Gabi Delgado-Lopez and Robert Görl met in Düsseldorf, an industrial city in northwestern Germany that also boasted Kraftwerk among its local talent, during the height of the international punk movement in 1977. Spanish transplant Delgado was singing in local punk bands, while Görl was finishing his formal musical training at a conservatory. Picking up Wolfgang Spellmans, Ludwig Hass and Michael Kemner along the way, Görl and Delgado formed D.A.F (der Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft). Taking cues from the doom-laden sound of industrial forefathers Cabaret Voltaire of Sheffield, England, D.A.F. released their first album, a riotous mess of synth-powered heavy metal entitled Ein Produkt der DAF, in 1979. With its open defiance of current standards for listenability, it went over like the proverbial lead balloon.

Shorty thereafter, D.A.F. decided to take their horror show on the road, and moved to London where they made their English debut at the Marquee club supporting The Fall. An early review in Sounds summed up the intensity of their live performances thusly: “If D.A.F. had an onstage duel with Throbbing Gristle, there would be no one left alive on stage to announce the winner.” While there was nothing entirely new about experimenting with electronic elements or even industrial beats, no one had yet taken synth-based music so far out of the realm of the ethereal and psychedelic and placed it so squarely within the muscular, sweaty confines of the corporeal.

In 1980, D.A.F.’s particular brand of industrial dance music for punks caught the eye of legendary krautrock producer Conrad Plank, who’d worked with the likes of Neu!, Kraftwerk, and Brian Eno. Plank immediately expressed interest in lending his talents to D.A.F., who had shed three members and once again consisted of original duo Görl and Delgado. With Plank’s help, D.A.F. released their groundbreaking second album Die Kleinen Und Die Bosen, and second single, “Tanz Mit Dir,” to some critical acclaim but less-than widespread recognition. With their emphasis on brutal, mechanistic grooves, doom-laden lyrics, and thanks in large part to Delgado’s lusty groaning vocals, D.A.F. had created a new genre—EBM, or “electronic body music.”

By 1983, D.A.F. had found their stride, and released their third and most accessible album yet, Alles Ist Gut. Under Plank’s tutelage, they had become a legitimate hit machine in their native Germany and even saw their singles chart in England. The album’s first single, “Der Mussolini,” shocked listeners by referring to fascist leaders and attempting to start a dance craze named after one of the 20th century’s most detestable anti-heroes. “Mein Herz macht Bum” (which translates “my heart goes boom”) is a sordid entreaty to a blue-eyed object of Delgado’s desire. On “Der Räuber und der Prinz,” Delgado whispers a homoerotic tale about a late night encounter between a prince and a thief, mid-burglary. In a way few others had done before them, D.A.F. unflinchingly explored the uncharted territories where power and desire overlap, and challenged norms by attempting to step outside boundaries drawn around socially acceptable forms of desire.

Although D.A.F. went on to release several more albums as a group, and Delgado and Görl enjoyed many years of solo and side projects, they would never enjoy the relative commercial success that awaited some their disciples—acts like Nitzer Ebb, Depeche Mode, Six Finger Satellite, and NIN. Their legacy lives on, most recently, in the work of fellow German/Latin duo Closer Musik, the solo work of its vocalist Matias Aguayo, and Six Finger Satellite’s alum The Juan Maclean.

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