abrasiveness. Eventually this would be called EBM (Electronic Body Music; today it's alternately called Industrial Dance) and incorporate bands such as Skinny Puppy (who helped in the ability to construct the rhythms, albeit chaotic ones), and Front 242. KMFDM added guitars into the mix, forming the foundation for bands like Ministry that played Industrial Metal. Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor added a more standard rock lyrical structure, as well as focusing on subjects that brought a more human dimension to the music instead of dehumanizing it (which, was what the lyrics were detailing, in a roundabout way). Goth-Industrial is a mixture of ethereal Gothic dance music with Industrial Dance, and is usually lower key than standard Industrial Dance, relying more on the Goth influences than Industrial ones, despite having the driving drumbeats that Industrial is known for. Electronic Rock is closely related, but tends not to be as nihilistic or self-deprecating as Industrial, and usually has a 'happier' or more energetic sound to the music. Alternative Dance is closely related as well, albeit the sound of the music isn't nearly as ear-splitting as Industrial, but the lyrical matter tends to be compatible on a playlist next to the harder bands.

 

[Bryan Lim]

Hey, thanks man. You really have a wide knowledge in this area.