
Industrial
From COUM Transmissions' confrontational art actions to Nine Inch Nails' platinum albums, the sound of post-industrial society
- Era
- 1976-1999
- Region
- Global (Sheffield, Kingston upon Hull, Chicago, Cleveland)
- Key Artists
- 3
- Albums
- 10
The Scene
Industrial music crystallized in 1976, but its DNA reaches back to 1913. That year, Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo published The Art of Noises, demanding music that reflected "the sounds of a modern industrial society." Jean Cocteau's Parade at Paris's Chatelet Theatre in 1917 deployed dynamos, Morse code machines, sirens, typewriters as instruments. Arseny Avraamov conducted his Symphony of Factory Sirens in Baku in 1922—navy ship sirens, cannons, machine guns. Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231 (1923) mimicked a steam locomotive. These weren't just experiments. They were prophecies.
Key Artists
Essential Albums
7-day free trial, then $5/month. Cancel anytime.