More Industrial

The other day we did some processing of moving boxes and I came across all my old tapes. This was soon after my posts on industrial music and new wave music so I immediately searched for those tapes since I hadn't heard them in close to a decade. By the way, I posted the answers to the new wave lyric questions in the comments. There was one compilation tape I had created with some of the industrial songs that meant the most to me at the time. I popped it in while I was running some errands during lunch the other day and found my adrenaline soaring. I felt like putting the gas pedal to the floor as I flew through the Ville Marie Tunnel. It was quite a rush to hear some of those songs again. The playlist included:

Pailhead: I Will Refuse
Front 242: Welcome to Paradise
Front 242: Headhunter
Ministry: Everyday is Halloween
Ministry: All Day
Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Joy Division: These Days
and assorted songs by Revolting Cocks, The Creatures, and Half Japanese.

The songs by the last bands were added because I was borrowing them from other people. The Revolting Cocks songs are not as strong as those by Front 242 or Die Warsau, but they definitely embody the industrial style. The Creatures were Siouxsie Sioux and one of the Banshees so they had that style.

But the two songs that I completely forgot about in the Industrial post were I Will Refuse and Welcome to Paradise. Paradise was as big if not bigger on the Medusas dance floor at one period than Headhunter or Halloween. But I Will Refuse reminds me of the mosh pit on the dance floor. The song starts orderly and slow and the crowd saunters leisurely around in a circle. Then the music quickly switches to a loud angry mix of screaming, guitar, and rapid drum beats. The circle turns into a swirling mass of forceful flailing arms and legs with people bouncing off one another. The amazing thing about the pit was that although there was a lot of aggression shown, it was not a chaotic street fight as it appeared from the outside. The players were showing their aggression, there was body contact and glancing blows, but no straight up punches or kicks. Although my sister pointed out that the skinheads would sometimes try to start something to see what would happen. It was a weird kind of release to be part of the melee.