Synth-pop

"Technopop" redirects here. For the game developer, see Technopop (developer). For the song by The Buggles, see The Age of Plastic.

Synthpop
Stylistic origins	Disco, New Wave, post-punk, glam rock, pop, krautrock, electronic
Cultural origins	Mid-late 1970s & early 1980s in Germany, Japan, England
Typical instruments	Synthesizer – Drum machine – Bass Guitar – Tape loops – Drums – Guitar – Sequencer – Keyboard – Vocoder – Sampler – Vocals
Derivative forms	Electroclash, ambient pop, industrial, digital hardcore
Subgenres
Futurepop, (complete list)
Fusion genres
Synthpunk
Regional scenes
Coldwave

Synthpop (also known as electropop, or technopop) is a genre of music in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It originated as part of the New Wave movement of the late-1970s to the mid-1980s, and it has continued to exist and develop.

Characteristics

While most current popular music in the industrialized world is realized via electronic instruments, synthpop has its own stylistic tendencies which differentiate it from other music produced by the same means. These include the exploitation of artificiality (i.e., the synthesis of sounds from waveforms) where the synthesizers are not used to imitate acoustic instruments, the use of mechanical sounding rhythms, vocal arrangements as a counterpoint to the artificiality of the instruments, and ostinato patterns as an effect. Synthpop song structures are generally similar to those of other popular music.

History

Precursors

Experiments in tape manipulation or musique concrète, early computer music and early sampling and sound manipulation technologies paved the way for both manipulating and creating new sounds through technology. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, around the same time as rock music began to emerge as a distinct musical genre. The Mellotron, an electro-mechanical, polyphonic sample-playback keyboard, which used a bank of parallel linear magnetic audio tape strips to produce a variety of sounds enjoyed popularity from the mid-1960s. The initial popularity of the Mellotron would be overtaken by the Moog synthesizer, created by Robert Moog in 1964, which produced completely electronically generated sounds which could be manipulated by pitch and frequency, allowing the "bending" of notes and considerable variety and musical virtuosity to be expressed. The early commercial Moog synthesiser was large and difficult to manipulate, but in 1970 Moog responded to its use in rock and pop music by releasing the portably Mini-moog, which allowed much easier use, particularly in live performance. Early synthesisers were monophonic (only able to play one note at a time), but polyphonic versions began to be produced from the mid-1970s, among the first being the Prophet-5.

Progressive rock musicians such as Richard Wright of Pink Floyd and Rick Wakeman of Yes were soon using the new portable synthesizers extensively. Other early users included Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Keith Emerson, Pete Townshend and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's Vincent Crane. Instrumental prog rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Can and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy "Kraut rock", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music), would be a major influence on subsequent synth rock. In 1971 the dark British movie A Clockwork Orange was released with a dark synth soundtrack by American Wendy Carlos. It was the first time many in the United Kingdom had heard electronic music. Philip Oakley of the Human League and Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire as well as music journalist Simon Reynolds has cited the soundtrack as an inspiration. and in 1972, jazz musician Stan Free, under the pseudonym Hot Butter had a top 10 hit in the United States and United Kingdom with a cover of the 1969 Gershon Kingsley song "Popcorn". It is considered a forerunner to synthpop due to the use of the Moog synthesizer. The mid-1970s, saw the rise of electronic art music musicians such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and Tomita. Tomita's 1972 album Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock featured electronic renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs, while utilizing speech synthesis and analog music sequencers. In 1975 Kraftwork played it's first British show and inspired concert attendees OMD too throw away their guitars and become a synth act. Kraftwork had its first hit UK record later in the year. The group was described by the BBC Four program Synth Britannia as the key to synthpop's future rise there.

