Front 242’s entire history was clearly defined from the
start when Daniel B. and Dirk Bergen released the first
single "Principles"with the hit song "Body to Body” in
1981. In 1982, Patrick Codenys - keyboards and Jean-Luc
De Meyer - vocals join Front 242and they release the
single "U-Men" followed by the first full-length album
"Geography". This album already displayed the
cold,synthetic brand of dance music that would become
Front 242’s signature sound in the following years. In
1983, Dirk Bergen leftand Richard 23 joined the band as
stage performer and vocalist.
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Front 242’s entire history was clearly defined from the
start when Daniel B. and Dirk Bergen released the first
single "Principles"with the hit song "Body to Body” in
1981. In 1982, Patrick Codenys - keyboards and Jean-Luc
De Meyer - vocals join Front 242and they release the
single "U-Men" followed by the first full-length album
"Geography". This album already displayed the
cold,synthetic brand of dance music that would become
Front 242’s signature sound in the following years. In
1983, Dirk Bergen leftand Richard 23 joined the band as
stage performer and vocalist.
The band created its own label , and the organization
which promoted music from Belgium. 1983 saw the
release of an EP“Endless Riddance” and the re-release of
the first two singles under the title “Two-In-One”. The
band developed and quicklyreached a specialised
audience in Europe.
With the second full-length album “No Comment” in 1984
the term surfaced to describe the synthetic and
physically chargedqualities of Front 242’s music and
sounds recycled from the media and television.
In 1985, the fabulous “Politics Of Pressure” was released
on 24 track. That year, the band played for the first time
in largeEuropean festivals and flew to the U.S.A. for
some live performances. They were soon tagged as a
very powerful live group.
The international breakthrough came in 1987 following
the signing to Wax Trax in the United States and Red
Rhino in Europewith the release of the single
“Interception” and the albums “Backcatalogue” and
“Official Version”. This album had a busiersound picture
in contrast to the minimalism of the first two studio
albums.
In 1988, Front 242 released the groundbreaking album
"Front by Front", taking their sound to its logical extreme.
Preceded bythe dance-club hit single "Headhunter" and
its prize-winning video directed by Anton Corbijn, “Front
By Front” was the band'smost streamlined and dance-
oriented release, with an index/bpm chart displayed on
the sleeve for DJ convenience. This releasefirmly placed
the group as a major driving force of electronic music.
For their next album release “Tyranny >For YouFor
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