View source for Synth-pop

{{Short description|Music genre in which the synthesizer is a key instrument}}
{{Redirect|Technopop}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Synth-pop
| other_names       = Techno-pop
<!--- * electrobeat<ref name="SR"/> --->| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Electronic music|Electronic]]<ref name="AV Club">{{cite web |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/where-start-80s-uk-synth-pop-215560 |title=Where to start with '80s U.K. synth-pop |publisher=[[The A.V. Club]] |date=26 February 2015 |access-date=27 August 2015 |author=Zaleski, Anne}}</ref><ref name=Reynolds2009/><ref name="CP">{{cite web|website=[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]]|url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2022/10/birth-of-synth-pop/|title=Things that dreams are made of: The birth of synth-pop|author=[[Paul Lester]]|date=20 October 2022}}</ref>|[[pop music|pop]]<ref name="AV Club"/><ref name=Reynolds2009/><ref name="CP"/>|[[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]]<ref name="CP"/><ref name=Borthwick/>|[[disco]]<ref name=Borthwick/><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.synthpunk.org/units/keyboard1.html| title= The New Synthesizer Rock|date=June 1982| magazine= Keyboard| access-date= 15 May 2011}}</ref>|[[New wave music|new wave]]<ref>{{allMusic|subgenre|synth-pop-ma0000002887|Synth Pop}}</ref>|[[progressive rock]]<ref name="CP"/>|[[krautrock]]<ref name="CP"/>|[[glam rock]]<ref name=Borthwick/>|[[Eurodisco]]<ref name=Borthwick/>||[[art pop]]<ref name="FisherGold">{{cite journal|last=Fisher|first=Mark|title=You Remind Me of Gold: Dialogue with Simon Reynolds|journal=Kaleidoscope|issue=9|year=2010}}</ref>}}
| cultural_origins  = 1977–1980 in Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom
| derivatives       = {{hlist|[[Electropop]]|[[dance-pop]]<ref name="apell423">{{cite book|title=American popular music: a multicultural history|year=2006|publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation|Thomson Wadsworth]]|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=978-0155062290|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCwYAQAAIAAJ|author1=Glenn Appell |author2=David Hemphill |access-date=12 May 2012|page=423|quote=The 1980s brought the dawning age of the synthesizer in rock. Synth pop, a spare, synthesizer-based dance pop sound, was its first embodiment.}}</ref>|[[House music|house]]|[[Italo disco]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/italo-disco-guide|title=All About Italo Disco: Origins and Notable Italo Disco Artists - 2025|website=MasterClass}}</ref>|[[Electro (music)|electro]]|[[techno]]<ref name="MT">{{cite magazine|magazine=Music Technology|title=The Techno Wave|url=https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-techno-wave/2291|last=Trask|first=Simon|date=September 1988|access-date=27 April 2023}}</ref>|[[Detroit techno]]<ref name="MT"/>|[[alternative dance]]|[[futurepop]]|[[hypnagogic pop]]|[[chillwave]]}}
| subgenrelist      = 
| subgenres         = 
| fusiongenres      = {{hlist|[[Electroclash]]}}
| regional_scenes   = 
| other_topics      = {{hlist|[[Post-punk]]|[[new pop]]|[[synthwave]]|[[techno]]|[[electronic rock]]}}
| current_year      = no
}}
{{Electronic music top}}
'''Synth-pop''' (short for '''synthesizer pop''';{{sfn|Trynka|Bacon|1996|p=60}} also called '''techno-pop'''<ref name="SR">{{cite journal|title=High-fidelity sound systems|journal=[[Stereo Review]]|year=1983|volume=48|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVkJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22technopop%22+%22synthpop%22}}</ref><ref name="electrosynth">{{harvnb|Collins|Schedel|Wilson|2013|p=97|loc="synth pop (also called electro pop, techno pop, and the like)"}}; {{harvnb|Hoffmann|2004|p=2153|loc="Techno-pop, also termed synth-pop or electro-pop"}}</ref>) is a [[music genre]] that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the [[synthesizer]] as the dominant musical instrument.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Synth-Pop Music Guide: A Brief History of Synth-Pop|url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/synth-pop-music-guide|website=Masterclass|date=7 June 2021}}</ref> It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in [[progressive rock]], [[electronic music|electronic]], [[art rock]], [[disco]], and particularly the [[Krautrock]] of bands like [[Kraftwerk]]. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the [[post-punk]] era as part of the [[New wave music|new wave]] movement of the late 1970s.

Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, and the mid-1970s saw the rise of electronic art musicians. After the breakthrough of [[Gary Numan]] in the [[UK Singles Chart]] in 1979, large numbers of artists began to enjoy success with a synthesizer-based sound in the early 1980s. In Japan, [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] introduced the [[TR-808]] rhythm machine to popular music, and the band would be a major influence on early British synth-pop acts. The development of inexpensive [[polyphonic synthesizer|polyphonic]] synthesizers, the definition of [[MIDI]] and the use of [[Dance music|dance]] beats, led to a more commercial and accessible sound for synth-pop. Thus, its adoption by the style-conscious acts from the [[New Romantic]] movement, together with the rise of [[MTV]], led to success for large numbers of British synth-pop acts in the US during the [[Second British Invasion]].

The term "techno-pop" was coined by Yuzuru Agi in his critique of Kraftwerk's ''[[The Man-Machine]]'' in 1978 and is considered a case of [[multiple discovery]] of naming. Hence, the term can be used interchangeably with "synth-pop", but is more frequently used to describe the scene of Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shikata|first=Hiroaki|date=October 17, 2005|title=The Origin of Techno-pop|url=https://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/205790/|website=All About (in Japanese)}}</ref> The term "techno-pop" became also popular in Europe, where it started: German band Kraftwerk's 1986 album was titled ''[[Techno Pop]]''; English band [[the Buggles]] has a song named [[The Age of Plastic|"Technopop"]] and Spanish band [[Mecano]] described their style as tecno-pop.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.grupomecano.com/libros.html |title=Mecano site |access-date=30 May 2023 |archive-date=1 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001154611/https://www.grupomecano.com/libros.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

"Synth-pop" is sometimes used interchangeably with "[[electropop]]",<ref name="electrosynth"/> but "electropop" may also denote a variant of synth-pop that places more emphasis on a harder, more electronic sound.{{sfn|Jones|2006|p=107}} In the mid to late 1980s, duos such as [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]] and [[Pet Shop Boys]] adopted a style that was highly successful on the US dance charts, but by the end of the decade, the synth-pop of bands such as [[A-ha]] and [[Alphaville (band)|Alphaville]] was giving way to [[house music]] and [[techno]]. Interest in synth-pop began to revive in the [[indietronica]] and [[electroclash]] movements in the late 1990s, and in the 2000s synth-pop enjoyed a widespread revival and commercial success.

The genre has received criticism for alleged lack of emotion and musicianship; prominent artists have spoken out against detractors who believed that synthesizers themselves composed and played the songs. Synth-pop music has established a place for the synthesizer as a major element of [[pop music|pop]] and [[rock music]], directly influencing subsequent genres (including [[house music]] and [[Detroit techno]]) and has indirectly influenced many other genres, as well as individual recordings.

==Characteristics==
[[File:Sequential Circuits Prophet 5.jpg|thumb|alt=A colour photograph of a synthesizer with a keyboard |The [[Prophet-5]], one of the first [[polyphonic synthesizer]]s. It was widely used in 1980s synth-pop, along with the [[Roland Jupiter-4|Roland Jupiter]] and [[Yamaha DX7]].]]
Synth-pop is defined by its primary use of synthesizers, [[drum machine]]s and [[Music sequencer|sequencers]], sometimes using them to replace all other instruments. Borthwick and Moy have described the genre as diverse but "characterised by a broad set of values that eschewed rock playing styles, rhythms and structures", which were replaced by "synthetic textures" and "robotic rigidity", often defined by the limitations of the new technology,<ref name=Borthwick/> including [[Monophonic (synthesizers)|monophonic]] synthesizers (only able to play one note at a time).<ref>Barry R. Parker, ''Good Vibrations: the Physics of Music'' (Boston MD: JHU Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-8018-9264-3}}, p. 213.</ref>

Many synth-pop musicians had limited musical skills, relying on the technology to produce or reproduce the music. The result was often minimalist, with grooves that were "typically woven together from simple repeated riffs often with no harmonic 'progression' to speak of".<ref>{{Citation |author=M. Spicer |contribution=Reggatta de Blanc: analysing style in the music of the police |year=2010 |title=Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music |editor1=J. Covach |editor2=M. Spicer |isbn=978-0-472-03400-0 |pages=124–49 |publisher=University of Michigan Press }}</ref> Early synth-pop has been described as "eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing", using droning electronics with little change in inflection.<ref name=AMsynthpop/><ref name="Reynolds2010"/> Common lyrical themes of synth-pop songs were isolation, urban [[anomie]], and feelings of being emotionally cold and hollow.<ref name=Reynolds2009/>

In its second phase in the 1980s,<ref name=Reynolds2009/> the introduction of dance beats and more conventional rock instrumentation made the music warmer and catchier and contained within the conventions of three-minute pop.<ref name=AMsynthpop>{{citation|title=Synth pop |publisher=AllMusic |url={{AllMusic|class=explore|id=style/d18|pure_url=yes}} |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5x6RaN2Dj?url=http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/synth-pop-d18 |archive-date=11 March 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref><ref name="Reynolds2010"/> Synthesizers were increasingly used to imitate the conventional and clichéd sound of orchestras and horns. Thin, treble-dominant, synthesized melodies and simple drum programmes gave way to thick, and compressed production, and a more conventional drum sound.<ref name=Cateforis2009/> Lyrics were generally more optimistic, dealing with more traditional subject matter for pop music such as romance, escapism and aspiration.<ref name=Reynolds2009/> According to music writer [[Simon Reynolds]], the hallmark of 1980s synth-pop was its "emotional, at times operatic singers" such as [[Marc Almond]], [[Alison Moyet]] and [[Annie Lennox]].<ref name="Reynolds2010">{{citation|title=The 1980s revival that lasted an entire decade |author=S. Reynolds |journal=The Guardian |date=22 January 2010 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/22/eighties-revival-decade |author-link=Simon Reynolds |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906075519/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/jan/22/eighties-revival-decade |archive-date=6 September 2011 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref> Because synthesizers removed the need for large groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation.<ref name=Reynolds2009>{{citation|title=One nation under a Moog |author=S. Reynolds |journal=The Guardian |date=10 October 2009 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/oct/10/synth-pop-80s-reynolds |author-link=Simon Reynolds |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513040458/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/10/synth-pop-80s-reynolds |archive-date=13 May 2011 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Although synth-pop in part arose from [[punk rock]], it abandoned punk's emphasis on ''authenticity'' and often pursued a deliberate ''artificiality'', drawing on the critically derided forms such as disco and [[glam rock]].<ref name=Borthwick>{{citation|title=Popular Music Genres: an Introduction|author1=S. Borthwick  |author2=R. Moy  |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7486-1745-6 |chapter=Synthpop: into the digital age |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGPdDwAAQBAJ}}</ref> It owed relatively little to the foundations of early popular music in [[jazz]], [[folk music]] or the [[blues]],<ref name=Borthwick/> and instead of looking to America, in its early stages, it consciously focused on European and particularly Eastern European influences, which were reflected in band names like Spandau Ballet and songs like Ultravox's "[[Vienna (Ultravox song)|Vienna]]".<ref name="Reynolds2005p327">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=327 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> Later synth-pop saw a shift to a style more influenced by other genres, such as [[soul music]].<ref name="Reynolds2005p327"/>

