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Essential CLASSIC Wax Trax music? 
So last weekend we were in Chicago, and we stumbled into a really nostalgic treat: Berlin nightclub was having a classic Wax Trax dance party, spinning all the great stuff from the 80s and early 90s. In my drunken haze, I realized that all of this music was familiar to me, though I couldn't tell you exactly what the names of the songs were or who recorded them. It was just music that was always around me back in the day, and that I appreciated as hip and cool and an important part of having a good time. So, for those of you who were/are on the ball and were fastidious fans of the Wax Trax scene, I ask you: What do you consider to be the most classic/representative recordings from the heyday of Wax Trax? I'm looking more for songs, but albums are cool too. Also, it doesn't have to STRICTLY be music from Wax Trax Records...I'm looking more for that sound/scene/era. Thoughts? | |
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This is what I remember hearing the most in clubs around that time:
WAX TRAX: Acid Horse - No Name No Slogan Front 242 - Headhunter KMFDM - Godlike Laibach - Life Is Life Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Cuz It's Hot My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - A Daisy Chain 4 Satan My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus 1000 Homo DJs - Supernaut PTP - Rubber Glove Seduction Revolting Cocks - Beers Steers & Queers Revolting Cocks - Stainless Steel Providers OTHER LABELS: Frontline Assembly - Mindphaser Front 242 - Tragedy For You Meat Beat Manifesto - Helter Skelter Meat Beat Manifesto - Psyche Out Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole Nine Inch Nails - Ringfinger Nine Inch Nails - Sin Nitzer Ebb - Control, I'm Here Nitzer Ebb - Getting Closer Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant Nitzer Ebb - Murderous Project Pitchfork - Souls Maybe you should listen to some tracks from the comp: WaxTrax! Records - The First 13 Years? 242 edit [Edited 5/26/09 14:59pm] | |
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sextonseven said: This is what I remember hearing the most in clubs around that time:
WAX TRAX: Acid Horse - No Name No Slogan Front 242 - Headhunter KMFDM - Godlike Laibach - Life Is Life Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Cuz It's Hot My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - A Daisy Chain 4 Satan My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus 1000 Homo DJs - Supernaut PTP - Rubber Glove Seduction Revolting Cocks - Beers Steers & Queers Revolting Cocks - Stainless Steel Providers OTHER LABELS: Frontline Assembly - Mindphaser Front 242 - Tragedy For You Meat Beat Manifesto - Helter Skelter Meat Beat Manifesto - Psyche Out Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole Nine Inch Nails - Ringfinger Nine Inch Nails - Sin Nitzer Ebb - Control, I'm Here Nitzer Ebb - Getting Closer Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant Nitzer Ebb - Murderous Project Pitchfork - Souls Maybe you should listen to some tracks from the comp: WaxTrax! Records - The First 13 Years? 242 edit [Edited 5/26/09 14:59pm] i KNEW i could count on you for this.  | |
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sextonseven said: i was thinking about this comp, though i'm curious as to if it has a strong focus on what was being played in the clubs (especially in chicago) during those years...i'm less interested in the label itself (though i AM interested in that) and i'm more interested in the soundtrack for that whole industrial/goth/dance late 80s-early-90s chicago club scene, ya know what i'm talking about? you must, because that's a damn good list.  | |
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Anxiety said: sextonseven said: i was thinking about this comp, though i'm curious as to if it has a strong focus on what was being played in the clubs (especially in chicago) during those years...i'm less interested in the label itself (though i AM interested in that) and i'm more interested in the soundtrack for that whole industrial/goth/dance late 80s-early-90s chicago club scene, ya know what i'm talking about? you must, because that's a damn good list. Thanks, but I can only guess what you mean since I've never been to Chicago.  Those are the industrial tracks that got the most spins in clubs over here. Ward 6 on Saturdays was the biggest night in the early 90s. Allmusic has audio samples for every track on the Wax Trax box so I thought maybe if you listened to each one, you might discover a familiar tune.
The goth stuff is a whole 'nother story. | |
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sextonseven said: Thanks, but I can only guess what you mean since I've never been to Chicago.
Well, you know...I've never been to Studio 54, the Paradise Garage or CBGBs, but I have a pretty good idea of what a typically representative playlist might be if you mentioned any one of the three. Maybe Chicago's 80s alterna-club scene - Medusa's, Cabaret Metro, etc. - wasn't nearly as iconic as all that, though I do believe that there was a zeitgeist that happened in that place and time and there is a definite soundtrack for it. Maybe it's not as wildly iconic as the locales I mentioned at the top of this paragraph, or maybe it IS as big of a deal, but it's more of a Midwestern thing (and hey, we don't get a lot of that thing out here, so humor me ).
