Pulse's BLAHST from the PAHST: Classic Synthpop Thread

[Pulse Wave]

So we already have a thread about current music that tries to emulate 80s synthpop. Now here's the thread about the real deal which, in fact, was born in the late 70s and helped establish the synth as the musical instrument of the 80s (together with the industry introducing synths which were a) more powerful, b) cheaper, c) more versatile or d) all of this).

I don't think there are so many more bronies than me at this forum who have experienced this music — some of it at least — when it was still new.

This song was kind of the birth of New Romantic: Visage – Fade To Grey.

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You often only needed two people for making synthpop: Soft Cell – Tainted Love.

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Note how many hairstyles Annie Lennox goes through within 1 music video clip: Eurythmics – Love Is A Stranger.

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Never mind the background singers, Erasure are only a duo: Erasure – Oh L'Amour.

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(Yes, I've already posted some of these videos elsewhere, but this is the thread they should have gone into in the first place.)

[Pulse Wave]

One more post for today. I'll start with two quite early songs.

Back in 1977, Giorgio Moroder invented electronic dance music. Brian Eno said this song would define the club sound of the next 20 years, and he was right: Donna Summer – I Feel Love.

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Here, have something from 1979. Gary Numan (of Tubeway Army fame) – Cars.

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Another British tune. A group that had only just left behind their low-budget origins brings back the Mellotron: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Made Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc).

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7IUIGAO0_Y[/youtube]

A synthpop group from Norway and their first big smash hit with THE cult synthpop video. Note the DX7 bass. Pity they ended up sounding like Coldplay before they disbanded: a-ha – Take On Me.

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[Viricide Filly]

One more post for today. I'll start with two quite early songs.

Back in 1977, Giorgio Moroder invented electronic dance music.

Incorrect

[Freewave]

One more post for today. I'll start with two quite early songs.

Back in 1977, Giorgio Moroder invented electronic dance music.

Incorrect

You might want to state the correct answer if you say a person's wrong. You could offer up Silver Apples - Oscillations (1968), although its hardly completely electronic. Jean-Jacques Perrey's E.V.A. (1970) isn't far off either. Or you could point to the first synthpop actually being Hot Butter's - Popcorn (1972) although it hardly set off dance music with a flood of imitators other than some more moog composers.

Moroder and Donna Summer's I Feel Love (1977) in many ways DID set off the template for both Eurodisco and Italo Disco and later House and Techno. Plus it was a massive tune. Even Kraftwerk didn't get quite the same impact right off the bat. Autobahn (1974) is hardly upper bpm dance foolery and neither is Trans Europe Express (1977). Neither is most Progressive Electronic like Tangerine Dream or Jean Michel Jarre although it's not light years off. Mostly missing a beat while it has trancey portions in play.

[Pulse Wave]

Well, let's put it that way: "I Feel Love" was the first song that came that close to EDM, at least the first popular one:

• mostly electronic (it does include a heavily processed electric guitar and a Hohner Clavinet, and the bass drum is acoustic and played by Keith Forsey because 1977 was before phat & punchy electronic kick drums were invented)
• sequencer-/pattern-based (at least the bass line and some of the drum sounds were sequenced in sync to a trigger track on the reel-to-reel tape) and therefore repetitive
• four-to-the-floor with an emphasis on the kick drum plus noisy high-frequency percussion on the off-beat
• no fill-ins or other unevenly distributed variations in the drum pattern
• in the typical EDM BPM range
• fading and/or muting of particular tracks (especially with the bass and the kick drum always continuing)

The ping-pong delay is typically 70s, as are the phased strings and certain stuff being hand- or foot-played instead of strictly sequenced, but most of the rest was at least a dozen years ahead of its time and has become almost timeless. Key elements came back a few times throughout the history of music as already mentioned, for example with Italo Disco in the early and mid-80s and with the fledgling modern EDM in the late 80s.

Speaking of Italo Disco, shall I include it in this thread, or does it deserve a separate one?

[Freewave]

Might wanna give Italo Disco its own thread. It definitely deserves one.

[Pulse Wave]

Might as well post some more songs.

Synthpop from 1984's German: Alphaville – "Big In Japan"

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They've always been referred to as the German Depeche Mode: Camouflage – "The Great Commandment"

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What became of Joy Division: New Order – Blue Monday

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Just barely missed Italo Disco, and you get your usual dose of LinnDrum and DX7: Al Corley – Square Rooms

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