==History==
===Precursors===
{{Main|Electronic music|Electronic rock|Electronics in rock music}}
[[File:Kraftwerk by Ueli Frey (1976).jpg|thumb|left|alt=A black and white photograph of four members of Kraftwerk onstage, each with a synthesizer|[[Kraftwerk]], one of the major influences on synth-pop, in 1976]]
Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, around the same time as rock music began to emerge as a distinct musical genre.<ref>{{citation |title=Rock and Roll: its History and Stylistic Development |author1=J. Stuessy |author2=S. D. Lipscomb |name-list-style=amp |year=2008 |edition=6 |isbn=978-0-13-601068-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rockrollitshisto0000stue/page/21 21] |publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall |url=https://archive.org/details/rockrollitshisto0000stue/page/21 }}</ref> The [[Mellotron]], an [[electro-mechanical]], [[polyphony (instrument)|polyphonic]] [[sampling (music)|sample-playback]] keyboard<ref>{{citation |title=Music Engineering |author=R. Brice |year=2001 |edition=2 |isbn=978-0-7506-5040-3 |pages=108–9 |publisher=Newnes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufVVgLwkcQwC&q=Brice,+%27%27Music+Engineering%27%27 }}</ref> was overtaken by the [[Moog synthesizer]], created by [[Robert Moog]] in 1964, which produced completely electronically generated sounds. The portable [[Minimoog]], which allowed much easier use, particularly in live performance<ref>{{citation|title=Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer |author1=T. Pinch  |author2=F. Trocco  |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-674-01617-0 |pages=214–36 |publisher=Harvard University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hjvWzkMK-sC&q=Analog+Days+The+Invention+and+Impact+of+the+Moog+Synthesize }}</ref> was widely adopted by [[progressive rock]] musicians such as [[Richard Wright (musician)|Richard Wright]] of [[Pink Floyd]] and [[Rick Wakeman]] of [[Yes (band)|Yes]]. Instrumental prog rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like [[Kraftwerk]], [[Tangerine Dream]], [[Can (band)|Can]] and [[Faust (band)|Faust]] to circumvent the language barrier.<ref>{{citation|title=Kraftwerk: Man, Machine and Music |author=P. Bussy |year= 2004|edition=3 |isbn= 978-0-946719-70-9 |pages=15–17 |publisher=SAF Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jyKuiI3kV_gC&q=Kraftwerk:+Man,+Machine+and+Music }}</ref> Their synthesizer-heavy "[[Kraut rock]]", along with the work of [[Brian Eno]] (for a time the keyboard player with [[Roxy Music]]), would be a major influence on subsequent synth rock.<ref name=Bogdanov2002Prog>{{Citation |author= R. Unterberger| contribution =Progressive rock | year =2004 | title =All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul|editor1=V. Bogdanov |editor2=C. Woodstra |editor3=S. T. Erlewine |isbn=978-0-87930-653-3 |pages =1330–1 |publisher =Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books }}</ref>

In 1971, the British film ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' was released with a synth soundtrack by American [[Wendy Carlos]]. It was the first time many in the United Kingdom had heard [[electronic music]].<ref name=SynthBritannia/> [[Philip Oakey]] of [[the Human League]] and [[Richard H. Kirk]] of [[Cabaret Voltaire (band)|Cabaret Voltaire]], as well as music journalist Simon Reynolds, have cited the soundtrack as an inspiration.<ref name=SynthBritannia>{{citation|title=Synth Britannia|date=2 August 2010<!--, 00:30 -->|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n93c4 }}</ref> Electronic music made occasional moves into the mainstream, with jazz musician [[Stan Free]], under the pseudonym [[Hot Butter]], having a top 10 hit in the United States and United Kingdom in 1972, with a cover of the 1969 [[Gershon Kingsley]] song "[[Popcorn (instrumental)|Popcorn]]" using a Moog synthesizer, which is recognised as a forerunner to synth-pop and [[disco]].<ref>{{citation|title=Hot Butter: Biography |author=B. Eder |publisher=AllMusic |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p25238|pure_url=yes}} |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/60gYpsUjy?url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hot-butter-p25238/biography |archive-date=4 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref>

[[File:Yellow Magic Orchestra in 2008.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A colour photograph of three members of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the front of a stage|[[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] in 2008]]
The mid-1970s saw the rise of [[electronic art music]]ians such as [[Jean Michel Jarre]], [[Vangelis]], and [[Isao Tomita|Tomita]]. Tomita's album ''Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock'' (1972) featured electronic renditions of contemporary [[Rock music|rock]] and [[Pop music|pop]] songs, while utilizing [[speech synthesis]] and analog [[music sequencer]]s.<ref name="Jenkins2007pp133-4">{{citation|title=Analog Synthesizers: Understanding, Performing, Buying: from the Legacy of Moog to Software Synthesis|author=M. Jenkins |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-240-52072-8 |pages=133–4 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3EHIpo0DKwC&pg=PA133 |author-link=Mark Jenkins (musician) }}</ref> In 1975, Kraftwerk played their first British show and inspired concert attendees [[Andy McCluskey]] and [[Paul Humphreys]] – who would later found [[Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark]] (OMD) – to 'throw away their guitars' and become a synth act.<ref name=SynthBritannia/> Kraftwerk had its first hit UK record later in the year with "[[Autobahn (song)|Autobahn]]", which reached number 11 in the British Singles Chart and number 12 in Canada. The group was described by the [[BBC Four]] program ''[[Synth Britannia]]'' as the key to synth-pop's future rise there.<ref name=SynthBritannia/> In 1977, [[Giorgio Moroder]] released the electronic [[Eurodisco]] song "[[I Feel Love]]" that he had produced for [[Donna Summer]], and its programmed beats would be a major influence on the later synth-pop sound.<ref name=Borthwick/> [[David Bowie]]'s [[Berlin Trilogy]], comprising the albums ''[[Low (David Bowie album)|Low]]'' (1977), ''[["Heroes" (David Bowie album)|"Heroes"]]'' (1977), and ''[[Lodger (album)|Lodger]]'' (1979), all featuring Brian Eno, would also be highly influential.<ref>{{citation|title=Bowie in Berlin: A New Career in a New Town|author= T. J. Seabrook |year=2008 |publisher= Jawbone Press |isbn=978-1-906002-08-4 }}</ref>

The [[Cat Stevens]] album ''[[Izitso]]'', released in April 1977, updated his [[pop rock]] style with the extensive use of synthesizers,<ref name="amg_izitso">{{cite web|last=Ruhlmann|first=William|title=Review|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/izitso-r19012|work=Izitso|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=20 May 2012}}</ref> giving it a more synth-pop style; "Was Dog a Doughnut" in particular was an early techno-pop fusion track,<ref name="wire_1996">{{citation|title=A-Z of Electro|work=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]|issue=145|date=March 1996|author=David Toop|url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/210/|access-date=29 May 2011}}</ref> which made early use of a [[music sequencer]]. ''Izitso'' reached No. 7 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] chart, while the song "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard" was a top 40 hit.<ref name="amg_izitso"/> That same month, [[the Beach Boys]] released their album ''[[Love You (The Beach Boys album)|Love You]]'', performed almost entirely by bandleader [[Brian Wilson]] with Moog and [[ARP Instruments|ARP]] synthesizers,<ref>{{cite web|last=Kempke|first=D. Erik |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11669-15-big-oneslove-you/|title=The Beach Boys: 15 Big Ones/Love You: Album Reviews|publisher=Pitchfork Media Inc|date=15 August 2000}}</ref> and with arrangements somewhat inspired by Wendy Carlos's ''[[Switched-On Bach]]'' (1968).<ref name="CarolineNow">{{cite web|title=Brian Wilson&nbsp;— Caroline Now! Interview|url=http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm|work=Marina Records|year=2000|access-date=9 September 2013|archive-date=28 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228001005/http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although it was highly praised by some critics and musicians (including [[Patti Smith]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Patti|author-link=Patti Smith|date=October 1977|title = october 1977 hit parader selection| work=Hit Parader| url=http://www.smileysmile.net/uncanny/index.php/the-beach-boys-love-you-october-1977-hit-parader-selection-by-patti-smith}}</ref> and [[Lester Bangs]]<ref>{{cite news|last=Phipps|first=Keith |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-beach-boys-love-you-1798211646|title=The Beach Boys: Love You|newspaper=The A.V. Club|date=19 June 2007}}</ref>), the album met with poor commercial reception. The album has been considered revolutionary in its use of synthesizers,<ref name="CarolineNow"/> while others described Wilson's extensive use of the Moog synthesizer as a "loopy [[funhouse]] ambience"<ref name="SchinderSchwartz2008">{{cite book|author1=Scott Schinder|author2=Andy Schwartz|title=Icons of Rock: Elvis Presley; Ray Charles; Chuck Berry; Buddy Holly; The Beach Boys; James Brown; The Beatles; Bob Dylan; The Rolling Stones; The Who; The Byrds; Jimi Hendrix|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-ET5tnh0MUC&pg=PA124|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-33846-5|page=124}}</ref> and an early example of synth-pop.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/the-beach-boys/562555|publisher=[[Apple Inc.]]|title= The Beach Boys Biography|access-date=1 July 2012}}</ref>

