Name	Synthpop
Bgcolor	silver
Color	black
Stylistic origins	Disco, New Wave, electronic, pop, post-punk, glam rock, krautrock
Cultural origins	Mid-late 1970s & early 1980s in Germany, Japan, England
Instruments	Synthesizer – drum machine – bass guitar – Tape loops – drums – guitar – sequencer – keyboard – vocoder – sampler – vocals
Popularity	Worldwide 1980s and late 2000s/early 2010s
Derivatives	House music, trance music, digital hardcore, electroclash, indie electronic,
Subgenrelist	List of electronic music genres
Fusiongenres	Synthpunk, techno
Other topics	}}

Synthpop (also known as electropop, or technopop) is a genre of popular music in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the New Wave movement of the late-1970s to the mid-1980s.

Early synthpop pioneers included Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra and British bands Ultravox and the Human League; the latter largely used monophonic synthesizers to produce music with a simple and austere sound. After the breakthrough of Tubeway Army and Gary Numan in the British Singles Chart, large numbers of artists began to enjoy success with a synthesizer-based sound in the early 1980s, including Soft Cell, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Japan and Depeche Mode in the United Kingdom, while in Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestra's success opened the way for synthpop bands such as P-Model, Plastics, and Hikashu. The development of inexpensive polyphonic synthesizers, the definition of MIDI and the use of dance beats led to a more commercial and accessible sound for synthpop. This, its adoption by the style-conscious acts from the New Romantic movement and the rise of MTV, led to success for large numbers of British synthpop acts, including Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, in the United States.

In the late 1980s, duos such as Erasure and Pet Shop Boys adopted a sound that was highly successful on the US dance charts, but by the end of the decade synthpop had largely been abandoned. Interest began to be revived in the indie electronic and electroclash movements in the late 1990s and, in the first decade of the 21st century, it enjoyed a widespread revival with commercial success for acts including La Roux and Owl City.

Characteristics

Although synthpop in part arose from punk rock, it abandoned punk's emphasis on authenticity and often pursued a deliberate artificiality, sometimes using synthesizers to replace all other instruments. It owed relatively little to the foundations of early popular music in jazz, folk music or the blues, Early synthpop has been described as "eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing", using droning electronics with little change in inflection. Later the introduction of dance beats made the music warmer and catchier and contained within the conventions of three-minute pop. According to music writer Simon Reynolds, the hallmark of 1980s synthpop was its "emotional, at times operatic singers" such as Andy Bell, Morten Harket, Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox. Because synthesizers removed the need for large groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation.

History

Precursors

In the first half of the 20th century, experiments in tape manipulation or musique concrète, early computer music, sampling and sound manipulation technologies paved the way for the creation of 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. It was overtaken by the Moog synthesizer, created by Robert Moog in 1964, which produced completely electronically generated sounds that 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 synthesizer was large and difficult to operate, but in 1970 Moog responded to its use in rock and pop music by releasing the portability Mini-moog, which allowed much easier use, particularly in live performance. Early synthesizers 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 of The Who 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 synthesizer-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 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. Electronic music made occasional moves into the mainstream, with jazz musician Stan Free, under the pseudonym Hot Butter, having a top 10 hit in the United States and United Kingdom and in 1972, with a cover of the 1969 Gershon Kingsley song "Popcorn" using a Moog synthesizer.

The mid-1970s saw the rise of electronic art musicians such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and Tomita. In 1972, Tomita's album Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock featured electronic renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs, while utilizing speech synthesis and analog music sequencers. In 1974, Osamu Kitajima's progressive rock album Benzaiten, featuring Haruomi Hosono (who later founded Yellow Magic Orchestra), utilized a synthesizer, rhythm machine, and electronic drums. In 1975, Kraftwerk played its first British show and inspired concert attendees Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to throw away their guitars and become a synth act. Kraftwerk 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. Italy's Giorgio Moroder paired up with Donna Summer in 1977 to release the electronic disco song "I Feel Love", and its although a disco song first and foremost, the programmed, arpeggiated beats had a profound impact on the bands which would soon be known as synthpop.

