Synth and synth pop...

18-06-2016 10:21pm #1

...expanding on the Blue Monday thread, which is specifically about the place of one track or band in music.

How high do you rate synth and synth pop? How pivotal were acts like Kraftwerk and movements like the more electronic elements of New Romantic in developing modern music? How about once greats now tossed aside as dinosaurs like Jarre and Oldfield? And Moroder? And the poppier UK and European influences from Pet Shop Boys to Moroder?

And for the day that's in it, is this still the only good thing to come out of Belgium?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc1PpRQ-ccM

Conor Bourke · 18-06-2016 10:31pm

This is the best tune to have come out of Belguim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFo428N7xec

fatknacker · 18-06-2016 10:31pm

Mmm. Telex bars.

LightsStillOn · 18-06-2016 10:31pm

Synth Pop? It's all about Simpsonwave man :cool:

Harry Palmr · 18-06-2016 10:31pm

Kraftwerk invented modern music - the bastards!

(I love the Düsseldorf dandies but that's despite their legacy)

Shield · 18-06-2016 10:32pm

Pretty much anything Vince Clarke turned his hand to.

Junkyard Tom · 18-06-2016 10:32pm

Synth? This means nothing to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Conor Bourke · 18-06-2016 10:41pm

Synth solo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOLtTGvsbM

18-06-2016 10:46pm

Shield wrote: »

Pretty much anything Vince Clarke turned his hand to.

I dunno, maybe in the case of Depeche Mode, what he turned his hand away from? They surely had a more profound impact on music post Clarke than anything he did with Yazoo or Erasure, even if they both had some great moments. But DM brought synths into the US arenas, and made it darker and an outlet for the disaffected in football stadiums.

DM also turned Dave Gahan into one of the best front men in music post Clarke, Never Leave Me Down live is almost like a preacher whipping up a frenzied mass.

18-06-2016 10:48pm

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

Synth? This means nothing to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Dammit, riposte of the day!

I surely get an assist for teeing it up?

Junkyard Tom · 18-06-2016 10:50pm

Quintessential 80's new wave synthpop tune with an infectious melody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE1lzqJCeJ0

andekwarhola · 18-06-2016 10:51pm

Too many tunes to pick one to post but that era (79-84), that we now associate with silly haircuts and makeup, was actually one of the most innovative in the history of music.

Easily on par with eras like the 60s that are more lauded in terms of transgression.

When you think of an era like the 80s where you had groups that were hugely/commercially successful to kids, but performing and writing their own music and were - in the frame of a far more conservative society - pretty fcuked up in terms of normative gender, political and sexual categories, it was a really unique era.

Token tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnQ2zOmb6Hg

Richard Hillman · 18-06-2016 10:52pm

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

Synth solo!

Toto had another song :eek:

biko · 18-06-2016 10:53pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFnEhwmpjXI

andekwarhola · 18-06-2016 10:58pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSv3kSK41Oo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux3u31SAeEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnh7x8aU26g

Aongus Von Bismarck · 18-06-2016 10:58pm

Synthpop is a favourite musical genre of mine. Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder being some personal favourites.

There was a wonderful underground synth scene in East Germany during the 80's. Some of the music from the scene has been remastered.

stuar · 18-06-2016 10:58pm

We used to call it tranny music, back in the day, I remember normal fella's turning metro sexual when it wasn't even known what a metro sexual was, then I heard they called themselves, New Romantics, WTF?

EDIT:
And everybody got a casio keyboard for christmas.

donegaLroad · 18-06-2016 11:05pm

I was a Gary Numan fanatic when I was about 10.

I had this Human League song stuck in my head today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M8a8ox_QeM

Am also a fan of Jean Michele Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Orbital, Boards of Canada and other like this.

I listen to a lot of Trance type stuff when I'm working or driving, it has to be melodic trance though.

18-06-2016 11:52pm

donegaLroad wrote: »

I was a Gary Numan fanatic when I was about 10.

I had this Human League song stuck in my head today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M8a8ox_QeM

Am also a fan of Jean Michele Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Orbital, Boards of Canada and other like this.

I listen to a lot of Trance type stuff when I'm working or driving, it has to be melodic trance though.

Just listen to this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfDskFjPZqM

And this, though as a BoC fan you probably know it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UYQqeLvHns

Just 3 minutes out of anyone's life to get electronica.

mansize · 19-06-2016 12:01am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0

mansize · 19-06-2016 12:04am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yod7jc8U94

edbrez · 19-06-2016 2:06pm

Drum and bass, from 1982.

suicide_circus · 19-06-2016 2:23pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgkvk0hQS6U

Driving synth, deadpan vocals and a bittersweet melody. Great tune.