===Origins: New wave and post-punk (1977–1980)===
{{See also|New wave music}}
[[File:Gary Numan playing.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A colour photograph of Gary Numan performing onstage with a guitar and microphone|[[Gary Numan]] performing in 1980]]
Early guitar-based [[punk rock]] that came to prominence in the period 1976–77 was initially hostile to the "inauthentic" sound of the synthesizer,<ref name=Borthwick/> but many [[New wave music|new wave]] and [[post-punk]] bands that emerged from the movement began to adopt it as a major part of their sound. British punk and new wave clubs were open to what was then considered an "alternative" sound.<ref>{{citation |title=The Cambridge History of American Music |author=D. Nicholls |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-45429-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory0000unse_y6c4/page/373 373] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory0000unse_y6c4/page/373 }}</ref><ref name=Concepcion>[http://entertainment.inquirer.net/32571/%E2%80%98we-were-synth-punks%E2%80%99 We were synth punks'] Interview with [[Andy McCluskey]] by the Philadelphia Inquirer 5 March 2012</ref> The [[do it yourself]] attitude of punk broke down the progressive rock era's norm of needing years of experience before getting up on stage to play synthesizers.<ref name=SynthBritannia/><ref name=Concepcion/> The American duo [[Suicide (band)|Suicide]], who arose from the post-punk scene in New York, utilised drum machines and synthesizers in a hybrid between electronics and post-punk on their [[Suicide (1977 album)|eponymous 1977 album]].<ref>{{citation|title=Suicide: No Compromise|author=D. Nobakht |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-946719-71-6 |page=136 }}</ref> Around this time, [[Ultravox]] member [[Warren Cann]] purchased a [[Roland Corporation|Roland]] [[Roland Rhythm 77|TR-77]] [[drum machine]], which was first featured in their October 1977 single release "[[Hiroshima Mon Amour]]".<ref>{{citation|title=The Man Who Dies Every Day: Ultravox |author=T. Maginnis |url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t258253|pure_url=yes}} |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/60hsFqJKQ?url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/the-man-who-dies-every-day-t258253 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref>

[[Be-Bop Deluxe]] released ''[[Drastic Plastic]]'' in February 1978, leading off with the single "Electrical Language" with [[Bill Nelson (musician)|Bill Nelson]] on guitar synthesizer and [[Andy Clark (musician)|Andy Clark]] on synthesizers. Japanese band [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] (YMO) with their [[Yellow Magic Orchestra (album)|self-titled album]] (1978)<ref name=Stout2011>{{citation|title=Yellow Magic Orchestra on Kraftwerk and How to Write a Melody During a Cultural Revolution |author=A. Stout |journal=SF Weekly |date=24 June 2011 |url=http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2011/06/yellow_magic_orchestras_ryuich.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903004312/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2011/06/yellow_magic_orchestras_ryuich.php |archive-date=3 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and ''[[Solid State Survivor]]'' (1979), developed a "fun-loving and breezy" sound,<ref name="Bogdanov2001p516">{{Citation |author=S. T. Erlewine |contribution=Yellow Magic Orchestra |year=2001 |title=All Music Guide to Electronica: the Definitive Guide to Electronic Music |editor=V. Bogdanov |edition=4 | isbn=978-0-87930-628-1 |page=516 |place=Milwaukee, WI |publisher=Backbeat Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJNXLSBlL7IC&pg=PT516 }}</ref> with a strong emphasis on [[melody]].<ref name=Stout2011/> They introduced the [[TR-808]] rhythm machine to [[popular music]],<ref>{{Citation|author=J. Anderson |date=28 November 2008 |title=Slaves to the rhythm: Kanye West is the latest to pay tribute to a classic drum machine |publisher=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/slaves-to-the-rhythm-1.771508 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815200628/http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/music/story/2008/11/27/f-history-of-the-808.html |archive-date=15 August 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the band would be a major influence on early British synth-pop acts.<ref name="Lewis2008">{{Citation|author=J. Lewis |date=4 July 2008 |title=Back to the future: Yellow Magic Orchestra helped usher in electronica&nbsp;– and they may just have invented hip-hop, too |journal=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jul/04/electronicmusic.filmandmusic11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111061211/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/04/electronicmusic.filmandmusic11 |archive-date=11 November 2011 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref>

1978 also saw the release of UK band [[the Human League]]'s debut single "[[Being Boiled]]" and [[The Normal]]'s "[[Warm Leatherette]]", which both are regarded as seminal works in early synth-pop.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://velvetrebelmusic.com/2021/12/seminal-being-boiled-by-the-human-league |title=Seminal: Being Boiled by The Human League |publisher=Velvet Rebel Music |date=17 December 2021 |author=Jason L. }}</ref> Sheffield band [[Cabaret Voltaire (band)|Cabaret Voltaire]] are also regarded as pioneers of the late 1970s that influenced the emerging synth-pop in Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/sheffields-kraftwerk-cabaret-voltaire-richard-h-kirk-put-steel/ |title=Sheffield's own Kraftwerk: how Cabaret Voltaire and Richard H Kirk put the steel into synthpop |author=Power, Ed |date=21 September 2021 |publisher=telegraph.co.uk }}</ref> In America, post-punk band [[Devo]] began moving towards a more electronic sound. At this point synth-pop gained some critical attention, but made little impact on the commercial charts.<ref name="Reynolds2005pp340&342-3">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |pages=340 and 342–3 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref>

{{quote box|quote="This is a finger, this is another... now write a song"|source=—This quote is a take on the punk manifesto ''This is a chord, this is another, this is a third...now start a band'' celebrating the virtues of amateur musicianship first appeared in a fanzine in December 1976.<ref>Cateforis, pp. 168 and 247</ref>|width=30%}}

British punk-influenced band [[Tubeway Army]], intended their debut album to be guitar driven. In late 1978, [[Gary Numan]], a member of the group, found a [[minimoog]] left behind in the studio by another band, and started experimenting with it.<ref name="Reynolds2005pp278US">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 US Edition|author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=298 US Edition |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> This led to a change in the album's sound to electronic new wave.<ref name="Reynolds2005pp278US"/> Numan later described his work on this album as a guitarist playing keyboards, who turned "punk songs into electronic songs".<ref name="Reynolds2005pp278US"/> A single from the second Tubeway Army album ''[[Replicas (album)|Replicas]]'', "[[Are Friends Electric?]]", topped the UK charts in the summer of 1979.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page= 298 US Edition |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> The discovery that synthesizers could be employed in a different manner from that used in progressive rock or disco, prompted Numan to go solo.<ref name="autogenerated3"/> On his futuristic album ''[[The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)|The Pleasure Principle]]'' (1979), he played only synths, but retained a bass guitarist and a drummer for the rhythm section.<ref name="autogenerated3"/> A single from the album, "[[Cars (song)|Cars]]" topped the charts.<ref>{{Citation |author=J. Miller |title=Stripped: Depeche Mode |edition=3 | isbn=978-1-84772-444-1 |page=21 |place=London | year= 2008 |publisher=Omnibus}}</ref>

Numan's main influence at the time was the [[John Foxx]]-led new wave band [[Ultravox]] who released the album ''[[Systems of Romance]]'' in 1978. Foxx left Ultravox the following year and scored a synth-pop hit with the single "[[Underpass (song)|Underpass]]" from his first solo album ''[[Metamatic]]'' in early 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/speaking-to-the-quiet-man-john-foxx-interviewed/ |title=Speaking to the Quiet Man: John Foxx interviewed |author=Doran, John |date=24 May 2013 |publisher=vice.com }}</ref>

In 1979, [[Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|OMD]] released their debut single "[[Electricity (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark song)|Electricity]]", which has been viewed as integral to the rise of synth-pop.<ref>{{cite news|first= Mary |last= Harron |author-link= Mary Harron |title= Rock |newspaper= [[The Guardian]] |date= 6 November 1981 |page= 11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/music/interview-gary-barlow-on-fly-songs-inspired-by-eddie-the-eagle/|title=Gary Barlow didn't just meet his '80s heroes, he made a retro album with them|last=Mettler|first=Mike|date=17 June 2016|website=[[Digital Trends]]|access-date=16 January 2023}}</ref> This was followed by a series of landmark releases within the genre, including the 1980 hit singles "[[Messages (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark song)|Messages]]" and "[[Enola Gay (song)|Enola Gay]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|first= Lois |last= Wilson |title= OMD |magazine=[[Record Collector]] |issue= 498 |date= 30 September 2019 |access-date= 6 July 2021 |url= https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/omd}}</ref> OMD became one of the most influential acts of the period,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/omd-enola-gay-interview-2649875489.html|title=Popular Culture Is Eating Its History and OMD Are Not Complaining|last=Shand|first=Max|date=15 January 2021|website=[[PopMatters]]|access-date=20 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/80s-synth-pop-legends-omd-reveal-edinburgh-tattoo-inspired-landmark-album-3436393|title=80's synth-pop legends OMD reveal Edinburgh Military Tattoo inspired landmark album, Architecture and Morality|last=Rudden|first=Liam|date=29 October 2021|website=[[Edinburgh Evening News]]|access-date=20 May 2023}}</ref> introducing the "synth duo" format to British music.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Earls|first=John|author-link=John Earls|date=November–December 2023|title=Final Messages?|magazine=[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]]|issue=84|pages=40–45|quote=In Britain at least, OMD invented the synth duo template.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nostalgie.fr/actus/musique/orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark-leurs-plus-beaux-succes-353931|title=Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Their Greatest Hits|publisher=[[Nostalgie]]|language=fr|date=5 June 2018|access-date=9 April 2025|quote=...a precursor to a whole generation of duos operating according to the same principle.}}</ref> [[Vince Clarke]], who co-founded the popular synth-pop groups [[Depeche Mode]], [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]], [[Yazoo (band)|Yazoo]] and [[the Assembly]], has cited OMD as his inspiration to become an electronic musician.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.electronicsound.co.uk/features/long-reads/vince-clarke-game-of-drones/|title=Vince Clarke: Game of Drones|last=Ilic|first=Vel|date=14 September 2023|website=Electronic Sound|access-date=14 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/features/interview-vince-clarke|title=Vince Clarke|last=Nichols|first=Paul|date=27 December 2016|publisher=[[PRS for Music]]|access-date=24 August 2024}}</ref> Bandleaders [[Andy McCluskey]] and [[Paul Humphreys]] have been described in the media as "the [[Lennon–McCartney]] of synth-pop".<ref>{{cite news|first=Sean|last=O'Neal|title=Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|url=https://www.avclub.com/paul-humphreys-of-orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark-1798214499|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|date=30 July 2008|access-date=20 July 2024|archive-date=27 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927214814/https://www.avclub.com/paul-humphreys-of-orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark-1798214499|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/music-review-omd-kelvingrove-bandstand-glasgow-268383|title=Music review: OMD, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow|date=6 August 2018|website=[[The Scotsman]]|access-date=25 April 2023}}</ref>

