Masterhit

Front 242 invented EBM — Electronic Body Music — or at least gave it its name and most of its grammar. The Belgian quartet formed in 1981 building a sound that was militaristic, mechanical, and viscerally physical: synthesizer basslines designed to move bodies, vocals that barked rather than sang.

Masterhit is one of their most compact and effective statements: a driving rhythm, processed vocals, hooks delivered with the force of commands. The track exemplifies the EBM approach — rhythm first, everything else in service of the rhythm.

Front 242's influence on industrial dance, techno, and electronic music broadly is enormous and underacknowledged. Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and virtually every dark electronic act of the 1990s owes them a significant debt.