Origins (1977–1981)

Yellow Magic Orchestra in 2008

The Do It yourself attitude of the 1977 punk rock explosion broke down the progressive rock era's norm of needing years of experience before getting up on stage to play synthesizers. Germany's Giorgio Moroder paired up with Donna Summer in 1977 to release the electronic disco song "I Feel Love". While a disco song first and foremost, the programmed, arpeggiated beats had a profound impact on the bands which would soon be known as synthpop. The American duo Suicide, who arose from the post-punk scene in New York utilized drum machines and synthesizers in a strange hybrid between electronics and post punk on their eponymous 1977 album. David Bowie's "Berlin period" albums, Low (1977), Heroes (1977), and Lodger (1979), all produced by Brian Eno in Germany, would also be highly influential. In 1977 Ultravox member Warren Cann purchased a Roland TR-77 drum machine, which was first featured in their October 1977 single release "Hiroshima Mon Amour".

Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) helped pioneer synthpop with their self-titled album (1978) and Solid State Survivor (1979), introducing a more "joyous and liberating" approach, setting a template with less minimalism and more varying use of synthesizer lines, and drawing from a wider range of influences. They would also be the first to use the Roland TR-808 programmable drum machine in a commercial record in 1980, and influenced various synthpop acts such as Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Duran Duran, Todd Rundgren and Eric Clapton. 1978 also saw UK band The Human League's début single "Being Boiled" released, and in the US Devo began moving towards a more electronic sound. Others were soon to follow, including Tubeway Army, a little known outfit from West London, who dropped their punk rock image and jumped on the band wagon, topping the UK charts in the summer of 1979 with the single "Are Friends Electric?". This prompted the singer, Gary Numan to go solo and in the same year he released the Kraftwerk inspired album, The Pleasure Principle and topped the charts for the second time with the single "Cars". Prior to Numan the synth acts reflected the bleak and empty landscape of Britain of the late 1970's. In opposition to the anti hero punk attitude Numan desired to be a pop star. Giorgio Moroder collaborated with the band Sparks on their album, No. 1 In Heaven (1979). This zeitgeist of revolution in electronic music performance and recording/production was encapsulated by then would be record producer, Trevor Horn of The Buggles in the international hit "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979).

Albums such as Devo's Freedom of Choice (1980), Visage's self titled debut (1980), John Foxx's Metamatic (1980), Gary Numan's Telekon (1980), Ultravox's Vienna (1980), The Human League's Dare (1981) and Depeche Mode's Speak and Spell (1981), established a sound that influenced most mainstream pop and rock bands. Synthpop's early steps, and the Numan Futurist movement in particular, were strongly disparaged in the British music press of the late 1970s and early 1980s as the "Adolf Hitler Memorial Space Patrol" (Mick Farren).

Commercial success and development (1982–1990)

Depeche Mode live

The emergence of synthpop has been described as "perhaps the single most significant event in melodic music since Mersey-beat." The definition of MIDI in 1982 and the development of digital audio made the creation of purely electronic sounds much easier. Particularly through their adoption by the New Romantic movement, synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s as well as replacing disco in dance clubs across Japan and Europe. Other successful synthpop artists of this era included Alphaville, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, Blancmange, The Human League, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys, Thomas Dolby, Yazoo, Art of Noise, Heaven 17, OMD, Tears for Fears, Thompson Twins, Eurythmics, a-ha, Modern Talking, Real Life, Camouflage, Cabaret Voltaire, Information Society, Anything Box, Red Flag, The Beloved, ABC, Level 42, and others are bands of the Synthpop style.

The early sound of synthpop was "eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing", but with with developing technology that allowed the creation of a wider range of sounds, more commercially orientated bands like Duran Duran adopted dance beats to produce a catchier and warmer sound, in a manner similar to Yellow Magic Orchestra who were an influence on the band. Duran Duran were soon followed into the charts by large number of bands who used synthesizers to create three-minute pop singles. These included members of the New Romantic movement in the UK, who adopted an elaborate visual style that combined elements of glam rock, science fiction and romanticism such as Spandau Ballet, A Flock of Seagulls, Culture Club, Talk Talk and the Eurythmics, sometimes using synthesizers to replace all other instruments. According to music writer Simon Reynolds the hallmark of original synthpop was its "emotional, at times operatic singers" such as Andy Bell, Morten Harket, Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox.

Throughout the United States, where synthpop is considered a sub genre of New Wave, the genre became popular, in large part due to the cable music channel MTV, which reached the media capitals of New York City and Los Angeles in 1982. In addition, filmmaker John Hughes also played a major role in popularizing the genre through films such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. At the end of the 1980s with the help of a gay audience Erasure, Information Society, Anything Box, and Red Flag made headway on the United States dance charts.

