You might have noticed us getting all excited about Mirrors these last few months – we’ve always been suckers for a bit of moody synth pop. This month’s heroic half-dozen are all essential milestones of Moog and Fairlight favourites that blow our fuse every time.
KRAFTWERK – ‘THE MODEL’ 1978
So revolutionary were these suited Germans and their mannequin stand-ins that BBC’s Tomorrow’s World ran a gushing piece about them, something few pub rock bands ever managed. Most of their work was distinctly non-pop in terms of length and studious chorus-avoidance, but this track from 1978 was an underground influence on all synth acts that would follow – the first real example of the machine’s pop possibilities – eventually reaching number one four years later on its re-release.
THE HUMAN LEAGUE – ‘BEING BOILED’ 1978
As with ‘The Model’, this turned out to be ridiculously ahead of its time, similarly only charting four years after its original release. The voice of Buddha warning against silkworm farming might not be an obvious choice for a pop ditty, but Phil Oakey and co nailed it to the floor with a ridiculously dirty analogue synth riff. This was an early highlight for the band, still playing today, who would come to define the turn-of-decade synth pop sound with the sublime ‘Dare’ album.
SOFT CELL – ‘SAY HELLO WAVE GOODBYE’ 1981
Because anyone else would go for the obvious ‘Tainted Love’ and because it’s the first record of the genre that had us smudging our eyeliner. Proving once and for all that synth music certainly wasn’t cold and unemotional; this still has an immense emotional punch to it, best served with too much red wine and a broken heart. David Gray covered it a few years back, criminally changing the line ‘you were a sleep-around’ to ‘you were a run-around’, the wobble-headed, do-gooder ponce.
OMD – ‘SOUVENIR’ 1981
People said a lot of synth pop was po-faced, arty nonsense – records called ‘Architecture and Morality’ by bands called Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark did little to buck this opinion. Yet delve within its po-faced, arty Peter Saville sleeve and there’s one of the most gorgeous records of the entire decade right there. Both ethereal and cerebral, OMD made some of the most stylish pop of the time and managed the rare feat of charting two successive singles about Joan of Arc. Well, they did dress and dance like history teachers…
PET SHOP BOYS – ‘WEST END GIRLS’ 1984
Beyond the first wave of loosely grouped, new romantic, synth pop bands came the Pet Shop Boys. While many reacted against Thatcher’s austerity years with flamboyance and escapism, Neil and Chris adopted a dour tone of commentary for their perfectly crafted pop. ‘West End Girls’, their breakthrough hit, was a perfect snapshot in time – completely contemporary yet retaining the classic synth pop duo line-up which began with Sparks and has endured ever since. Does anyone not know this song word-perfect? Not around here.
DEPECHE MODE – ‘ENJOY THE SILENCE’ 1990
Having already begun flirting with, with guitars by the time this highlight from ‘Violator’ saw the light of day, Depeche’s ultimate pop masterpiece proved three inanimate men with keyboards was still absolutely the best way to go. Forever known for another legend of the genre in ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, they’d certainly updated the pop blueprint they laid down a decade before but remained true to their synth roots. And got big tattoos. The image of Dave Gahan dressed as a king lugging a deckchair about over various landscapes is an iconic video classic.
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