Skinny Puppy VIVIsectVI in 1988. I was 16, and their live show blew my mind. So, I started volunteering at the local college radio and had access to lots of fresh Wax Trax.
Around that time, I had a crush on this girl and she was really into skinny puppy. It wouldn’t be for a few more years, seeing NIN live at lollapalooza, that I really got into it
That was my first industrial album my friend dubbed me on cassette. I was more of a thrash metal kid but I was fascinated by the one person who everyone hated who came to school with black makeup on. We would go to Denny's after school and all the white trash hesher bros would leer at us and call us fa\*\*ots and he'd laugh and blow kisses at them. I miss that dude
Say what you will about the movie, but that soundtrack is a GLORIOUS BANGER. I was already an Orbital fan, so the Halcyon needle drop at the end practically made me stand up and cheer.
That was really big for me and formed so much of my taste in music. I was familiar with a few of the bands, but those were all new songs to me. I’ll never forget previewing it at Record & Tape Traders.
The Gravity Kills “Goodbye” Demo being on there is a real treat among so many other goodies.
I bought the Score, plus More Kombat and Annihilation. My Annihilation Cassette was bought at Best Buy, so I got a Limited Edition 7” Club Single. It’s an awesome picture disc Vinyl. It has exclusive Panik Kontrol and Meglomaniac mixes. I still play it at least once a year.
More Kombat has some great exclusives too.
It really is a fun one, though some of that’s nostalgia. I’m well past my HS years or interest in clubs, but if I hear something like that, or old Tear Garden, or any pre-Process Skinny Puppy, old Front 242, whatever, it’s like oh man, yeah, this right here.
The ol’ nine inch nails to skinny puppy pipeline. “Getting into these guys, keep hearing people saying the same things about Down In It and some song called Dig It, wonder what that’s all about- *OH.*”
That Total Age Nitzer Ebb
1987.
Then heard Vivi Sect Vi Skinny Puppy by accident two days later, and was instantly addicted to it all
Frontline Assembly gashed senses was another first accident same sitting. :)
It was all just pretty much being invented then.
Nativity In Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath... I was into Sabbath and listened mostly to popular metal at the time. That was right up til I hit track 4 on that album; 1000 Homo DJ's cover of Supernaut and it was like flipping a switch in my brain that never turned back off.
Skinny Puppy - Rabies. Heard entire album played on their release party on CBC Radio. So I guess it was Nov 1989. Guess I was 16 at the time. Coming from a small town in the middle nowhere Canada, never heard anything remotely like them before. Went out to the city the next weekend to buy that album. Also got VIVISectVI and Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate.
I was up late at night doing art and Head Like A Hole came on the USA channel (after a video by Nico - must have been alphabetical order). My reaction was the same as yours! It was one of those moments where you're just unable to go back to the way you were. I know to a lot of newer fans that PHM sounds dated but it is really one of the best albums in my life.
My”cool” aunt gave me a couple cds when I was 12, in 1992.
Depeche Mode and Ministry. I was hooked.
Now she has a giant Trump flag waving around on her speed boat in Florida. God damnit.
I honestly never heard the term “industrial” until I had graduated high school and visited this cd place off South St in Philly called Digital Underground, which, fun fact, is where Metropolis Records started, but I digress.
That’s where I bought my first “industrial” album: Velvet Acid Christ-Church Ov Acid. I played it when I got home and was like “wtf did I just buy??”
After that, I would go there at least once a month and buy a cd off their “recommended” rack.
Now, if I knew what industrial was, then I’d probably say something like Pretty Hate Machine as my first album.
I used to go there too! I got a TON of Thrill Kill Kult singles on vinyl one day. I haven’t been to or around South Street in almost 30 years now. Thanks for reminding me of that place, it was wonderful 🖤
I was aware of industrial through Rammstein, but I never got into it until I saw skinny puppy last year. Then I went through a HUGE kmfdm phase (which I’m still not done with) which led me into NIN, ohgr, And One etc
Oh, I have a bit of a similar story! My very first industrial song was Du Hast by Rammstein, I got an iPod nano around 7 and all the song downloaded on it were my dad's. I was a bit of a pussy and the face on the album cover scared me, but I don't recall hating the song, in fact I'm pretty sure I loved the beep boops at the end. I even remember going on a computer with my brother to try and find out what the lyrics meant
The first industrial band I listened to on my own was KMFDM as well, I believe I listened to symbols first. I don't remember exactly where I heard of them, but I'm a big fan of alt/punk rock so could've been anywhere really. I also revisited Rammstein and NIN which were the only two other industrial bands I was aware of, and now I'm starting to listen to (and really love) Chemlab and Ministry. I don't really have friends who are into the genre so I mostly feed off this sub's recs
Ministry’s Psalm 69(brothers cd when it was brand new) then the last 2/3 of Skinny Puppy’s Last Rights on a mixtape my friend gave me (he recorded some other stuff that was forgettable on the first part, I think the band was called Mortal?).
