Hard to believe this was 15 years ago, how time flies!
The 90's techno/industrial scene was actually smaller then we remember. Techno was big and over-saturated with kids blowing their minds on X and Ketamine in basement raves (How I loathed them all..), and the Industrial scene is still around - Filter and Nine Inch Nails are still floating around. But mixing the two was unique, and they're also referred to as Post-Industrial.
Anywho, One of the groups that made it big was Lords Of Acid. If you were from the 90's and weren't living under a rock, doing the Macarena, or wasting your time with Bone Thugs N Harmony while sagging your pants to your ankles like a retard, you knew about these guys - Either you bought their 'Our Little Secret' cd or you knew someone who did. Still dont know why the pants-dragging thing hasn't blown over yet..Dont know about these kids. Now get off my lawn!
LOA, taking their name in part from Traci Lords, came out of Belgium to the states and really made it big during the mid-90s, peaking in 1997 with "Our Little Secret". The lyrics were bizarre, ranging from the subject of Cybersex - Complete with a modem soundbyte at the end that most of us would rather just forget - to Bestiality and Sado-Masochism; Hell, even the subject of aliens and a blow-up doll came up for some reason. It was just completely original, none of us expected it and we all ate it up. Good shit, whoever produced it knew what they were doing. Chances are we wont have an album like that again for a very long time, if ever.
1997 when they peaked
We all knew who they were. Like I said, the post-industrial scene was not big at that time. Most of us had a T-Shirt of Jade4u from the cover our OLS. They made a few records before that, LUST in 1991 (Which sounds like very simple techno, but you can see the humor was there) and Voodoo-U 1991, which was very heavily influenced by industrial. Personally I didn't like it, I felt it was too dissident and sloppy. None of us talked about it, I never knew anyone who bought it besides me. They weren't even trying to make anything you could sing to - But 'Young Boys' was a good track and 'Marijuana In Your Brain' was decent, they both had a fun chorus and harmony. The sound influence from the second one mentioned would have a lot to do with how OLS sounded 3 years later. LUST was good though, I still listen to "I Sit On Acid" once in a great while.
Although the cover was funny, it was a disappointing record. Clearly they were not cut out to dedicate themselves to industrial.
By the year 2000, they came around where I living - Houston - but I didn't have the chance to see them live. They made one more record after that, Farstucker, which has their best song, 'Lucy's Fucking Sky'. Check it out, you'll see what I mean..Its almost as if they were moving on, I could just tell in that cd that they were leaving the scene. Not to mention Jade left before that record came out, so it was a matter of time anyway.
Released in 2000, an Anagram for "Star Fucker". By this record, they had fizzled. It had its good moments though.
..And they did after that. Once the 90's were over, it was the end of the post-industrial era. We were disappointed but we knew nothing lasts forever. Most of the fans disappeared, and what we have now doesn't compare to what these guys gave us. They paved the way for something better, but I'm fairly disappointed - Partly due to the political correctness today, and partly due to the techno scene still being underground even worse then it was in the 90's.
One of their remix singles. Very disappointing, there's a reason you probably wont be able to find a copy of this online
Personally I think they sold so many albums and tickets primarily because of their image. Jade4u was hot and had a great voice, their cd covers were always well-made, and word of mouth gave them a boost because of their live performancs. And they didn't have too much competition - I know the Genitorturers were around, but they were a different theme; we never thought of comparing the two. The other artists in the scene were also good to them, I know they came out with a remix cd that had Sasha from KMFDM doing his own take (The Expand Your Head cd, 'Lover: Cake Mix'), and their Greatest Tits cd was actually put together in a decent sense; even has a few additional songs, "Stoned On Love Again", "Gimme Gimme" and ESPECIALLY "Nasty Love". That was one hell of a dance song, the harmony is amazing in that one.
Supposedly a new cd is coming this year after bailing for 10 years. We'll see what happens. Knowing they've experimented with a lot of sounds and themes, it could either be incredibly good or an incredible disappointment.
Essential for anyone's collection. Sums up their best work.
Download:
Lucys Fucking Sky - Single
Our Little Secret - Full
Greatest Tits - Full
-Or Better Yet-
Complete Collection on The Pirate Bay
RIP Wax Trax Records. Without them, none of this scene would have been possible.
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