Electronic body music (EBM) is a genre of electronic music that combines elements of industrial music and synth-punk with elements of dance music. It developed in the early 1980s in Western Europe, as an outgrowth of both the punk and the industrial music cultures.Eva Fischer: Audio-visuelle Tendenzen. Entwicklungen in der Visualisierung elektronischer Musik und in der Clubkultur. Universität Wien, 2009, p. 18. It combines sequenced repetitive basslines, programmed disco rhythms, and mostly undistorted vocals and command-like shouts with confrontational or provocative themes.
The evolution of the genre reflected "a general shift towards more song-oriented structures in industrial as to a general turn towards the dancefloor by many musicians and genres in the era of post-punk."Timor Kaul: Some Thoughts on EBM as a transitional genre., Academia.edu, 2016, p. 1.Timor Kaul: Electronic Body Music. In: Thomas Hecken, Marcus S. Kleiner: Handbook Popculture. J.B. Metzler Verlag 2017, , p. 102–104. It was considered a part of the European new wave and post-punk movement and the first style that blended synthesized sounds with an ecstatic style of dancing (e.g. pogo).Renaat Vandepapeliere: R & S Records Belgium, Localizer 1.0, Die Gestalten Verlag 1995,
EBM gained a stable following in the second half of the 1980s.Dan Sicko, Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk, Billboard Books, 1999, p. 142. Around that period, a youth-cultural scene emerged from EBMMartin Pesch, Markus Weisbeck: History of Techno and House music. In: Techno Style. Musik, Grafik, Mode und Partykultur der Techno-Bewegung. Edition Olms, Hombrechtikon / Zürich 1996, , p. 11."1986/87: New bands like Nitzer Ebb, The Klinik and Vomito Negro appear on the scene and gain a large audience of mainly young males." whose followers describe themselves as EBM-heads or (in North America) as rivetheads.Kate Stevens: Freak Nation. A Field Guide to 101 of the Most Odd, Extreme, and Outrageous American Subcultures, Adams Media, 2010, , p. 108.
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.(2007-11-25) Klein, MJ WSKU Radio (Kent - Ohio) - Ralf Hütter - 19/06/1978 kraftwerk.technopop.com.br (retrieved on 28 January 2008) Although the term originated in the late 1970s, it was not until the 1980s when it reappeared and started to come into popular use.
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(2004-06-20) Monsoon, Jon EBM - A revolution in progress iAfrica.com (retrieved on 3 August 2007)Ernie Rideout, interview with Front 242, Keyboard Presents the Best of the '80s, Backbeat, 2008, p. 57.; in the documentary Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records, Jean-Luc De Meyer explained that the band tried to have a more distinct, aggressive stage presence as opposed to what they perceived as the "stiff" electronic acts who stood still behind their keyboards: "We're doing electronic music, but it's also talking to the body."
Characteristics Described as an outgrowth of "electronically generated punk [music] intertwined with industrial sounds,"Oerter, Rolf (2005). Spezielle Musikpsychologie. Hogrefe Publishing Group. , p. 443. Quote: "Punk mit elektronischen Elementen und industriellen Gerauschen gemischt -, die sich Mitte der 80er Jahre insbesondere in den Benelux-Ländern zur Electronic Body Music (EBM) erweiterte (zu den bekannten Gruppen zählen Front 242 und Nitzer Ebb)" EBM has been characterized as a composite of programmed drum beats, repetitive basslines, and clear or slightly distorted vocals, instructional shouts or growlsJudith Platz: Electronic Body Music (EBM). In: Axel Schmidt, Klaus Neumann-Braun: Die Welt der Gothics. Spielräume düster konnotierter Transzendenz. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, Dezember 2004, , p. 271."Am ehesten lässt sich der Vokaleinsatz als Sprechgesang bezeichnen: Die Worte und Textzeilen werden deutlich gesprochen oder geschrien. Neben der tiefen, männlichen Hauptstimme, die meist trotz möglicher Echo-Effekte oder leichter Verzerrung gut verständlich ist, kommt oft noch ein so genannter ‚Shouter' zum Einsatz." complemented with reverberation and echo effects. Typical EBM rhythms rely on the 4/4 disco beat or rock-oriented backbeats, (featuring kick drum, snare and hi-hat) and some minor syncopation.S. Alexander Reed: Assimilate. A Critical History of Industrial Music. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, , p. 165."Rhythmically, EBM is based around an incessant quarter-note kick drum pattern, often with a backbeat snare. Drum machine hi-hats fill in the rhythmic gaps, but percussive ornamentation varies from artist to artist. […] Drum sounds were often samples of drums, car crashes, door slamming or environmental percussion."
Environmental samples, e.g. hammer blow, machine and alert sounds, are often used to create a "factory ambiance". Other samples include political speeches and excerpts from science fiction movies, cf. Front 242 – Funkahdafi.
History Precursors EBM evolved from a combination of post-punk, industrial and post-industrial music sources, including The Normal, Suicide, DAF, Die Krupps, Killing Joke, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Test Dept. but also krautrock and Berlin schoolUlrich Adelt: Krautrock. German Music in the Seventies. University of Michigan Press, 2016, , p. 181. artists such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream (who had used electronic bass sequences as a basic feature in their productions).
