Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music16 Nov 2025

Cabaret Voltaire - The Original Sound of Sheffield

The story of Cabaret Voltaire began when they formed in Sheffield, England in 1973 by Chris Watson, Richard H Kirk, and Stephen Mallinder. The band would go on to one of the most innovative, influential, and pioneering industrial and post-punk acts as they became known as the original sound of Sheffield.

Cabaret Voltaire took their name from the Zurich nightclub that was the center of the early Dada movement and began their career with Dada-influenced performance art where they challenged musical norms and experimented with sound creation and processing.

This would lead to Cabaret Voltaire expanding their use and development of raw tape loops, avant-garde noise, sampling and other technology while mixing in danceable electronic sounds along with art, politics, and social issues. Their 70’s and into the early 80’s work would foreshadow industrial and electronic music genres that would follow, and inspire many artists as they became one of the most important bands not to just industrial music, but music in general.

In this episode we tell the story of Cabaret Voltaire and their music starting from the early years including albums Voice of America and Red Mecca, through the music after Chris Watson departed in 1981 as the band continued through the 80's with albums such as The Crackdown and Micro-Phonies.

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