A pioneer of the acid house sound, 808 State formed in Manchester, England in 1988 when Martin Price, the owner of the city's legendary record store Eastern Bloc and the founder of the independent label Creed, first joined forces with local musician and producer Graham Massey. After teaming with collaborator Gerald Simpson, 808 State recorded... [+] Read More

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A product of the same mid-'70s Sheffield industrial music community which also gave rise to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA emerged in 1980 from the ashes of area bands including the Studs, Block Opposite, Veer and They Must Be Russians as well as the Future, an early incarnation of the Human League. After a series of shifting... [+] Read More

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With their confrontational, stridently politically correct dance music, Consolidated became a small sensation in the early '90s. Not only was the group openly socialist, but the group incorporated all of their messages into their music; their records are unapologetically political and sometimes antagonizingly so. And it was the politics, not... [+] Read More

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Lords of Acid's exaggeratedly sexual acid house dance music gained a cult following with their 1991 album, Lust. Previously, the band had released three singles that laid the groundwork for the dense, throbbing Lust and its club hits, "Rough Sex" and "I Must Increase My Bust." Between their debut and their second album, 1994's Voodoo-U, the... [+] Read More

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Beginning in 1987 as an experimental/industrial duo inspired by the cut-and-paste attitudes of hip-hop and dub, Meat Beat Manifesto increasingly became a vehicle for its frontman Jack Dangers to explore the emerging electronics of techno, trip-hop and jungle. Though the group was initially pegged as an industrial act (simply appearing on Wax... [+] Read More

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More than any pop band in history, the KLF ripped off the music industry for a bucketful of loot and got away with it -- as illustrated in their own guidebook to creating number one singles, The Manual. Bill Drummond and Jimi Cauty applied the tactics of punk shock-terrorism to late-'80s acid house and became one of Britain's best-selling... [+] Read More

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Combining swirling psychedelic rock with hardcore hip-hop rhythms, the Shamen were one of the first alternative bands to appeal to dance clubs as much as indie rockers. Comprised of Colin Angus, Peter Stephenson, Keith McKenzie, and Derek McKenzie, the Scottish quartet had its roots in the early-'80s neo-psychedelic group Alone Again Or. The... [+] Read More

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Formed in Leeds, England in 1991, the dance-metal duo Utah Saints was led by Jez Willis, a onetime member of the industrial group Cassandra Complex who during the late '80s had turned to DJing in local clubs. While working the club circuit he met fellow DJ Tim Garbutt, whose passion for house music inspired Willis to begin creating house tracks... [+] Read More

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