Harsh noise emerged in the early 1980s from the Japanoise scene and European power electronics

Harsh noise is a subgenre of noise music that emerged in the early 1980s, originating from two parallel sources: the Japanese noise (Japanoise) scene and the European power electronics movement. It is characterised by dense, high-volume distortion and feedback with conventional melody, rhythm, and harmony dispensed with. Japanese acts (Merzbow, Hijokaidan, Incapacitants) and American/European artists (the Haters, Daniel Menche, Vomir, Richard Ramirez) together drove its formation and its later hardening into harsh noise wall. Its dual origin explains why harsh noise reads as a genuinely transnational subgenre rather than a single-scene export.

Examples

Merzbow, Hijokaidan, Incapacitants (Japanoise lineage); Whitehouse-descended European power electronics; the Haters and Vomir on the harsh-noise-wall end. Ambient noise wall (Karl T’s Missing Girls) is a softer, sparser offshoot.

Assessment

Name the two scenes from which harsh noise emerged in the early 1980s and explain why its origin is described as transnational rather than tied to one national scene.