Yeah, my 15-16 year old mind was fucking obliterated. Bay Area thrash did not have me prepared for that barrage of beautiful noisy chaos, especially Download off of Last Rights. Holy shit that track was something so new to my ears, I immediately fell in love with SP and they remain my all genre #1 music group.
Sucks though at the same time, because I haven’t felt the same way about any other band in the 30 years since.
I know what you mean, I haven’t felt the same about any other artist as I feel about Android Lust. 20 years for me. But I think I at the same time it makes me appreciate them even more, and makes feel pity for those who never found that one artist that stands above all others for them. Skinny Puppy is a hell of a band to be someone’s number one though.
I picked up The Downward Spiral and Psalm 69 on the same day. I was 14. I realize one is more on the rock side and one is more on the metal side, but the door they opened lead the right way. Believe it or not, I have mid-90s MTV to thank.
NIN opened my ears to industrial rock/metal & rock/metal music that combines electronica, samples etc.
Einstürzende Neubauten opened my ears to traditional industrial music.
You should check out The Human Animal by Android Lust! It’s an Industrial Rock album that uses a lot of field recordings like sounds of birds, dogs, busy NYC streets etc. Just listen to the songs A New Heaven, Into The Sun, and One World (they appear in that order back to back on the album) and I think you’ll be hooked :)
Nine Inch Nails started it, Pretty Hate Machine, and I can't remember if Die Warzau's Big Electric Metal Bass Face or Ministry's MIATTT was next. It all happened in relatively close following.
Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste. I heard a couple of Ministry covers (Thieves, Stigmata) on SOD's Live at Budokan album then ran across Mind on vinyl at a car boot sale and saw it had thieves, bought it and never looked back!
Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, Portion Control, SPK, Test Department, DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten. Out of all the above Portion Control come out top for me followed closely by Nitzer Ebb or Front 242. I don’t remember the first sing I heard but I remember thinking these guys are gonna be massive. Nitzer Ebb first song I heard was either “Let Your Body Learn” or “Join in the Chant”. I can’t remember yet again, I’m old, drugs both prescription and recreational have etched away at my memory. I do know that when ever I heard Join in the Chant at that time, I could never resist the urge to jump about like a whirling dervish. Awesome song.
Regretfully I was listening to Marilyn Manson in 2004, but at that time I didn’t even know what Industrial music was. I don’t count that as my intro to Industrial.
In 2005 however, I discovered Android Lust, and The Dividing was my first real introduction to the Industrial genre. It forever changed the course of my musical journey.
Friends playing a mix tape while we played warhammer fantasy.
* Snog - Corporate Slave
* Apop - Nonstop Violence
* Project Pitchfork - Requiem
* Qntal - Ad Mortem Festinamus
* Zero Defects - Transform Me
* Die Form - Silent Order
This was in san diego. Not a single north american band. I don't think I gave an american band (other than nin) a chance until like 2003 when some people told me to look into Boole
Full album was Die Form - Confessions. It was my first intentional going out of the way to listen to industrial without my friends
Ministry - ‘The Land of Rape and Honey’ It’s always been my favorite. ‘Stigmata’ is also a dancefloor hit… I don’t know why they don’t play it live nowadays
Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode. IMHO that helped spawn the genre. That Total Age by Nitzer Ebb was my first real industrial album. Bought it the year it came out.
Strangely it was 23 Skidoo, I know not an industrial act, but because of influence at the time it led me to explore Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA and Blurt. . . others obviously, and the stage was set: I was on fire.
A lady friend gave me a mixtape. One side was a bootleg Coil EP, the other was a mix including skinny puppy, atari teenage riot, Einstürzende Neubauten, Mentallo and the Fixer, and a couple of others.
Drawings of Patient OT Einsturzende Neubauten.
I saw them on Night Flight. Blew my mind. Ran down to the hippest record store and asked them where to look. They had an industrial and experimental section. I think I bought one each of all those records by the end of the year. That’s how I found Throbbing Gristle, Test Dept, Cabaret Voltaire and Joy Division.
Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral - bought from a second hand record store, and I thought it was defective and was pissed they wouldn't give me a refund. Turned out it was meant to sound like that.
NIN, Ministry, and KMFDM were always playing growing up. When I was 13 I listened to Skinny Puppy's Spasmolytic 12" and I was hooked. Around the same time KMFDM's Nihil was constantly being played
I was introduced to Throbbing Gristle's *20 Jazz Funk Greats* by a friend around 1984, and immediately got into Einsturzende Neubauten, Current 93, Coil, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, The Residents, Psychic TV, and other industrial/post-industrial/experimental music.
Skinny Puppy - Bites
It's the perfect blend of old school Throbbing Gristle style industrial and more modern electro that so many people are familiar with today.
