An Insult to Punk - My History of Synth Pop

Synth is short for synthesizer. Pop is short for popular. Synthesizers were not popular enough to stand on their own for decades. They had to be custom made and they were really, really expensive. They more or less symbolized knowing too much and having too much, which punks probably would have seen as the foundation of Britain’s class structure. Any punk could steal a used guitar, learn three chords and never learn or buy anything more. Most of the appeal of punk came in the performance – the control or lack thereof that the “musician” had over the audience. When the first synth performer did nothing more on stage than push play on a machine, you can believe it insulted his punk audience. No guitar, no crowd surfing, just human beings being replaced by machines. I can see how that could be considered worse than the gap between rich and poor. In an unintentional way, synthpop was a reaction against everything in punk except for the concept of the three minute pop song. Punk rescued us from prog rock and disco songs that droned on forever, but synth pop rescued us from a future where music sounded like a noisy, shortened version of the past.

New wave to me is just synth pop with guitars. You won’t find any on this playlist. As much as I like it (and your average alternative music listener doesn’t), I admit that it was just a compromise between synth pop and punk. Maybe that’s what rock purists realize also.

1. "I Feel Love" - Donna Summer (1978) In the beginning, disco was recorded with huge, lush symphony orchestras. Then producers realized that they could re-create string arrangements using synthesizers for a lot less money. For nearly 20 years, everyone from the Beach Boys to Stevie Wonder to David Bowie had used synths to sound like other instruments. The significance of this song is that the synths don’t sound like string instruments or anything organic for that matter. According to Mojo magazine, “it was the last song on a concept album that began with a 1940s-style vocal and traveled through time and genres. (It) was intended to represent sexually charged future-pop.” Ironically, the title of the album was `.

2. "Neon Lights" - Kraftwerk (1978) Any electronic music list will pay respect to them. They got started when The Beatles were the biggest thing and they are still coming out with stuff. However, this song is the closest they ever came to synth pop and it is debatable how close it actually comes. On an interesting side note, Afrika Bambaataa, who DJed alongside Kool Herc, the father of the breakbeat, and scratch-mix innovator Grandmaster Flash, loved Kraftwerk and he did a mash-up of their “Trans-Europe Express” with funk called “Planet Rock.” Check it out because it’s supposedly the first song to use the Roland 808 drum machine, a staple in nearly every house and rave song.

3. "When the Machines Rock" - Tubeway Army (1979) Really just Gary Numan, who went on to make the '80s new wave hit, “Cars.” He was into punk, but being a little anti-social he wanted to make music without a band, which he used synths to do. This track is instrumental, but it’s still more melodic and radio-friendly than anything Kraftwerk did. It serves as the bridge between them and the pop songs that follow.

4. "Pop Muzik" – M (1979) This came out the same time as “Video Killed the Radio Star” (the first MTV video) and while they are similar, this one has no guitar. It is the song U2 covered and used to open their Popmart tour. It’s like a manifesto that new mainstream music must feature synths and U2’s Pop album was indeed their first to use them heavily.

5. "Fade to Grey" - Visage (1981) This band formed in ’78 and helped to start a movement eventually dubbed the New Romantics, which included A Flock of Seagulls, Culture Club, and Duran Duran. They weren’t musicians, so that was a little punk. They were fashion students using the sudden popularity of electronic music to become stars, much the same way guys will learn to play the guitar to get girls.

6. "Photographic" - Depeche Mode (1981) Here it is: the first DM single. It originally appeared on a compilation called Some Bizarre Album with early songs by Soft Cell, The The, and Blancmange. After that, the group was picked up by Daniel Miller, whose label, Mute Records, had already positioned itself at the forefront of electronic music with Cabaret Voltaire. Erasure, Moby, and even Sonic Youth would sign to Mute too.

7. "Souvenir" - Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark (1981) OMD is best known for “If You Leave,” the theme from Pretty in Pink. Factory Records (Joy Division/New Order’s label) originally signed them simply because they sounded experimental. Then John Peel (do your research if you’ve never heard of him) told them to find a bigger label because they would be hitmakers. They never really caught on here in the U.S. and some of the later albums are hard to find, but if you can acquire the means, you have to hear the song “White Trash” from the Junk Culture album. It’s on my all-time top 20 songs list.

8. "Tainted Love" - Soft Cell (1981) To truly appreciate this song, you have to be familiar with the term “Northern Soul.” I have a book on the history of dance music called Last Night a DJ Saved My Life and there is a whole chapter, 30 pages, describing Northern Soul. It was mostly blue collar stoners in northern England obsessed with the Detroit sound of '60s Motown pop records, but five years late. Anyway, this Gloria Jones tune from 1964 was their favorite, and a few from that working class formed a band a decade later and paid their respect, but with synths.

9. "Don't You Want Me" - Human League (1981) Listen to the lyrics before you read this: “Madonna really was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when she first heard (this song). That much is true. It was the record that supposedly inspired her to pack in modeling and dancing, and join a group called The Breakfast Club. Twenty years on and she’s still got the world at her feet.” The name Human League comes from a role playing game and they are officially the first synth pop band, having formed in 1977.

10. "We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing" - Heaven 17 (1981) Half of the Human League, which left in 1980 over artistic differences. Forgive me for including a song that is not strictly synthesizers, but the guitar and bari sax remind me of The English Beat, which is one of my top five bands. These guys never made it internationally like their ex-mates who stuck with the name Human League. They were obviously too political for the mainstream. They even released an album titled Bigger than America. The name Heaven 17 comes from The Clockwork Orange.

11. "Ghosts" - Japan (1981) I include this because you’ll never be exposed to it otherwise. Paul McCartney was in the studio when they recorded this, said it sounded interesting, and could he play along with a guitar, to which they responded, “Why would we want him on our album?”

12. "Situation" - Yaz (1982) If you want to hear the song that caused Vince Clarke to leave Depeche Mode, then listen to the first single by Yaz, “Only You.” Apparently he wrote it for them, but they hated it and while he was in the bathroom they discussed getting rid of him. He had practically written their whole first album, Speak & Spell. I guess he got his revenge when Yaz hit bigger than DM had ever done with the same song, different singer. Two years later he started Erasure.

Synth pop that has been covered in recent years:

13. "Sweet Dreams" - The Eurythmics (1983), Marilyn Manson (1995)
14. "Blue Monday" - New Order (1983), Orgy (1998)
15. "Mad World" - Tears for Fears (1983), Michael Andrews (2002)
16. "It's My Life" - Talk Talk (1983), No Doubt (2003)

Epilogue:

17. "Love's Great Adventure" - Ultravox (1984) A lot of synth pop lists include Ultravox, which I think was more of a glam rock band (much like Def Leppard). They dabbled with synths but never embraced them. This song was recorded especially for their greatest hits collection (they had been together since 1974). This is what nearly all synth pop would sound like until Nine Inch Nails did “Down in It” (1988), although that was just trying to re-create Skinny Puppy’s song “Dig It” (1986).

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