Formed from the ashes of Y Front in the late 80s, XX Committee comprised Chris Scarpino and Scott Foust, who would later be a member of Idea Fire Company and Swill Radio. The duo's goal was to strip industrial music of all rock elements. Taking the term "industrial" literally, their music stemmed from recordings evoking industrial processes, with the critical aim of challenging consumer capitalism. Recorded between 1981 and 1983, Network is primitive and minimalist, devoid of the joy of Dionysian excesses.