80s pop-synth

[PeterG]

We were talking about Propaganda on the prog trivia thread. So I wonder if anyone else liked them and some of the other now almost forgotten 80s pop-synth bands like The Art of Noise, Yello, Buggles, Berlin, FGTH, Fiction Factory, Blancmange, Icehouse, A Flock of Seagulls, China Crisis, The Fixx, Modern English and so on.

Of course many of the other names are much more well known, Depeche Mode, Human League, Ultravox, OMD, Spandau Ballet, ABC, Eurythmics, Soft Cell, Gary Numan, Duran Duran, Simple Minds.

[JJ88]

Certainly not my favourite era for music, but I do like that Propaganda track 'Duel'. Somehow it seems more sophisticated musically, without labouring that point.

[klothos]

If we are talking about obscure bands, two of the more obscure 80s synth pop acts that I also thought were two of the best in that genre were Camouflage and Cause and Effect......

[adap2it]

Certainly not my favourite era for music, but I do like that Propaganda track 'Duel'. Somehow it seems more sophisticated musically, without labouring that point.

Not my favorite era either, but it did spell a welcome relief from punk. I enjoyed a lot of synth pop, including New Order, B-Movie, Gazebo, Talk Talk, Alphaville & Canadian Band Strange Advance. I would say that here in Canada, Synth Pop was more accepted and popular than in the US. This was one of my faves by Strange Advance, check it out...

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

[markwoll]

A couple more:
Colour Box
Polyrock ( Phillip Glass's bands band )
Scritti Politti, perhaps a more well known band.

And then there were those New Romantics...
Visage and so on

[rcarlberg]

Like any era it had its share of mindless pap but two I liked were Berlin and Blanket of Secrecy.

[bob_32_116]

Some of the bands listed above I liked, some I found awful. The availability of the synthesiser made it possible for people to play music who would never have touched a guitar or a piano - and in some cases that was NOT a good thing. I couldn't stand Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet. The latter in particular encapsulate in one band most of what I disliked about the music of the 1980's - bland repetitive super-clean tunes, without soul.

On the other hand there were a few acts like Tears For Fears and Pet Shop Boys who were able to use the technology to extract genuinely good music. Most of the real musical innovation though was coming from instrumentalists with classical leanings, people like Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Klaus Schulze.

Yello were rather interesting, though most of their stuff is too experimental for my liking. I do love the track "Ciel Ouvert".

[No Pride]

[JJ88]

^Again, I have to say I do like 'The Riddle', some of the chord changes are quite clever. I know Nik Kershaw had something of a prog rock past and it shows in that track IMHO.

There are various other individual songs of this style I don't mind, but those Ministry Of Sound 'Electronic 80s' compilations sort of cover the ground enough for me. It's when these guys labour the 'cleverness' within their lyrics, with literary references and obscure theories, that I switch off. There was a lot of that around in the 80s. And to think people rail against prog 'pretentiousness'!

[No Pride]

^Again, I have to say I do like 'The Riddle', some of the chord changes are quite clever. I know Nik Kershaw had something of a prog rock past and it shows in that track IMHO.

I can't find it anymore, but a couple of years ago, a fellow Kershaw fan pointed me to a link that had a stream of him covering Gentle Giant's "Just the Same" with a previous band he was in. I always suspected he had some prog roots... turned out I was right!

[undergroundrailroad]

From http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/Mag...e.aspx?id=4786

PB : What were your initial influences when starting out as a musician, and how have they changed during the years?

Nik Kershaw : The things I was listening to at the time were Bowie -'Ziggy Stardust' and 'Aladdin Sane'in particular-, T Rex, Deep Purple, Genesis with Peter Gabriel to name a few. When I was in a pro band in the late 70's and early 80's I got exposed to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Weather Report, Steely Dan and Gentle Giant. Add Cole Porter and Irving Berlin in to the equation (I was in a functions band for a while) and you’ll understand why I’m confused.

