Acting as another bizarre side project for the ever busy JG Thirlwell Steroid Maximus first came to life at the beginning of the 90s He assembled several of his favorite underground musicians to help him with the finished albums both Quilombo and Gon…

Antiguas undisputed party master who pleases everyone from the Caribbean to NYC to Toronto with cowbell- and horn-driven soca Talented beyond compare able year after year to compose infectious hooks with catchy lyrics Theres not a bad release by Swal…

Formed in Reading, England in 1987 by Andrew Sherriff (b. 5 May 1969, Wokingham, England; guitar/vocals), Stephen Patman (b. 8 November 1968, Windsor, Berkshire, England; guitar), Simon Rowe (b. 23 June 1969, Reading, Berkshire, England; guitar), Jon…

A side-project for Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles label chief Jello Biafra (b. Eric Boucher, 17 June 1958, Denver, Colorado, USA; vocals), Ministry's Al Jourgensen (b. 7 October 1958, Havana, Cuba; guitar) and Paul Barker (b. 8 February 1958…

Before Nine Inch Nails, electronic-based rock was often considered devoid of feeling and danger. Leader Trent Reznor merged synths with tortured vocals/lyrics, distorted guitar, and repetitive, slamming rhythms into an unpredictable amalgam, helping …

Despite helping to create the industrial rock genre and being cited as an important influence by many, when similarly styled units began infiltrating the mainstream during the early 90s, for reasons unknown, Front Line Assembly never truly managed to…

The German industrial dance act KMFDM were one of the first bands to recognize the link between the mechanical ferocity of industrial music and the unrelenting rhythms of the dance floor. Although they formed in Germany in 1984, they soon made a name…

After playing with various local bands, Rob Dickinson (b. 23 July 1965, Norwich, Norfolk, England; vocals) and Brian Futter (b. 7 December 1965, London, England; guitar) instigated the Catherine Wheel in the spring of 1990 by acquiring an eight-track…

Television came up in the 1970s among the first wave of New York punks (Ramones, Talking Heads, etc.), but their ambitious epics and stellar musicianship were far removed from the proletarian orientation of their CBGB's peers. The twin guitars of Ric…

During the late 1980s, guitarist/vocalist Page Hamilton formed the NYC-based Helmet after stints with Glenn Branca's "guitar orchestra" and the Branca-affiliated Band of Susans. Combining remarkably heavy riffs with tight rhythms, spare song structur…

In the U.S., synth-pop pioneer Gary Numan only had one hit, 1979's new wave smash "Cars," but in his homeland of Britian he was a major pop star. As one of the first pop/rock artists to focus on synthesizers rather than guitars, Numan was enormously …

Though Chicago's Ministry is known as the archetypal industrial rock band, they actually started out as a dour synth-funk outfit before founder Alain Jourgensen really ratcheted up the noise and the gloom on 1988's THE LAND OF RAPE & HONEY. In so doi…

Los Angeles DJs Justin Warfield and Adam Adam 12 Bravin formed the moody Joy Division-inspired She Wants Revenge in 2003 A fortuitous combination of word of mouth industry connections and airplay on Sirius Satellite Radio and West Coast airwave giant…

Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid formed the Jesus & Mary Chain in 1984. With their monotone vocals, feedback-drenched guitar sound, and notoriously chaotic gigs, the band garnered plenty of media attention and then backed up the hype with their…

In its crude initial formation in 1976, Siouxsie & the Banshees consisted of members of the "Bromley contingent," a group of notorious Sex Pistols groupies. In various permutations, the band survived for almost 20 years. Featuring core members Siouxs…

Although Nirvana and Pearl Jam may have been the most commercially successful bands of the 1990s Seattle movement, Soundgarden was every bit as important and influential. Part Black Sabbath/part Ramones, Soundgarden helped unite both punks and metalh…

John Flansburgh and John Linnell, the two singer/songwriters behind Brooklyn avant-pop cult band They Might Be Giants, were childhood friends who have been working under the TMBG banner since the '80s. The words "nerdy," "geek-rock," and "quirky" hav…

Alice in Chains represented the darkest side of 1990s grunge rock. Taking a page or two from such previous doom-rock purveyors as Black Sabbath and the Melvins, the band lyrically depicted the hell of drug addiction (and other hardcore topics) perhap…

While a select few hard rock bands incorporated rap into their sound (Anthrax, Faith No More, etc.), it was Rage Against The Machine that perfected and popularized the rap-metal genre in the 1990s. Unlike the aforementioned bands, the Los Angeles-bas…