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Industrial metal
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Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal groups include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM. The "one-man-band" Nine Inch Nails helped it gain a mass audience.
Industrial metal's popularity led to some criticism from other artists associated with the industrial scene. Subsequently, it is most well-known in various European permutations.
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Encyclopedia
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal groups include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM. The "one-man-band" Nine Inch Nails helped it gain a mass audience.
Industrial metal's popularity led to some criticism from other artists associated with the industrial scene. Subsequently, it is most well-known in various European permutations. Industrial metal groups have produced many acclaimed music videos.
History
Early innovators
Though electric guitars had been used by industrial artists since the early days of the genre, archetypal industrial groups such as Throbbing Gristle displayed a strong anti-rock stance. British post-punk band Killing Joke pioneered the crossing over between styles, and was an influence on major industrial metal bands such as Ministry, Godflesh and Nine Inch Nails. Another pioneer industrial rock group, Big Black, also impacted some later groups.
By the late 1980s industrial and heavy metal began to fuse into a common genre, with Godflesh's self-titled EP and Ministry's The Land of Rape and Honey at the forefront. Godflesh was founded by former Napalm Death guitarist Justin Broadrick. Drawing from a wide array of influences — power electronics forefathers Whitehouse, noise rock band Swans, ambient music creator Brian Eno and fellow Birmingham hard rockers Black Sabbath—the Godflesh sound was once described as "Pornography-era Cure on Quaaludes". Though not a top-seller, Godflesh nonetheless became an influential act, their name mentioned by Korn, Metallica, Danzig, Faith No More, and Fear Factory.
Ministry emerged from the scene surrounding Wax Trax! Records, a Chicago label dedicated to industrial music. Ministry's initial foray into guitar rock happened during a recording session of The Land of Rape and Honey on Southern Studios, in London. The band's frontman, the Cuban-born Al Jourgensen, explained this transition:
Jourgensen seemed particularly fond of thrash metal. After the release of Land, he recruited guitarist Mike Scaccia from Texas thrashers Rigor Mortis. On one occasion, Jourgensen told the press that Sepultura were his favorite band. He also expressed the desire to produce a Metallica album. Jourgensen's interest in dance-oriented electronic music did not entirely fade, however; he also formed the side-project Revolting Cocks, a more electronic body music-inflected collaboration with Richard 23 of Front 242.
German band KMFDM are another seminal industrial metal group. Although not a metal fan, KMFDM leader Sascha Konietzko's "infatuation with ripping off metal licks" stemmed from his experiments with of E-mu's Emax sampler in late 1986. He told Guitar World that,
A Swiss trio, The Young Gods, brushed with the style on their second album, L'Eau Rouge (1989). Prior to its release, singer Franz Treichler declared:
Pigface, formed by Martin Atkins and including Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin, emerged as an industrial metal collective of sorts, participating with many figures from the noise rock and industrial worlds. Nine Inch Nails, the "one-man-band" formed by Trent Reznor, brought the genre to mainstream audiences with albums such as the Grammy-winning Broken and the best-selling The Downward Spiral, accompanied by their groundbreaking performance at Woodstock '94. The rivethead subculture also developed at this time, along with the so-called "coldwave" subgenre, which encompassed Chemlab, 16 Volt, and Acumen Nation. Some electro-industrial groups adopted industrial metal techniques in this period, including Skinny Puppy (on the Jourgensen-produced Rabies), and Front Line Assembly.
Industrial thrash and death metal
Industrial metal's popularity led a number of successful thrash metal groups, including Megadeth, Pantera, and Anthrax, to request remixes by "industrial" artists. Some musicians emerging from the death metal scene, such as Fear Factory, Nailbomb, and Meathook Seed, also began to experiment with industrial. Fear Factory, from Los Angeles, were initially influenced by the Earache roster (namely Godflesh, Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower). Sepultura singer Max Cavalera's Nailbomb, a collaboration with Alex Newport, also practiced a combination of extreme metal and industrial production techniques. A lesser-known example of industrial death metal is Meathook Seed, made up of members of Napalm Death and the Florida death metal group Obituary. An industrial music fan, Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres suggested drum machines for The End Complete, Obituary's most successful album. The other band members' refusal led him to form Meathook Seed.
Commercial rise
Industrial metal blossomed in the early 1990s, particularly in North America, where it would eventually sell close to 35 million units. It first became a commercial force in 1992 when Nine Inch Nails' Broken and Ministry's Psalm 69 went platinum in America, though the latter took three years to reach that status. Both groups were nominated for the Best Metal Performance in the 1992 Grammy Awards, with Nine Inch Nails winning. Two years later, Nine Inch Nails released The Downward Spiral, which debuted on #2, and would eventually go quadruple-platinum. This record is considered by Allmusic as "one of the bleakest multi-platinum albums ever."
Following Nine Inch Nails' success, Marilyn Manson, led by a protegé of Reznor's, came to prominence. The group's live performance and its trangressive appeal was often more commented on than their music.
