UW & WaxTrax!

[*_*]

a few posts in the Headset forum have me wondering...

...how many of us became UW fans through buying WaxTrax releases in the early/mid '90s?

that's how i got dirty. :)

edit: i guess this really only pertains to US dirts.

[Scott Warner]

The earliest days of the Dirtylist (our old mailing list) was comprised largely of Brits who found UW through the clubs, Americans who found Underworld through Wax Trax! (particularly that one Wax Trax! comp with "Dirty Epic" leading off) and people globally who had seen 'Trainspotting'.

It was often funny to read the exchanges that would come from Wax Trax! fans listing off their favorites: "I like Underworld, Liabach, Ministry, Frontline Assembly, Leather Strip, etc." Club kid response: "WTF?" :)

[kissmywound]

Yep, first time I heard Underworld was the Wax Trax sampler called "Afterburn" with "Dirty Epic" on it. I remember listening to it and being stunned since I had never heard anything like it before. I played it to a bunch of friends and they all had the same response.

In fact that mix CD led me to another good band, Psykosonik. Looking back, that sure was a good purchase!!

[lloyd]

I knew wax trax by collecting EBM/industrial. And I think it was before I knew underworld. I went to all musicstores that had lots of import (aka US) stuff. Best then was to go to Antwerp of Koln, large stores with lots of alternative music.
I still cherish the WAx Trax Black Box (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003RGU/104-7670480-6942366?v=glance) after all these years and tend to annoy my coworkers with it.

[*_*]

It was often funny to read the exchanges that would come from Wax Trax! fans listing off their favorites: "I like Underworld, Liabach, Ministry, Frontline Assembly, Leather Strip, etc." Club kid response: "WTF?" :)

that's what i figured. :D

[the mongoose]

yeah, Psykosonik was my first Wax Trax cd........didn't help me discover UW though.:)

"the Best of Rave vol. 1" was my first UW..... but when I got 2nd Toughest on a whim from a music store employee's suggestion.....I did notice it was on Wax Trax right away.:cool:

[crank]

Oddly,
and I didn't know it until MUCH later, but my first experience came through SIRE/ Reprise complilations, the JUST SAY... comps. Early Underworld next to Depeche Mode,etc.


crank!

[ndrwrld]

i also had the black box set.....fantastic.
till someone stole if from my house during a party.
i'll kill em.

[dubnobasswithme]

yup. i also was picking up underworld cds along with kmfdm and psykosonik ones. in fact, my cd collection purchasing was almost 100% wax trax for a year there. . .

[sloff]

Yup I was one of those WAX TRAX! listeners too. I still have the mail in card with all the WAX TRAX! artists listed on it in my Dubnobass.... jewel case.
I was also that kid in black when I started going to see DJs and exploring the dance scene a bit more.
I have to rate Underworld and Skinny Puppy (I know not a WAX TRAX! artist but the style is the point) as my two big musical loves. Plenty of WAX TRAX! stuff in my collection, even have a well worn long sleave tee.

Its kind of too bad to think about how TVT ran the label into the ground. :(

[*_*]

i also had the black box set.....fantastic.
till someone stole if from my house during a party.
i'll kill em.

yup, had this one too. got nicked.

man, all this talk's got me really itching to re-collect some of this stuff.


:)

[ndrwrld]

I was also that kid in black when I started going to see DJs and exploring the dance scene a bit more.

i was dj'ing @ Sanctuary Vampire Sex Bar ( the original one ) when this stuff came out...very gothic/ industrial club in Toronto...19 to boot.
an owner of a Brampton nightclub scooped me up from there, and introduced me to the largest collection of vinyl ive ever had my paws on...all wax trax ish stuff...kmfdm, die, f242, fla...industrial mayhem...everything at my fingertips.
thats when i first ran into cowgirl.

i miss my black box.

[third.toughest]

I prolly own half of Wax Trax's catalogue and listen to it regularly. My first taste of UW was the compilation Afterburn that a friend got in the mail for free. Iwent out and bought everything I could find from UW (which at the time was Dubno and 2nd toughest. I used to go to sleep every night listening to Second Toughest and craving more. Has everyone heard the Skinny Pippy side Project "Doubting Thomas?" It is one of my fav WT releases. I also love Coil, Sister Machine Gun, KMFDM, Front 242, FLA, Ministry, RevCo, Cyberaktif (FLA and SP project). Man, I'm going to break out the Black Box comp and listen to it. It's been a while.

BTW: http://cgi.ebay.com/WAX-TRAX-BLACK-BOX-3-cd-boxset_W0QQitemZ4767073722QQcategoryZ307QQssPageNa meZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[b.miller]

hey slof, i still have a WaxTrax! tee too! i also still have a black-on-black Invisible records tee... both of which are still awesome.

AND i still have my black box... even though it's clearly tin and not black... and actually... my black box came with two disc 1s and no disc 3 so they sent me a disc 3 and i ended up with an extra disc 1... but anyway... the coasters, the bed of unspooled audiotape, the poster... it will stay with me forever. i will be buried with it.

and yeah, Afterburn came free with it... which was my first hearing of UW.

i actually used to mail order from them directly... it would be my favorite day ever when i'd get home from highschool 6-8 weeks later and there'd FINALLY be a box from them waiting for me, filled with goodies like posters, stickers, flyers, etc. in addition to the CDs i ordered. man, that was a cool time.

[kagenaki koe]

when Afterburn came out i immediately bought it cuz of the cool cover :D

i didnt get to order the limited edition version of Black Box (which came in an actual metal box) when it came out, so i ended up getting the regular version directly from WaxTrax which also included the Afterburn cd.

not sure where that extra copy of Afterburn is now.

[sloff]

Doubting Thomas is a great side project. I play something from it almost weekly on my radio program, along with the "Mandatory Underworld Track" of course. I recommend all of you who haven't heard it give it a spin.
Around the time A Hundred Days Off came out I remember a thread about who I'd like to have remix a track for a single, I said Download. I would still love to hear cEvin Key mix of UW or an UW mix of Download, I'll just keep on dreaming here.... :D

It's neat to read on boards like Dirty that so many people were into industrial music like I was. I definately came into a lot of dance music varieties from my electro/industrial beginnings. A lot of the people I meet now who like the new EBM/futurepop stuff were candy ravers first, might be why I don't have a taste for it since I was never a candy kid and couldn't swallow happy hardcore.