Giorgio Moroder collaborated with the band [[Sparks (band)|Sparks]] on their album ''[[No. 1 In Heaven]]'' (1979). That same year in Japan, the synth-pop band [[P-Model]] made its debut with the album ''[[In a Model Room]]''. Other Japanese synth-pop groups emerging around the same time included the [[Plastics (band)|Plastics]] and [[Hikashu]].<ref>{{citation|title=P-Model |author=I. Martin |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p-model-p375838/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729043601/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p-model-p375838/biography |archive-date=29 July 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This zeitgeist of revolution in electronic music performance and recording/production was encapsulated by then would-be record producer [[Trevor Horn]] of [[the Buggles]] in the single "[[Video Killed the Radio Star]]"; the song topped the UK charts in October 1979 and it also became an international hit; two years later it was the first song aired on MTV.<ref>{{cite news |title=Official Singles Chart Top 100 |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19791014/7501/ |access-date=30 April 2023 |work=Official Charts Company}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first= Dave |last= Simpson |title= The Buggles: how we made Video Killed the Radio Star |newspaper= [[The Guardian]] |date= 30 October 2018 |access-date= 30 April 2023 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/30/the-buggles-how-we-made-video-killed-the-radio-star}}</ref> [[Geoff Downes]], keyboardist for the Buggles, states, "When we did a rerecorded version for ''[[Top of the Pops]],'' the Musicians’ Union bloke said, "If I think you’re making strings sounds out of a synthesizer, I’m going to have you. Video Killed the Radio Star is putting musicians out of business."<ref>{{cite news |title=The Buggles: how we made Video Killed the Radio Star |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/30/the-buggles-how-we-made-video-killed-the-radio-star |access-date=8 December 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

1980 also saw the release of where "Video Killed the Radio Star" came from, the Buggles' debut album ''[[The Age of Plastic]]'', which some writers have labeled as the first landmark of another electropop era,<ref name="Ianpeel">{{cite web|author=Peel, Ian |date=1 January 2010 |url=http://www.trevorhorn.com/horniculture/from_the_art_of_plastic_to_the.html |title=From the Art of Plastic to the Age of Noise |publisher=trevorhorn.com|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111231255/http://www.trevorhorn.com/horniculture/from_the_art_of_plastic_to_the.html |archive-date=11 November 2013 }}</ref><ref name = "Buggles Rehearsal">{{cite web|url=http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2010/09/24/buggles-rehearsal-sarm-west/|title=Buggles Rehearsal – Sarm West – Geoff Downes|publisher=sonicstate.com|date=24 September 2010}}</ref> as well as what for many is the defining album of Devo's career, the overtly synth-pop ''[[Freedom of Choice (album)|Freedom of Choice]]''.<ref>{{citation|title=Freedom of Choice: Devo |author=S. Huey |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/freedom-of-choice-r5604/review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009035500/http://www.allmusic.com/album/freedom-of-choice-r5604/review |archive-date=9 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Commercial success (1981–1985)===
{{See also|New Romantic|Second British Invasion}}
[[File:Ultravox 04111981 01 600.jpg|thumb|alt=A colour photograph of members of Midge Ure of the band Ultravox performing on a stage with a microphone and a guitar|[[Midge Ure]] performing with [[Ultravox]] in [[Oslo]] in 1981]]
The emergence of synth-pop has been described as "perhaps the single most significant event in [[melodic music]] since [[Beat music|Mersey-beat]]". By the 1980s synthesizers had become much cheaper and easier to use.<ref name="Reynolds2005p328">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=328 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> After the definition of [[MIDI]] in 1982 and the development of [[digital audio]], the creation of purely electronic sounds and their manipulation became much simpler.<ref>{{Citation |author=M. Russ |year=2004 |title=Sound Synthesis and Sampling |edition=3 |isbn=978-0-240-52105-3 |page=66 |place=Burlington MA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_D2cTt5DPmEC&q=Sound+Synthesis+and+Sampling }}</ref> Synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s, particularly through their adoption by bands of the [[New Romantic]] movement.<ref>{{cite journal|author=N. Rama Lohan|date=2 March 2007|title=Dawn of the plastic age|journal=Malaysia Star|url=http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/3/2/music/16390129&sec=music|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609123956/http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2007%2F3%2F2%2Fmusic%2F16390129&sec=music|archive-date=9 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Despite synth-pop's origins in the late 1970s among [[New wave music|new wave]] bands like Tubeway Army and Devo, British journalists and music critics largely abandoned the term "new wave" in the early 1980s.<ref>{{citation|title=Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s|author=T. Cateforis |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-472-03470-3 |page=254 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MVrM3zKrHQC&q=Are+We+Not+New+Wave&pg=PA51 }}</ref> This was in part due to the rise of new artists unaffiliated with the preceding punk/new wave era, as well as aesthetic changes associated with synth-pop's movement into the pop mainstream. According to authors Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, "After the monochrome blacks and greys of punk/new wave, synthpop was promoted by a youth media interested in people who wanted to be pop stars, such as [[Boy George]] and [[Adam Ant]]".<ref name=Borthwick/>

The New Romantic scene had developed in the London nightclubs Billy's and the Blitz and was associated with bands such as Duran Duran, [[Visage (band)|Visage]], and [[Spandau Ballet]].<ref name="Rimmer2003">{{Citation |author=D. Rimmer |year=2003 |title=New Romantics: The Look |isbn=978-0-7119-9396-9 |place=London }}</ref> They adopted an elaborate visual style that combined elements of [[glam rock]], [[science fiction]] and [[romanticism]]. Spandau Ballet were the first band of the movement to have a hit single as the synth-driven "[[To Cut a Long Story Short]]" reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/18710/spandau-ballet/ |title=Spandau Ballet |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref> Visage's "[[Fade to Grey (Visage song)|Fade to Grey]]", characteristic of synth-pop and a major influence on the genre,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hiphopelectronic.com/no-daw-its-old-school-bangers/synthpop-songs-visage-fade-to-grey |title=Fade to Grey by Visage |publisher=hiphopelectronic }}</ref> reached the top ten a few weeks later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/18728/visage/ |title=Visage |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref> Duran Duran have been credited with incorporating dance beats into synth-pop to produce a catchier and warmer sound, which provided them with a series of hit singles,<ref name=AMsynthpop/> beginning with their debut single "[[Planet Earth (Duran Duran song)|Planet Earth]]" and the UK top five hit "[[Girls on Film]]" in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/19319/duran-duran/ |title=Duran Duran |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref> They would soon be followed into the British charts by a large number of bands utilising synthesizers to create catchy three-minute pop songs.<ref name=Cateforis2009>{{Citation|author=T. Cateforis |title=The Death of New Wave |url=http://iaspm-us.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Cateforis.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723150252/http://iaspm-us.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Cateforis.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In summer 1981 [[Depeche Mode]] had their first chart success with "[[New Life (song)|New Life]]", followed by the UK top ten hit "[[Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode song)|Just Can't Get Enough]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/20192/depeche-mode/ |title=Depeche Mode |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref> A new line-up for [[the Human League]] along with a new producer and a more commercial sound led to the album ''[[Dare (album)|Dare]]'' (1981), which produced a series of hit singles. These included "[[Don't You Want Me]]", which reached number one in the UK at the end of 1981.<ref name=Reynolds2005pp330-2>{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |pages=320–2 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref>

Synth-pop reached its commercial peak in the UK in the winter of 1981–2, with bands such as [[Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|OMD]], [[Japan (band)|Japan]], [[Ultravox]], [[Soft Cell]], Depeche Mode, [[Yazoo (band)|Yazoo]] and even [[Kraftwerk]], enjoying top ten hits. The Human League's and Soft Cell's UK number one singles "Don't You Want Me" and "[[Tainted Love]]" became the best selling singles in the UK in 1981.<ref name="officialcharts.com">{{Cite web|title=The Official Top 50 best-selling songs of 1981|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-50-best-selling-songs-of-1981__32604/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=www.officialcharts.com|language=en}}</ref> In early 1982 synthesizers were so dominant that the [[Musicians' Union (United Kingdom)|Musicians' Union]] attempted to limit their use.<ref name=Reynolds2005pp334-5>{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |pages=334–5 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> By the end of 1982, these acts had been joined in the charts by synth-based singles from [[Thomas Dolby]], [[Blancmange (band)|Blancmange]], and [[Tears for Fears]]. Bands such as [[Simple Minds]] also adopted synth-pop into their music on their 1982 album ''[[New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=The best synth-pop albums of the 1980s |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/best-synth-pop-albums-1980s-vinyl-deals-amazon/ |access-date=10 November 2023 |work=[[Far Out (website)|Far Out]]}}</ref> [[ABC (band)|ABC]] and [[Heaven 17]] had commercial success mixing synth-pop with influences from [[funk]] and [[soul music]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2015/02/abc-lexicon-love-classic-album/ |title=Classic Album: The Lexicon Of Love – ABC |date=25 February 2015 |access-date=20 June 2022 |publisher=Classic Pop }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2022/03/album-by-album-heaven-17/ |title=Heaven 17 albums: the complete guide |date=7 March 2022 |access-date=20 June 2022 |publisher=Classic Pop }}</ref>

Dutch entertainer [[Taco (musician)|Taco]], who has a background in musical theatre, released his own synth-driven re-imagining of Irving Berlin's "[[Puttin' On the Ritz]]"; resulting in a subsequent long-play, ''[[After Eight (album)|After Eight]]'', a concept album that takes music of 1930s sensibilities as informed by the soundscape of 1980s technology. The proliferation of acts led to an anti-synth backlash, with groups including Spandau Ballet, Human League, Soft Cell and ABC incorporating more conventional influences and instruments into their sounds.<ref name=Reynolds2005p342>{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=342 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref>

