'Electronic body music' was coined by Kraftwerk's Ralf Hütter in 1977 but only became a genre label in the 1980s

The phrase ‘electronic body music’ originated with Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter in a November 1977 Sounds interview (reused June 1978 to describe The Man-Machine’s physical character). The term then lay dormant: it ‘was not until the 1980s when it reappeared and started to come into popular use’, when Belgian band Front 242 applied it in 1984 to their EP ‘No Comment’. This explains why EBM as a genre label is an early-1980s phenomenon despite the 1977 coinage — the phrase was borrowed and repurposed once the sequencer-based scene coalesced. German band DAF used the parallel term ‘Körpermusik’ (body music) in 1981.

Examples

Ralf Hütter, Sounds interview Nov 1977: first use. Front 242, 1984 ‘No Comment’ EP: genre label popularised. Jean-Luc De Meyer (Front 242): ‘We’re doing electronic music, but it’s also talking to the body.’ DAF, 1981: ‘Körpermusik’ as self-description.

Assessment

Explain why EBM as a genre label appears in the 1980s even though a Kraftwerk member coined the phrase in 1977. What changed between those two uses of the term?