What is synth-pop: 12 key signs
How to distinguish synth-pop from any song with keyboards: twelve signs across arrangement, rhythm, voice and form, a 1977-1986 timeline and a test for borderline tracks.
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Notes on music, craft, and the era
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“Down Under” Men at Work, 1982
1 October 1981 - Australian release. January 1983 - Billboard #1 for 4 weeks, UK #1 for 3 weeks. Greg Ham's flute line (F-G-F-E♭) - the track's most recognisable part. In 2010 the Federal Court called it an infringement of 1934's “Kookaburra”; in 2012 Ham was found dead in Melbourne.
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“True Colors” Cyndi Lauper, 1986
26 August 1986: Billboard #1 for 2 weeks. Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg wrote it about Steinberg's mother, dying of cancer. Lauper stripped the arrangement to the bone: voice, Yamaha C7 grand and a faint DX7, vocal cut on the first take. 1987 Kodak commercial at $500K. 26 June 1987 Gay Freedom Day in San Francisco, 500,000 strong - an LGBT anthem was born.
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“Jessie's Girl” Rick Springfield, 1981
27 February 1981: Springfield writes his debut hit in 2 hours after a stained-glass class in Pasadena - a real woman called Karen, her boyfriend Gary (a coincidental surname match). Billboard #1 for 2 weeks from 1 August 1981, 1982 Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal. Same months he was Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital.
“A View to a Kill” Duran Duran, 1985
6 May 1985: Duran Duran write the theme for the 14th Bond film with John Barry at Abbey Road. The only Bond single to hit Billboard #1 - two weeks there. £200,000 fee, Eiffel Tower video.
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“Bizarre Love Triangle” New Order, 1986
20 October 1986: UK #56 and US #98 on release - a flop. Bass cut on Emulator II from a sampled Moog Source, Hook never plays. Shep Pettibone's remix became club canon; Marie Antoinette 2006 brought it back.
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“Love Shack” The B-52's, 1989
27 June 1989: The B-52's return after 2 years of silence (Ricky Wilson's AIDS-related death in 1985). #3 Billboard, #2 UK, #1 Australia for 5 weeks. Dreamland Studios, producers Don Was and Nile Rodgers. “Tin roof, rusted” - Cindy Wilson's improv on the last take. RuPaul's MTV debut in the video, $500 fee.
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“Pump Up the Volume” M|A|R|R|S, 1987
3 August 1987: M|A|R|R|S on 4AD release the first UK #1 built from 30+ samples. Eric B. & Rakim, James Brown, Public Enemy, Chris Montez. Main sampler - Akai S900 at Powerhouse Studios. A Pete Waterman lawsuit over a Mel & Kim sample settled at $70K; in 1988 the UK passed the Copyright Act.
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“She Blinded Me with Science” Dolby, 1982
1 October 1982: Thomas Dolby drops the Blinded by Science EP. By April 1983 - Billboard #5 via MTV heavy rotation. Dr. Magnus Pyke (74, the BBC scientist) shouts “Science!” 5 times for a £200 fee - by 1985 he had collected £180,000 in royalties. The whole EP was tracked on one Fairlight CMI Series II.
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“Rockit” Herbie Hancock, 1983
13 June 1983: “Rockit” takes #71 Billboard but Dance Club #1. Five 1984 Grammys - a record for an electronic track. Scratching by 22-year-old Grandmixer DST at 1 TON Records. Godley & Creme's video with Jim Whiting kinetic mannequins opened MTV to only the second Black artist after MJ.
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“Bette Davis Eyes” Kim Carnes, 1981
13 March 1981: a cover of DeShannon/Weiss's forgotten 1974 original becomes the longest #1 of 1981 - 9 weeks Billboard. Bill Cuomo's synth hook improvised in 10 minutes. Bette Davis sent a thank-you note.
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“I Want to Know What Love Is” Foreigner, 1984
19 November 1984: Mick Jones writes the melody in 40 minutes at The Mayfair Regent's lobby. Billboard #1 for 2 weeks, UK #1 for 3 weeks. New Jersey Mass Choir - 20 voices cut in 5 hours on 8 October, including Jennifer Holliday (1982 Tony for Dreamgirls). The band's first and only #1.
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“Sussudio” Phil Collins, 1985
14 January 1985: the first No Jacket Required single. #1 Billboard, UK #12. The nonsense word came from a drum improv; Collins tried “Julie” and “Susan” - sounded worse. Four days at The Townhouse with Hugh Padgham. The 3+3+2 syncopation lifted from Prince's “1999” - Collins admitted in 2016. Album 25M copies.
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“Radio Ga Ga” Queen, 1984
23 January 1984: written solo by Roger Taylor after his 3-year-old son said “radio ca-ca”. UK #2 (blocked by “Relax”), Billboard #16. The video uses Lang's 1927 “Metropolis” footage via a Moroder deal. At Live Aid on 13 July 1985, 72,000 fans did the synchronized double-clap on cue.
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“Let's Dance” Bowie, 1983
14 March 1983: Bowie with producer Nile Rodgers. UK #1 for 3 weeks, US #1 for 1 week. Cut in 17 days at Power Station, NYC. Bowie met Rodgers at the Continental Club in December 1982 and asked, “Can you make me a hit?”. Stevie Ray Vaughan's solo - one take on a 1962 Strat. Album 10.7M copies - more than every prior Bowie album combined.
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“Under Pressure” Queen & Bowie, 1981
26 October 1981: Queen and David Bowie release a track born from a 24-hour jam at Mountain Studios, Montreux. UK #1 for 2 weeks, US #29. John Deacon worked out his seven-note bassline on a smoke break. In 1990 Vanilla Ice sampled it for “Ice Ice Baby”, denied the borrow on MTV, then settled out of court.
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“Call Me” Spagna, 1986
July 1986: Ivana Spagna with producer Pignagnoli. UK #2 (blocked by The Communards), #1 Germany 5 weeks, #3 France. First Italian woman in UK top-3 with an English-language track - and one of the last Italo-disco UK mainstream hits before house.
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