[[File:Eurythmics Rock am Ring 1987.jpg|thumb|left|[[Eurythmics]] ([[Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)|Dave Stewart]] and [[Annie Lennox]]) on stage in Germany in 1987.]] 
In the US (unlike the UK), where synth-pop is sometimes considered a "subgenre" of "new wave" and was described as "technopop" or "electropop" by the press at the time,<ref name=Cateforis>{{citation|title= Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s|author= T. Cateforis |year= 2011|isbn= 978-0-472-03470-3|page= 52,62|publisher= University of Michigan Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-MVrM3zKrHQC&pg=PA62}}</ref> the genre became popular due to the cable music channel [[MTV]], which reached the media capitals of New York City and [[Los Angeles]] in 1982. It made heavy use of style-conscious New Romantic synth-pop acts,<ref name=Cateforis2009/><ref name="Reynolds2005pp340&342-3"/> with "[[I Ran (So Far Away)]]" (1982) by [[A Flock of Seagulls]] generally considered the first hit by a British act to enter the ''Billboard'' top ten as a result of exposure through video.<ref name="Reynolds2005pp340&342-3"/> The switch to a "[[New Music (music industry)|new music]]" format in US radio stations was also significant in the success of British bands.<ref name="Reynolds2005pp340&342-3"/> Reaching No. 2 in the UK in March 1983 and No. 1 on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] six months later, ''Rolling Stone'' called Eurythmics' single "[[Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)]]" "a synth-pop masterpiece".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Eurythmics Perform 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' in 1983 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eurythmics-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-this-live-1983-924796/ |access-date=19 April 2022 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> [[Bananarama]]'s 1983 synth-pop song "[[Cruel Summer (Bananarama song)|Cruel Summer]]" became an instant UK hit before having similar success in the US the following year.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Rolling Stone Staff|date=25 June 2022|title=The Best Summer Songs of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-summer-songs-of-all-time-43407/|access-date=10 November 2023|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]}}</ref> The success of synth-pop and other British acts would be seen as a [[Second British Invasion]].<ref name="Reynolds2005pp340&342-3"/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Anglomania: The Second British Invasion |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/anglomania-the-second-british-invasion-52016/ |access-date=3 May 2019 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> In his early 1980s columns for ''[[The Village Voice]]'', music critic [[Robert Christgau]] frequently referred to British synth-pop as "Anglodisco", suggesting a parallel to the contemporary genres of [[Eurodisco]] and [[Italo disco]], both highly popular outside the US.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[The Village Voice]]|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv11b-82.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=30 November 1982}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[The Village Voice]]|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv4-83.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=26 April 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[The Village Voice]]|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv6-83.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=28 June 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[The Village Voice]]|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv8-83.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=30 August 1983}}</ref> Indeed, synth-pop was taken up across the world alongside the continuing presence of [[disco]], with international hits for German synth-pop as well as Eurodisco acts including [[Peter Schilling]], [[Sandra Cretu|Sandra]], [[Modern Talking]], [[Propaganda (band)|Propaganda]],<ref>{{Citation |author=J. Bush |title=Propaganda |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/propaganda-p5190/biography }}</ref> and [[Alphaville (band)|Alphaville]]. Other non-British groups scoring synth-pop hits were [[Men Without Hats]] and [[Trans-X]] from Canada, [[Telex (band)|Telex]] from Belgium, [[Yello]] from Switzerland,<ref name=Jenkins2007p171>{{citation|title=Analog Synthesizers: Understanding, Performing, Buying: from the Legacy of Moog to Software Synthesis|author=M. Jenkins |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-240-52072-8 |page=171 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3EHIpo0DKwC&q=Men+Without+Hats+Trans+X+Telex+Belgium+and+Yellow&pg=PA171 |author-link=Mark Jenkins (musician) }}</ref> and [[Azul y Negro]] from Spain. The synth-pop scene of Yugoslavia spawned a large number of acts,<ref name="top 10 yu">{{cite web|first= Stefana |last= Vulević |title= Top 10 synth-pop i electropop bendova u bivšoj Jugoslaviji |website= Treći svijet |date= 8 October 2019 |access-date= 16 November 2022 |url= https://trecisvijet.com/top-10-synth-pop-i-electropop-bendova-u-bivsoj-jugoslaviji/}}</ref><ref name="five great yu">{{cite web|first= Đorđević |last= Nikola |title= Five great Yugoslav 1980s synth-pop albums |website= Emerging Europe |date= 5 June 2021 |access-date= 17 November 2022 |url= https://emerging-europe.com/after-hours/five-great-yugoslav-1980s-synth-pop-albums/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first= Aleksandar |last= Dragaš |title= Electornic Yugoton: Sintisajzersko blago bivše Jugoslavije |website= Jutarnji list |date= 7 November 2014 |access-date= 9 December 2022 |url= https://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/glazba/electronic-yugoton-sintisajzersko-blago-bivse-jugoslavije-576862}}</ref> a number of them enjoying huge mainstream popularity in the country, like [[Beograd (band)|Beograd]],<ref name="janjatović35">{{cite book|last=Janjatović|first=Petar|title=Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960-2023|year=2024|publisher=self-released / Makart|location=Belgrade|page=35}}</ref> [[Laki Pingvini]],<ref name="janjatović172">{{cite book|last=Janjatović|first=Petar|title=Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960-2023|year=2024|publisher=self-released / Makart|location=Belgrade|page=172}}</ref> [[Denis & Denis]],<ref name="janjatović80">{{cite book|last=Janjatović|first=Petar|title=Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960-2023|year=2024|publisher=self-released / Makart|location=Belgrade|page=80}}</ref> and [[Videosex]].<ref name="janjatović313">{{cite book|last=Janjatović|first=Petar|title=Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960–2023|year=2024|publisher=self-released / Makart|location=Belgrade|page=313}}</ref>

[[File:Trevor Horn (cropped2).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Trevor Horn]] (pictured in 1984), frontman of British new wave synth-pop group the Buggles, also produced Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 1984 album ''[[Welcome to the Pleasuredome]]'']]
In the mid-1980s, key artists included solo performer [[Howard Jones (British musician)|Howard Jones]], who S.T. Erlewine has stated to have "merged the technology-intensive sound of new wave with the cheery optimism of hippies and late-'60s pop",<ref>{{Citation|author=S. T. Erlewine |title=Howard Jones |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p91510 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217225957/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p91510 |archive-date=17 February 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (although with notable exceptions including the lyrics of "[[What Is Love? (Howard Jones song)|What Is Love?]]" – "Does anybody love anybody anyway?") and [[Nik Kershaw]], whose "well-crafted synth-pop"<ref>{{Citation|author=S. Bultman |title=The Riddle: Nik Kershaw |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-riddle-r10807 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512225512/http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-riddle-r10807 |archive-date=12 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> incorporated guitars and other more traditional pop influences that particularly appealed to a teen audience.<ref>{{Citation |author=J. Berens |date=July 1985 |title=What makes Nik tick, a tiny teen idol speaks out |journal=Spin|issn=0886-3032 |volume=1 | issue = 3  |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ImJFcBcCvUoC&q=nik+kershaw+teen+idol&pg=PA14 }}</ref> Pursuing a more dance-orientated sound were [[Bronski Beat]] whose album ''[[The Age of Consent (Bronski Beat album)|The Age of Consent]]'' (1984), dealing with issues of homophobia and alienation, reached the top 20 in the UK and top 40 in the US.<ref>{{Citation|author=A. Kellman |title=Bronski Beat |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bronski-beat-p16100/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110803070649/http://allmusic.com/artist/bronski-beat-p16100/biography |archive-date=3 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Thompson Twins]], whose popularity peaked in 1984 with the album ''[[Into the Gap]]'', which reached No.1 in the UK and the US top ten and spawned several top ten singles.<ref>{{Citation|author=S. T. Erlewine |title=Thompson Twins |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thompson-twins-p5644/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805094238/http://allmusic.com/artist/thompson-twins-p5644/biography |archive-date=5 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1984, [[Frankie Goes to Hollywood]] released their debut album ''[[Welcome to the Pleasuredome]]'' (produced by [[Trevor Horn]] of the Buggles), with their first three singles, "[[Relax (Frankie Goes to Hollywood song)|Relax]]", "[[Two Tribes]]" and "[[The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood song)|The Power of Love]]", topping the UK chart.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollock |first1=Bruce |title=Rock Song Index The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era |date=2014 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=384}}</ref> The music journalist [[Paul Lester]] reflected, "no band has dominated a 12-month period like Frankie ruled 1984".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lester |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Lester |date=28 August 2014 |title=Frankie Goes To Hollywood: 'No one could touch us – people were scared' |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/28/frankie-goes-to-hollywood-30-years-welcome-to-the-pleasuredome |access-date=2 December 2023}}</ref> In January 1985, Tears for Fears' single "[[Shout (Tears for Fears song)|Shout]]", written by [[Roland Orzabal]] in his "front room on just a small synthesizer and a drum machine", became their fourth top 5 UK hit; it would later top the charts in multiple countries including the US.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grogan |first1=Jake |title=Origins of a Song 202 True Inspirations Behind the World's Greatest Lyrics |date=2018 |publisher=Cider Mill Press |page=112}}</ref> Initially dismissed in the music press as a "teeny bop sensation" were Norwegian band [[a-ha]], whose use of guitars and real drums produced an accessible form of synth-pop, which, along with an MTV friendly video, took their 1985 single "[[Take On Me]]" to number two in the UK and number one in the US.<ref>{{Citation|author=K. Hayes |title=a-ha |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/a-ha-p3491/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828011052/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/a-ha-p3491/biography |archive-date=28 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Declining popularity (1986–2000)===
[[File:Pet shop boys boston concert.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=A colour photograph of the two members of the Pet Shop Boys on a stage with a synthesizer and a microphone respectively|The [[Pet Shop Boys]] performing in 2006.]]
Synth-pop continued into the late 1980s, with a format that moved closer to dance music, including the work of acts such as British duos [[Pet Shop Boys]],<ref>{{Citation|author=J. Ankeny |title=Pet Shop Boys |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pet-shop-boys-p5135 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110802234524/http://allmusic.com/artist/pet-shop-boys-p5135/ |archive-date=2 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]]<ref>{{Citation|author=S. T. Erlewine |title=Erasure |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/erasure-p4198 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804185124/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/erasure-p4198/biography |archive-date=4 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[the Communards]]. The Communards' major hits were covers of disco classics "[[Don't Leave Me This Way]]" (1986) and "[[Never Can Say Goodbye]]" (1987).<ref>{{Citation|author=A. Kellman |title=The Communards |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-communards-p12589/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520044044/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-communards-p12589/biography |archive-date=20 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author=S. Thornton |contribution=Understanding Hipness: 'Subcultural capital' as feminist cultural tool |year=2006 |title=The Popular Music Studies Reader |editor1=A. Bennett |editor2=B. Shank |editor3=J. Toynbee |isbn=978-0-415-30709-3 |page=102 |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bnU1c3xElQC&q=%3A+%27Subcultural+capital%27+as+cultural+tool%22&pg=PA99 }}</ref> After adding other elements to their sound, and with the help of a gay audience, several synth-pop acts had success on the US dance charts. Among these were American acts [[Information Society (band)|Information Society]] (who had two top 10 singles in 1988),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/information-society-mn0000077578|title=Information Society – Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography – AllMusic|author=John Bush|publisher=AllMusic}}</ref> [[Anything Box]], and [[Red Flag (band)|Red Flag]].<ref name=McNett1999>{{Citation|author=G. McNett |date=12 October 1999 |title=Synthpop Flocks Like Seagulls |journal=Long Island Voice |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-12/long-island-voice/synthpop-flocks-like-seagulls/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522110616/http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-12/long-island-voice/synthpop-flocks-like-seagulls/ |archive-date=22 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=N. Forsberg |title=Synthpop in the USA |journal=Release Music Magazine |url=http://www.releasemagazine.net/Spotlight/spotlightussynthpop.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927071921/http://www.releasemagazine.net/Spotlight/spotlightussynthpop.htm |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> British band [[When in Rome (band)|When in Rome]] scored a hit with their debut single "[[The Promise (When in Rome song)|The Promise]]". Several German synth-pop acts of the late 1980s included [[Camouflage (band)|Camouflage]]<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/camouflage-mn0000647246 Camouflage|AllMusic]</ref> and [[Celebrate the Nun]].<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/celebrate-the-nun-mn0000185248/biography Celebrate the Nun|AllMusic]</ref> Canadian duo [[Kon Kan]] had major success with their debut single, "[[I Beg Your Pardon]]" in 1989.<ref>[http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Volume+49-No.+22-March+27+-+April+1%2C+1989.pdf RPM Top Singles - March 27, 1989, p.6] RPM Magazine</ref><ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kon-kan-mn0000112360 Kon Kan|AllMusic]</ref>