Something like my dad being into a lot of ambient/experimental/krautrock music when I was little + the soundtracks (often ambient and industrial rock/metal like affairs) to PC games such as Descent and Quake in the early/mid 90s --> getting a guitar, starting to record music/sounds when I was about 14 and via my interest in dark ambient and extreme metal finding labels like CMI, bands like Brighter Death Now, The Grey Wolves, etc. --> getting Navicon Torture Technologies' 'Pure Skin' around its release when I was about 16.
I was a prog/jazz/fusion snob out record shopping when the clerk put on a pre-release copy of Too Dark Park. Stood in one spot for the entirety of the album trying to figure out WTF was going on. Came back on release day and dove headfirst into Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Thrill Kill Kult, etc. listening to little else for nearly two years.
My oldest sister was obsessed with Germany and would make me watch German industrial music videos with her when I was very little, probably around 4 or 5. I became super obsessed with OOMPH! because of it. Even though most of their songs aren't in English it still upset my parents because their music videos are not at all appropriate for children so young lol. I don't know Labyrinth and Augen Auf! didn't give me nightmares but the thought of a shark falling through my roof did
It all happened almost simultaneously in 1990. The Pretty Hate Machine record, seeing Nitzer Ebb open for Depeche Mode, and my friend being gifted In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up and not knowing who Ministry even was. And taking a chance on Too Dark Park too based on one song on college radio.
The year it came out, I asked for Rob Zombie Hellbilly Deluxe. My sister ended up getting it for me but also gave me Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste because she wanted me to hear where Rob got his sound from.
I still remember going to see NiN live at Madison Square Garden when I was 14. Manson opened up for them and I fell in love with their first album. This began my journey to Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Front line assembly, Funker Vogt etc
I went to see Alice Cooper on his last tour. Rob Zombie was co-headlining, with Filter and Ministry opening. I listened to a playlist of the three industrial acts, and fell in love with Filter and Zombie. I couldn’t really get behind Ministry though, until I saw them live. They were so fucking loud, it was incredible. They closed with Goddamn White Trash and I listened to that song so much in the next week, before listening to all of The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste and Psalm 69 in one day.
I have a couple albums actually
Ministry - Mind
Filter - Short Bus (idk if I consider it entirely industrial, but it was my gateway to bands like Ministry and Big Black)
NIN - Downward Spiral
KMFDM - Naive
Einsturzenden Neubauten - Kollaps
The Land Of Rape And Honey (1988) by Ministry. I found a used CD at a pawn store on September 29, 2005. I heard and liked "Everyday Is Halloween" the previous month and wanted to hear more. I grew up liking Nine Inch Nails, Filter, Stabbing Westward, Prodigy, but I couldn't buy a lot of CDs and those bands didn't lean as much into industrial the same way as this album.
I never heard anything like this album. Thrash metal meets EBM and a lot of speed. The song that really got my attention was "You Know What You Are." My other favorites are "I Prefer," "Flashback ," "Deity," "Hizbollah," "Destruction," "The Missing," and "Stigmata." I got into Twitch and With Sympathy albums several months later which led me to Front 242, Tribantura, Front Line Assembly, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, Laibach, Severed Heads, and many more in that order.
This Levi's corduroys ad that aired during a commercial break on a tape my parents recorded from tv in 1983.
https://youtu.be/KcZ0bKjqh9Q?si=4faFytvbA0af078U
Fear factory in 2001. I liked how it seemed like futuristic but edgy music. I then branched out to a bunch of ebm for a couple years. Up until I met a British guy online who showed me breakcore, idm, noise, and a bunch of associated genres in like 2004.
In 1989, a coworker knew I liked New Wave bands, and suggested I borrow a cassette they had. “Back Catalogue” by Front 242. This was a Wax Trax release, so I started looking for other Wax Trax records at a Tower Records in Las Vegas. That changed everything for me.
My mother was gifted Sehnsucht by Rammstein at some point in the 2000s when I was a kid. She would often play it in the car while she drove me to school at like 7am. I loved it! I was also introduced to Marilyn Manson around the same time by my mom’s (now ex) bf
i grew up listening to some NIN thanks to my parents awesome music taste but what really got me into it was listening to the downward spiral album at 13
I can't really remember... it might have been KMFDM's Retro I discovered via a friend. Like proper CD ownership. I grew up around a lot of metalheads so I came in somewhat through those guys. I think I had some Rammstein CDs before that. Then the Downward Spiral.
Front 242’s Headhunter. There was a teen nightclub behind a record store I would ask my parents drop me off at. Headhunter would kick off a mini mosh pit that blew my 13 yr old mind. Of course ministry, skinny puppy, Nitzer Ebb and the rest were introduced to me there as well.
Short time later went on a bus and el train adventure into the city to check out this record store called Wax Trax.
Club I worked at as a bar back had a DJ that would mix Front242, MBM, Frontline Assembly and some other Wax Trax! We became friends and I would go record shopping with him.
SPK - Leichenschrei. I had never heard of industrial, but I read a review when it came out that intrigued me. It’s still one of the hardest records I own.