Origins (1977–80)

Early guitar-based punk rock that came to prominence in the period 1976-7, was initially hostile to the "inauthentic" sound of the synthesizer, The Do It yourself attitude of punk broke down the progressive rock era's norm of needing years of experience before getting up on stage to play synthesizers. The American duo Suicide, who arose from the post-punk scene in New York utilized drum machines and synthesizers in a hybrid between electronics and post punk on their eponymous 1977 album. Also 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".

Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) helped pioneer synthpop, with their self-titled album (1978) and Solid State Survivor (1979), setting a template with less minimalism, more varying use of synthesizer lines, a "fun-loving and breezy" sound, strong emphasis on melody, and drawing from a wider range of influences than had been employed by Kraftwerk. YMO also introduced the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 sequencer and TR-808 rhythm machine to popular music, and the band would be a major influence on early British synthpop acts. 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. To this point synthpop gained some critical attention but made little impact on the commercial charts.

Tubeway Army, a little known outfit from West London, who dropped their punk rock image and adopted synthesizers, topping the UK charts in the summer of 1979 with the single "Are Friends Electric?". This prompted their lead singer, Gary Numan, to go solo; in that 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 1970s. 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). That same year in Japan, the synthpop band P-Model made its debut with the album In a Model Room. Other Japanese synthpop groups emerging at around the same time included the Plastics and Hikashu.

1980 saw the release of a series of highly influential synthpop albums, including Devo's Freedom of Choice, Visage's self titled debut, John Foxx's Metamatic, and Ultravox's Vienna. Synthpop's early steps, and the Numan Futurist movement in particular, were disparaged in the British music press of the late 1970s and early 1980s for its German influences and characterised by journalist Mick Farren as the "Adolf Hitler Memorial Space Patrol".

Commercial success and development (1981–86)

The emergence of synthpop has been described as "perhaps the single most significant event in melodic music since Mersey-beat". By the 1980s synthesizers had become much cheaper and easier to use. After the definition of MIDI in 1982 and the development of digital audio, the creation of purely electronic sounds and their manipulation much easier. Synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s, particularly through their adoption by bands of the New Romantic movement.

The New Romantic scene had developed in the London nightclubs Billy's and The Blitz and was associated with bands including Duran Duran, Japan, Ultravox, Visage, Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, ABC and Culture Club. They adopted an elaborate visual style that combined elements of glam rock, science fiction and romanticism. Duran Duran have been credited with adopting dance beats into synthpop sound to produce a catchier and warmer sound, which provided them with a series of hit singles. They would soon be followed into the British charts by a series of bands utilising synthesizers to create catchy three-minute pop songs. A new line-up for the Human League and a more commercial sound led to the album Dare (1981), which produced a series of hit singles, including "Don't You Want Me", which reached number one in the UK at the end of 1981.

Synthpop reached its commercial peak in the UK in the winter of 1981-2, with bands including Soft Cell, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Japan, Ultravox, Depeche Mode and even Kraftwerk enjoying top ten hits. In early 1982 synthesizers were so dominant that the Musicians Union attempted to limit their use. By the end of 1982, they had been joined in the charts by synth-based acts including Thomas Dolby, Blancmange, The Eurythmics and Tears for Fears. The proliferation of acts led to an anti-synth backlash, with groups including Spandau Ballet, Human League, Soft Cell and ABC incorporating more conventional influences and instruments into their sounds.

In the US, where synthpop is considered a sub genre of New Wave and was described as "technopop" by the press at the time, the genre became popular due to the cable music channel MTV, which reached the media capitals of New York City and Los Angeles in 1982.

In the mid-1980s, key artists included solo performer Howard Jones, who mixed synthpop with the optimism of late-'60s pop, and Nik Kershaw, whose "well-craft synthpop" incorporated guitars and other more traditional pop influences that particularly appealed to a teen audience. Pursuing a more dance-oriented sound were Bronski Beat whose album The Age of Consent (1984), dealing with issues of homophobia and alienation, reached the top 20 in the UK and top 40 in the US. and Thompson Twins, whose popularity peaked in 1985 with the album Here's to Future Days, which reached the US top ten and spawned two top ten singles, Initially dismissed in the music press as a "teeny bob sensation" were Norwegian band a-ha, whose use of guitars and real drums produced an accessible form of synthpop, which, along with a MTV friendly video, took single "Take on Me" (1986) to number two in the UK and number one in the US. In the late 1980s acts that also moved synthpop into a form of dance music included most successfully British duos Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and The Communards whose major hits were covers of disco classics "Don't Leave Me This Way" (1986) and "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1987).

