Lascivious techno fiends Lords of Acid have just released a greatest hits package on Sanctuary, called appropriately enough Greatest T*Ts. This is their story.
Belgian Praga Khan (born Maurice Engelen), German-born Jade 4 U (Nikkie Van Lierop) and Oliver Adams have produced a blizzard of exceptional electronic dance music (new beat in the late-'80s, acid house in the early-'90s, various permutations of techno in the middle- and late-'90s) under a phone book's worth of appellations including Channel X, Digital Orgasm, The Immortals, MNO ("Maurice Nikkie Oliver"), Tattoo of Pain, and most popularly Lords of Acid, whose "I Sit On Acid" is arguably the best-known acid/techno song of all time.
Without ever sacrificing a ruthless beat, the trio (collectively, singly and in combination with others) has managed to infuse personality, melody, verve, and sometimes real menace into typically mechanistic and depersonalized genres. As an example of the trio's domination, they are responsible for four of the eleven songs on the best-selling Rave 'Til Dawn - a compilation that was an attempt to summarize the entire rave movement through '92. They have also placed tracks on the gold Sliver, and the platinum Mortal Kombat soundtracks.
Maurice Engelen was born January 7, 1959 into a prominent Belgian family, and he grew up a rock fanatic. The first album he bought was Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies in '73. He loved "shocking live shows," and would rush to see Cooper, The Tubes, or Plasmatics when they came to Belgium.
A guitarist and keyboardist, at 17 Engelen formed a shock-rock band, Booty and the BootFuckers, which was popular with the kids, less so with the parents. Engelen also came under the sway of the electronic music of Eno, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and Amon Duul; and dark beat-bands like Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, and Throbbing Gristle.
Engelen formed the Antler Subway record label with a partner in '82 to release proto-industrial body music by bands like A Split Second. By the mid-'80s Engelen was also DJ and proprietor of the wildly successful Happy House nightclub in Aarschot, Belgium, where he booked many of the same acts that he released on his label, in addition to other top alternative and dance acts.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
"I Sit On Acid" is a classic. i remember the first time i heard it...i thought "did she just say what i thought she said?"
2 - Mark Saleski
i totally forgot about my recent weird techno music experience.
me & my wife had gone up to the maine coast for her birthday last month. late at night i'm sitting up reading and listening to music on this fantastic community radio station...the show is playing very schizoid techno (like Photek) and the dj is mixing in sound bites from the old Incredible Hulk tv show...fricken' great.
it's what radio could be
3 - Eric Olsen
super cool, I was actually encouraged to do fun creative things on my specialty show on commercial rock radio in the early-'90s, then the station was bought by "corporate interests" and immediately headed for the toilet, where it cheerfully remains to this day