Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
Originating in Charleroi, Belgium, the industrial duo à;GRUMH... drew primarily from the so-called electronic body of music of groups like SPK, Front 242, and Skinny Puppy, but also threw in some Throbbing Gristle-style experimentalism from time to time. à;GRUMH... consisted of the almost as obscurely named S@3 Evets (alias Steve Natrix, born... [+] Read More
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
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
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
One of the most consistent industrial bands of the 1980s, even though they regularly pursued a more electronic variant of the sound that swept into vogue during the '90s, Front 242 were the premier exponent of European electronic body music. Initially, the group was just a duo when formed in October 1981 in Brussels; programmers Patrick Codenys... [+] Read More
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
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
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
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
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
Before the majority of industrial acts added guitars and became the heavy metal of the 1990s, Nitzer Ebb produced hard-hitting electronic music with the Teutonic bent and abrasive edge of early industrial music, plus the vocal chanting and beat-heavy flavor of the late-'80s alternative and Balearic dance scene. Formed in Chelmsford, Essex, in... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
Originally a quartet whose sound drew inspiration from psychedelia, the Beloved found its greatest success as a rave-influenced dance-pop duo. Throughout its fluid existence, the guiding force behind the group remained vocalist Jon Marsh, who formed the band Journey Through at Cambridge University with Guy Gousden and Tim Havard; with the... [+] Read More
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
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
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
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
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
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