Hmmm. Eh. Anyway. Your list and that box set should be a good start. | |
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Anxiety said: sextonseven said: Thanks, but I can only guess what you mean since I've never been to Chicago.
Well, you know...I've never been to Studio 54, the Paradise Garage or CBGBs, but I have a pretty good idea of what a typically representative playlist might be if you mentioned any one of the three. Maybe Chicago's 80s alterna-club scene - Medusa's, Cabaret Metro, etc. - wasn't nearly as iconic as all that, though I do believe that there was a zeitgeist that happened in that place and time and there is a definite soundtrack for it. Maybe it's not as wildly iconic as the locales I mentioned at the top of this paragraph, or maybe it IS as big of a deal, but it's more of a Midwestern thing (and hey, we don't get a lot of that thing out here, so humor me ).
Hmmm. Eh. Anyway. Your list and that box set should be a good start. I should read up on that scene. I've heard it mentioned in whispers sure, but to liken it to the other venues/eras that you quoted makes it sound super special. Another good one would be the early 80s Batcave in London. | |
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Anxiety said: WAX TRAX: Acid Horse - No Name No Slogan : Love that one. Wish I had access to my vinyl right this moment, cuz I haven't heard that in years. | |
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I spent most of my weekends in my early twenties at a local industrial club. Most of the tracks I remember hearing regularly are on Sexton's list, but I can add (not sticking solely to Wax Trax recordings):
Front 242 - Masterhit (this to me was the major IDM/whatever club classic...haven't heard it in years though, so I haven't a clue how well it holds up. Nitzer Ebb - Let Your Body Learn Coil - Windowpane Ministry - Flashback (definitely still a personal favourite) Skinny Puppy - Testure & Hexonxonx | |
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I  Wax Trax! Awesome thread. I feel a personal revival coming on. | |
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damosuzuki said: I spent most of my weekends in my early twenties at a local industrial club. Most of the tracks I remember hearing regularly are on Sexton's list, but I can add (not sticking solely to Wax Trax recordings):
Front 242 - Masterhit (this to me was the major IDM/whatever club classic...haven't heard it in years though, so I haven't a clue how well it holds up. Nitzer Ebb - Let Your Body Learn Coil - Windowpane Ministry - Flashback (definitely still a personal favourite) Skinny Puppy - Testure & Hexonxonx How could I have forgotten Skinny Puppy? "Assimilate" and "Tin Omen" got played heavily here in NY. I remember dancing a lot to Ministry's "Thieves" too during that time. Add those three to my list. | |
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TRON said: I
Wax Trax! Awesome thread. I feel a personal revival coming on.you need to make one of your famous fancy packaged compilations and send me a copy...like, NOW! 
and that goes for you too, sexton!
and while i'm waiting, i'm gonna use this thread to help me cobble one of my own together. | |
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Anxiety said: TRON said: I
Wax Trax! Awesome thread. I feel a personal revival coming on.you need to make one of your famous fancy packaged compilations and send me a copy...like, NOW!
and that goes for you too, sexton!
and while i'm waiting, i'm gonna use this thread to help me cobble one of my own together. gimme a list of roughly 60-70 of your favorite tracks and i'll see what i can do. i love a 4 disc box set.  | |
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Yer booteh maeks meh moodeh Differing opinions do not equal "hate" | |
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TRON said: Anxiety said: you need to make one of your famous fancy packaged compilations and send me a copy...like, NOW!
and that goes for you too, sexton!
and while i'm waiting, i'm gonna use this thread to help me cobble one of my own together. gimme a list of roughly 60-70 of your favorite tracks and i'll see what i can do. i love a 4 disc box set. well, that's just it...i don't recognize a lot of the memory-triggering wax trax era stuff by song title. i kinda have to hear it and say "yeah, that used to play all the time!" i'm familiar with ministry, skinny puppy and thrill kill kult, but that's about it. | |
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Anxiety said: TRON said: I
Wax Trax! Awesome thread. I feel a personal revival coming on.you need to make one of your famous fancy packaged compilations and send me a copy...like, NOW!
and that goes for you too, sexton!
and while i'm waiting, i'm gonna use this thread to help me cobble one of my own together. I wish I could. Most of my industrial collection is on vinyl and I don't have the software yet to convert them into mp3s.  | |
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