Outlaw Pete · 19-06-2016 2:24pm

Can't have a synth thread without Flock of Seagulls. Seen them in Crawdaddy a few years back, they were class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpfWORQWhU

Apart from Axel F, this has to be the most reconcilable synth intro of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuz94ZIPfJk

UrbanSprawl · 19-06-2016 2:52pm

Deus are the best thing to come from Belgium music wise..still sounds as great today as it did back in the 90's although they never did quite match the debut with later releases..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j8ATd3DMeg

Ursus Horribilis · 19-06-2016 3:01pm

This is an interesting documentary that has shown up on BBC4 several times. I'm a nerd so I love the idea of these people sometimes having to make their own synths back in the day.

I've got mixed feelings on synth pop. I love the earlier experimental stuff that came out from the late 60s onwards. Then once the 80s got into full swing, it got quite cheesy.

Two Tone · 19-06-2016 6:25pm

That Synth Britannia documentary is brilliant.

I simply love that genre (well it's more like a bunch of genres with elements in common - e.g. Joy Division became quite synth heavy but I would not consider them the same genre as The Human League) of music.

Heaven 17 - We Don't Need That Fascist Groove Thang... would sound fresh today in my opinion.

Human League - Sound Of The Crowd and Being Boiled

Gary Numan/Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric? is just sublime (the man was hugely ridiculed for years before it became "ok" to give him credit; bullsh-tty fickle music press).

OMD - Souvenir

I think Depeche Mode were a bit shyte until the late 80s, with the exception of New Life - superb.

Visage - Fade To Grey

Ultravox - Vienna is amazing and I also really love Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.

All so introspective and alienated and gloomy.

donegaLroad · 19-06-2016 10:04pm

Two Tone wrote: »

That Synth Britannia documentary is brilliant.

I simply love that genre (well it's more like a bunch of genres with elements in common - e.g. Joy Division became quite synth heavy but I would not consider them the same genre as The Human League) of music.

Heaven 17 - We Don't Need That Fascist Groove Thang... would sound fresh today in my opinion.

Human League - Sound Of The Crowd and Being Boiled

Gary Numan/Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric? is just sublime (the man was hugely ridiculed for years before it became "ok" to give him credit; bullsh-tty fickle music press).

OMD - Souvenir

I think Depeche Mode were a bit shyte until the late 80s, with the exception of New Life - superb.

Visage - Fade To Grey

Ultravox - Vienna is amazing and I also really love Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.

All so introspective and alienated and gloomy.

Gary Numan had a cult following and was making enough money at that stage not to give a damn. Then he became a pilot.

*did you know that Midge Ure from Ultravox, did a stint with Thin Lizzy on lead guitar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W4H-Iqm77g

19-06-2016 10:27pm

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Apart from Axel F, this has to be the most reconcilable synth intro of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuz94ZIPfJk

No...one of the great things about synth was the lingering note followed by the launch straight into the melody...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3j2NYZ8FKs

Or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldyx3KHOFXw

bnt · 19-06-2016 10:36pm

I have a soft spot for OMD because they used synths very effectively but in combination with other instruments and sounds. All synth, all the time, doesn't quite work for me. This is from Architecture and Morality, their magnum opus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nE8jf0fn_U

They can still rock, too, in their fashion: :cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkfF5toMDY

dr.fuzzenstein · 19-06-2016 10:56pm

bnt wrote: »

I have a soft spot for OMD because they used synths very effectively but in combination with other instruments and sounds. All synth, all the time, doesn't quite work for me. This is from Architecture and Morality, their magnum opus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nE8jf0fn_U

They can still rock, too, in their fashion: :cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkfF5toMDY

I can't believe you beat me to OMD! They were always a bit brainier than the competition (Spanday Ballet, ABC, Duran Duran) and what other band had hits about forgotten 1920's actresses, the plane that bombed Hiroshima and Joan of Arc?

This song is one of my favourites and its not even that synth heavy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFnYcIqj6I

Capt'n Midnight · 19-06-2016 11:45pm

donegaLroad wrote: »

*did you know that Midge Ure from Ultravox, did a stint with Thin Lizzy on lead guitar?

Yes, and he was the worst guitarist they had

also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XJ2GiR6Bo

It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been

JupiterKid · 20-06-2016 3:34am

Kraftwerk started it all back in 1974 with their epoch making album Autobahn. I can't link it here on my phone but feel free to do so.

To think that when Abba were topping the charts with Waterloo , Kraftwerk were feeding their voices through synthesizers is nothing short of amazing. Yes, there had been synths used in the early 70s but these were used to embellish songs whereas Kraftwerk used the synth as their primary instrument and inspired a generation of synthpop artists to follow in their footsteps.

Jean Michele Jarre's Oxygene (1976) was also very important.

Stevie Wonder's Innervisions (1973), considered his finest work, also featured synthesizers prominently.

