Searching the site…
Try a search
Site search
Search covers page content as well as titles.
Nothing found. Try another word.
Sixth track already - save favourites and download without limits
Sign upNotes on music, craft, and the era
332 articles newest first
October 1978: failed chansonnier Patrick Hernandez cuts a disco single in one night on an ARP Odyssey. #1 in five European countries, 25M copies by 1980 - the 8th best-selling 70s single. A 21-year-old Madonna danced on his tour.
April 1986: Gabriel knocks Genesis - his own old band - off Billboard #1. Aardman Animations' stop-motion video - 7,450 frames, 16 weeks of filming, 80 hours of Gabriel under glass. Nine 1987 MTV Video Awards (still unbeaten). Kurzweil 250 with shakuhachi, Fairlight CMI, Rick Astley on backing vocals. 5M copies.
March 1985: Roland Orzabal writes what he calls “commercial filler” in three days under producer pressure. Two weeks at Wool Hall: DX7 E.PIANO 1, LinnDrum shuffle, Neil Taylor's guitar. The result - #1 Billboard, 7M copies, 1.9B streams. The band's defining track.
March 1985: Austrian Johann Hölzel with the Bolland brothers releases a rap-pop tribute to Mozart. 22 weeks #1 in Austria (an unbeaten record), Billboard #1 in March 1986 - the only German-language song ever to top the US chart. DX7, Jupiter-8, Fairlight CMI, Linn 9000. 8M copies.
December 1984: Moroder protégé Harold Faltermeyer writes the “Beverly Hills Cop” theme in a single morning on a Jupiter-8 BRASS 2 preset. #3 Billboard, #1 in four countries, 5M copies, 17 chart weeks.
September 1980: Liverpool duo Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys name a synth-pop single after the Hiroshima bomber. The BBC refuses rotation; the track still takes UK #8 and #1 in three European countries. £4,000 at Amazon Studios, 2.5M copies - pop's first anti-nuclear hit.
May 1984: Jimmy Somerville with his two co-writers drops the debut on Forbidden Fruit - the first British mainstream group with three openly gay members. Producer Mike Thorne at Hit Factory, Juno-60, Pro-One, TR-606. Somerville's E5 falsetto holds without breaking. UK #3, 1.8M copies - politics arrives in club synth-pop.
The first 1984 version with Bobby Orlando sold 7,000 copies and killed Pet Shop Boys' Bobcat deal. A year later Stephen Hague at Advision Studios rebuilt the track: lower BPM, Emulator II samples, Jupiter-8, TR-909. The result - UK #1, Billboard #1, 6M copies, T. S. Eliot in the lyric.
November 1981: with Human League collapsed, Phil Oakey recruited two Sheffield club girls and cut the track with Martin Rushent on Linn LM-1 and Jupiter-8. Five weeks UK #1 (including Christmas), Billboard #1 July 1982, 6M copies - pop's first gender duet.
September 1979: Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes record The Buggles' debut at Sarm East for £18,000. Two months later - #1 in 16 countries, 5.5M copies. Two years later Russell Mulcahy's clip becomes the first ever video aired by MTV - the symbolic start of the era. Jupiter-4, Debbie Harry on backing vocals.
January 1983: the British Buckinghamshire quintet with Limahl - producers Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran) and Colin Thurston. Jupiter-8, a DX7 prototype, Nick Beggs's Chapman Stick, seven weeks at Townhouse Studios. Two months later - UK #1; a year later Limahl is fired and the band falls apart.
January 1981: Ultravox with Midge Ure release a synth-pop ballad on a Yamaha CS-80, with a Roland VP-330 vocoder and a live violin. Seven consecutive weeks at UK #2 - held off by Joe Dolce's comic hit “Shaddap You Face”. In 2012 BBC Radio 2 asked listeners: should it have been #1? 62% said yes.
January 1983: without a deal, Lennox and Stewart cut the single for £600 in three days. A £50 Wasp EDP, a Movement MCS, an SH-09, a rented OB-X. Eight months later - #1 Billboard, 4M copies. The minimal budget beat FGTH's £140K; Lennox's alto and androgynous look set an 80s gender icon.
July 1984: Limahl, just fired from Kajagoogoo, cuts the German fantasy theme with Moroder. Jupiter-8, Emulator II, Westlake Audio Hollywood, 18 vocal takes. UK #4, US #17, #1 Norway, 3.5M copies. The film is forgotten; the song isn't - 1.2B streams and a second wind after Stranger Things.
July 1981: Soft Cell rework Gloria Jones's forgotten 1964 soul side in 11 days for £10,000. Synclavier II, TR-808, Pro-One - no live instruments. Three months later - UK #1; a year later - a 43-week Billboard Hot 100 record. Ed Cobb, who wrote the 1964 original, suddenly received a $400,000 cheque.
October 1985: after two flops (UK #137 and #127), Norwegian trio a-ha reworked the track a third time with Alan Tarney. #1 US, #2 UK, #1 in 17 countries, 7M copies. Steve Barron's £100,000 video - 3,020 rotoscoped frames and six MTV awards. Morten Harket's A5 made the track immortal.
December 1983: Roland ships the TR-909 - a hybrid of analogue synthesis and digital samples. 10,000 units in 18 months and the line is killed as a loss. Ten years later a used unit costs ten times the new price: Frankie Knuckles, Larry Heard, Derrick May pick them up. Roland's flop became the pillar of house and techno.
Favourites, the live chat and requests come with the account.
Free of charge. Favourites, the live chat and playlists come with the account.
Enter the email your account is registered with - we will send a reset link. It is valid for 1 hour.
Enter the 6-digit code from the email and the account is ready.
The link from the email works too - it is valid for 24 hours.
Loading your saved tracks…