[undergroundrailroad]

My favorite synth-pop tune is Thomas Dolby's "Europa and the Pirate Twins."

[bob_32_116]

I can't find it anymore, but a couple of years ago, a fellow Kershaw fan pointed me to a link that had a stream of him covering Gentle Giant's "Just the Same" with a previous band he was in. I always suspected he had some prog roots... turned out I was right!

I also liked "The Riddle", and i didn't know that Nik Kershaw "had some prog roots" - which makes it a little less surprising that he ended up collaborating with Tony Banks. He and Banks share writing credits for "Red Day On Blue Street".

[bill g]

Hey, I love the Propaganda album, '1234', that song 'Your Wildlife' is awesome, also there is a trippy instrumental (cant recall the title) that is great.

Speaking of Propaganda, Claudia Brucken's latest album I got to hear some of, and I liked it. Doesn't blow me away but good for what it is.

Speaking of Thomas Dolby, the ep for 'europa...' had a song on it called 'Therapy/Growth' that is fantastic. Really captures a mood. Favorite Dolby song ever.

[rcarlberg]

Another favorite from the era, Wally Badarou:

[rcarlberg]

Also, Startled Insects:

[Progbear]

I can't find it anymore, but a couple of years ago, a fellow Kershaw fan pointed me to a link that had a stream of him covering Gentle Giant's "Just the Same" with a previous band he was in. I always suspected he had some prog roots... turned out I was right!

His band Fusion released an album before he was a solo artist, but it seems to be fairly rare. It’s called Till I Hear From You and it came out in 1980.

[Progbear]

And let’s not forget this stunner from Toronto’s Strange Advance:

[SteveSly]

We were talking about Propaganda on the prog trivia thread. So I wonder if anyone else liked them and some of the other now almost forgotten 80s pop-synth bands like The Art of Noise, Yello, Buggles, Berlin, FGTH, Fiction Factory, Blancmange, Icehouse, A Flock of Seagulls, China Crisis, The Fixx, Modern English and so on.

.

I was always into The Fixx and in fact just saw them live for the first time last year. They were great. They are still putting out great music too. Their last album “Beautiful Friction” is a must buy if you are a fan.

I also dug Berlin. They were just quirky enough to separate them from the pack, and Terri Nunn had an awesome voice.

I had a girlfriend in the late 80’s who was really into Yellow, but they never really clicked with me.

There were not many others I can think of from that era that I was into.

[Progtopia]

HUGE Art of Noise, Depeche Mode, Human League, Thomas Dolby, Pet Shop Boys, Howard Jones, Japan/David Sylvian fan.

Somebody mentioned Camouflage. I had honestly never heard of them in the 80s. Then I heard their song "The Great Commandment" on satellite radio and thought it was a long-lost Depeche Mode song. The resemblance in sound is uncanny, and I have to think intentional.

[klothos]

Somebody mentioned Camouflage. I had honestly never heard of them in the 80s. Then I heard their song "The Great Commandment" on satellite radio and thought it was a long-lost Depeche Mode song. The resemblance in sound is uncanny, and I have to think intentional.

That was me and - yeah - the two bands are similar in feel and vocal stylings, but I think thats where it ends: Camouflage (to my ears) was more advanced with songwriting/sequencing/arranging and technology usage. They blended more industrial stylings into their compositions while DM only mildly flirted with it.....

.......of course, by this time, I had moved on to Wax Trax - F.L.A. and Front 242 in particular

[Progtopia]

.......of course, by this time, I had moved on to Wax Trax - F.L.A. and Front 242 in particular

Similar for me, although it was more Skinny Puppy and Ministry with a little KMFDM thrown in.

[GuitarGeek]

I rather liked a lot of the synth pop stuff. A few favorites:

Freur: Anyone who knows me knows Doot-Doot is one of my all time stone cold classic favorites. Great, GREAT album, with sometimes elliptical lyrics, and great melodies. Doot Doot itself is a classic single with a nonsense chorus, a cool guitar lick, and I LOVE those Simmons drum fills on the ride out. The B-side Hold Me Mother is also pretty good too. I never did hear their second album, and only heard a couple songs by either version of Underworld, who started off basically as Freur with a different keyboardist, but then devolved in to a techno act.