An American backlash against European synth-pop has been seen as beginning in the mid-1980s with the rise of [[heartland rock]] and [[roots rock]].<ref name="Reynolds2005p535">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=535 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> In the UK the arrival of [[indie rock]] bands, particularly [[the Smiths]], has been seen as marking the end of synth-driven pop and the beginning of the guitar-based music that would dominate rock into the 1990s.<ref>{{Citation|last=S. T. Erlewine |title=The Smiths |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smiths-p5466/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716055657/http://allmusic.com/artist/rem-p116437/biography |archive-date=16 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=S. T. Erlewine |title=R.E.M. |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smiths-p5466/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628082715/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smiths-p5466/biography |archive-date=28 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1991, in the United States synth-pop was losing its commercial viability as alternative radio stations were responding to the popularity of [[grunge]].<ref>{{Citation|author=M. Sutton |title=Celebrate the Nun |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/celebrate-the-nun-p12521/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311152114/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/celebrate-the-nun-p12521/biography |archive-date=11 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Exceptions that continued to pursue forms of synth-pop or rock in the 1990s were [[Savage Garden]], [[the Rentals]] and [[the Moog Cookbook]].<ref name=McNett1999/> Electronic music was also explored from the early 1990s by [[indietronica]] bands like [[Stereolab]], [[EMF (band)|EMF]], the [[Utah Saints]], and [[Disco Inferno]], who mixed a variety of indie and synthesizer sounds.<ref name=AMIndieElectronic/>

===21st-century revival (2000s–present)===
{{See also|Electropop#21st century}}
[[File:La Roux Eleanor Elly Jackson.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A colour photograph of Elly Jackson with microphone|[[Elly Jackson]] of [[La Roux]] performing in 2010]]
Indietronica began to take off in the new millennium as the new digital technology developed, with acts such as<!--Please don't just keep adding bands as examples, this is meant to be illustrative not exhaustive it would be unwieldy to include every band that qualifies--> [[Broadcast (band)|Broadcast]] from the UK, [[Justice (French band)|Justice]] from France, [[Lali Puna]] from Germany, and [[Ratatat]] and [[the Postal Service]] from the US, mixing a variety of indie sounds with electronic music, largely produced on small independent labels.<ref name=AMIndieElectronic>{{cite web|title=Indietronica |publisher=AllMusic |url={{AllMusic|class=explore|id=style/d12983|pure_url=yes}} |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5wYA5an95?url=http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d12983 |archive-date=16 February 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Leckart">{{Citation|last=S. Leckart |title=Have laptop will travel |publisher=MSNBC |date=28 August 2006 |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/have-laptop-will-travel-wbna14473088 }}</ref> Similarly, the [[electroclash]] subgenre began in New York at the end of the 1990s, combining synth-pop, techno, punk and performance art. It was pioneered by [[I-F]] with their track "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" (1998),<ref>{{cite web |last=D. Lynskey |title=Out with the old, in with the older |work=The Guardian |date=22 March 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/22/shopping.artsfeatures2?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120803064400/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/22/shopping.artsfeatures2 |archive-date=3 August 2012 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref> and pursued by artists including [[Felix da Housecat]],<ref>{{Citation|last=M. Goldstein |title=This cat is housebroken |journal=The Boston Globe|date=16 May 2008 |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/05/16/this_cat_is_housebroken/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512001252/http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/05/16/this_cat_is_housebroken/ |archive-date=12 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Peaches (musician)|Peaches]], [[Chicks on Speed]],<ref>{{Citation|last=J. Walker |title=Popmatters concert review: ELECTROCLASH 2002 Artists: Peaches, Chicks on Speed, W.I.T., and Tracy and the Plastics |website=PopMatters |date=5 October 2002 |url=http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/e/electroclash-2002.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513134503/http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/e/electroclash-2002.shtml |archive-date=13 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Fischerspooner]].<ref>{{Cite web | title = Fischerspooner's electroclash revenge | url = http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/36226/Fischerspooners_electroclash_revenge | access-date = 3 December 2012 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090109030847/http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/36226/Fischerspooners_electroclash_revenge | archive-date = 9 January 2009}}</ref> It gained international attention at the beginning of the new millennium and spread to scenes in London and Berlin, but rapidly faded as a recognizable genre as acts began to experiment with a variety of forms of music.<ref>{{Citation |author=J. Harris |year=2009 |title=Hail!, Hail! Rock 'n' Roll |isbn=978-1-84744-293-2 |page=78 |place=London }}</ref>

In the new millennium, renewed interest in electronic music and [[1980s nostalgia|nostalgia for the 1980s]] led to the beginnings of a synth-pop revival, with acts including [[Adult (band)|Adult]] and [[Fischerspooner]]. Between 2003 and 2004, it began to move into the mainstream with [[Ladytron]], the [[Postal Service (band)|Postal Service]], [[Cut Copy]], [[the Bravery]] and [[the Killers]] all producing records that incorporated vintage synthesizer sounds and styles that contrasted with the dominant genres of [[post-grunge]] and [[nu metal]]. In particular, the Killers enjoyed considerable airplay and exposure and their debut album ''[[Hot Fuss]]'' (2004) reached the top ten of the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]].<ref name=Cateforis2011pp218-9>{{citation|title=Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s|author=T. Cateforis |year=2011|isbn=978-0-472-03470-3|pages=218–9|publisher=University of Michigan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MVrM3zKrHQC&q=are+we+not+new++wave+claimed+the+return+of+new+wave&pg=PA218}}</ref> The Killers, the Bravery and the Stills all left their synth-pop sound behind after their debut albums and began to explore classic 1970s rock,<ref name=autogenerated1>{{citation|title=Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s|author=T. Cateforis |year=2011|isbn=978-0-472-03470-3|page=223|publisher=University of Michigan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MVrM3zKrHQC&q=are+we+not+new+wave+drama+dance+theatre+performance&pg=PA223}}</ref> but the style was picked up by a large number of performers, particularly female solo artists. Following the breakthrough success of [[Lady Gaga]] with her single "[[Just Dance (song)|Just Dance]]" (2008), the British and other media proclaimed a new era of female synth-pop stars, citing artists such as [[Little Boots]], [[La Roux]], and [[Ladyhawke (musician)|Ladyhawke]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Caroline |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/dec/17/electro-pop-female-artists |title=Slaves to synth |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 December 2008|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Collett-White |first1=Mike |last2=Martin |first2=Cindy |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/music-britain/uk-gaga-for-electro-pop-guitar-bands-fight-back-idUSLR31483320090127 |title=UK gaga for electro-pop, guitar bands fight back |work=Reuters |date=27 January 2009}}</ref> Male acts that emerged in the same period include [[Calvin Harris]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Guha |first=Rohin |url=http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/calvin-harris-the-new-king-of-electropop/11430 |title=Calvin Harris: The New King of Electropop |work=[[BlackBook]] |date=2 October 2009 |access-date=20 June 2011 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927080620/http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/calvin-harris-the-new-king-of-electropop/11430 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Empire of the Sun (band)|Empire of the Sun]],<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/staff-blog/empire-of-the-suns-electro-pop-is-huge-in-australia-and-heading-your-way-20090108 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817072511/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/staff-blog/empire-of-the-suns-electro-pop-is-huge-in-australia-and-heading-your-way-20090108 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 August 2012 |title=Empire of the Sun's Electro-Pop Is Huge in Australia and Heading Your Way |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=8 January 2009}}</ref> [[Frankmusik]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Murray |first=Robin |url=http://www.clashmusic.com/news/frankmusik-album-update |title=Frankmusik Album Update |work=[[Clash (magazine)|Clash]] |date=1 June 2009}}</ref> [[Hurts (duo)|Hurts]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8439832.stm |title=BBC Sound of 2010: Hurts |work=BBC News |date=5 January 2010}}</ref> [[Ou Est Le Swimming Pool]], [[Kaskade]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Woo |first=Jen |url=http://www.independent.com/news/2010/jun/29/electric-daisy-carnival-los-angeles-memorial-colis/ |title=Electric Daisy Carnival at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum |work=[[Santa Barbara Independent]] |date=29 June 2010}}</ref> [[LMFAO]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Lipshutz |first=Jason |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lmfao-idUSTRE60406F20100105 |title="Party" just beginning for electro-pop duo LMFAO |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=4 January 2010|agency=Reuters}}</ref> and [[Owl City]], whose single "[[Fireflies (Owl City song)|Fireflies]]" (2009) topped the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Menze |first=Jill |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/267847/electro-pop-act-owl-city-takes-off-with-fireflies |title=Electro-Pop Act Owl City Takes Off With 'Fireflies' |magazine=Billboard |date=9 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Pietroluongo |first=Silvio |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/266896/owl-citys-fireflies-lands-at-no-1-on-hot-100 |title=Owl City's 'Fireflies' Lands at No. 1 on Hot 100 |magazine=Billboard |date=29 October 2009}}</ref> In 2009, an underground subgenre with direct stylistic origins to synth-pop became popular, [[chillwave]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Despres|first1=Sean|date=June 18, 2010|title=Whatever you do, don't call it 'chillwave'|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2010/06/18/music/whatever-you-do-dont-call-it-chillwave/|website=[[The Japan Times]]|access-date=November 8, 2016}}</ref> Other 2010s synth-pop acts include [[the Naked and Famous]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Geslani |first=Michelle |url=https://consequence.net/2016/07/the-naked-and-famous-announce-new-album-simple-forms-premiere-higher-listen/ |title=The Naked and Famous announce new album, Simple Forms, premiere "Higher" — listen |work=[[Consequence of Sound]] |date=7 July 2016}}</ref> [[Chvrches]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/ontheverge/2013/08/10/on-the-verge-chvrches/2579995/|title=On The Verge: Chvrches give synthpop intelligence|author=Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY|date=10 August 2013|work=USA Today}}</ref> [[M83 (band)|M83]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/dec/17/m83-anthony-gonzalez-synthpop|title=M83's Anthony Gonzalez is ready for the fast lane|author=Sam Richards|work=The Guardian|date=17 December 2011 }}</ref> and [[Shiny Toy Guns]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/166281-shiny-toy-guns-iii/|title=Shiny Toy Guns: III|date=9 January 2013|website=PopMatters}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/1066794/shiny-toy-guns-iii-track-by-track-video|title=Shiny Toy Guns' 'III': Track-By-Track Video|magazine=Billboard|access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref>