Industrial metal reached its commercial zenith in the latter half of the 1990s - according to the RIAA databases, its top-selling artists sold around 17.5 million units combined. Records by major industrial metal artists routinely debuted on the top spots of the Billboard 200 chart: Rob Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe (#5), Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals (#1), and Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile (#1). A number of industrial metal albums performed well on Billboard's Heatseekers chart: Filter's Short Bus (#3), Stabbing Westward's Wither Blister Burn + Peel (#1), Rammstein's Sehnsucht (#2), Orgy's Candyass (#1), and Static-X's Wisconsin Death Trip (#1). Around that time Trent Reznor, the movement's most well-known person, was chosen by Time as one of the most influential Americans of 1997. Its popularity was such that established glam metal groups, including Guns N' Roses and Mötley Crüe, began to dabble in the style. Figures from the hip hop scene also began to seek out collaborations with and remixes from industrial metal musicians.
When industrial metal climbed the charts of the late 1990s, its sudden popularity was met with negative reactions from the early innovators of industrial music. Peter Christopherson told The Wire that he no longer felt any kinship with the industrial scene: "this is not me, this is not what I'm about". Brian Williams of Lustmord, a prominent early industrial musician, declared that "Ministry just doesn't interest [him]" and "[he has] no time for all this rock and roll shit they're doing now." Skinny Puppy were unimpressed by The Downward Spiral, with cEvin Key attributing NIN's success to "a bit of hype", and Nivek Ogre going further, dismissing Nine Inch Nails as "cock rock", although admitting an appreciation for Ministry's Psalm 69.
Industrial metal suffered a critical backlash at the turn of the millennium. In an April 2000 review for the Chicago Sun Times, Jim DeRogatis dismissed Nine Inch Nails' new music as a "generic brand of industrial thrash" and accused Ministry of repeating an act that "was old by 1992". Although The Fragile reached the top spot of the Billboard 200 and went on to earn double platinum status, DeRogatis considered it a "flop" nonetheless.
Around this time, veteran industrial metal artists (Ministry, Godflesh, and White Zombie) began to repudiate the industrial label. Sales remained high throughout 2000-2005; at least 10 million records were sold during that time frame. Many groups began to take influence from hip hop and electronic music, in addition to industrial metal. As a result, acts like Powerman 5000 are often described as industrial metal as well as nu metal.
Later European industrial metal
While industrial metal began to lose ground in the U.S., European industrial metal became increasingly popular. Germany's Neue Deutsche Härte (new German hardness), has been particularly successful. Its best-known representative, Rammstein, has sold nearly four million records in Germany, while accumulating gold and platinum records throughout continental Europe. They were also nominated for a Grammy in the United States.
Other NDH groups, such as Oomph! and Eisbrecher have placed highly on European charts. Scandinavian acts such as Deathstars, Gothminister and The Kovenant have been similarly prominent. Some groups, such as Blut Aus Nord, from France, have melded industrial metal with black metal.
Film and video
Several industrial metal groups produced eye-catching videos. These included Godflesh's collaboration with Andres Serrano, Aidan Hughes's graphics for KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails' work with Mark Romanek, Rob Zombie's visual work for White Zombie (for which he received the MTV Video Music Award for Best Hard Rock Video), and Marilyn Manson's output with Richard Kern and Floria Sigismondi. NIN later collaborated with Bill Viola for live accompaniment. Trent Reznor also produced the soundtracks for the films Natural Born Killers and Lost Highway, and served as "musical consultant" for Man on Fire. Rob Zombie has directed three films. As of 2009, Marilyn Manson is in the process of directing Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. Other films that have included prominent contributions from industrial metal artists include The Crow, Johnny Mnemonic, Spawn, The Matrix, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Controversy
Its emphasis on transgressive themes has made a few industrial metal groups vulnerable to attack from American social conservatives. For example, Sen. Bob Dole, then head of the Republican Party, sharply criticized Time Warner after a meeting between Michael J. Fuchs (head of the Warner Music Group), William Bennett, and C. Delores Tucker, at which Tucker and Bennett demanded that Fuchs read lyrics from NIN's "Big Man with a Gun". A year later, Bennett, Tucker, and Joseph Lieberman launched a similar campaign against MCA Records for their distribution of Marilyn Manson's music. Many of his concerts were cancelled by authorities after this uproar. In addition, Dennis Cooper cited Ministry's video for "Just One Fix", which featured footage of William S. Burroughs, as an early example of heroin chic. Some initial reports claimed that Columbine High School shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were Marilyn Manson fans. In fact, they preferred KMFDM and Rammstein. Asa Coon, another school shooter, was a Manson fan.
Manson published a detailed response to the controversy following the Columbine shootings in an article published in Rolling Stone. It concluded:
Sasha Konietzko reported that KMFDM was "sick and appalled" by the shootings, and Rammstein stated that they "have no lyrical content or political beliefs that could have possibly influenced such behavior." Rammstein have been controversial for their use of Nazi imagery, including footage shot by Leni Riefenstahl for Olympia in their video for "Stripped". Alec Empire, a German digital hardcore musician, declared that "[Rammstein is] successful for all the wrong reasons. I think they're not a fascist band at all, but I think in Germany there's a lot of misunderstanding and that's why they sell records and I think that's dangerous." In response to the controversy, Rammstein stated that "We are not Nazis, Neo-Nazis, or any other kind of Nazi. We are against racism, bigotry or any other type of discrimination."
See also
Bibliography
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