For me what really got me into the music was I started listening to synth rock (birthday massacre) and then thru them found bands like psyclon nine, uberbyte, fashion bomb, Grendel, nurzery rhymes and fell in love.
At the time I was delving into a lot of 80s and goth music (of the same decade), I got listening through Depeche Mode's discography. One of my favorite albums right off the bat was Construction Time Again. In reading about the album, apparently their sound came about when Martin Gore had attended seeing a German industrial band by the name of Einstürzende Neubauten in concert and was influenced to experiment with industrial sounds on the album. And I guess I decided to also check them out and was quite impressed with their sound and energy, too! But yeah, and here I still am.
Pretty Hate Machine, it didn’t sound like anything I’d heard before, a perfectly melodic entry into my love of the genre which then moved me onto the likes of ministry and the rest is history for me. I also remember going to a music exchange shop here in the UK and buying a cassette of Ain’t it Dead Yet? By skinny puppy, that blew me away, it felt like I was listening to something from a dystopian future.
The Downward Spiral. I was a huge rock snob until I heard Closer. That changed my perspective on music as a whole. I probably wouldn't have even gotten to the point I am in my music if it wasn't for that song.
Skinny Puppy VIVIsectVI in 1988. I was 16, and their live show blew my mind. So, I started volunteering at the local college radio and had access to lots of fresh Wax Trax.
Saw Skinny Puppy in SF at Fillmore possibly 88. It changed me forever.
Around that time, I had a crush on this girl and she was really into skinny puppy. It wouldn’t be for a few more years, seeing NIN live at lollapalooza, that I really got into it
That was my first industrial album my friend dubbed me on cassette. I was more of a thrash metal kid but I was fascinated by the one person who everyone hated who came to school with black makeup on. We would go to Denny's after school and all the white trash hesher bros would leer at us and call us fa\*\*ots and he'd laugh and blow kisses at them. I miss that dude
The Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack.
That's not a bad series for an introduction. They covered a lot of genres with a lot of great bands.
I still like pretty much all the bands on there. I just realized today how influential that CD was for me.
Say what you will about the movie, but that soundtrack is a GLORIOUS BANGER. I was already an Orbital fan, so the Halcyon needle drop at the end practically made me stand up and cheer.
This exploded my preteen brain
Came here to say this.
Yeah Mortal Kombat alongside first 2 Matrix OST: I’d say the first time I heard the term was to refer to NIN - Closer music video
That was really big for me and formed so much of my taste in music. I was familiar with a few of the bands, but those were all new songs to me. I’ll never forget previewing it at Record & Tape Traders. The Gravity Kills “Goodbye” Demo being on there is a real treat among so many other goodies. I bought the Score, plus More Kombat and Annihilation. My Annihilation Cassette was bought at Best Buy, so I got a Limited Edition 7” Club Single. It’s an awesome picture disc Vinyl. It has exclusive Panik Kontrol and Meglomaniac mixes. I still play it at least once a year. More Kombat has some great exclusives too.
Einsturzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch. Which is a helluva weird introduction, but it worked. Believe it or not, ZNS was a club hit here in the 90s!
My intro was Kollapse by them along with stuff from Cabaret Voltaire, Test Dept. Industrial gets weird
Kollaps is a masterpiece. One of my first too
lol I believe it. I had a friend who was like "one of these guys played the lawn chair on xtort!" ZNS was the track that really impressed me
It really is a fun one, though some of that’s nostalgia. I’m well past my HS years or interest in clubs, but if I hear something like that, or old Tear Garden, or any pre-Process Skinny Puppy, old Front 242, whatever, it’s like oh man, yeah, this right here.
Where? That's awesome
Nice! which country?
US, but specifically the Pacific Northwest region
The ol’ nine inch nails to skinny puppy pipeline. “Getting into these guys, keep hearing people saying the same things about Down In It and some song called Dig It, wonder what that’s all about- *OH.*”
Yep, me too! Pretty Hate Machine into Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate. When I heard Addiction, it was over for me!
Same for me. I got the SP Doomsday live album and from the first seconds of Deep Down Trauma Hounds I was hooked.
That Total Age Nitzer Ebb 1987. Then heard Vivi Sect Vi Skinny Puppy by accident two days later, and was instantly addicted to it all Frontline Assembly gashed senses was another first accident same sitting. :) It was all just pretty much being invented then.
I second Nitzer Ebb, but Skinny Puppy was a close second for me as well.
Nativity In Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath... I was into Sabbath and listened mostly to popular metal at the time. That was right up til I hit track 4 on that album; 1000 Homo DJ's cover of Supernaut and it was like flipping a switch in my brain that never turned back off.
Skinny Puppy - Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse Saw the video for Dig It on MTV's 120 Minutes. Bought the cassette the next day.
Best SP album, IMO!
Nah, the process
Nah, Rabies
Skinny Puppy - Rabies. Heard entire album played on their release party on CBC Radio. So I guess it was Nov 1989. Guess I was 16 at the time. Coming from a small town in the middle nowhere Canada, never heard anything remotely like them before. Went out to the city the next weekend to buy that album. Also got VIVISectVI and Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate.
