Synth-pop

Synthpop
Stylistic origins	Electronic music New wave Post-punk Pop music
Cultural origins	Late 1970s/Early 1980s Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States
Typical instruments	Synthesizer - Drum machine - Tape loops - Drums - Guitar (in latter incarnations were added Sequencer - Keyboard - Sampler)
Derivative forms	Electroclash, Bubblegum pop, Ambient pop
Subgenres
Electropop - Electroclash (complete list)
Fusion genres
Futurepop - Synthpunk

Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave and pop music in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It is most closely associated with the era between the late 1970s and early to middle 1980s, although it has continued to exist and develop ever since. Kraftwerk (from Germany) and Human League (from England) are often hailed as the pioneers of the style.

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 (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 the same as in other popular music.

History

Influences

Mid 20th Century avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen were pioneers in the development of electronic music. The use of synthesizers in rock music began in the 1960s, notably by The Beatles, however, the instruments were highly complex, temperamental, and expensive. In the late 1960s there was a surge of Moog synthesizer-affected albums by artists like Perrey and Kingsley, Dick Hyman and, most notably, Wendy Carlos. Synthesizers became more widely used by progressive rock and jazz fusion groups such as Pink Floyd, Yes, ELO, Genesis, Return to Forever, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Weather Report. Many Krautrock groups like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk heavily incoporated synthesizers into their music as well. The late 1970s Kraftwerk albums, such as Trans-Europe Express and The Man Machine, were particularly influential in the creation of the Synthpop sound.

The mid-1970s, saw the rise of electronic art music musicians such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Brian Eno, and Tomita, who were a significant influence of the development of New Age Music. In the late seventies, Suicide, a duo from New York, combined vocals and keyboard in a harsh, avant-garde and often very controversial form. Italian producer Giorgio Moroder was also a significant influence on the further development of electronic music, producing synth driven hits for many artists, most notably Donna Summer.

Late 1970s to mid 1980s

1977 could be considered the first year for synthpop, as it was the year Giorgio Moroder paired up with Donna Summer to release 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. It was also the year that Ultravox member Warren Cann purchased a Roland TR-77 drum machine, which was first featured in their October 1977 single release Hiroshima Mon Amour. The ballad arrangement, metronome-like percussion and heavy use of the ARP Odyssey synthesizer was effectively a prototype for nearly all synthpop bands that were to follow.

In 1978, Ultravox's third album, Systems of Romance, their last with John Foxx as the lead singer, featured extensive synthesizer use on nearly every track but was not commercially successful, yet became hugely influential. The same year, other pioneering British Synthpop acts began to surface, including Gary Numan and The Human League. The original synthpop groups had a sound that was generally dark, moody and robotic. Fad Gadget aka Frank Tovey, who was signed to Daniel Miller's Mute Records, was particularly dark and menacing and his stage shows had a Performance art quality to them. Daniel Miller himself had a role in the beginning of synthpop as a performer under the name The Normal which released a one-off single Warm Leatherette, a cult favorite.

In 1979, Giorgio Moroder collaborated with former glam rock group Sparks on their album, No. 1 In Heaven, perhaps one of the first bands to 'crossover' to synthpop. The same year, The Pleasure Principle by Gary Numan became the first international hit record to be considered 'synthpop', and one of the first examples of the genre to make its way onto American radio.

The sounds of synthesizers dominated the pop music of the early 80s as well as replacing 70s Disco in dance clubs in Europe. Albums such as Gary Numan's Telekon (1980), Ultravox's Vienna (1980), The Human League's Dare (1981), Depeche Mode's Speak and Spell (1981), Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981), Duran Duran's Rio (album) (1982), Kajagoogoo's White Feathers (1983), Landscape's From the Tearooms of Mars...to the Hellholes of Uranus (1981), The The's Soul Mining (1983), Visage's Visage (1980), and former Ultravox singer John Foxx's Metamatic (1980) typified the early synthpop sound.

