Severed Heads: Pioneers of Australian Electronic & Industrial Music

Severed Heads is an Australian electronic music group, foundational to the development of industrial and experimental pop. Formed in Sydney in 1979, the project became one of the country's most enduring and influential electronic acts, known for its innovative use of sampling and darkly humorous sound collages.

Early career

Severed Heads was formed by Tom Ellard, initially alongside Garry Bradbury and others, operating from the burgeoning post-punk and industrial scene in Sydney. Their early work was characterized by a raw, cassette-based aesthetic, with releases on their own label, Terse Tapes, including the seminal 1983 album Since the Accident.

Breakthrough

The group's international profile rose significantly in the mid-1980s after signing to the Belgian label KK Records and the Australian label Volition. The 1985 album City Slab Horror and the following year's Come Visit the Big Bigot expanded their reach, with the single Dead Eyes Opened becoming an unexpected club hit and receiving substantial alternative radio play.

Key tracks

Dead Eyes Opened — This 1984 track is the group's most recognizable song, a hypnotic and rhythmic piece that became an underground dance classic.

Greater Reward — A key single from 1985's City Slab Horror, it showcases their move towards more structured, yet still unsettling, electronic pop.

Petrol — An earlier, noisier work from 1981 that exemplifies the raw industrial and tape-loop experimentation of their formative years.

Twister — From the 1989 album Rotund for Success, this track highlights their continued evolution with polished production and infectious synth lines.

Tom Ellard remained the core creative force as Severed Heads evolved through the 1990s and 2000s, embracing digital technology and continuing to release albums like Gigapus and Commerical. The project officially concluded in 2019, leaving behind a vast and influential catalog that has been sampled by numerous electronic and hip-hop artists.

Fans of Severed Heads' pioneering blend of industrial noise and electronic pop should explore similar Australian innovators. SPK shares the early industrial and medical aesthetic from the same Sydney scene. Snog continues the tradition of satirical, sample-heavy electronic music with a political edge. The experimental soundscapes of The Future Sound Of London show a clear lineage from Severed Heads' collage techniques. For a more melodic take on Australian synth-pop, Real Life offers a complementary listen.

The groundbreaking music of Severed Heads maintains a steady presence on specialist radio, featured across dedicated electronic music stations, independent music radio stations, and online streams focusing on industrial and alternative 80s genres.

You can hear the innovative sounds of Severed Heads on radio stations featured on our website. Discover their essential tracks and lasting influence by tuning into the electronic and alternative stations available on onairium.com.