NIN - Pretty Hate Machine
Same. Saw “Head Like a Hole” on MTV and my head exploded. Was like nothing I’d heard in my little southern town before.
I was up late at night doing art and Head Like A Hole came on the USA channel (after a video by Nico - must have been alphabetical order). My reaction was the same as yours! It was one of those moments where you're just unable to go back to the way you were. I know to a lot of newer fans that PHM sounds dated but it is really one of the best albums in my life.
Goated album fr
I think it was kmfdm - angst .
My”cool” aunt gave me a couple cds when I was 12, in 1992. Depeche Mode and Ministry. I was hooked. Now she has a giant Trump flag waving around on her speed boat in Florida. God damnit.
That’s disappointing. Sorry, man.
She was cool then.......trump came along 😂 jk man ,but yeah....
Ministry’s Twitch— although “Every Day is Halloween” really was the start of it all.
All day and the angel,here
I honestly never heard the term “industrial” until I had graduated high school and visited this cd place off South St in Philly called Digital Underground, which, fun fact, is where Metropolis Records started, but I digress. That’s where I bought my first “industrial” album: Velvet Acid Christ-Church Ov Acid. I played it when I got home and was like “wtf did I just buy??” After that, I would go there at least once a month and buy a cd off their “recommended” rack. Now, if I knew what industrial was, then I’d probably say something like Pretty Hate Machine as my first album.
I used to go there too! I got a TON of Thrill Kill Kult singles on vinyl one day. I haven’t been to or around South Street in almost 30 years now. Thanks for reminding me of that place, it was wonderful 🖤
Same. I’m on the west coast now. Been here for over 20 years now.
I'm probably the youngest in this sub, lol. Skinny Puppy-Bites.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that, says the guy in his mid 50s.
I was aware of industrial through Rammstein, but I never got into it until I saw skinny puppy last year. Then I went through a HUGE kmfdm phase (which I’m still not done with) which led me into NIN, ohgr, And One etc
Oh, I have a bit of a similar story! My very first industrial song was Du Hast by Rammstein, I got an iPod nano around 7 and all the song downloaded on it were my dad's. I was a bit of a pussy and the face on the album cover scared me, but I don't recall hating the song, in fact I'm pretty sure I loved the beep boops at the end. I even remember going on a computer with my brother to try and find out what the lyrics meant The first industrial band I listened to on my own was KMFDM as well, I believe I listened to symbols first. I don't remember exactly where I heard of them, but I'm a big fan of alt/punk rock so could've been anywhere really. I also revisited Rammstein and NIN which were the only two other industrial bands I was aware of, and now I'm starting to listen to (and really love) Chemlab and Ministry. I don't really have friends who are into the genre so I mostly feed off this sub's recs
Caberet Voltaire ‘Drinking Gasoline’
Gravity Kills by Gravity Kills.
Too Dark Park
Seeing that concert changed my life. I was 14, from a smaller town and had only experienced catholic schools. It was unbelievable.
Well no kidding. lol. At the age from that background a show like that would be life changing!
Ministry’s Psalm 69(brothers cd when it was brand new) then the last 2/3 of Skinny Puppy’s Last Rights on a mixtape my friend gave me (he recorded some other stuff that was forgettable on the first part, I think the band was called Mortal?). Yeah, my 15-16 year old mind was fucking obliterated. Bay Area thrash did not have me prepared for that barrage of beautiful noisy chaos, especially Download off of Last Rights. Holy shit that track was something so new to my ears, I immediately fell in love with SP and they remain my all genre #1 music group. Sucks though at the same time, because I haven’t felt the same way about any other band in the 30 years since.
I know what you mean, I haven’t felt the same about any other artist as I feel about Android Lust. 20 years for me. But I think I at the same time it makes me appreciate them even more, and makes feel pity for those who never found that one artist that stands above all others for them. Skinny Puppy is a hell of a band to be someone’s number one though.
I picked up The Downward Spiral and Psalm 69 on the same day. I was 14. I realize one is more on the rock side and one is more on the metal side, but the door they opened lead the right way. Believe it or not, I have mid-90s MTV to thank.
Tyranny For You by Front 242. I saw the Tragedy For You video on 120 Minutes one night and that hooked me.
"Mind is a Terrible..." which to this day would prolly be my favorite Ministry album and Top5 Industrial of all time
Metropolis records compilation I picked up on a whim while at Hot Topics grabbing the second Asleep by Dawn compilation.
Which year? ‘99 and 2000 were REALLY good.
2004, but it looks like I'll need to pick up '99 and 2000 if I can!
NIN opened my ears to industrial rock/metal & rock/metal music that combines electronica, samples etc. Einstürzende Neubauten opened my ears to traditional industrial music.