In the past 20 years, artists such as Air, Boards Of Canada and Goldfrapp have advanced and reinvigorated synthpop.

As you might have guessed, I adore synthpop.

Chain Smoker · 20-06-2016 4:06am

Having a little dance around the apartment to this one right now

Badly Drunk Boy · 20-06-2016 4:29am

This thread needs a bit of Throbbing Gristle. 'Hot On the Heels Of Love' is probably the poppiest thing they've done, so here it is. (The video's a bit NSFW, I suppose.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqRXWFaGXw

Capt'n Midnight · 20-06-2016 7:09am

JupiterKid wrote: »

Kraftwerk started it all back in 1974 with their epoch making album Autobahn

Green Onions 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar-Z_l907DY

Dr Who theme 1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75V4ClJZME4

Music to Moog by 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTu__hhMws

20-06-2016 7:25am

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Having a little dance around the apartment to this one right now

"It puts the lotion on..."

JupiterKid · 20-06-2016 8:52am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Green Onions 1962
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar-Z_l907DY

Dr Who theme 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75V4ClJZME4

Music to Moog by 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTu__hhMws

Oh sure, you can go back to the theremin in the 1920s, there was electronic music in the 60s but I still contend that Kraftweek's 1974 Autobahn changed everything - it was hugely influential. Listening to it today, it still sounds so zeitgeist and fresh, 40 years on.

JupiterKid · 20-06-2016 9:37am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-G28iyPtz0

jmayo · 20-06-2016 10:48am

donegaLroad wrote: »

Gary Numan had a cult following and was making enough money at that stage not to give a damn. Then he became a pilot.
*did you know that Midge Ure from Ultravox, did a stint with Thin Lizzy on lead guitar?

And someone mentioned Visage which was a band Ure co founded.

JupiterKid wrote: »

Kraftwerk started it all back in 1974 with their epoch making album Autobahn. I can't link it here on my phone but feel free to do so.

To think that when Abba were topping the charts with Waterloo , Kraftwerk were feeding their voices through synthesizers is nothing short of amazing. Yes, there had been synths used in the early 70s but these were used to embellish songs whereas Kraftwerk used the synth as their primary instrument and inspired a generation of synthpop artists to follow in their footsteps.

Jean Michele Jarre's Oxygene (1976) was also very important.

Stevie Wonder's Innervisions (1973), considered his finest work, also featured synthesizers prominently.

In the past 20 years, artists such as Air, Boards Of Canada and Goldfrapp have advanced and reinvigorated synthpop.

As you might have guessed, I adore synthpop.

i can't believe no one has mentioned Mr Vangelis from Greece.

At the same time as Jean Michel Jarre was coming out with Oxygene, Vangelis came out with Albedo 0.39 in 1976 which had Pulsar ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZaLkfvQ714

He brought out Spiral in 1977.
Of course he went on to Bladerunner and Chariots of Fire soundtracks.

BTW at one stage he was tipped to replace Rick Wakeman in Yes.

He was of course to go on and work with Jon Anderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Y3m7fisOU

Also someone mentioned Together in Electric Dreams and Conor mentioned Moroder in first post.

Giorgio Moroder (a bit like Trevor Horn - Buggles/ABC/Frankie) was involved in a huge amount of work in the late 70s, early 80s as both writer and producer.
Of course Moroder is still around and worked with Daft Punk a few years ago.
He seems to be linked to loads of Olympic themes and of course did Midnight Express, Top Gun, Scarface.

This is one of Giorgio's biggest early contributions ....
Never hear it nowadays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhKqs7dUMa8

buried · 20-06-2016 11:01am

JupiterKid wrote: »

In the past 20 years, artists such as Air, Boards Of Canada and Goldfrapp have advanced and reinvigorated synthpop.

As you might have guessed, I adore synthpop.

More brilliant modern stuff. You'll love it if your into BOC

https://bleep.com/release/35931-sand-circles-motor-city

20-06-2016 11:14am

jmayo wrote: »

i can't believe no one has mentioned Mr Vangelis from Greece.

This reminded me of Chariots of Fire...it might be the opening...

One of the best tracks in recent years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjl2N0cwy4I

jmayo · 20-06-2016 12:33pm

People have already mentioned a number of 80s synth bands, but I always liked these guys.

Sadly between when they started all the way back in 1981 and I think when they finished in 2004 they just managed to achieve 4 albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bev4H57si2E

rjpf1980 · 20-06-2016 2:44pm

There is a synth revival on youtube at the moment.

I think it has been kick started in part by movies such as Bronson, Driver, The Guest and Cold in July which have used a heavily synth based soundtrack.

John Carpenter's movie themes were an obvious influence on style of The Guest.

I love some of the new retro wave albums on youtube at the moment. Soooo cool