There's always been a sense of humor and tongue in cheek aspect to the overt shock values, & accompanied hedonistic elements of dance musics. No matter how conceptual, or unfunky in appearance (what?), often the underlying, common denominating references are generally the same. Industrial related musics have taken a creative hedonistic picture of specific time frames along the way, but have greatly mirrored or reacted to the then, current developments in technologies, pop cultures, and more palatable brands of funk. As mentioned earlier, the correlation with hiphop is extremely important, as club music in the 80's told a hiphop story with specific electronic music diversions creating genres of dance specific to location, borough, and (sub)cultural identities. In general, I suspect that if you were creating electronic music in the 80's, you knew Gary Numan, latin freestyle, disco, Yazoo, Rick Rubin, Wax Trax!, Eddie Grant, Pete Burns, Zulu Nation, Belgian New Beat compilations, and Janet Jackson instrumentals (which fuckin rock btw!). As a listener stoked on production values alone, you checked out EVERYTHING. You also would browse any trade magazines for the latest synth preset sold on the newest Yamaha model, or what the latest drum machine & effects units were, and you heard those very same synth presets and effects on ANY electronic produced musics, from commercial top 40 radio hits to basement tapes. THAT correlation is very important. Like hiphop, you ingested and spewed out these surroundings, turned up the volume, and got down to it. EBM is exactly that. FUN. It is also very human.
Much conceptual electronic music is dehumanizing, aimed to be alien, in reaction to branding and commercialism of course. But is it FUN?
EBM retains that sense of humor and yes, sweaty humanity within the combat boots, sunglasses, faux leather, lederhosen, Eastern Bloc get ups, to the horror movie, electro comic book gore & bleak funks of common, human experience. Lyrical dance music is often general fluff, it is not really the point. The rhythm is the entrapment, and the volume sublimates you. Why NOT have a good time? I had a conversation recently where I likened the lyrics of many current standard European style EBM bands to that of bubble gum, Oi! punk bands - pop song themes about dancing, getting off, drinking and being free. It is party music. Original hiphop had the same party inclinations. In the end, no matter how long the music has been reinterpreted, that party factor is key. IMO, most older listeners of ebm this far on have embraced the memes, and retain the humor within the music. And yes, imo, it still can be reactive to the commercial climates of the day. The newer audience of ebm might not get that right way, but they may not have listened to Thrill Kill Kult yet either. 
There's still time.
That May 2020 released, 6th Circle compilation posted above exemplifies much of my own current reinvigoration within the sounds. Funky, hard as nails, ripping edm to shreds, and in general, letting the demons out. We need that about now, don't you think?
Much conceptual electronic music is dehumanizing, aimed to be alien, in reaction to branding and commercialism of course. But is it FUN?
EBM retains that sense of humor and yes, sweaty humanity within the combat boots, sunglasses, faux leather, lederhosen, Eastern Bloc get ups, to the horror movie, electro comic book gore & bleak funks of common, human experience. Lyrical dance music is often general fluff, it is not really the point. The rhythm is the entrapment, and the volume sublimates you. Why NOT have a good time? I had a conversation recently where I likened the lyrics of many current standard European style EBM bands to that of bubble gum, Oi! punk bands - pop song themes about dancing, getting off, drinking and being free. It is party music. Original hiphop had the same party inclinations. In the end, no matter how long the music has been reinterpreted, that party factor is key. IMO, most older listeners of ebm this far on have embraced the memes, and retain the humor within the music. And yes, imo, it still can be reactive to the commercial climates of the day. The newer audience of ebm might not get that right way, but they may not have listened to Thrill Kill Kult yet either. There's still time. That May 2020 released, 6th Circle compilation posted above exemplifies much of my own current reinvigoration within the sounds. Funky, hard as nails, ripping edm to shreds, and in general, letting the demons out. We need that about now, don't you think?