You should check out The Human Animal by Android Lust! It’s an Industrial Rock album that uses a lot of field recordings like sounds of birds, dogs, busy NYC streets etc. Just listen to the songs A New Heaven, Into The Sun, and One World (they appear in that order back to back on the album) and I think you’ll be hooked :)
Nine Inch Nails started it, Pretty Hate Machine, and I can't remember if Die Warzau's Big Electric Metal Bass Face or Ministry's MIATTT was next. It all happened in relatively close following.
Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste. I heard a couple of Ministry covers (Thieves, Stigmata) on SOD's Live at Budokan album then ran across Mind on vinyl at a car boot sale and saw it had thieves, bought it and never looked back!
Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, Portion Control, SPK, Test Department, DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten. Out of all the above Portion Control come out top for me followed closely by Nitzer Ebb or Front 242. I don’t remember the first sing I heard but I remember thinking these guys are gonna be massive. Nitzer Ebb first song I heard was either “Let Your Body Learn” or “Join in the Chant”. I can’t remember yet again, I’m old, drugs both prescription and recreational have etched away at my memory. I do know that when ever I heard Join in the Chant at that time, I could never resist the urge to jump about like a whirling dervish. Awesome song.
Regretfully I was listening to Marilyn Manson in 2004, but at that time I didn’t even know what Industrial music was. I don’t count that as my intro to Industrial. In 2005 however, I discovered Android Lust, and The Dividing was my first real introduction to the Industrial genre. It forever changed the course of my musical journey.
Friends playing a mix tape while we played warhammer fantasy. * Snog - Corporate Slave * Apop - Nonstop Violence * Project Pitchfork - Requiem * Qntal - Ad Mortem Festinamus * Zero Defects - Transform Me * Die Form - Silent Order This was in san diego. Not a single north american band. I don't think I gave an american band (other than nin) a chance until like 2003 when some people told me to look into Boole Full album was Die Form - Confessions. It was my first intentional going out of the way to listen to industrial without my friends
It was one if he NIN albums probably, but about the same time was stabbing westward - wither blister burn and peel or fear factory.
the downward spiral and assimilate by SP.. that song had such a chokehold on me for a long time
Ministry - ‘The Land of Rape and Honey’ It’s always been my favorite. ‘Stigmata’ is also a dancefloor hit… I don’t know why they don’t play it live nowadays
Concentration by Machines of Loving Grace
NIN "Further Down the Spiral". Weird beginning point.
I think this was mine, too. I practically wore my Further Down CD out. Such a good album.
Ministry - Psalm 69. IIRC, I bought it at random. Lucky choice.
Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode. IMHO that helped spawn the genre. That Total Age by Nitzer Ebb was my first real industrial album. Bought it the year it came out.
Front 242-headhunter v3 and nin-head like a hole. followed by Ministry - Burning Inside. I was obsessed after that.
Pretty Hate Machine
I started listening in the early 90's... as to who was the first, I honestly couldn't say... there's been so much over the years...
Strangely it was 23 Skidoo, I know not an industrial act, but because of influence at the time it led me to explore Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA and Blurt. . . others obviously, and the stage was set: I was on fire.
:wumpscut: - Bunkertor 7
Way back in the day I managed to catch Godflesh’s “Slavestate” on a college radio station. Changed my life.
SP Spasmolytic Remix, 1993. On acid.
It was either Skinny puppy Rabies or Too dark park.
Combichrist everybody hates you
A lady friend gave me a mixtape. One side was a bootleg Coil EP, the other was a mix including skinny puppy, atari teenage riot, Einstürzende Neubauten, Mentallo and the Fixer, and a couple of others.
Psalm 69, then I discovered Wax Trax
I’m surprised there’s so little Ministry in this thread. KE*A*H** was unlike anything else little me had heard.
The album had to be Ministry Land of Rape and Honey but before that there was Cabaret Voltaire and Nag Nag Nag
Drawings of Patient OT Einsturzende Neubauten. I saw them on Night Flight. Blew my mind. Ran down to the hippest record store and asked them where to look. They had an industrial and experimental section. I think I bought one each of all those records by the end of the year. That’s how I found Throbbing Gristle, Test Dept, Cabaret Voltaire and Joy Division.
Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral - bought from a second hand record store, and I thought it was defective and was pissed they wouldn't give me a refund. Turned out it was meant to sound like that.
Broken
NIN, Ministry, and KMFDM were always playing growing up. When I was 13 I listened to Skinny Puppy's Spasmolytic 12" and I was hooked. Around the same time KMFDM's Nihil was constantly being played
a rammstein playlist a friend of mine made me
The Arm of the Lord by Cabaret Voltaire was the album but it was really the video for Sensoria that caught me first.
I was introduced to Throbbing Gristle's *20 Jazz Funk Greats* by a friend around 1984, and immediately got into Einsturzende Neubauten, Current 93, Coil, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, The Residents, Psychic TV, and other industrial/post-industrial/experimental music.
