Industrial rock artists looked at trained, competent musicians in the same way that paleontologists look at dinosaur fossils. These avant-garde artists dragged Music kicking and screaming into a new era of experimentation. That’s why their records are ranked as some of the most important of that period

Members of industrial rock bands were rarely competent musicians. And they were proud of this fact. Where punk rockers were famous for their lack of technical finesse, these artists rarely invested any time in sharpening their playing ability.

However, industrial rock signaled the way forward for most of alternative music. This is why today I am ranking the best, most important industrial rock albums of all time.

Throbbing Gristle – “The Second Annual Report of Throbbing Gristle” (1977)

Throbbing Gristle pioneered what came to be known as “industrial rock.” But as their debut shows, their intention was never to create anything resembling radio-friendly music.

Instead, the group treated sound as an extension of their performance art pieces. With COUM Transmissions, the foursome that included Genesis P.Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti had already shocked the mainstream art establishment.

“The Second Annual Report of Throbbing Gristle” made punk rock like Ramones or The Sex Pistols seem tame by comparison. And even though most of it does sound like a mess of cacophonous noise, it showed the way forward for many ambitious musical artists. Nine Inch Nails, Ministry or Marilyn Manson owed a great debt to them.

Cabaret Voltaire – “Mix Up” (1979)

Cabaret Voltaire looked to put Dadaism techniques into pop music. And, as unlikely as it sounds, with their debut “Mix Up,” they caught the attention of both the underground and mainstream. Tristan Tzara would’ve proud, I think.

Timing plays a big part in this, of course. By 1979, punk had happened, and David Bowie had integrated avant-garde ideas into platinum-selling records. Cabaret Voltaire showed that pop songs and experimental washes of noise didn’t necessarily have to exist separately.

The band covers The Seeds’ “No Escape Here.” And, while, objectively, they don’t do a very god job, Cabaret Voltaire’s debut remains an important piece of experimental rock.

“Homotopy to Marie” (1981) by Nurse With Wound

Nurse With Wound had a surreal, abstract approach to making industrial music. Like their contemporaries, Steve Stapleton is obsessed with technology in the post-industrial age.

Unlike its contemporaries, “Homotopy to Marie” sounds dreamlike, albeit unsettling. It’s an interesting exploration of tape manipulation. “Fashioned to a Device Behind a Tree,” for example, is less unstructured and chaotic than the projects’ previous works. Worth hearing even today? Yes, I think so.

Throbbing Gristle – “20 Jazz Funk Greats” (1979)

Music critics love a band you can’t dance to. I know, I do. By 1979, the British music journalists had embraced Throbbing Gristle as a kind of Captain Beefheart of their tiny island.

Like Beefheart, the music is designed not to make sense on first listen. Unlike Beefheart, Throbbing Gristle’s sounds remain as harsh and confusing upon repeated listens.

“20 Jazz Funk Greats” is the band’s most famous work. This is not least because of the artwork that features a tame-looking group of individuals posing beside the ocean. This has made many, including me, wonder how many people might have accidentally bought this. Haha, I guess.

Einstürzende Neubauten – “Halber Mensch” (1985)

It stands to reason that the most extreme facet of industrial would come out of Berlin, Germany. In many ways, Einstürzende Neubauten is the purest representation of the genre.

Einstürzende Neubauten’s reputation traveled far and wide during the 1980s, but rarely through its music. No, it was their violent live shows, their homemade instruments (usually repurposed construction equipment), and a guerilla-style mentality that made them infamous.

Blixa Bargeld may have charmed his way into Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and onto a U2 tour. However, Einstürzende Neubauten remains an acquired taste, an art project for art students and would-be anarchists.

Psychic TV – “Force the Hand of Chance” (1982)

The dissolution of Throbbing Gristle resembled that of The Beatles minus the public mourning.

Psychic TV became the solo vehicle of Genesis P.Orridge and produced marvelously strange music inspired by occult rituals, media manipulation techniques and 60s pop.

This all means that Psychic TV is quite listenable and that “Force the Hand of Chance” feels almost like a British pastoral folk meets prog-rock album.

“Just Drifting (For Caresse)” is positively sweet, but “Message from Thee Temple” echoes the band’s philosophy going forward and helps even establish a scene of experimental, electronic music.

Current 93 – “Dogs Blood Rising” (1984)

Current 93 was as unsettling as Throbbing Gristle. But, on “Dogs Blood Rising,” David Tibet archives the same apocalyptic tones using chants and tape loops instead of militaristic guitar noise.

Like their contemporaries, Current 93’s music is obsessed with violence, religion, and authority. Unlike them, the music adds a dark, folk-like sound that helps to make it just as nightmare-like. I often play just before supper.

Coil – “Horse Rotorvator” (1986)

Coil was another offshoot of Throbbing Gristle. The band would occasionally offer their take on dark pop but not “Horse Rotorvator,” a meditation on the Apocalypse.

The band revels in dark tones and extreme sound textures. It’s enough to delight the fateful and confuse the general public, which should be enough to delight the fateful.

Test Dept – “The Unacceptable Face of Freedom” (1986)

Members of industrial bands were, really, philosophy students who’d created a platform for their ideas. I bet you could talk to them for hours about the purpose of life, but not about which guitar company they favored.

Test Dept’s “The Unacceptable Face of Freedom” is a bold declaration on politics, society, and the use of synthesizers.

Laibach “Opus Dei” (1987)

Laibach is one of the groups responsible for European industrial metal, communist motifs, and Rammstein.

On “Opus Dei,” however, the industrial rock band took a bold step toward commercial acceptability. Like Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” the group is using its platform to show that rockstars aren’t much different from dictators.

Some got the joke; many insisted there wasn’t anything funny in it. Regardless, I am hear to declare that Slovenia’s Laibach actively astound and confuse all these years later.

Front 242 – “Front by Front” (1988)

By the end of the 1980s, industrial music could do little to scare off casual listeners. Some of the artists decided to add a dance element to the harsh sounds, and few were more important than Front 242.

“Front by Front” proved to be the spark that launched many electro-industrial bands. From the minimalist artwork’s design to the sloganeering and dance grooves, Front 242 is an iconic, often imitated group.

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