#90s industrial dance

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

The 90s MV Melee - round 5 match 2

NOTE: Britney and the Backstreet Boys are in this poll as a duo because they managed to achieve a perfect tie in round 3! Consider a vote for either of those videos to be a vote towards their joint entry.

Voter-submitted propaganda:

Baby One More Time -

"it's just iconic"

Everybody (Backstreet's Back) -

"Inspired by Michael Jackson’s Thriller, what more do you need to know?! :)"

"The Scooby Doo style framing device? Everyone's opulent monster costumes? Kevin and Nick both being stuck in different BDSM dungeons? Iconic."

"The classic Hollywood monsters made the mv iconic."

"why is it halloween? what's going on with the choreography? why are they in flowy pirate garb in the dance sections? why is this music video so great? AM i sexual???"

Closer -

"It’s hot"

"The image of Trent tied up and blindfolded absolutely awakened something in me and I feel like more people should see it. Also spinning Trent is just kind of cool. Plus any music video with an anal bead budget is an interesting one."

"Trent threw up after filming the spinning scene. not propaganda just a fun fact"

"trent reznor tied up n moaning"

"The symbolism in this is next level. Freud would have an aneurysm from sitting through it once."

"oh you already KNOW"

"Trent fucking spinning . Mp4"

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Teknoir 1999 Rhythmic Noise / Experimental / Industrial / IDM

Oh boy! Here's a late 90s double-disc sampler from German label Hymen Records, whose name, yes, of course, is making reference to a part of the vagina! Founded in 1997 as a sub-label of Ant-Zen, Hymen bills itself as 'technoid noises for collapsing people,' which is a description that will make a whole lot more sense to you if you actually listen to this album.

Now, I didn't like most of what's served up on this thing; I'm not really a noisenik or a rhythmic noisenik, and I don't go for much in the way of industrial music, either. BUT, at the points when this album steers a little bit away from German avantgardist weirdness, and more towards genres that are a tad more conventional like IDM and breakbeat-based stuff, that's when I fully latch on to a solid handful of these tracks 😋.

But before we dive into all of that, we also need to address a certain elephant in the room when it comes to industrial music writ large; and that elephant is fascism. Now, I am certainly no fan of this purely rotten political ideology, but there is no doubt that because industrial music has a hard, abrasive, and martial quality to it, that it can definitely attract a certain goose-stepping type. And being that we're talking about Germany specifically here—where fascism once again appears to be rearing its very ugly head, as the once-fringe AfD party continues to gain seats in the Bundestag (German parliament), and vocal criticism of an apartheid state that is pretty clearly currently committing genocide is forcefully stifled—you have to wonder, are the people who are making this music sympathetic to fascism themselves?

And the answer to that question would appear to be a pretty full-throated "no," as evidenced by a wild track from Substanz T called "Industrial Music for Industrial People (Live)." On this tune, Substanz T loop up a quote from a guy who passionately says, "and if you don't like fascism, don't play industrial music." And so, taking clever heed of those words, with this track on an album that's surrounded by a whole lot of industrial music otherwise, Substanz T decide to play a diabolical brand of hardcore acid jungle instead, so as to say, "yeah, we're not fascists, man, so we're not gonna play industrial music for your ass. Here's this dance genre that a whole lot of black people have played a significant role in building instead, you fuckin' prick! 🖕🤘"

Gotta love it!

But while I certainly dig the messaging of that song itself, I don't think that that one is my absolute favorite here. And to be honest with you all, I don't know which of these is actually my favorite, because the front half of the second disc offers up a bunch of terrific choices, like the chilly and dub-brained IDM of Architect's "Pastgate," the sublimely splattery and drill n' bassy "Listen to the Call" by Beefcake, the Goldilocks-level-of-Gary-Numanesque-synths-crossed-with-bludgeoning-percussion that is Somatic Responses' "Oblique," and the sort of 80s retrofuturistic distorted nu-electro of Klangstabil's "Regelkreisauslöser." All seriously uniquely brilliant electronic tunes!