The 1983 album Burning Bridges (released as Naked Eyes in the U.S.and Canada), by the group Naked Eyes, was the first pop LP to extensively feature the Fairlight CMI. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush had used the sampling synthesiser before, although much less consistently than on Naked Eyes' debut. The CMI (and similar workstation-type machines such as the Synclavier and PPG Wave) would become commonplace in the movement, eventually dying out as inexpensive digital samplers and eventually personal computers duplicated the capabilities of these machines.

Other key synthpop or synthpop-influenced groups and artists from the early-mid 1980s include Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure, a-ha, A Flock of Seagulls, Tears for Fears, Pet Shop Boys, Devo, Berlin, OMD, New Order, Thomas Dolby, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Alphaville, Thompson Twins, Bronski Beat, Heaven 17, Howard Jones, Blancmange, Yello, Paul Haig, Animotion, Propaganda, Modern Talking, Psyche, Kajagoogoo, Ultravox, Missing Persons, Real Life, The System, and even early Ministry.

Late 1980s to early 2000s

In the early 1990s, the synthpop popular throughout the 1980s became unpopular because of criticism for its lack of soul and passion. By 1992, even post-punk acts could no longer sell because Grunge had taken their place.

As early as 1994, there was nostalgia for the New Wave music of the early 1980s - Blur made a song called Girls & Boys that year which was clearly a tribute back to the days when synthpop was popular.

The house music of the 1990s was strongly influenced by synthpop.

Synthpop revival (2004-present)

In the mid 2000s, interest in 1980s synthpop was strong , and a few bands, including most importantly The Killers, mixed the current 1990s rock sound with 1980s synth sounds.

The 2003 album Give Up by The Postal Service was a very important point in the history of the synthpop revival - not only did it heavily echo influence of Depeche Mode, Phil Collins and The Human League, but it tied the emo and indie genres to the synthpop revival.

This growing interest in electronic rock allowed other alternative rock and emo bands, including Cobra Starship, Metro Station and Hellogoodbye to successfully adapt a 1980s-like synthpop sound.

Some pop stars of the era, including Rihanna and Gwen Stefani recorded synthpop songs, and other pop stars from the late 2000s, such as Lady GaGa and Lights are considered synthpop.

Synthpop in the 2000s has its own distinct sound, created by modern DAW software and programs like Fruity Loops, and could generally be said to be more similar to 1980s synthpop than say, house music of the 1990s was.

The drum beats tend to be minimal, not strong like those used in the 1980s and 1990s, and the synths, while having a similar quality, tend to be only moderately "cheesy".

Lyrics in Synthpop revival music are often sexually themed and contain emo-like idioms.

Romantic songs and songs about technology are also common, as are gay-themed songs, reflecting life and issues in the early 21st century.

Usage

Synthpop is sometimes confused with electropop, which is generally regarded to be a particular style of synthpop that incorporates the more robotic elements and feel of electro music. The term "synthpop" has also become increasingly used in goth and industrial circles to describe various alternative electronic artists who have used influences from synthpop, particularly those in the electronic body music and futurepop genres such as Psyche, Covenant, Mesh, And One, Melotron, S.P.O.C.K, Beborn Beton, VNV Nation and Wolfsheim. It is otherwise generally used in its more classic sense, referring to early-to-middle 1980s synthesizer-driven pop acts (e.g., The Human League, Eurythmics), less precisely, to a variety of New Romantic pop acts from the same era (e.g., Duran Duran, Visage, Japan, and Spandau Ballet), and to current and emerging synthesizer-driven pop acts. Synthpop in a kind way helped the emergence and the influence Techno music where a flood of artist cite Synthpop acts such as Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Human League, Visage, Soft Cell, and Alphaville as influence to either getting them into dance/electronic music or just being into music in general. These artist music are constantly covered and remixed by a many techno and trance artist (e.g., Datura, Aurora, Alex G, Jason Nevins)

Artists

Main article: List of synthpop artists

See also

• Darkwave
• Schaffel beat - triplet feel popularized in electronic music by acts like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Covenant, The Knife, and Goldfrapp.

External links

• Synthpop resources on the net
• Online directory of synthpop web resources
• The forum of electronic musics, New Wave and EBM