Industrial rock, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Punk rock 1974
Three chords, two minutes and zero patience for solos. A full reset of rock, and the second major source of extreme metal.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Ramones - Ramones. Fourteen songs in twenty-nine minutes, not a wasted note.
Ramones, Ramones (1976) - 3 Then
Post-punk 1978
Punk asking what comes next: melodic bass up front, dry guitar, space and cold. Possibly the most fertile branch in all of rock.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures. Martin Hannett's production is half the record.
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures (1979) - 4 What you asked about
Industrial rock 1982
Guitars over programmed drums, sampling and factory noise. The bridge to industrial metal.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral. Recorded, not at all by chance, in a house with a grim history.
Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral (1994) - 5 Where to go next
Rap rock 1986
Rapped vocals over rock riffs. The Run-DMC and Aerosmith collaboration opened the door; Rage turned it into a political weapon.
Rapped. Verses delivered as rap over the riffs.
Put on
Rage Against the Machine - the debut. No synths and no samples, just four people.
Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine (1992)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Industrial rock descends from, in order. Industrial rock has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.