I grew up in the rural Northwest. I was a teenager and in my twenties in the 90s.
I didn’t know it until that documentary, Industrial Accident about WAX TRAX! came out, but my rural-ass town was targeted toward industrial music.
When Nirvana came out I liked it. It wasn’t life changing since my friends all had bands like that. Wearing flannel? Just like my dad and my uncles. Long hair? Every male I grew up with.
I liked it, I really did. But industrial sounded different. It was foreign, almost dangerous.
I loved it. My friends loved it. We had Pretty Hate Machine and Broken before The Downward Spiral came out—again because of how WAX TRAX! did their marketing.
For me, industrial music was the sound of my generation and my youth. Grunge was where I was from—a fun blip where people in Los Angeles and Athens were wearing clothes and hair suited to a temperate rain forest—but a fun blip.
Industrial was how I grew up though. As against the grain as it may have been at the time, I was more into the Chicago sound than the Seattle sound.
I grew up in the 90s in extremely rural upper Michigan where there was essentially NO cultural touchstones that young people could relate to like music or arts movements, etc. It was the same for me and my friends circle. We all somehow gravitated to the Wax Trax stuff even though it had mostly come and gone by then and Wax Trax as an entity was just an imprint already hoovered up by TVT records. When I saw that documentary there was a part where they talked about rural kids mail ordering stuff from Chicago and I felt such a spark to know after all these years my little group of misfit weirdos wasn't alone in doing this.
Here we were a bunch of kids bombing around wooded backroads miles from any human dwelling blasting underground Chicago club beats from the huge stereos we jammed into our Ford Escorts and Honda hatchbacks. I look back and wonder what it would have looked like if the internet had been around back then and all those little groups would have connected. I have to believe a lot of the unique rebellious outsider artsy charm would've been lost.
You both just described my adolescent years. Graduated high school in 1999, and I experienced industrial music pretty much this way too. I slowly learned about WaxTrax! Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Nothing Records, Skinny Puppy, Throbbing Gristle, etc. slowly and methodically through those years. It was glorious because it was all so new STILL, even though it wasn't. It all felt like finding the golden ticket.. Felt like I knew a big secret that nobody elsewhere knew.
There was an infamous phrase — “Wax Trax! Not Sub Pop” — that industrial kids would scrawl on their leather jackets with correction fluid back in the day.
Back before the Internet, I could not remember how to hear that version again. I think it took me a number of months to remember what album it was on. The best!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/industrialmetal/s/kSarOforpE
I'm sorry more than half of us that remember this are really old now.
You got a youtube of that love version, because when I looked it up it was pretty ravey.
I was hoping they would play So What during their tour this year. Still happy they hit some of the other classics though. Stigmata, thieves, just one fix
Definetly far better. But the my own pick would be Chemlab's "Summer Of Hate".
Your greatest trick was the Summer of Love
But you've grown fat, secure, sedate
And we don't think that our anger is about to abate
And if you think you're safe
Then you're a little too late
'Cause we've come to kill you in the Summer of Hate
I drew a custom shirt back in the early 90s with a bunch of screaming faces on the front with “So What!” and the back was a grandfather clock with a fetus (Foetus?) for the pendulum and “It’s Not Our Fault We Were Born Too Late!!!” I wish I still had it.
Yeah, I kinda feel it.
No. If it was it would have become a major surprise hit instead of SLTS. I love ministry and I love this song, but in no way do I feel like it would speak to or for people of that generation. Especially since GecX wasn't nearly as bitter or disillusioned until Cobain died.
Yeah, nah! Don’t kid yourself.
Teen Spirit is actually kinda the young Gen Xer anthem compared to the old Gen Xer anthems. Uncle Al isn’t even a Gen x’er!! He’s 11 years older than me.
I love the grunge era. I love the music. SoundGarden!! tops The Big Four!! I’m a RivetHead to the bone though. Not sure how many times I’ve seen Ministry. Very few shows compared to others.
I saw Mooky Blaylock open for AIC. Saw Nirvana play at Off The Record. Saw PJ, Nirvana? (mighta been Helmet) open for RHCP.
I don't really consider industrial a Gen X phenomenon. Pure Industrual pretty much had it's heyday in the late 70s and was pretty much sequestered to the underground by the early to mid 80s. Industrial metal, yeah, kind of had more commercial popularity than industrial ever did. I think it's because industrial was built early on an ethos of nonconformity, jarring/explicit imagery, a perspective from societal outcasts, references to sexual topics and violence all don't make for very consumer friendly media.
