Yoinked from Sideline:
Military imagery in Industrial Music?


My $.02.


The military (and police, and medtech, etc) things I like tend to be highly practical, insanely durable, and incorporate a sense of design that is both aggressive and multi-use. Pinzgauers. Ripstop BDU pants full of pockets. Converse tactical boots that are as much running shoe as boot. Assault rifles. Milspec transport cases. Things like that.

In addition, the military tends to get the first practical incarnations of bleeding edge science. Autonomous drones. The internet. Lasers. Superglue. Industrial music is the sonic equivalent of gritty science fiction, so this is a natural pairing.

Industrial music tends toward valuing individual skills and a DIY mindset. In the military, your skills can determine whether you and your friends live or die. Another parallel.

Lastly, industrial music tends to be anti-authoritarian. Co-opting parts of the aesthetic of the very source of authority, the monopoly on sanctioned violence, is in a way a big one fingered salute to authority itself.