The absence of conventional song structures, such as rhythm and melody, is a main characteristic of the genre, whereas the music preferred by the rivethead scene includes several danceable and song-oriented styles that are sometimes considered 'post-industrial'. Industrial music is a genre of experimental and avantgardist music, intertwined with graphical visualization (mostly with disturbing graphical content). The rivethead scene is remotely related but not directly connected to the industrial music culture. Chemlab singer Jared Louche said he did not remember where the term came from, although he stated that this song title was in his mind for years. In the same year, industrial rock group Chemlab − whose members were close friends of Chase − had released their debut album Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar, which includes a track called ' Rivet Head'. In 1993, he released Rivet Head Culture, a compilation that contains several electro-industrial and industrial rock acts from the American underground music scene.

Glenn Chase, founder of San Diego label Re-Constriction Records, is responsible for the term's meaning in the 1990s. Initially, the term rivethead had been used since the 1940s as a nickname for North American automotive assembly line and steel construction workers and hit the mainstream through the publication of Ben Hamper's Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line, which is otherwise unrelated to the subculture. The associated dress style draws on military fashion and punk aesthetics with hints of fetish wear, mainly inspired by the scene's musical protagonists. The scene emerged in the late 1980s on the basis of electro-industrial, EBM, and industrial rock music. In stark contrast to the original industrial culture, whose performers and heterogeneous audience were sometimes referred to as 'industrialists', the rivethead scene is a coherent youth culture closely linked to a discernible fashion style. For other uses, see Rivethead (disambiguation).Ī rivethead or rivet head is a person associated with the industrial dance music scene.

Chemlab rivethead