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Glite Dictionary
industrial music

industrial music

1 6.1
A style of music from the 1970s that uses harsh, machine-like sounds and shocking ideas
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈdʌstriəl ˈmjuːzɪk/
translation icon : música industrial
  • Maybe as someone who grew up hearing 'sampled' music regularly (industrial music and all), I heard Different Trains in a different light?

He's now done some old country and taking a skill set from the industrial music genre and brought it over to his passion from his childhood, which is country music.

Examples

  • In the 1980s, industrial music became a significant part of the underground music scene, attracting a devoted following.

  • "I was also big into industrial music, but the producer of the album, Danny Lanois, was going, 'Okay, this all sounds interesting, but show us where it's going musically.'

    Blog text (32)

  • He's now done some old country and taking a skill set from the industrial music genre and brought it over to his passion from his childhood, which is country music.

    Film Courage

  • (♪ Loud industrial music playing on stereo ♪)

    Children of Men (2006)

  • Many young artists are now exploring industrial music to express their emotions through harsh and mechanical sounds.

  • The documentary showcased the influence of industrial music on contemporary art and performance.

How Harsh

noise
∞ 1.0
industrial music
1 6.1

Surface Forms

industrial music singular
industrial musics plural

Morphology

industrial + music

The noun phrase is compositionally transparent: 'industrial' (relating to industry or factory-like sounds) modifies 'music', so the basic meaning is "music characterized by industrial/manufacturing sounds or themes." This adjective+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the general genre label even if they lack knowledge of specific historical or stylistic details.

Etymology

Industrial music may come from the literal sounds of factories and machines. Early bands used metal, tools and recordings of factory noise, so the songs sounded like industrial machines rather than ordinary music. That's why the phrase now means 'music with harsh, mechanical sounds' and often 'shocking or challenging ideas'.