Other influences include the synth-pop music of The Human League and Fad Gadget; and the krautrock-inspired dance hit "I Feel Love" by Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer.Ulrich Adelt: Krautrock. German Music in the Seventies. University of Michigan Press, 2016, , p. 135."Moroder first experimented with krautrock-oriented synthesizer sounds on his solo album ‚Einzelgänger' (1975), an artistic and commercial failure. It is remarkable that he not only felt the necessity to experiment with synthesizer sounds reminiscent of Berlin School artists like Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze but that these experiments would help him to develop a unique German Disco sound with Summer's 1977 hit ‚I Feel Love'." Daniel Bressanutti (Front 242), who helped establish the term EBM, named the soundscapes of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze as additional influences along Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle, the sequencer-based electro-disco of Giorgio Moroder, and the punk movement.
1981–1987 Emerging in the early 1980s in Germany and Belgium,Judith Platz: Electronic Body Music (EBM). In: Axel Schmidt, Klaus Neumann-Braun: Die Welt der Gothics. Spielräume düster konnotierter Transzendenz. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, Dezember 2004, , p. 270."Seinen Ursprung hat das Genre Anfang der 1980er-Jahre in Deutschland und Belgien." bands such as DAF, Die Krupps,Release Magazine: Die Krupps - Too Much History Liaisons Dangereuses, and Front 242 started to blend danceable rhythms and repetitive sequencer lines. At the time the genre arose, style-defining synthesizers included Korg MS-20, Roland SH-101,S. Alexander Reed: Assimilate. A Critical History of Industrial Music. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, , p. 153. ARP Odyssey, Emulator II, along with several Oberheim and Yamaha models.
Archetypical songs are Verschwende deine Jugend, Alle gegen alle and Der Mussolini by DAF; Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn, Goldfinger and Für einen Augenblick by Die Krupps; Etre assis ou danser, Los niños del parque and Avant-après mars by Liaisons Dangereuses, and Body to Body, U-Men and He Runs Too Fast for Us by Front 242.
Front 242 characterized their approach as somewhere between Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk. Nitzer Ebb and Portion Control, influenced by DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, followed soon after. Groups from this era often applied socialist realist aesthetics, with ironic intent. Other prominent artists were Pankow,Andi Harriman: Italian EBM progenitors Pankow, 23 August 2017. Vomito Negro, Borghesia, The Neon Judgement, à;GRUMH..., A Split-Second, The Klinik, and Signal Aout 42.
1988–1993 In the second half of the 1980s, the genre became popular in Canada (Front Line Assembly) and the U.S. (Ministry,"...this album probably owes more to Front 242 than anything." Revolting Cocks, Schnitt Acht) as well as in Sweden (Inside Treatment, Pouppée Fabrikk, Cat Rapes Dog) and Japan (2nd Communication, DRP, Soft Ballet). North American bands started to use EBM-typical bass sequences and combined them with the roughness of (hardcore) punk and thrash metal (cf. industrial metal). Nine Inch Nails continued the cross-pollination between EBM and rock music resulting in the album Pretty Hate Machine (1989).
Meanwhile, EBM became successful in the underground club scene, particularly in Europe. In this period the most important labels were the Belgian Play It Again Sam and Antler-Subway, the German Zoth Ommog, the North American Wax Trax! and the Swedish Energy Rekords. Notable acts at that time included And One, Armageddon Dildos, Bigod 20, Insekt,Insekt. Retrieved 15 December 2014. Scapa Flow, Orange Sector, Paranoid, and Electro Assassin.
Between the early and mid-1990s, many EBM artists ceased activities or changed their musical direction, incorporating more elements of rock, heavy metal and electronica. The album 06:21:03:11 Up Evil by Front 242 initiated the end of the EBM era of the 1980s. Nitzer Ebb, one of the most important purveyors of the genre, turned into an alternative rock band. Without the strength of its figureheads, electronic body music as a discernable music style faded by the mid-1990s.
Revival
In the late 1990s and after the millennium, Belgian, Swedish and German artists such as Ionic Vision, Machine Command, Tyske Ludder, and Spetsnaz had reactivated the style. Based on this revival, Sweden and East Germany then became the centre of the movement spawning a variety of newcomers. Primarily as a counteracting force against the expanding futurepop scene,Daniela Vorndran: Spetsnaz, Reflections of Darkness: A Dark Music webzine, 6 March 2006. these artists followed a neo-traditionalistic path, often referred to as "old school EBM".
Simultaneously, a number of European techno producers started incorporating elements of EBM into their sound. This tendency grew in parallel with the emerging electroclash scene and, as that scene started to decline, artists partly associated with it, such as The Hacker, DJ Hell, Green Velvet, Black Strobe, and David Carretta, moved towards this techno/EBM crossover style.
There has been increasing convergence between this scene and the old school EBM scene. Some artists have remixed each other. Most notably, Terence Fixmer joined with Nitzer Ebb's Douglas McCarthy to form Fixmer/McCarthy.
Aesthetics