While I am sure you'll find some industrial bands still out there, the backlash against certain media following the Columbine incident of 1999 ended the Industrial music scene very quickly.
While Industrial is solidly associated with the 90s, its roots date to the 1970s synthesizer bands:
Roots
Industrial sounds came about with the introduction of synthesizers. Many different genres experimented with Industrial sounds: in the 1970s: synth pop, disco, post-punk, and hip hop primarily - and in the 1980s metal bands began experimenting with industrial. The key features of the music were instruments that sounded like the sounds of a factory, cold and dull, distorted, repetition. Early industrial bands would fuse the sounds of chainsaws, electric guitars, and other sorts of things. An early example of industrial synth-pop is Being Boiled by the Human League which bears more resemblance to Industrial Rock than contemporary Industrial bands which lacked melody and beat that became a big thing in Industrial:
In case you're not familiar with the Human League, they established the synthpop genre alongside Gary Numan, Synth Pop.
Early Industrial Rock
While many bands claim the title of first Industrial Rock band (similar to punk music), the first that brought all the elements together was the German band KMFDM which formed in the early 80s.
Here they are covering Human League's Being Boiled.
Then 1989 hit Nine Inch Nails released Head Like a Hole, and as Synth Pop did earlier, added in dance elements and the genre began to grow at a heavily increased rate from here.
By the mid-1990s, Industrial Rock had taken on a lot of the elements of grunge and post-grunge bands, sharing in the fanbase.
1995 Industrial Rock breaks into the mainstream primarily through film usage,
Industrial Rock and Trip Hop (another relatively short-lived 90s genre)
Industrial Metal
Canadian Industrial Rock
By the late 1990s, Industrial Rock had become heavily associated with goths, and goths loved trenchcoats. Then a couple of kids decided to shoot up their school dressed in trench coats. Afterward, there was an intense media backlash against goths and Industrial Rock. Other genres like Nu Metal and its derivatives began to take over that fanbase.
The Death of Industrial
I thought about making this post after this episode of Black Mirror which featured bubblegum remakes of Nine Inch Nails songs:
(Note, some of you are far bigger experts than me on the subject, feel free to correct me on any point: I was more of a casual fan that was more into other genres that Industrial Rock tended to mimic; but I really liked the sound of a lot of the bands, especially NIN).
Bonus
Industrial Rock bands liked covering synth-pop classics
(Reznor on tambourine while Gary Numan sings)
While Industrial is solidly associated with the 90s, its roots date to the 1970s synthesizer bands:
Roots
Industrial sounds came about with the introduction of synthesizers. Many different genres experimented with Industrial sounds: in the 1970s: synth pop, disco, post-punk, and hip hop primarily - and in the 1980s metal bands began experimenting with industrial. The key features of the music were instruments that sounded like the sounds of a factory, cold and dull, distorted, repetition. Early industrial bands would fuse the sounds of chainsaws, electric guitars, and other sorts of things. An early example of industrial synth-pop is Being Boiled by the Human League which bears more resemblance to Industrial Rock than contemporary Industrial bands which lacked melody and beat that became a big thing in Industrial:
In case you're not familiar with the Human League, they established the synthpop genre alongside Gary Numan, Synth Pop.
Early Industrial Rock
While many bands claim the title of first Industrial Rock band (similar to punk music), the first that brought all the elements together was the German band KMFDM which formed in the early 80s.
Here they are covering Human League's Being Boiled.
Then 1989 hit Nine Inch Nails released Head Like a Hole, and as Synth Pop did earlier, added in dance elements and the genre began to grow at a heavily increased rate from here.
By the mid-1990s, Industrial Rock had taken on a lot of the elements of grunge and post-grunge bands, sharing in the fanbase.
1995 Industrial Rock breaks into the mainstream primarily through film usage,
Industrial Rock and Trip Hop (another relatively short-lived 90s genre)
Industrial Metal
Canadian Industrial Rock
By the late 1990s, Industrial Rock had become heavily associated with goths, and goths loved trenchcoats. Then a couple of kids decided to shoot up their school dressed in trench coats. Afterward, there was an intense media backlash against goths and Industrial Rock. Other genres like Nu Metal and its derivatives began to take over that fanbase.
The Death of Industrial
I thought about making this post after this episode of Black Mirror which featured bubblegum remakes of Nine Inch Nails songs:
(Note, some of you are far bigger experts than me on the subject, feel free to correct me on any point: I was more of a casual fan that was more into other genres that Industrial Rock tended to mimic; but I really liked the sound of a lot of the bands, especially NIN).
Bonus
Industrial Rock bands liked covering synth-pop classics
(Reznor on tambourine while Gary Numan sings)
