VA - If You Can't Please Yourself You Can't, Please Your Soul (1985/1997)

This early-'80s sampler is an excellent introduction to the early pioneers of what is now called industrial music; tracks from Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel, Einsturzende Neubauten, Cabaret Voltaire, and others reveal the highly individualistic and innovative nature of the artists who ultimately gave birth to a genre of music that would become homogenized, stylized, and marketed to the masses. The brash, noisy recordings of these industrial forefathers remain more abrasive, unique, and uncompromisingly noncommercial than most of what has followed in their wake. The collection also includes worthwhile and interesting entries from Marc Almond and The The, who, while not generally known as noise artists, also exhibited a fearless individuality in their early work.