Chrome is an American rock band founded in San Francisco in 1976 by musician Damon Edge and associated with the 1970s post-punk movement.

[1] The group's raw sound blended elements of punk, psychedelia, and early industrial music,[6] incorporating science-fiction themes, tape experimentation, distorted acid rock guitar, and electronic noise.

[8] They found little commercial success as part of San Francisco's 1970s music scene, but developed a cult following in the United Kingdom and Germany following the release of the LPs Alien Soundtracks (1977) and Half Machine Lip Moves (1979).

[8] Chrome was formed in 1975 by Damon Edge (real name Thomas Wisse: drums, vocals, synths, production) and Gary Spain (bass guitar, violin) in San Francisco.

[11] While studying at the California Institute of the Arts, Edge became influenced in making unusual sounds; this progressed after a trip to Morocco where he heard a lot of Arabic music.

Chrome's music contained a lot of atmosphere in the sound production, featuring three- and eight-note melodies, usually layered with an atonal drone backed by a rhythm section.

[14] During recording, Chrome, aided by Creed's input, largely abandoned conventional rock compositions, instead employing cut-up and collage techniques and heavily processed sound to create a kind of sci-fi punk style.

Half Machine Lip Moves continued in the vein of the previous album, but heavier, with Creed's feedback guitar more to the fore.

After a further EP and single, Chrome again expanded to a quartet with the addition of the new rhythm section of John and Hilary Stench (real surname: Hanes).

[16] A Creed-led version of Chrome that featured previous members John and Hilary Stench released a series of albums and toured between 1997 and 2001.

[18][19] As of 2018, Chrome's current line-up consisted of Creed, Tommy Grenas, Aleph Omega, Lux Vibratus, Lou Minatti and Steve Fishman.