{"id":434842,"date":"2020-07-15T18:01:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T16:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=434842"},"modified":"2020-07-15T10:53:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T08:53:14","slug":"evolution-of-electronic-music-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/inspire\/evolution-of-electronic-music-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolution of Electronic Music &#8211; Part 2 of 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Synth Pop &amp; Co.<\/h3>\n<p>Experimental electronic music had left its footprints in the <strong>1970s<\/strong> and also advanced significantly <strong>commercially<\/strong>. While many of the international acts of early electronic music came from the German-speaking world, <strong>England<\/strong> was the epicentre of <strong>synth-<\/strong> and <strong>electro-pop<\/strong>. Hairstyles, attitude, super-cool synthesizer sounds and commerce entered into a special kind of symbiosis: From technically accomplished musicians to <strong>musical technicians<\/strong>!<\/p>\n<p>A peculiarity of electronic music at that time was that suddenly those who were not virtuosos on a specific instrument could also make music. Due to the technological advancement of synthesizers, virtuoso skills, for example as a guitarist, bassist or drummer, took a back seat. Instead, the <strong>geeks and nerds<\/strong> shuffled into the spotlight. Those who already has some <strong>keyboard skills<\/strong> had an advantage at this phase.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/xUOxfbuK9qc61NGiaI\/giphy.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">MIDI standard and the first consumer computers<\/h3>\n\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-434842 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"128\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/07\/MIDI-logo.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The development of <strong>computers<\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/MIDI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>MIDI<\/strong> <strong>interfaces<\/strong><\/a> suddenly became rapid. For example, the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commodore_64\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Commodore 64<\/strong><\/a> came onto the market, where<strong> Karl Steinberg<\/strong> programmed his first <strong>sequencer<\/strong>. The history of electronic music production is also closely linked to the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Atari_ST\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Atari ST<\/strong><\/a> computer, which had a MIDI interface on board at the factory. <strong>MIDI 1.0<\/strong>, the<strong> MIDI control protocol<\/strong>, was introduced shortly before, in <strong>1982<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-434842 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"165\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Commodore-64-300x165.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-435002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Commodore-64-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Commodore-64.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-435002'>\n\t\t\t\tCommodore 64\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Atari-300x205.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-435001\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Atari-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Atari.jpg 490w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-435001'>\n\t\t\t\tAtari ST\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The development of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yamaha_DX7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Yamaha DX7<\/strong><\/a> as the first <strong>digital synthesizer<\/strong>, which was affordable for the average musician and accessible to a larger group of customers starting in <strong>1983<\/strong>, played an immense role in this electronic movement. For the first time, thanks to <strong>FM synthesis<\/strong>, sound <strong>modulation<\/strong> could be carried out, used for the sounds and played on the keyboard.<\/p>\n<p>Many other <strong>technical and technological advances<\/strong> played into the hands of musicians and music producers at about the same time allowing them to weave their sounds, tones and noises together for their compositions. And they did it more than extensively:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Gary Numan &#8211; the first synth pop star<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s May 1979, the cult show \u201c<strong>Top Of The Pops<\/strong>\u201d has a spectacular appearance: Electropop pioneer <strong>Gary Numan<\/strong> (and his band <strong>Tubeway Army<\/strong>) performs his purely electronically produced song \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZF4Z6smOrZw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Are Friends Electric<\/strong><\/a>?\u201d And with that he becomes nothing less than the first<strong> synthesizer pop star<\/strong>. Gary actually came from <strong>punk<\/strong> and saw himself as a <strong>non-musician<\/strong>. He says: &#8220;My only talent is to<strong> string noises together<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2222\/07\/Gary-Numan.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-434912\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2222\/07\/Gary-Numan.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Gary-Numan.png 590w, https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2222\/07\/Gary-Numan-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There was his band on the stage with<strong> electric guitar, electric bass, drums<\/strong>, etc., which made the performance all the more curious, especially since not one of those instruments were heard on the recording. Gary laid out the red carpet for the icons that followed him. The bands like <strong>Depeche Mode<\/strong>, <strong>OMD<\/strong>, <strong>Soft<\/strong> <strong>Cell<\/strong>, <strong>Human<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>League &amp; Co<\/strong>. either had not yet outgrown their practice rooms or did not exist at all. Only a year later, the journey, which was initially provocative, began.