Declining popularity and influence (1991–2000)

By 1991 in the United States synthpop was losing its commercial viability as alternative radio stations were responding to the popularity of grunge rock. Exceptions during the decade were Savage Garden, The Rentals, and The Moog Cookbook. By the end of the 1990s many of the 1980s acts had been dropped by their labels and added other elements to their sound.

Synthpop proved influential on underground African American music, particularly in New York and Detroit. During the early 1980s, the electro style was largely developed by Afrika Bambaata, who was heavily influenced by Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk. Musicians such as A Number of Names and Cybotron developed a style of electronic dance music influenced by synthpop and funk that lead to the emergence of Detroit techno in the mid 1980s. Synth pop was a major influence on house music, which grew out of the post-disco dance club culture of the early 1980s as some DJs attempted to make the music less pop-oriented incorporating influences from Latin soul, dub reggae, rap music, and jazz. During the 1990s the influence of 1980s New Wave Synthpop could be seen in various incarnations of Eurodisco and trance. The band Freezepop gained popularity in the video game market.

21st century revival (2001–present)

Lights, a Canadian synthpop singer who became popular in the late 2000s.

In recent years, the synthpop sound and style have also arguably influenced many other mainstream pop artists. Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor had many synthpop elements. Australian singer Kylie Minogue utilized a strong synthpop sound for her eighth studio album Fever in late 2001, including the worldwide smash hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head". More recently, many other pop artists began incorporating the genre into their music. The second album by British singer Lily Allen released in 2009 called It's Not Me, It's You is largely synthpop as opposed to her first ska album.

Acts described as synthpop in recent years include Hot Chip, Junior Boys, LCD Soundsystem, Cut Copy, Hurts, Mike Posner, Lights, Chromeo, Metric, Little Boots, Owl City (who achieved a number 1 US single), Ladytron, Phoenix, Passion Pit, The Presets, Ladyhawke, Crystal Castles, La Roux, Robyn, Röyksopp, Tesla Boy, and Shy Child.

The British and other media in 2009 ran articles proclaiming a new era of the female synthpop star and indeed 2009 saw a rise in popularity of female synthpop artists. In the Sound of 2009 poll of 130 music experts conducted for the BBC, ten of the top fifteen artists named were of the synthpop genre. Lady Gaga had major commercial success since 2008 with her debut album The Fame. Music writer Simon Reynolds noted that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s". Other female synthpop acts that emerged were Ladyhawke, Ke$ha, Elly Jackson of La Roux, and Perfume. A video by Little Boots, who topped the BBC poll for 2009, showed her using a Tenori-on.

Male acts that have emerged included British writer and producer Taio Cruz who charted well in the U.S., One man act Owl City who had a number 1 US single, and another one man act Kaskade, and LMFAO. Singer Michael Angelakos of the Passion Pit said in a 2009 interview that while playing electro pop was not his intention, the limitations of dorm life made the genre more accessible. Some artists have used music technology to convert songs from other genres into synthpop; for example, Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost took a record by indie folk artists Mountain Man and turned it into an synthpop song.

In 2009, James Oldham—head of artists and repertoire at A&M Records—was quoted as saying "All A&R departments have been saying to managers and lawyers: 'Don't give us any more bands because we're not going to sign them and they're not going to sell records.' So everything we've been put on to is electronic in nature."

Artists

Main article: List of synthpop artists

See also

• Dance-pop
• Electro
• Electro house
• Electronic rock
• Wonky pop
• Darkwave
• Schaffel beat – triplet feel popularized in electronic music by acts like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Covenant, The Knife, and Goldfrapp.

Bibliography

• Depeche Mode & The Story of Electro-Pop, Q/Mojo magazine collaboration, 2005.
• Electronic Music: The Instruments, the Music & The Musicians by Andy Mackay, of Roxy Music

External links

• Electro and Synthpop Timeline Canadian Broadcasting Company
• Synthpop resources on the net
• Online directory of synthpop web resources