Follow TV Tropes



Go To

EBM is a subgenre of Industrial music that focuses on hard, danceable beats. Often employs totalitarian or militaristic imagery. While early Industrial was extremely avant-garde, by the mid-eighties there was a wave of more accessible Industrial music with danceable rhythms. Some bands like Skinny Puppy did this in a very synthpop-like style, only darker and edgier. One Belgian band, Front 242, created a style that was very sparse and minimal, with a focus on futuristic and dystopian imagery. They called this Electronic Body Music, or EBM, making them the Trope Namers. Later, British band Nitzer Ebb took this style and turned up the militarism, combined it with ample Soviet imagery, and performed with lyrics that were more barked commands than sung vocals. This would be the model for most EBM to come. Nowadays EBM has evolved, split, or influenced many styles of Industrial music to the point where instead of implying a specific style its often used as a name for any danceable industrial. A movement in Sweden of bands trying to emulate the old-school late 80s/early 90s sound has sprung up, with bands like Sturm Cafe and Spetsnaz.


How well does it match the trope?

Example of:


Media sources: