Thrash metal has the Bay Area, grunge has Seattle, death metal has Florida, but the industrial genre has Chicago. Through the Eighties and Nineties, before the days of computer-generated tunes or electronic body music (EBM), two men originally from the Denver area were largely responsible for giving musicians a platform for their content to be produced and sold. Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, the couple behind Wax Trax! Records, were godfathers to the underground scene in the Windy City, creating their brick and mortar store alongside their record label, focusing on obscure genres and artists, especially in punk, new wave, and of course, industrial.
The story of Wax Trax! is combed through in Industrial Accident, as a collection of artists, employees, and family of the founders discuss the relationship between Nash and Flesher, the rise of electronic music, and the eventual import of international acts, first and foremost among them being Front 242. With their embrace of European independent acts, the upstart genre of EBM made its way stateside, and nothing was safe. With a policy of trusting the artist, Wax Trax! stayed true until the bitter end, when the label was acquired by TVT and the scene began its decline.
Industrial Accident is a tribute to the independent scene, the DIY dice-rollers who made a movement not only possible, but persistent. It highlights the importance of the storefront, the hotspot Smart Bar, and the collection of misfits and oddballs that allowed for so much development. With archival footage from artists such as Ministry, Divine, My Life with the Thrill Kult, and the aforementioned Front 242, as well as interviews from legends such as Al Jourgensen, Jello Biafra, and Bill Leeb, this documentary is essential viewing.
As a relative newbie to the industrial scene, I felt it was my duty to learn the history of a culture I work so hard to celebrate and defend. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, involved in the scene, anyone that appreciates or enjoys contemporary electronic music, anyone who works as an independent artist, we all owe it to ourselves to take in the origin story. This story is a lesson in the tattered concept of the American dream, in staying true to one’s self, in appreciating and propagating a dynamic and a movement, and leaving a lasting effect when the last chapter is written.
For more information, and to find where to stream and/or purchase Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records, go to waxtraxfilms.com.
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