Rivethead

A rivethead is a person associated with the industrial music scene. Although industrial music emerged in the post-punk period, the identifiable stereotype of an industrial fan emerged in the 1990s. [Udo, Tommy (2002). "Nine Inch Nails." London: Sanctuary Publishing, p. 09] Rivetheads are sometimes associated with the cybergoth scene, although the development of the subculture occurred independently of goth. Dress style is typically militaristic.

Origins of the term

Chase, founder of Re-Constriction Records, was responsible for the term's current meaning. [cite web |url=http://www.re-constriction.com |title= Re-Constriction |publisher= [http://www.cargomusic.com Cargoland!] |accessdate= 2007-09-11] . In 1993, Chase released "Rivet Head Culture", a compilation including several Industrial acts of the American [underground music] scene. The same year, Chemlab - whose members were close friends of Chase - released their debut album, "Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar". This record had a track called "Rivethead". Chemlab singer Jared Louche said he didn't remember where "Rivethead" came from, although he states that this song title was in his mind for years. [cite web |url=http://www.regenmag.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=3&pid=35|title= Chemlab - Teaching you how to bleed|author= pHil|date= 2006-02-24|publisher= [http://www.regenmag.com ReGen Magazine :: Industrial, synthpop, electronic, alternative music] |accessdate= 2007-10-22] . The term had previously been used since the 1940s, as a nickname for American car factory workers, mainly those working on assembly lines. [cite web |url=http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=63710 |title= [e-mail] |publisher= [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=124 Welcome to [e-mail]] |accessdate= 2007-08-23] . The term hit the mainstream with the publication of Ben Hamper's "Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line". [cite web |url=http://www.michaelmoore.com/hamper |title= Ben Hamper |publisher= [http://www.michaelmoore.com Welcome to MichaelMoore.com] |accessdate= 2007-08-23]

Aesthetics

The dress style of rivetheads is inspired by military aesthetics, complemented by modern primitive body modification (tattoos, piercings and scarification) or borrowed visual cues from goths (mainly androgyny, fetishism, morbid-themed jewelry and imagery, and black hair dye), as well as punk fashion elements such as the fanned Mohawk hairstyle. Below are some of the main characteristics of the rivethead dress style. [cite web| url= http://www.sonic-boom.com/industrial/dress-howto.html|title= Industrial 101: Dress|author= Jester|publisher= [http://www.sonic-boom.com Sonic-Boom Magazine] |date= 2004-02-10|accessdate= 2007-12-03] [cite web| url= http://www.sykospark.net/rivethead/accs.html|title= Accessories|publisher= [http://www.sykospark.net Insta Rivethead Kit] |accessdate= 2007-12-03] [cite web| url= http://www.sykospark.net/rivethead/clothing.html|title= Clothing|publisher= [http://www.sykospark.net Insta Rivethead Kit] |accessdate= 2007-12-03] [cite web| url= http://www.sykospark.net/rivethead/hair.html|title= Hair|publisher= [http://www.sykospark.net Insta Rivethead Kit] |accessdate= 2007-12-03] [cite web| url= http://www.sykospark.net/rivethead/bitch.html|title= Insta RivetBitch Kit|publisher= [http://www.sykospark.net A Spark of Sykosis] |accessdate= 2007-12-03]

* Footwear: Combat boots, tanker boots, Jungle boots, knee-high military dress boots, steel-toe boots (such as Dr. Martens, Gripfasts or Grinders.

* Pants: Cargo pants or Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) pants; often but not always black or urban camo, usually tucked into boots, rolled at the bottom cuffs or as cut-off shorts. Also, leather pants and bondage pants.

* Tops: Band T-shirts, black wifebeaters, flight jackets, leather jackets, bulletproof vests and trenchcoats.

* Hair: Long and black or dyed bright colors, shaved bald, partially shaved (undercut), Mohawk, Bihawk, Trihawk, Death Hawk, "Velvet Acid Christ" hair, hair horns (a la Bruno from Das Ich), or in a few cases, dreadlocked and cyberfalls.