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gary Numan &#8211;<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M3pvMLFYX0w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Are Friends Electric<\/strong><\/a> (1979)<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M3pvMLFYX0w<\/p>\n<p>Around 1980, electro-pop and synth-pop, with synthetically produced songs, finally became <strong>socially acceptable<\/strong> and compatible with <strong>dance halls<\/strong>. However, the bands had to prevail against the then soaring rock and punk. It wasn&#8217;t easy. An experience that Human League had, while performing as an opening act for<strong> Iggy Pop<\/strong>, was rather unpleasant: The audience booed them off the stage and the band &#8220;got hit with practically everything the punk fans carried with them\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The British <strong>New Wave <\/strong>(as it started being called)\u00a0band was enthusiastic about the possibilities of the new synths. Punk seemed lost, they wanted to revive the spirit with a <strong>DIY<\/strong> attitude. And they should prevail: In 1981, &#8220;<strong>Don\u2019t You Want Me<\/strong>&#8221; became the <strong>best-selling single<\/strong> in England. They are still considered one of the most important pioneers of electronic pop music.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Human League &#8211;<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tA1V3zP7uh4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Don\u2019t You Want Me<\/strong><\/a> (1981)<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tA1V3zP7uh4<\/p>\n<p>In 1980 <strong>Depeche Mode<\/strong> was discovered during a concert as the opening act of <strong>Fad Gadget<\/strong>. The British band, like OMD or Soft Cell, is one of the most famous acts of synth pop. Depeche Mode should prove to be a gold mine. In 1988 they filled the <strong>Rose Bowl Stadium<\/strong> in Pasadena, California with <strong>70,000 spectators<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A year later, the <strong>New Wave<\/strong> freaks released \u201c<strong>Personal Jesus<\/strong>\u201d, their most internationally successful song. They were hyped especially in the <strong>USA<\/strong>. All the more curious, especially since the band actually expected to fall on deaf ears in America because of the <strong>provocative<\/strong> <strong>song<\/strong> <strong>title<\/strong> and <strong>lyrics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Depeche Mode &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=u1xrNaTO1bI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Personal Jesus<\/a><\/strong> (1989)<\/p>\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-container brlbs-cmpnt-content-blocker brlbs-cmpnt-with-individual-styles\" data-borlabs-cookie-content-blocker-id=\"youtube-content-blocker\" data-borlabs-cookie-content=\"PGlmcmFtZSB0aXRsZT0iRGVwZWNoZSBNb2RlIC0gUGVyc29uYWwgSmVzdXMgKE9mZmljaWFsIFZpZGVvKSIgd2lkdGg9IjUwMCIgaGVpZ2h0PSIzNzUiIHNyYz0iaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS1ub2Nvb2tpZS5jb20vZW1iZWQvdTF4ck5hVE8xYkk\/ZmVhdHVyZT1vZW1iZWQiIGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyPSIwIiBhbGxvdz0iYWNjZWxlcm9tZXRlcjsgYXV0b3BsYXk7IGNsaXBib2FyZC13cml0ZTsgZW5jcnlwdGVkLW1lZGlhOyBneXJvc2NvcGU7IHBpY3R1cmUtaW4tcGljdHVyZTsgd2ViLXNoYXJlIiByZWZlcnJlcnBvbGljeT0ic3RyaWN0LW9yaWdpbi13aGVuLWNyb3NzLW9yaWdpbiIgYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuPjwvaWZyYW1lPg==\">\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-preset-c brlbs-cmpnt-cb-youtube\">\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-thumbnail\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/borlabs-cookie\/2\/brlbs-cb-youtube-main.png')\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-main\">\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-play-button\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-content\">\n<p class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-description\">You are currently viewing a placeholder content from <strong>YouTube<\/strong>. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-provider-toggle\" href=\"#\" data-borlabs-cookie-show-provider-information role=\"button\">More Information<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-buttons\"> <a class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-btn\" href=\"#\" data-borlabs-cookie-unblock role=\"button\">Unblock this content<\/a> <a class=\"brlbs-cmpnt-cb-btn\" href=\"#\" data-borlabs-cookie-accept-service role=\"button\" style=\"display: inherit\">Accept required service and unblock its content<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Incidentally, the British synth-pop band is regularly mentioned as inspiration by the founders of <strong>Detroit<\/strong> <strong>techno<\/strong> &#8211; the <strong>Bellville Three<\/strong>. But more on that next time!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">If you were around during those days: Do you remember the onset of the synth pop and new wave musical movements? Which bands and songs have you been influenced by?<\/p>\n<div class=\"advads-content-injection-before-content advads-entity-placement\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"advads-119939148\"><div class=\"advads-adlabel\">Advertisements<\/div><div id=\"advads-2384675895\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/intl\/index.html?utm_medium=display&#038;utm_source=partnersite&#038;utm_campaign=branding&#038;utm_content=thoshop&#038;utm_term=gemischt\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"2502_Gear_Banner_Gemischt_729x90_EN_v01\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/2502_Gear_Banner_Gemischt_729x90_EN_v01.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/2502_Gear_Banner_Gemischt_729x90_EN_v01.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/2502_Gear_Banner_Gemischt_729x90_EN_v01-300x37.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"   \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here we are in Part 2 of the 3-part series, this time discussing the pioneers of the Synth Pop and New Wave movements&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":435055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tblog_post_audio_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10676],"tags":[14061,8497,14829,8499,8189,14799,14795,14797,14831,3204,14793,6652,14789,5893,14791,14356],"class_list":["post-434842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspire","tag-80s","tag-atari","tag-atari-st","tag-commodore-64","tag-computer","tag-depeche-mode","tag-gary-numan","tag-human-league","tag-midi","tag-music","tag-new-wave","tag-pop","tag-synth-pop","tag-synthesizer-en","tag-synthpop","tag-techno"],"category_colors":{"color_key":"inspire","css_classes":{"text":"cat-inspire","text_light":"cat-inspire-light","bg":"cat-bg-inspire","bg_light":"cat-bg-inspire-light","border":"cat-border-inspire","text_on_bg":"cat-text-on-inspire"}},"reading_time":{"minutes":4,"formatted":"4 min"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}