The term electronic body music was first used by Ralf Hütter of the German electronic band Kraftwerk in an interview with British music newspaper Sounds in November 1977. Around that period, a youth-cultural scene emerged from EBM whose followers describe themselves as EBM-heads or (in North America) as rivetheads. ĮBM gained a stable following in the second half of the 1980s. The evolution of the genre reflected 'a general shift towards more song-oriented structures in industrial as to a general turn towards the dancefloor by many musicians and genres in the era of post-punk.' It was considered a part of the European new wave and post-punk movement and the first style that blended synthesized sounds with an ecstatic style of dancing (e.g.
ĮBM was equally as an outgrowth of both punk and industrial music cultures, resulting from a variety of influences. It combines sequenced repetitive basslines, programmed dance music rhythms, and mostly undistorted vocals and commandlike shouts with confrontational or provocative themes. Electronic body music ( acronymized to EBM) is a genre of electronic music that developed in the early 1980s in Western Europe.
