Electronic body music
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
"This is Electronic Body Music (1988), Aktion Mekanik (2003), 80's Underground Clubbing (2004)?"--Sholem Stein |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Electronic body music (mainly known by its acronym EBM) is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic punk music.
Etymology
The term electronic body music was first used by Ralf Hütter of the German electronic band Kraftwerk in an interview with British music newspaper Sounds in November 1977. In June 1978 Hütter reused the phrase in an interview with WKSU radio (Kent, Ohio) to explain the more physical character of the Kraftwerk album The Man-Machine. Although the term originated in the late 1970s, it was not until the 1980s when it reappeared and started to come into popular use.
- "EBM stands for 'electronic body music', a term which only really came into use when the Brits and Belgians stepped into the 'sequencer business' with bands like Nitzer Ebb and Front 242. There you could find that sound again, where it was catchily picked up and labelled. In our days all these terms didn't exist, not 'industrial' nor 'post-punk'. [...] To us it was sequencer music, that was what we did.--"Jurgen Engler of Die Krupps
In 1981, DAF from Germany employed the term "Körpermusik" (body music) to describe their danceable electronic punk sound. The term "electronic body music" was later used by Belgian band Front 242 in 1984 to describe the music of their EP of that year titled No Comment.
1981–1987
Emerging in the early 1980s, the genre draws heavily on the music of bands such as Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, DAF, Die Krupps, Liaisons Dangereuses, Portion Control, and the danceable electropop of Kraftwerk. Archetypes of the genre are tracks Verschwende Deine Jugend and Der Mussolini by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer Lohn and Für einen Augenblick by Die Krupps, Etre assis ou danser and El Macho y la Nena by Liaisons Dangereuses, and Body to Body and U-Men by Front 242.
Front 242 characterized their approach as somewhere between Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk. Nitzer Ebb and Skinny Puppy, both influenced by DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, followed soon after. Groups from this era often applied socialist realist aesthetics, with ironic intent. Other prominent artists include Vomito Negro, Borghesia, The Neon Judgement, à;GRUMH..., A Split-Second, and The Invincible Spirit.
See also