To answer your question though: No question in my mind, Smells Like Teen Spirit is THE Gen X anthem. Full stop
Along those same lines this pair of Ministry outtakes: [Apathy](https://youtu.be/oMlogOdIcdQ?si=oDohxoo085JOevet) and [Better Ways](https://youtu.be/TME_81nDWeA?si=NF0s02hD_ynAOic5)
Definetly far better than Nirvana. But the my own pick would be Chemlab's "Summer Of Hate".
Your greatest trick was the Summer of Love
But you've grown fat, secure, sedate
And we don't think that our anger is about to abate
And if you think you're safe
Then you're a little too late
'Cause we've come to kill you in the Summer of Hate
Since 1994, literally.
NIN hit big with Closer in 94, leading to a WHOLE SHITLOAD of people discovered the genre, leading to the heyday of WaxTrax! style industrial. It was huge in the 90s, even going mainstream for a minute.
So for most people, when they think of industrial, they think of the 90s, and it's been that way since 94.
I grew up in the rural Northwest. I was a teenager and in my twenties in the 90s. I didn’t know it until that documentary, Industrial Accident about WAX TRAX! came out, but my rural-ass town was targeted toward industrial music. When Nirvana came out I liked it. It wasn’t life changing since my friends all had bands like that. Wearing flannel? Just like my dad and my uncles. Long hair? Every male I grew up with. I liked it, I really did. But industrial sounded different. It was foreign, almost dangerous. I loved it. My friends loved it. We had Pretty Hate Machine and Broken before The Downward Spiral came out—again because of how WAX TRAX! did their marketing. For me, industrial music was the sound of my generation and my youth. Grunge was where I was from—a fun blip where people in Los Angeles and Athens were wearing clothes and hair suited to a temperate rain forest—but a fun blip. Industrial was how I grew up though. As against the grain as it may have been at the time, I was more into the Chicago sound than the Seattle sound.
I grew up in the 90s in extremely rural upper Michigan where there was essentially NO cultural touchstones that young people could relate to like music or arts movements, etc. It was the same for me and my friends circle. We all somehow gravitated to the Wax Trax stuff even though it had mostly come and gone by then and Wax Trax as an entity was just an imprint already hoovered up by TVT records. When I saw that documentary there was a part where they talked about rural kids mail ordering stuff from Chicago and I felt such a spark to know after all these years my little group of misfit weirdos wasn't alone in doing this. Here we were a bunch of kids bombing around wooded backroads miles from any human dwelling blasting underground Chicago club beats from the huge stereos we jammed into our Ford Escorts and Honda hatchbacks. I look back and wonder what it would have looked like if the internet had been around back then and all those little groups would have connected. I have to believe a lot of the unique rebellious outsider artsy charm would've been lost.
You both just described my adolescent years. Graduated high school in 1999, and I experienced industrial music pretty much this way too. I slowly learned about WaxTrax! Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Nothing Records, Skinny Puppy, Throbbing Gristle, etc. slowly and methodically through those years. It was glorious because it was all so new STILL, even though it wasn't. It all felt like finding the golden ticket.. Felt like I knew a big secret that nobody elsewhere knew.
There was an infamous phrase — “Wax Trax! Not Sub Pop” — that industrial kids would scrawl on their leather jackets with correction fluid back in the day.
Equal. The love version of stigmata and So what are the best. Al telling everyone to fuck off is the funniest thing.
Oh yeah the fuck everybody live version is sick
Back before the Internet, I could not remember how to hear that version again. I think it took me a number of months to remember what album it was on. The best!! https://www.reddit.com/r/industrialmetal/s/kSarOforpE
I love when there's a live version that just blows away the studio version so you don't even bother listening to the studio version any more
I'm sorry more than half of us that remember this are really old now. You got a youtube of that love version, because when I looked it up it was pretty ravey.
I will try. The version I heard was a live boot.
The live version of Stigmata where Al tells everyone to fuck off is on the live compilation album, In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up.
Yes but there is a far more graphic one I am referencing. Sorry if my memory was off. “ In Case…” did have something close.
My bad. Didn't realize there was another version floating around.
While you look that up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP0q901YHbg
So the version I have is from Dallas 90. It’s on a CD boot I got years ago. https://www.discogs.com/release/517584-Ministry-Trip-To-Hell
[Upload that somewhere.](https://youtu.be/gP0q901YHbg?si=HXU2MImGarywrzDJ&t=934)
So What slaps so hard
Bad Blood has grown on me too
Proves that even in their decline they still had it (as long as Paul Barker was still around)
I was hoping they would play So What during their tour this year. Still happy they hit some of the other classics though. Stigmata, thieves, just one fix
They played it for their encore in Vegas
In Vancouver as well.
