Music has been an integral part of my adult life. It is often my escape from reality, the way I can pull myself out of a bad mood, or become the soundtrack of my day. It is said that music can tame the savage beast and it would seem that it does, in fact, have a power to influence people and animals. A quick scroll through Tik Tok, Instagram, or YouTube, you can find videos of animals that seemed entranced by either someone singing, playing an instrument, or just music for them. The power of music cannot be underestimated.
As I have aged, my music tastes have become much more varied than where they started. My tastes grew based on what my friends listened to, new things I head on the radio, or from movie soundtracks. Some of my most favorite bands were found that way. Today, I would like to share how I found out about the group, Lords of Acid. Join me as I share… Lords of Acid: A Trip Through Industrial Dance Music.
Who are the Lords of Acid
The Lords of Acid are a Belgian-American post-industrial/techno band pioneered by musician Maurice Engelen, better known by his stage name Praga Khan. The group is known for its sexually suggestive lyrics and energetic live shows.
The band rose to fame in the early 1990s with their debut album Lust, which spawned hits like “Rough Sex” and “I Sit on Acid”. Their sound blends elements of acid house, techno, and industrial music, and their lyrics often deal with taboo subjects like sex, drugs, and violence.
The Lords of Acid have gone through many lineup changes over the years, but Praga Khan has remained the constant driving force behind the band. Lords of Acid has seen a revolving door of members throughout its history. Key former members include:
- Olivier Adams: keyboards, programming, drums, backing vocals
- Erhan Kurken: guitars, keyboards, programming
- Ludo Camberlin: guitars, keyboards, programming
- Various vocalists: Ruth McArdle, Deborah Ostrega, Nikkie Van Lierop, Mea Fisher, Marieke Bresseleers
- Recent lineup additions: Lacey Conner (vocals), Sin Quirin (guitar), M3 (bass), Kirk Salvador (drums)
The band currently features Gigi on vocals alongside Praga Khan.
They continue to tour and release music to this day, and their unique sound and outrageous live shows continue to captivate audiences around the world.
’Rough Sex’ and headphones
I cant remember the exact date but I do remember the first song I heard from Lords of Acid, that song was “I Sit on Acid.” Initially, Prada Khan released that song in 1988 and I heard it at a high school dance in 1989 or 1990. I was immediately entranced with the song but didnt knew who sang it. I had gone to a music store in our mall looking for a new type of dance music I heard about called Acid Techno. I knew nothing about the genre and assumed it would be easy to find. Instead, I found the album LUST by Lords of Acid. I assumed this was something indicative of that genre and bought it. I, thankfully, had a mother that trusted my purchasing decisions or I might have never gotten it due to the scantily clad woman on the cover and the Parental Advisory sticker that was emblazoned across the plastic wrap.
When I got home I put it in my CD player, put on my headphones and queued up the first track, “Take Control”. I was instantly hooked. This had everything I was looking for, a bumping bass line (how old do I sound saying that?), addictive track, and most of the lyrics are about sex or just feeling good. I had already had experience hiding music like this, thanks to the group Digital Underground and their album Sex Packets. I am pretty sure I burned a groove into that CD as many times as I listened to it. So this meant listening to it at night and with headphones.
What I didnt know is that Lords of Acid was also considered, by some, as industrial and this was my first introduction to that genre. This created a desire for me to find more music like this and that led me to finding My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. At this time, I still did not fully know what industrial music was. That was all about to change with college.
When I met my first boyfriend, I was excited to learn that he also knew and loved Lords of Acid. His favorite album was Our Little Secret and we would play the song “Pussy” over and over very loudly, much to the dismay of our neighbors. The last album by Lords of Acid we got to share, before he passed, was Farstrucker. That album still holds significance to this day.
One artist to rule them
The one constant member to Lords of Acid is its founder, Praga Khan. Praga Khan, Maurice Joseph François Engelen, was born on January 7, 1959 in Antwerp, Belgium. At 65 years of age, he is still creating ground breaking music and touring to promote his new releases.
Arguable, Praga is most known for his ever lasting side project, Lords of Acid but it doesnt stop there. Praga has been involved in numerous other projects throughout his career. Some of those side projects are Channel X, Digital Orgasm, Major Problem, 101, and Dirty Harry, to name a few. Each of these ventures allowed him to play with different styles and sounds. His willingness to collaborate and experiment is probably the key ingredient in his success in the electronic music scene.
From his solo career, Praga is probably most known for “Injected with a Poison,” he also has had several albums to his name. His debut solo album was titled A Spoonful of Miracle in 1993. He continued releasing albums until the early 2000s, where he explored various electronic genres including techno and breakbeat. Two of his biggest albums from this time were Pragamatic and Mutant Funk.
Praga has had many songs featured in movie soundtracks, there are two that are the most notable. The first one would be “Rave the Rhythm” from the film Basic Instinct. However, his best known song on a movie soundtrack is often not credited to him. That song is “Mortal Kombat” by the Immortals.
Praise the Lords
There are two bands that were the early shapers of my music taste. The first is KMFDM and the second is Lords of Acid. Both are bands that have experimented with sounds and samples to create a unique vision of music. There are few bands that have the kind of longevity that they do and I hope Lords of Acid continues to break boundaries and explore new frontiers in the music world. What I am most thankful for was that, with Karl, I was able to fulfill a bucket list item and seem them in concert. The unfortunate part of that concert was that Praga was sick and could not perform the whole set, instead he had Emrich sub in for him so that the show could continue. Talk about dedication. We were actually supposed to have seem them two years ago but the show was canceled in Cleveland thanks to the Odeon canceling their show just a couple hours before they were to take the stage.
Are there any bands from your childhood that you still listen to? Were there ones that helped shape your current music tastes? Have you ever heard of the Lords of Acid or and of Praga Khan’s other side projects? If you are a fan of Lords of Acid, what songs are your favorite? Let me know in the comments below. And remember, Praise the Lords and fuck the rest!
Gay in the CLE 