American singer [[Kesha]] has also been described as an electropop artist,<ref name=billkesha>{{cite magazine|last=McIntyre|first=Hugh|title=Ke$ha Debuts 'Die Young' Single: Listen|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/474938/keha-debuts-die-young-single-listen|magazine=Billboard|access-date=29 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ratliff |first=Ben |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/arts/music/kesha-at-roseland-ballroom-review.html |title=Who Needs a Beach When Life's a Goof? |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 April 2011}}</ref> with her electropop debut single "[[Tik Tok (song)|Tik Tok]]"<ref>{{cite web|title=Ke$ha&nbsp;— Tik Tok&nbsp;— Song Review|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/tik-tok-mw0001343574|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=29 September 2012}}</ref> topping the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] for nine weeks in 2010.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Trust|first=Gary|title=PSY Still Stuck at No. 2 as Maroon 5 Tops Hot 100 – "One More Night" spends a fifth week in the top spot, while Ke$ha crashes the Top 10.|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/474594/psy-still-stuck-at-no-2-as-maroon-5-tops-hot-100|magazine=Billboard|access-date=17 October 2012}}</ref> She also used the genre on her comeback single "[[Die Young]]".<ref name=billkesha/><ref>{{cite web|last=Jaksich|first=Jessica|title=The Party Doesn't Stop With Ke$ha's New Single!|url=http://www.seventeen.com/entertainment/reviews/kesha-die-young|work=[[Seventeen (American magazine)|Seventeen]]|date=26 September 2012 |access-date=29 September 2012}}</ref> Mainstream female recording artists who have dabbled in the genre in the 2010s include [[Madonna]],<ref name=electropopgraph>{{cite news|last=McCormick|first=Neil|title=Madonna, Hyde Park, review|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/9406049/Madonna-Hyde-Park-review.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/9406049/Madonna-Hyde-Park-review.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=2 November 2012|location=London|date=17 July 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=vh1electro>{{cite web|last=Graham|first=Mark|title=My 53 Favorite Madonna Songs (In Honor of Her 53rd Birthday)|url=http://blog.vh1.com/2011-08-16/my-53-favorite-madonna-songs-in-honor-of-her-53rd-birthday/|publisher=[[VH1]]|access-date=2 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328205037/http://blog.vh1.com/2011-08-16/my-53-favorite-madonna-songs-in-honor-of-her-53rd-birthday/|archive-date=28 March 2014}}</ref><ref name=clevver>{{cite web|last=ClevverMusic|title=Madonna New Album Will Be Electro-Pop|url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xljf60_madonna-new-album-will-be-electro-pop_music|work=[[Daily Motion]]|publisher=[[Orange (telecommunications)|Orange]]|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref> [[Taylor Swift]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/26/taylor-swift-1989-album-review-bold-gossipy-confection|title=Taylor Swift: 1989 review – a bold, gossipy confection|last=Empire|first=Kitty|date=2014-10-26|work=The Observer|issn=0029-7712}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/reputation-review-taylor-swift-ditches-tabloid-drama-on-most-intimate-lp-yet-124674/|title=Sheffield: 'Reputation' Is the Most Intimate LP of Taylor Swift's Career|last1=Sheffield|first1=Rob|date=2017-11-10|magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-lover/|title=Taylor Swift: Lover|website=Pitchfork}}</ref> [[Katy Perry]],<ref>{{cite magazine|title=50 Best Songs of 2010 – Katy Perry&nbsp;— Teenage Dream|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-songs-of-2010-20101214/katy-perry-teenage-dream-19691231|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=14 December 2010|access-date=3 November 2012|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Sara D.|title=Top 10 Katy Perry Songs|url=http://popcrush.com/katy-perry-songs/|work=PopCrush|date=14 May 2011 |access-date=3 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Montgomery|first=James|title=New Katy Perry Songs Hit The Net|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1638572/new-katy-perry-songs-hit-net.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406062940/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1638572/new-katy-perry-songs-hit-net.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 April 2011|publisher=[[MTV News]]|access-date=3 November 2012}}</ref> [[Jessie J]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Jessie J&nbsp;— Biography|url=http://www.virginmedia.com/music/browse/jessie-j|access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref> [[Christina Aguilera]],<ref name=villagevoice>{{cite web|last=Young|first=Matt|title=Reviewed: Christina Aguilera, Bionic|url=http://balmain-village-voice.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/reviewed-christina-aguilera-bionic/|work=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref><ref name=bllamb>{{cite web|last=Lamb|first=Bill|title=Christina Aguilera&nbsp;— Bionic A Great: Album Buried in Here|url=http://top40.about.com/od/albums/fr/christinaaguilerabionic.htm|work=[[About.com]]|access-date=2 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921011540/http://top40.about.com/od/albums/fr/christinaaguilerabionic.htm|archive-date=21 September 2012}}</ref> and [[Beyoncé]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|title=Pop review: Beyoncé, I Am ... Sasha Fierce|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/14/beyonce-i-am-sasha-fierce|work=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|date=13 November 2008}}</ref>

In Japan, girl group [[Perfume (Japanese band)|Perfume]], along with producer [[Yasutaka Nakata]] of [[Capsule (band)|Capsule]], produced technopop music combining 1980s synth-pop with [[chiptune]]s and [[electro house]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bounce.com/article/article.php/4045/ALL/|title=Perfume Interview|publisher=bounce.com|date=7 February 2008|language = ja|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209084048/http://www.bounce.com/article/article.php/4045/ALL/|archive-date=9 December 2008}} ([https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20081209084048%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.bounce.com%2Farticle%2Farticle.php%2F4045%2FALL%2F English translation])</ref> from 2003. Their breakthrough came in 2008 with the album ''[[Game (Perfume album)|Game]]'', which led to a renewed interest in technopop within mainstream [[Japanese pop]] music.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tokyograph.com/news/charts-perfume-becomes-first-technopop-group-at-1-since-ymo |title=Charts: Perfume becomes first technopop group at #1 since YMO |publisher=Tokyograph |date=22 April 2008}}</ref><ref name="allabout_perfume">{{cite web |last=Shikata |first=Hiroaki |url=http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/205965/ |title='08年Post Perfume～J-ポップ歌姫編 |trans-title='08 Post-Perfume J-pop Diva Guide |publisher=All About |date=11 January 2009 |language=Japanese}}</ref> Other Japanese female technopop artists soon followed, including [[Aira Mitsuki]], [[immi]], [[Mizca]], [[SAWA]], [[Saori@destiny|Saori Rinne]] and [[Sweet Vacation]].<ref name="allabout_perfume"/> Model-singer [[Kyary Pamyu Pamyu]] also shared the same success as Perfume's under [[Yasutaka Nakata|Nakata]]'s production<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fm20120518r1.html|title=Will the world soon wake up to the scent of Perfume? (Daniel Robson)|newspaper=The Japan Times|date=18 May 2012|access-date=5 July 2012|archive-date=30 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230092326/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fm20120518r1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> with the album ''[[Pamyu Pamyu Revolution]]'' in 2012, which topped electronic charts on [[iTunes]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fm20120531im.html |title=Perfume needs to walk a fine line on its path overseas (Ian Martin)|newspaper=The Japan Times|date=31 May 2012}}</ref> as well as the [[Oricon Charts|Japanese Albums]] chart.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2012-06-04/ |title=Oricon Weekly Albums May 21st–27th, 2012|publisher=Oricon |date=4 June 2012}}</ref> Much like Japan, [[Korean pop]] music has also become dominated by synth-pop, particularly with girl groups such as [[F(x) (band)|f(x)]], [[Girls' Generation]] and [[Wonder Girls]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Mullins|first=Michelle|title=K-pop splashes into the west|url=http://www.pucchronicle.com/k-pop-splashes-into-the-west-1.2741892|newspaper=[[Purdue University Calumet|The Purdue University Calumet Chronicle]]|date=15 January 2012|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604184727/http://www.pucchronicle.com/k-pop-splashes-into-the-west-1.2741892|archive-date=4 June 2013}}</ref>