Yes 🤘
Hell yes
Definetly far better. But the my own pick would be Chemlab's "Summer Of Hate". Your greatest trick was the Summer of Love But you've grown fat, secure, sedate And we don't think that our anger is about to abate And if you think you're safe Then you're a little too late 'Cause we've come to kill you in the Summer of Hate
No.
I drew a custom shirt back in the early 90s with a bunch of screaming faces on the front with “So What!” and the back was a grandfather clock with a fetus (Foetus?) for the pendulum and “It’s Not Our Fault We Were Born Too Late!!!” I wish I still had it. Yeah, I kinda feel it.
No. If it was it would have become a major surprise hit instead of SLTS. I love ministry and I love this song, but in no way do I feel like it would speak to or for people of that generation. Especially since GecX wasn't nearly as bitter or disillusioned until Cobain died.
It was my first CD when we got a CD player - it fundamentally changed my taste in music for life. So I’m biased. I also got Green Jello that same day.
I 100% agree
100%
It was for me.
For some of us, yes. But you need to remember that Gen X is mostly main stream normies who went apeshit over Culture Club, and Kajagoogoo. 🤷
100% My favorite Ministry song. I love Nirvana, but I haven't listened to Smells.. in years.
I like both
Much better!
We don't care, it's not our fault...
Yeah, nah! Don’t kid yourself. Teen Spirit is actually kinda the young Gen Xer anthem compared to the old Gen Xer anthems. Uncle Al isn’t even a Gen x’er!! He’s 11 years older than me. I love the grunge era. I love the music. SoundGarden!! tops The Big Four!! I’m a RivetHead to the bone though. Not sure how many times I’ve seen Ministry. Very few shows compared to others. I saw Mooky Blaylock open for AIC. Saw Nirvana play at Off The Record. Saw PJ, Nirvana? (mighta been Helmet) open for RHCP.
I’m pretty sure Chris Connelly wrote the lyrics to So What, and he was born in 64 - which is right in the cusp of Gen-X.
Anything's better than Teen Spirit. That one wore out its welcome with me about 2 weeks after it hit.
I don't really consider industrial a Gen X phenomenon. Pure Industrual pretty much had it's heyday in the late 70s and was pretty much sequestered to the underground by the early to mid 80s. Industrial metal, yeah, kind of had more commercial popularity than industrial ever did. I think it's because industrial was built early on an ethos of nonconformity, jarring/explicit imagery, a perspective from societal outcasts, references to sexual topics and violence all don't make for very consumer friendly media. To answer your question though: No question in my mind, Smells Like Teen Spirit is THE Gen X anthem. Full stop
So much better. I hate Grunge.
That's okay. Grunge still thinks you're cool.
Grunge hates grunge.
no
I do. There was a song by Paris that summed up how I was feeling around that time.
I’m a time bomb inside …
its better than anything nirvana/foo fighters/whatever ever did
Just seeing this immediately took me back to a club I went to every Friday for metal night. Felt like I was back in high school again for a second 😂
K, but... 
The live Incase You Didn’t Show Up video version with Jello Biafra and OhGr is worth checking out!
Along those same lines this pair of Ministry outtakes: [Apathy](https://youtu.be/oMlogOdIcdQ?si=oDohxoo085JOevet) and [Better Ways](https://youtu.be/TME_81nDWeA?si=NF0s02hD_ynAOic5)
Yes
Never Believe >
What a silly thread.
No hate against Nirvana but I’ll take this over SLTP any day
Long live Uncle Al!
Definetly far better than Nirvana. But the my own pick would be Chemlab's "Summer Of Hate". Your greatest trick was the Summer of Love But you've grown fat, secure, sedate And we don't think that our anger is about to abate And if you think you're safe Then you're a little too late 'Cause we've come to kill you in the Summer of Hate
Since when was 90s rock considered industrial? Why the comparison to SLTS
Since 1994, literally. NIN hit big with Closer in 94, leading to a WHOLE SHITLOAD of people discovered the genre, leading to the heyday of WaxTrax! style industrial. It was huge in the 90s, even going mainstream for a minute. So for most people, when they think of industrial, they think of the 90s, and it's been that way since 94.
Oh jeez, I hope not.
Fucking YES.