In the 1980s, synthpop helped establish the synthesizer as a primary instrument in mainstream pop music. It 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 less pop-oriented music that also incorporated influences from Latin soul, dub reggae, rap music, and jazz. Musicians such as Juan Atkins, using names including Model 500, Infinity and as part of 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.

Declining popularity but continuing influence (1987–2000)

An American backlash against European synthpop has been seen as beginning in the mid-1980s with the rise of heartland rock and roots rock. In the UK the arrival of indie rock bands, particularly The Smiths, has been seen as marking the end of synth-driven New Wave and the beginning of the guitar rock that would dominate rock into the 1990s. By the end of the 1980s many acts had been dropped by their labels. After adding other elements to their sound, and with the help of a gay audience, several synthpop acts had success on the US dance charts. Among these were American acts Information Society, Anything Box, and Red Flag. 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 that continued to pursue forms of synthpop or rock in the 1990s were Savage Garden, The Rentals, and The Moog Cookbook. The continued influence of 1980s synthpop could be seen in various incarnations of 1990s dance music including trance.

Electronic music was explored from the early 1990s by indie electronic bands like Stereolab and Disco Inferno, who mixed a variety of indie and synthesizer sounds, but took off in the new millennium as the new digital technology developed, with acts including Broadcast from the UK, Justice from France, Lali Puna from Germany and Ratatat and The Postal Service from the US, mixing a variety of indie sounds with electronic music, largely produced on small independent labels. Similarly the electroclash sub-genre began in New York at the end of the 1990s, combining synth pop, techno, punk and performance art. It was pioneered by I-F with their track "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" (1998), and pursued by artists including Felix da Housecat, Peaches, Chicks on Speed, and Ladytron. It gained international attention at the beginning of the new millennium and spread to scenes in London and Berlin, but rapidly faded as a recognizable genre as acts began to experiment with a variety of forms of music.

21st century revival

In the new millennium, renewed interest in electronic music and nostalgia for the the 1980s led to the beginnings of a synthpop revival, with acts including Adult and Fischerspooner. In 2003–04 it began to move into the mainstream with Ladytron, the Postal Service, Cut Copy, the Bravery and The Killers all producing records that incorporated vintage synthesizer sounds and styles which contrasted with the dominant sounds of post-grunge and nu-metal. In particular the Killers enjoyed considerable airplay and exposure and their debut album Hot Fuss (2004) reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. The Killers, the Bravery and the Stills all left their synthpop sound behind after their debut albums and began to explore classic 1970s rock, but the style was picked up by a large number of performers, particularly female solo artists, which after the breakthrough success of Lady Gaga with her single "Just Dance" (2008), lead the British and other media to proclaim a new era of the female electropop star, which also included Little Boots, La Roux and Ladyhawke.

The success of Japanese female technopop group Perfume's album Game (2008) has led to a similar renewed interest in Japanese popular music. Other Japanese female technopop artists soon followed, including Aira Mitsuki, immi, Mizca, SAWA, Saori@destiny, and Sweet Vacation. The electronic sound and style influenced other mainstream pop artists, including Lily Allen's second album It's Not Me, It's You (2009). Male acts that emerged in the same period included Calvin Harris, Frankmusik, Hurts, Kaskade, LMFAO, and Owl City, whose single "Fireflies" (2009) topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The electropop style has also been incorporated into mainstream British R&B;, exemplified by Jay Sean's "Down" (2009) and Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" (2009) which became chart-topping hits in the United States. Other acts used samples of 1980s synthpop tracks in the production of new records, including Mobb Deep and Rihanna.

Artists

See also

Dance-pop

Schaffel beat – triplet feel popularized in electronic music

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

Notes

Category:Electronic music genres Category:Pop music genres Category:1970s in music Category:1980s in music Category:1990s in music Category:2000s in music Category:2010s in music Category:Rock music genres

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