And this leads me to my final point, which feels like maybe the ten millionth time that I'm making it: No matter how bad or unfit to your own personal taste an album might seem, don't dump out of it until it's over, because you really might miss out on something remarkable. I say this so many times because it's happened to me so many times. Outside of that anti-fash Substanz T song, the first disc on this comp really did not end up bearing much fruit, and as a result, I *really* was not looking forward to having to endure the second disc. But had I decided to call it quits at that halfway point, I would've missed pretty much the entire cream of this release's crop, and that simply would've sucked, because there actually happen to be a whole bunch of unexpected marvels on that second disc! 🤩

Highlights:

CD1:

Not Breathing - "Kissy (Pre M.R.I. Mix)" Substanz T - "Industrial Music for Industrial People (Live)"

CD2:

Architect - "Pastgate" Bochumwelt - "La Pensée" Beefcake - "Listen to the Call" Somatic Responses - "Olblique" Klangstabil - "Regelkreisauslöser" Mother Destruction - "Odr"

[nellarw95]

Happy Heavenly Birthday Whitney 🎂💔

Whitney Elizabeth Houston 🤍

August 9,1963 - February 11,2012🙏🏾

We Miss You So Much 🕊️♾️

Buon Compleanno in Paradiso 🎂💔

9 Agosto 1963 - 11 Febbraio 2012🙏🏾

Ci Manchi Moltissimo 🕊️♾️

[possible-streetwear]

[dankalbumart]

Subliminal Sandwich by Meat Beat Manifesto Nothing Records / Interscope Records 1996 Leftfield / Trip Hop / Industrial / Downtempo / Big Beat

[shisasan]

FRONTAL - Wir sind wir

[pinkfloyd-musicartnaturelove]

Ah, VNV Nation, another goth club staple. I'm being transported back to the 90s.

[myvinylplaylist]

Lords Of Acid: Rough Sex CD Single (1992)

Caroline Records

[yemme]

LEGENDS...

[testure-1988]

If you guys haven't ever listened to The Future Sound Of London, you need to.

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

This one might be difficult

Listen to both songs before voting, and define "better" any way you wish!

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Another World: Electronic Body Music 1990 EBM

I don't think that I'll ever become a true fan of EBM—electronic body music, aka industrial dance—because I really just don't like all the harshness and abrasiveness that's so germane to both it and industrial music in general. Basically, in order for me to like this stuff, it either needs to be blended with something else, like house, techno, electro, some type of rock, etc., or it needs to be something that's so remarkably different from what makes for a standard EBM track in the first place, that the effort can't go unappreciated. And with this second installment in Belgian label Antler-Subway's Another World: Electronic Body Music sampler series, I think I may have come across a couple tracks that fulfill that latter category.

So, I'm certainly no expert when it comes to this type of dance music, but I really don't think that I've ever heard anything that's quite like Mussolini Headkick's "Get Out" (what a name, by the way). You put this song on and you're like, "oh yeah, this is clearly 100% EBM," but where a lot of EBM production seems to not use so many elements and is largely driven by combinations of a deep, acidically stabbing bassline and pounding kickdrums, this one just has so much more fuss going on, including a bunch of noisy bits of sampled electric guitar, aggressive vocals, distorted roaring, and a briefly sharp change to some...classical singing of some sort too? 🤷‍♂️ A maximally thick and pretty infectious, well-made tune.

But far more unique is "Bitterer Als Der Tod," by Boris Mikulic, an alias of a Belgian producer who is better known as part of an extremely prolific trio called Morton Sherman Bellucci. MSB put out a ton of tunes under a whole bunch of different monikers in the adjacent Belgian dance genre of new beat, but on this particular track, Boris Mikulic accompanies his EBM with a significant amount of Gregorian chant. And if you don't know what that is, maybe you're familiar with the most famous song in the history of popular music to ever use it: Enigma's terrific new age-worldbeat-trip hoppy early 90s classic, "Sadeness (Part I)." Needless to say, it's certainly unique to hear this traditionally sacred form of Latin singing used in any contemporary song, much less EBM, but Mikulic manages to do something pretty neat with it here.

Nice to find this cool pair of tunes in a genre that I typically don't go for 😌.

Highlights:

Mussolini Headkick - "Get Out" Boris Mikulic - "Bitterer Als Der Tod"

[nellarw95]

Happy Heavenly Birthday George 🎂💔

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou 🤍

June 25,1963 - December 25,2016🙏🏻

We Miss You So Much 🕊️♾️

Buon Compleanno in Paradiso 🎂💔

25 Giugno 1963 - 25 Dicembre 2016🙏🏻

Ci Manchi Moltissimo 🕊️♾️

[gabrellle]

One of the many life skills you learn in the service industry is having fun cleaning while listening to 90s hip hop

[dankalbumart]

Armed Audio Warfare by Meat Beat Manifesto Mute / Mute Corporation 1994 Breakbeat / Leftfield / Experimental / Industrial / Rhythmic Noise