Industrial Evolution: Through the Eighties with Cabaret Voltaire

"Does for Cabaret Voltaire what Nick Hornby did for Arsenal Football club." Record Collector

“Sheffield seemed like a bombsite, 30 years after the War’s end.” Jon Savage

Industrial Evolution is an eyewitness account of Sheffield’s post-punk music scene and its turbulent journey through the 1980s. The author follows Cabaret Voltaire's progress from experimental pioneers to mainstream record deals. En route we delve into the subculture that revolved around Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA, the Human League and ABC.

Mick Fish is pulled further into Cabaret Voltaire’s orbit, whilst still struggling to hold down a job at a London council rubbish tip where all concerned are trying to fend off the threat of privatisation. As the decade progresses, everything starts to upend as all concerned reach for the panic button.

Cabaret Voltaire are back in the headlines. Both Virgin and EMI have reissued highly publicised compilations of their mid-80s output.

Namedropped by Radiohead, Moby and Kraftwerk; revered by Orbital, Future Sound of London and dance fans the world over. The Cabs are credited as being amongst the first to incorporate "sampling" in their music.

Features an additional section containing all the interviews from Cabaret Voltaire - the Art of the Sixth Sense.

All things eighties are now being re-examined. Whatever sphere you were working in - experimental band or Local Government - few survived the decade unscathed by the tide of rampant Conservatism.

About the author:
Mick Fish is also the co-author of Kraftwerk - Man, Machine & Music (also published by SAF Publishing).

Uploader comment: Bought this book in paperback when it was first published - spent an afternoon house painting to get the cash to buy it. An excellent read for fans of CV; but also, a most illuminating window into life in the UK in the 1980s in the dark shadow of Thatcher, when I was living there. Mick Fish writes with intelligence and the passion of a true Cabaret Voltaire fan. I highly recommend this book. :-)