* Headgear and facegear: Sometimes masks, such as respirators or gasmasks; helmets (usually in band promo shots rather than as streetwear) and welding or flight/military-style goggles

* Accessories: Leather gloves (sometimes fingerless); Wool fingerless gloves; BDU-style belts; spiked or studded belts; spiked or studded chokers/collars; dog tags; jewelry that incorporates industrial elements such as nails, screws, cogs, gears, computer parts or other hardware.

Female rivets may play along the "femme fatale" look with sexuality as power. Common are short skirts, military wear, knee-high stiletto heel boots, vinyl,leather or PVC bustiers and corsets, and lip gloss with less makeup than goths. Colorful synthetic pony falls or hair extensions and colorful vinyl are seen, but are more known as cybergoth wear.

Comparison to goth subculture

Rivetheads are different from goths in ideological and musical terms, as well as in their visual aesthetics. Confusion regarding the boundaries of those two youth cultures has heightened because of recent (mid-1990s onwards) hybridization, which has led some people to believe that rivetheads are a goth offshoot. [Thompson, Dave (2000). "Alternative Rock." San Francisco, CA: Miller Freeman Books, p. 72.] [cite web |url=http://www.blackwaterfall.com/7rivethead.php|title= The Rivethead|publisher= [http://www.blackwaterfall.com/gothstereo Goth (stereo) Types] |accessdate= 2007-10-21] [Voltaire (2004). "What is Goth?" York Beach, ME: Weiser Books, p. 06.] The Canadian novelist Nancy Kilpatrick calls them "Industrial Goths". [Kilpatrick, Nancy (2004). "The goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined." New York: St. Martin's Griffin, p. 23; 33-4.] The rise of cybergoths further contributed to this cross-boundary issue.

Goths are a romantic outgrowth of the punk subculture, while rivetheads developed from the industrial music subculture, which came to be in 1977 after Throbbing Gristle's debut album, "The Second Annual Report", released in November of that year. The goth subculture developed around London's "Batcave" club in summer 1982. [Baddeley, Gavin (2002). "Goth Chic: A Connoisseur's Guide to Dark Culture." London: Plexus Publishing, p. 204.] [Reynolds, Simon (2006). "Rip It Up And Start Again: Post-punk 1978-1984." London: Faber and Faber Limited, p. 422.] [cite web |url= http://www.scathe.demon.co.uk/batcave.htm|title= The Batcave|publisher= [http://www.scathe.demon.co.uk/histgoth.htm A History of Goth] |accessdate= 2007-11-23] . Rivethead culture is highly violent and sometimes totalitarian in its visuals, but not necessarily in practice. Goth culture is generally devoid of any appreciation for violence. [cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990897,00.html|title= We're Goths and Not Monsters|author= Taylor, Chris|date= 1999-05-03|publisher= [http://www.time.com/time TIME] |accessdate= 2007-10-22] [cite web |url=http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/0919goth.html|title= Oh, my goth - dark, cultural phenomenon thriving, scholars say|author= Lynn, Andrea|date= 2007-09-18|publisher= [http://www.news.uiuc.edu News Bureau of the University of Illinois] |accessdate= 2007-10-27] . The most important difference is the related types of music.

According to musicologist Bret D. Woods in his Master Thesis about industrial music,

ee also

* Punk subculture
* Goth subculture

References

External links

*http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/arts/music/09berl.html
*http://www.wikihow.com/Dress-Like-a-Rivethead
*http://www.aversion.com/bands/interviews.cfm?f_id=358
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/music/nn_festival_04/jared_louche.shtml
*http://www.streettech.com/bcp/BCPgraf/Manifestos/cybergoth.htm
*http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0207b&L=ads-l&P=14717
*http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/y/jack-yeovil
*http://www.johnnyalucard.com/yeovil.html
*http://www.jahsonic.com/Subculture.html
*http://www.sykospark.net/goth/cyber
*http://www.gothicsubculture.com/definition.php
*http://www.sfgoth.com/primer/schwarzen.html
*http://www.aracnet.com/%7Ejester/industrial
*http://www.sykospark.net/rivethead
*http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-07092007-130416
*http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang
* [http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/articles/preindex.html A Prehistory of Industrial Music]
* [http://www.darkfashionlinks.com Community based fashion Portal, see Cyber/Industrial]
* [http://www.industrial.org industrial.org - electronic experimental extreme noise industrial music & culture]