In 2020, the genre experienced a resurgence in popularity as 1980s-style synth-pop and [[synthwave]] songs from singers such as [[the Weeknd]] who gained success on international music charts.<ref>{{cite news|last=Holden|first=Steve|title=How Dua Lipa and The Weeknd are bringing the 80s back… again|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52109397|newspaper=[[BBC News]]|date=1 April 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408020836/https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52109397|archive-date=8 April 2020}}</ref> "[[Blinding Lights]]", a synthwave song by the Weeknd, peaked at number one in 29 countries, including the United States, in early 2020; and later became the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' number-one greatest song of all time in November 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-24|title=The Weeknd's Blinding Lights dethrones the Twist as all-time No 1 Billboard single|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/24/the-weeknds-blinding-lights-dethrones-the-twist-as-all-time-no1-billboard-single|access-date=2022-01-07|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> This wave of revival not only popularized established acts but also enabled new artists like [[Dua Lipa]], whose retro-influenced album ''[[Future Nostalgia]]'' won multiple awards and was hailed for its energetic embrace of vintage pop sounds.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Dua Lipa's 'Future Nostalgia' A Modern Pop Masterpiece|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/dua-lipa-future-nostalgia-972902/|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=2020-03-27|access-date=2022-01-07}}</ref> Meanwhile, indie artists such as [[M83 (band)|M83]] continued to explore the boundaries of the genre, blending it with shoegaze and ambient music to create a complex, layered sound in their album ''[[Digital Shades Vol. 2]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Mark|title=Review: M83's latest album redefines synth-pop|journal=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=2020-11-15|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/m83-digital-shades-vol-2/|access-date=2022-01-08}}</ref> The genre's adaptability and nostalgic appeal have contributed to its enduring presence and continued evolution in the music industry.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Lasting Appeal of Synth-Pop Music|url=https://www.musicomh.com/features/articles/the-lasting-appeal-of-synth-pop-music|website=musicOMH|date=2021-02-12|access-date=2022-01-09}}</ref>

==Criticism and controversy==
[[File:Depeche-mode-martin-gore2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Martin Gore]] of [[Depeche Mode]] in 1986, wearing some of the fashions that were criticised for [[gender bending]]]]
Synth-pop has received considerable criticism and even prompted hostility among musicians and in the press. It has been described as "anaemic"<ref>{{Citation |author=A. De Curtis |year=1992 |title=Present Tense: Rock and Roll and Culture |isbn=978-0-8223-1265-9 |page=9 |publisher=Duke University Press }}</ref> and "soulless".<ref>{{Citation |author=M. Ribowsky |year=2010 |title=Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder |isbn=978-0-470-48150-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/signedsealeddeli00ribo_0/page/245 245] |publisher=Wiley |url=https://archive.org/details/signedsealeddeli00ribo_0/page/245 }}</ref> Synth-pop's early steps, and Gary Numan in particular, were also disparaged in the British music press of the late 1970s and early 1980s for their German influences<ref name=SynthBritannia/> and characterised by journalist [[Mick Farren]] as the "[[Adolf Hitler]] Memorial Space Patrol".<ref>{{citation|title=Bill Nelson's Red Noise&nbsp;– Sound-On-Sound |author=The Seth Man |journal=Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage |date=June 2004 |url=http://www.headheritage.com/unsung/thebookofseth/1114 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804234017/http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth.php/1114 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1983, [[Morrissey]] of [[the Smiths]] stated that "there was nothing more repellent than the synthesizer".<ref name=Cateforis2009/> During the decade, objections were raised to the quality of compositions<ref name="Reynolds2005p337"/> and what was called the limited musicianship of artists.<ref name=Cateforisp59/> Gary Numan observed "hostility" and what he felt was  "ignorance" regarding synth-pop, such as his belief that people "thought machines did it".<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Gary Numan interview|series=[[BBC Breakfast]]|network=[[BBC One]]|station=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=15 May 2012|time=8:56 am|quote=There was a certain amount of hostility to electronic music when it first came along. People didn't think it was real music; they thought machines did it. There was a lot of ignorance, to be honest.}}</ref>

[[Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|OMD]] frontman [[Andy McCluskey]] recalled a great many people "who thought that the equipment wrote the song for you", and asserted: "Believe me, if there was a button on a synth or a drum machine that said 'hit single', I would have pressed it as often as anybody else would have – ''but there isn't''. It was all written by real human beings".<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Synth Britannia (Part Two: Construction Time Again)|series=[[List of Britannia documentaries|Britannia]]|network=[[BBC Four]]|station=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]]|airdate=16 October 2009|minutes=26}}</ref>

According to Simon Reynolds, in some quarters synthesizers were seen as instruments for "effete poseurs", in contrast to the phallic guitar.<ref name="Reynolds2005p337"/> The association of synth-pop with an alternative sexuality was reinforced by the images projected by synth-pop stars, who were seen as [[gender bending]], including [[Phil Oakey]]'s asymmetric hair and use of eyeliner, [[Marc Almond]]'s "pervy" leather jacket, skirt wearing by figures including [[Martin Gore]] of Depeche Mode and the early "[[dominatrix]]" image of the Eurythmics' [[Annie Lennox]]. In the U.S. this led to British synth-pop artists being characterised as "English haircut bands" or "art [[faggot (slang)|fag]]" music,<ref name="Reynolds2005p337"/> though many British synth-pop artists were highly popular on both American radio and [[MTV]]. Although some audiences were overtly hostile to synth-pop, it achieved an appeal among those alienated from the dominant heterosexuality of mainstream rock culture, particularly among gay, female and introverted audiences.<ref name="Reynolds2005p337">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=337 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref><ref name=Cateforisp59>{{citation|title=Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s|author=T. Cateforis |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-472-03470-3 |page=59 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MVrM3zKrHQC&q=Are+We+Not+New+Wave&pg=PA51 }}</ref>

==Influence and legacy==
By the mid-1980s, synth-pop had helped establish the synthesizer as a primary instrument in mainstream pop music.<ref name=AMsynthpop/> It also influenced the sound of many mainstream rock acts, such as [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[ZZ Top]] and [[Van Halen]].<ref name="Reynolds2005p536">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=536 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> It was a major influence on [[house music]], which grew out of the [[post-disco]] dance club culture of the early 1980s as some DJs attempted to make the less pop-oriented music that also incorporated influences from [[Latin soul]], [[Dub music|dub]], [[rap music]], and [[jazz]].<ref name=AMhouse>{{Citation|title=House |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/house-d10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314152505/http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/house-d10 |archive-date=14 March 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

American musicians such as [[Juan Atkins]], using names including Model 500, Infinity and as part of [[Cybotron (American band)|Cybotron]], developed a style of [[electronic dance music]] influenced by synth-pop and [[funk]] that led to the emergence of [[Detroit techno]] in the mid-1980s.<ref name="Bogdanov2001p27">{{Citation |author=J. Bush |contribution=Juan Atkins |year=2001 |title=All Music Guide to Electronica: the Definitive Guide to Electronic Music |editor=V. Bogdanov |edition=4 |isbn=978-0-87930-628-1 |page=27 |place=Milwaukee, WI |publisher=Backbeat Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJNXLSBlL7IC&q=Cybotron+synthpop&pg=PA1974 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The continued influence of 1980s synth-pop could be seen in various incarnations of 1990s dance music, including [[trance music|trance]].<ref name=Gordon2009>{{Citation|author=C. Gordon |date=23 October 2009 |title=The decade that never dies Still '80s Fetishizing in '09 |journal=Yale Daily News |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/scene/scene-cover/2009/10/23/decade-never-dies/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814135833/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/oct/23/the-decade-that-never-dies/ |archive-date=14 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Hip hop]] artists such as [[Mobb Deep]] have sampled 1980s synth-pop songs. Popular artists such as [[Rihanna]], UK stars [[Jay Sean]] and [[Taio Cruz]], as well as [[British pop]] star [[Lily Allen]] on her second album, have also embraced the genre.<ref name=Cateforis2011pp218-9/><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/7514155/Jay-Sean-and-Taio-Cruz-wowing-America.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/7514155/Jay-Sean-and-Taio-Cruz-wowing-America.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | location=New York | work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |title=Jay Sean and Taio Cruz wowing America |first=Neil |last=McCormick |date=24 March 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Edwards |first=Gavin |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/07/01/in-the-studio-lily-allen-makes-naughty-follow-up/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703211854/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/07/01/in-the-studio-lily-allen-makes-naughty-follow-up/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 July 2008 |title=In the Studio: Lily Allen Makes "Naughty" Follow-Up |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=1 July 2008}}</ref>

==Artists==
{{Main|List of synth-pop artists}}

==See also==
* [[Dance-pop]]
* [[Electropop]]
* [[Schaffel beat]], triplet feel popularised in electronic music
* [[Synthwave]]
* [[Wonky pop]]
* [[Chillwave]]
* [[Vaporwave]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* S. Borthwick and R. Moy (2004), ''Popular Music Genres: an Introduction'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
* P. Bussy (2004), ''Kraftwerk: Man, Machine and Music'' (3rd ed.), London: SAF
* T. Cateforis (2011), ''Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s'', Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press
* {{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Nick|last2=Schedel|first2=Margaret|last3=Wilson|first3=Scott|title=Electronic Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aMxAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-24454-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hoffmann|first1=Frank|title=Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-FOSAgAAQBAJ&q=%22encyclopedia+of+recorded+sound%22+%22acid+rock%22|isbn=978-1-135-94950-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Jones|first=Hollin|title=Music Projects with Propellerhead Reason: Grooves, Beats and Styles from Trip Hop to Techno|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOrhiSrz-OkC&pg=PA107|year=2006|publisher=PC Publishing|isbn=978-1-870775-14-4}}
* B. R. Parker (2009), ''Good Vibrations: the Physics of Music'', Boston MD: JHU Press
* [[Simon Reynolds]] (2005), ''Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984'', London: Faber and Faber
* J. Stuessy and S. D. Lipscomb (2008), ''Rock and Roll: its History and Stylistic Development'' (6th ed.), London: Pearson Prentice Hall
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Trynka|editor1-first=Paul|editor2-last=Bacon|editor2-first=Tony|title=Rock Hardware|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HDrIjd5FQ8QC&pg=RA1-PA1946|year=1996|publisher=Balafon Books|isbn=978-0-87930-428-7}}

==External links==
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