Regine Fetet of Groundbreaking Electronic Group “hard Corps” Remembered
Ten years ago Regine Fetet, vocalist for the seminal electronic band hard Corps, died of breast cancer.
Fetet was best remembered for her off-kilter vocal stylization and flashing her breasts to shocked euroteenie stadium audiences. She was actually more of a performance artist, but back in the 80s nobody knew what that was.
Born in Eastern France in the late 1960s, she was one of the vagabond generation that kicked around Europe in search for artistic purpose.
She was an exotic dancer before connecting with hard Corps in 1984. Many of her songs incorporate the compartmentalized sexuality so prevalent in that world.
Back in 1985, I thought hard Corps were the next logical evolution of the Kraftwerk sound. Looking back, what seemed like a natural progression, was only an evolutionary dead-end. The hard Corps sound seems more relevant today, as a new generation of electronic musicians are discovering their music. Like Kraftwerk before them, hard Corps are more known in the world of musicians than in the world of music consumers.
Ironically, almost 30 years after the band’s demise they sell more units than at the height of their 1980s popularity. This is a testament to the vision of Fetet and her bandmates Hugh Ashton, Clive Pierce and Robert Doran.
hard Corps, like futurism itself, only burned brightly for a brief moment and then it was gone. The sounds still remain – sounds pure and timeless, not dated at all.
Regine Fetet was also like that.
For those of us that will never burn as brightly, but who remain – remembrance and gratitude.
When The Flesh Gets Cut Off The Soul, It’s Not The End. I Will See You Again.