Front 242

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ebm, industrial, electronic, electro, electronica… see all

Front 242 is a pioneering Belgian electronic body music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. For years to come they took the lead in electronic music composition. During their most active period (they decided to quit ebm in 1993 with the albums 06:21:03:11 UP EVIL and 05:22:09:12 OFF) they were influential to many industrial and electronic artists, coining the term electronic body music (EBM) to describe their music.

History

The origin of Front 242 should be understood within the rise of industrial music, which originated in England in 1975 with the first performances of Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle. These revolutionary groups introduced elements of style later taken up by Front 242 such as electronic instrumentation, overwhelming percussion often with found objects, and looped samples of found soundbites. Going back earlier, these innovations can be seen as an extension of the work of William S. Burroughs and of Edgard Varèse, the first significant composer to adopt electronic sources of sound as musical instruments, and who also used overwhelming percussion including with found objects. It is perhaps no coincidence that Varese’s great mark on the music world took place at the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, where Front 242 would work a few decades later.

Front by Front
Front 242
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Geography
Front 242
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06:21:03:11 Up Evil
Front 242
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05:22:09:12 Off
Front 242
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Top Tracks

1	Headhunter	372
2	Welcome to Paradise full track	325
3	Im Rhythmus Bleiben full track	248
4	Moldavia full track	216
5	Religion full track	206
6	U-Men full track	197
7	Body to Body full track	195
8	No Shuffle full track	191
9	Circling Overland full track	185
10	Kampfbereit full track	181
11	Operating Tracks full track	168
11	Lovely Day full track	168
13	Crapage full track	162
14	Felines	151
15	Quite Unusual full track	150

Shoutbox

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skinnydrifter wrote:
4 hours ago

HOLY SHIT AWESOME FUCKING BAND

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Vtvvvtvvvtg wrote:
last week

Geography <3

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SinnMaschine wrote:
last week

@DJ_Tyrant: So as "Neurobashing" in my opinion...I can't explain what that song is doing to me..actually, I can. Title says for it self,lol

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Astronomicum wrote:
last week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ2Fq2-j7UI

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DJ_Tyrant wrote:
last month

W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G. (What You Hear Is What You Get) from the album Official Version is such an overlooked, awesome song. Easily the equal of Welcome to Paradise or Headhunter as far as an EBM dance track.

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ek79 wrote:
last month

"And the more I grow..."

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SinnMaschine wrote:
last month

naaaah you are just saying that! :P I'm still devastated, lol

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DeBiLast wrote:
last month

@SinnMaschine: It was a good night! A great night even... But i suspect your soul is worth a lot more, keep it and you will have nights that you can tell the next generation about :-)

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[deleted-user] wrote:
last month

I truly understand now Why it is called. EBM.. cause i can't listen to you guys with out dancing.. FRONT 242.. although you are from before my time.. you fucking rock. and i wish bands nowadays would take a lesson from you guys and not suck. because frankly all this new shit.. TERROREBM and crap sounds exactly the same.. YAY for pioneering bands!
SinnMaschine wrote:
last month

@DeBiLast: I think I would sold my soul to live that night of yours, lol!!! @FireandIRON: Im not surprised! and ohh...it was a lovely day, the day you walked away....8-)

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unaesthetic wrote:
last month

u-men is my fave :)

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DeBiLast wrote:
last month

Front 242 is 4-ever the greatest EBM-band! I saw them in Västerås (a rather small town in Sweden) in 1985 at a small club that was the inside of a cave, it used to be like a storage space for the swedish military. The show began with the 3 visible members sliding down from the roof (or ceiling I guess, sorry if my english is poor) in ropes, wearing bulletproof wests, military pants, boots, sunglasses. They all had mohawks; taxidriver-style. During the gig I talked to Daniel Bressanutti (spelling probably wrong), who was at the mixing desk. He was too fat to be on stage, he kindly explained (but he managed most of the synth-sequenzes from back there), F242 had their military image to uphold. You can't be fat and an elite trooper I guess. And he was really fat... After the gig the all signed my copy of "politics of pressure", including drawing the hammer and sicle on the inner (plain white) sleeve.

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cythron wrote:
last month

Brilliant set at Infest! :)

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pacmanic wrote:
last month

Front 242! YES!

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Empathy82 wrote:
August 2008

Quite unusual is so fuckin' great!

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mdb242 wrote:
August 2008

Trigger 2 (anatomy of a shot)...such a great track (as are most of the F242 tracks!)

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MacKirk wrote:
August 2008

love it! did see them live at Infest and it was fantastic. :)

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phenobarbidoll8 wrote:
August 2008

love em :D

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koniponi wrote:
August 2008

http://www.last.fm/music/Kangasala+Noisewall+Orchestra/

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Chineeze_cheeze wrote:
August 2008

Все, люблю их окончательно и бесповоротно

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12…9 Next

Events

Oct 11 Riffs 'n' Bips 5 Mons Expo, Mons, Belgium
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Oct 24 Alternative Party Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, Finland
8 shouts | 70 attendees
Nov 7 ElektroStat Fabrikken, Oslo, Norway
14 shouts | 35 attendees

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Listeners

VultureKulture
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to Quite Unusual
Mephie
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to Geography I
DD22
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to Soul Manager
w0u73r
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sturmwalzer
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cgs2
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Recent Activity

uenoitalo, iDoom23 and dj2dxdream added Front 242 to their libraries. 2 hours ago
supercock tagged Front 242 with ‘ebm’. 7 hours ago
nelaimis, SegaSexBoy10K, SESPO and 16 other people added Front 242 to their libraries. 10 hours ago
Ron242 updated the wiki page for Front 242. (diff) yesterday morning
qiwi93, Nankai8 and jasarbata added Front 242 to their libraries. Friday evening
unaesthetic wrote about Front 242 in BRAVE EXHIBITIONS 08-10-08 setlist(ish). Friday afternoon
CatiZeroC, lassejohan, adamantine_lady and 21 other people added Front 242 to their libraries. Friday afternoon
LordHali tagged Front 242 with ‘the ebm fathers’. August 2008
kossamums tagged Front 242 with ‘electro’. August 2008
Al_0708 tagged Front 242 with ‘electronic’ and ‘industrial’. August 2008