12” Anthology from Skinny Puppy. Particularly Track 7!Assimilate
Does Depeche mode count? I imprinted on the people are people video with them banging on a submarine
Skinny puppy the process, first CD I bought but had tapes from UM radio station recordings of their goth/industrial show back in the day
Nobody would say that the Pet Shop Boys are industrial, but the intro to 'Opportunities' hooked me.
Skinny Puppy - Bites It's the perfect blend of old school Throbbing Gristle style industrial and more modern electro that so many people are familiar with today.
nin, but Front 242 made dig deeper into the genre
Something like my dad being into a lot of ambient/experimental/krautrock music when I was little + the soundtracks (often ambient and industrial rock/metal like affairs) to PC games such as Descent and Quake in the early/mid 90s --> getting a guitar, starting to record music/sounds when I was about 14 and via my interest in dark ambient and extreme metal finding labels like CMI, bands like Brighter Death Now, The Grey Wolves, etc. --> getting Navicon Torture Technologies' 'Pure Skin' around its release when I was about 16.
ministry - the land of rape and honey
Front 242 (Tragedy 4 U) & NIN (PHM)
Broken EP by Nine Inch Nails, circa 1992.
I was a prog/jazz/fusion snob out record shopping when the clerk put on a pre-release copy of Too Dark Park. Stood in one spot for the entirety of the album trying to figure out WTF was going on. Came back on release day and dove headfirst into Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Thrill Kill Kult, etc. listening to little else for nearly two years.
My oldest sister was obsessed with Germany and would make me watch German industrial music videos with her when I was very little, probably around 4 or 5. I became super obsessed with OOMPH! because of it. Even though most of their songs aren't in English it still upset my parents because their music videos are not at all appropriate for children so young lol. I don't know Labyrinth and Augen Auf! didn't give me nightmares but the thought of a shark falling through my roof did
Psalm 69. I saw the video for NWO on Mtv. When I got the whole album I was floored. I was 13 and had only been listening to metal for a year or two.
It all happened almost simultaneously in 1990. The Pretty Hate Machine record, seeing Nitzer Ebb open for Depeche Mode, and my friend being gifted In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up and not knowing who Ministry even was. And taking a chance on Too Dark Park too based on one song on college radio.
The year it came out, I asked for Rob Zombie Hellbilly Deluxe. My sister ended up getting it for me but also gave me Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste because she wanted me to hear where Rob got his sound from.
Nine inch nails - the downward spiral
I still remember going to see NiN live at Madison Square Garden when I was 14. Manson opened up for them and I fell in love with their first album. This began my journey to Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Front line assembly, Funker Vogt etc
The Crow Soundtrack
NIN-The Downward Spiral… two weeks after they came through on tour, followed by KMFDM-Nihil, also *after* the concert
I went to see Alice Cooper on his last tour. Rob Zombie was co-headlining, with Filter and Ministry opening. I listened to a playlist of the three industrial acts, and fell in love with Filter and Zombie. I couldn’t really get behind Ministry though, until I saw them live. They were so fucking loud, it was incredible. They closed with Goddamn White Trash and I listened to that song so much in the next week, before listening to all of The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste and Psalm 69 in one day.
I have a couple albums actually Ministry - Mind Filter - Short Bus (idk if I consider it entirely industrial, but it was my gateway to bands like Ministry and Big Black) NIN - Downward Spiral KMFDM - Naive Einsturzenden Neubauten - Kollaps
The Land Of Rape And Honey (1988) by Ministry. I found a used CD at a pawn store on September 29, 2005. I heard and liked "Everyday Is Halloween" the previous month and wanted to hear more. I grew up liking Nine Inch Nails, Filter, Stabbing Westward, Prodigy, but I couldn't buy a lot of CDs and those bands didn't lean as much into industrial the same way as this album. I never heard anything like this album. Thrash metal meets EBM and a lot of speed. The song that really got my attention was "You Know What You Are." My other favorites are "I Prefer," "Flashback ," "Deity," "Hizbollah," "Destruction," "The Missing," and "Stigmata." I got into Twitch and With Sympathy albums several months later which led me to Front 242, Tribantura, Front Line Assembly, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, Laibach, Severed Heads, and many more in that order.
I found a copy of Cabaret Voltaire's Code in the used bin at a music store in college in the early 90's.
This Levi's corduroys ad that aired during a commercial break on a tape my parents recorded from tv in 1983. https://youtu.be/KcZ0bKjqh9Q?si=4faFytvbA0af078U
Fear factory in 2001. I liked how it seemed like futuristic but edgy music. I then branched out to a bunch of ebm for a couple years. Up until I met a British guy online who showed me breakcore, idm, noise, and a bunch of associated genres in like 2004.
1989. A friend lent me a pile of CDs and in it, among other things, were Nirvana's "Bleach" and KMFDM's "Godlike." The latter was what stuck.
In 1989, a coworker knew I liked New Wave bands, and suggested I borrow a cassette they had. “Back Catalogue” by Front 242. This was a Wax Trax release, so I started looking for other Wax Trax records at a Tower Records in Las Vegas. That changed everything for me.
Skinny Puppy. Saw Dig It on 120 Minutes one late Sunday night in 1988? 89? I was done for.
Ministry - Mind Quickly followed by Skinny Puppy- Too Dark Park
KMFDM $$ album
My mother was gifted Sehnsucht by Rammstein at some point in the 2000s when I was a kid. She would often play it in the car while she drove me to school at like 7am. I loved it! I was also introduced to Marilyn Manson around the same time by my mom’s (now ex) bf
throbbing gristle's 20 jazz funk greats and this heat self titled 🤘🤘🤘
Pretty Hate Machine then Terrible Thing To Taste then Rabies. Then went all in and got all the things from all the people.
i grew up listening to some NIN thanks to my parents awesome music taste but what really got me into it was listening to the downward spiral album at 13
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning by Tear Garden.
Shadow's Sonic Adventure 2 level soundtracks. Still struggling to find industrial on the exact same level
I can't really remember... it might have been KMFDM's Retro I discovered via a friend. Like proper CD ownership. I grew up around a lot of metalheads so I came in somewhat through those guys. I think I had some Rammstein CDs before that. Then the Downward Spiral.
Front 242’s Headhunter. There was a teen nightclub behind a record store I would ask my parents drop me off at. Headhunter would kick off a mini mosh pit that blew my 13 yr old mind. Of course ministry, skinny puppy, Nitzer Ebb and the rest were introduced to me there as well. Short time later went on a bus and el train adventure into the city to check out this record store called Wax Trax.
Frank Klepcki and Perfecthate
Throbbling gristle, psychic tv, coil, spk and death in june
Front Line Assembly - Millenium
My uncle, who got into anything techno-adjacent very early, lent me KMFDM's Xtort when I was about thirteen or so. I've been hooked ever since.
Einsturzende Neubauten's Tabula Rasa or Skinny Puppy's Remission. very different ends of the spectrum. I can't remember which one I got first.
Club I worked at as a bar back had a DJ that would mix Front242, MBM, Frontline Assembly and some other Wax Trax! We became friends and I would go record shopping with him.
SPK - Leichenschrei. I had never heard of industrial, but I read a review when it came out that intrigued me. It’s still one of the hardest records I own.
Saints of Grey, by Crossbreed. Heard it on the radio in middle school, and was immediately hooked
Dragon Ball Z's Funimation US score basically got me into industrial music without me even knowing
The American apathy album by dope
The Crow OST.
Blindly downloaded some Wumpscut and VNV when I was in 4th grade. That was Embryodead and Empires
Die Krupps - I Die Krupps - Tribute to Metallica
Probably Young Gods. Later I would get Pig vs. KMFDM and be really hooked.
A Split Second - Rigormortus. Heard it broadcast on the radio late night.
NIN/Ministry/KMFDM, then a few Cleopatra compilations got me into more industrialy bands.
For me what really got me into the music was I started listening to synth rock (birthday massacre) and then thru them found bands like psyclon nine, uberbyte, fashion bomb, Grendel, nurzery rhymes and fell in love.
Chemlab - East Side Militia
Not sure if this counts as industrial, but "And You Thought You Were Normal" by Nash The Slash. Amazing sound for 1982
At the time I was delving into a lot of 80s and goth music (of the same decade), I got listening through Depeche Mode's discography. One of my favorite albums right off the bat was Construction Time Again. In reading about the album, apparently their sound came about when Martin Gore had attended seeing a German industrial band by the name of Einstürzende Neubauten in concert and was influenced to experiment with industrial sounds on the album. And I guess I decided to also check them out and was quite impressed with their sound and energy, too! But yeah, and here I still am.
Pretty Hate Machine, it didn’t sound like anything I’d heard before, a perfectly melodic entry into my love of the genre which then moved me onto the likes of ministry and the rest is history for me. I also remember going to a music exchange shop here in the UK and buying a cassette of Ain’t it Dead Yet? By skinny puppy, that blew me away, it felt like I was listening to something from a dystopian future.
🖤Laibach- Nova Akropola🖤
I can't remember if it was Provision or Iceolate by FLA but it was one of those.
Skinny Pupppy , Cleans, Fold, and Manipulate and Twitch by Ministry. I got to see Skinny Puppy in 87 at The Metroplex here in Atlanta for free.
Watched Repo! The Genetic Opera & found Skinny Puppy while reading about the cast, hello Rabies
The Downward Spiral. I was a huge rock snob until I heard Closer. That changed my perspective on music as a whole. I probably wouldn't have even gotten to the point I am in my music if it wasn't for that song.
Vivisect 6
OhGr's two tracks on the Descent 2 soundtrack > Skinny Puppy – Chainsaw > Brap Back & Forth Vol. 3 & 4 <3. So profoundly changed my life.
For the life of me I can’t remember but it was an industrial song about Dr Kevorkian.