Thompson Twins: I had Quick Step And Side Kick on cassette. Another fantastic album with lots of cool songs. Some really quirky stuff, and I always dug the reiteration of the Name Of Love hook in Love On Your Side after Tom Bailey sings "I played you all my favorite records". And If You Were Here was classic enough to be used in the penultimate scene of Sixteen Candles (as Jake waves to Sam...she turns to see if he's waving at someone behind her, she points to herself and silently says "Me?" and Jake says "Yeah, you!"...I don't care if you're a man, woman, gay or straight or whatever, a piece of your heart has to melt in that moment). There were some good songs on Into The Gap as well, as I recall. I liked how they mixed the synth pop cliches (eg synth bass, drum machines, etc) with things like acoustic percussion (listen to Doctor! Doctor!), a little bit of harmonica (on You Lift Me Up), and the occasional electric guitar and even piano.

Duran Duran: the first two albums. Never really heard Seven And The Ragged Tiger (other than the singles, which were mostly good) or what came after, but those first two albums were great. I never actually owned the first album, but I did eventually end up hearing most of the songs of it in one way or another. Rio was a total classic, I had that on cassette (probably the US mix), and just played it to death. I really dug Lonely In Your Nightmare, Last Chance On The Stairway, The Chauffeur, and of course the singles. If you listen carefully to the guitar playing on some of the tracks, it sounds like Andy Taylor's getting his Fripp/Hackett thing on.

Berlin: good American band, never had any of the albums, but always dug Dancing In Berlin, No More Words, and The Metro. You Take My Breath Away was a terrible song, though (one they didn't even want to do). I remember reading about them in Keyboard magazine, one of the keyboardists used just a Prophet-5 onstage, the other had a Prophet-5 and a Yamaha DX-7. Lose the DX-7, and you'd have a classic synth rig. And they were produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett (more on his involvement in this mess later).

Ultravox: only album I have by them is Vienna, but again, it's a great record. Slightly punky sounding. Vienna itself is a great snog, and I have fun trying to match Midge Ure on the choruses ("this means nothing to me, Ohhhhh Viennaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacoughcough"). All Stood Still is another one I like a lot on that album. Astradyne I think is the title of the opening instrumental.

Talk Talk: I gather they went prog later on, but I always thought that first single, Talk Talk, man that's a classic pop song. "ALL YOU EVER DO TO ME IS TALK TALK".

A Flock Of Seagulls: Ok, Space Age Love Song, when you read the lyrics on paper, they're kinda dopey and repetitive, but you put them together with the synth playing and guitar riff...MAN, what a killer song. I always dug Wishing (If I Had A Photograph) as well, and there were a couple others I remember liking that I can't remember right now. And they two were produced by Mike Howlett, along with Be Bop Deluxe guitar god Bill Nelson. Forget about Mike Score's ridiculous hairdo (and especially forget about the fact that at the age of 10, I was not only dumb enough to want that hairdo, but also dumb enough to not know how to do it) and listen to the music. GREAT! Now you've got me quoting Doobie Brothers lyrics!

[WytchCrypt]

My favorite synth-pop tune is Thomas Dolby's "Europa and the Pirate Twins."

That album ("The Golden Age of Wireless") is fantastic...the only weak track imho is the opening song "She Blinded Me with Science" which got lots of radio play at the time. Radio Silence, Flying North, One of Our Submarines, many of these songs stand up to a prog fans requirements for great listening.

[PeterG]

but it did spell a welcome relief from punk.

Nail on the head, right there! I never liked punk or pub rock, and so at the end of the 70s when synth and new romantic and post-punk bands started gaining ground I was well pleased. And thanks for mentioning Talk Talk and Alphaville, I'd forgotten them, both great bands!