Synth Pop Research Paper

The Fingerprints of Synth Pop as a Genre

Synth Pop is a genre that uses synthesizers to recreate the sounds of real audio instruments without actually having the instrument there; or in some cases do not even try to sound natural but as computerized as possible. Synthesizers were first used in the 1960's by rock bands and in the late 1970's by punk bands. Also in the late 1970's going into the early 1980's, synth only bands began to come out and created a whole new style, genre and generation of music.

In the 1960's when synthesizers first began to be used, they were used to recreate audio instruments and were not used as a new style of music in it's entirety but instead as an addition to what music was already around at the time.
As old victorian infrastructures were knocked down and replaced with new modern buildings and cities were developed, music was also modernizing itself, the synth pop era came about. Although it did not come out of no where, synth pop was inspired by the earlier generation of music, punk. The soon to become synthesist musicians looked at the punk rock genre and appreciated the rebellious attitude that it carried with it, but however, saw the actual punk music as being old fashioned and with the increasing popularity and availability of synthesizers, decided to create a new genre of music changing all of music current conventions. The sound of the synthesizer was now seen as the sound of the future, it was something different that people had never heard before, purely electronically generated music, and this sense of unfamiliarity that people had with the music is what made it attract to its audience. Music was now going from classic rock with guitar solos, to performances with nothing more than synthesizers and drum machines up on stage with no natural instruments in
The first electronic sounds heard came from the 'Clockwork Orange' Soundtrack, this soundtrack instigated a whole new generation of synthesists. The German band 'Kraftwerk' was one of the first groups to popularize synth music, especially in the UK. The kick-started a whole new style and were the people who broke away from the 80's style of long hair and flared trousers. They came over to England performing in suits and with short hair, which was of course looked on skeptically, but was also seen as a breath of fresh air, breaking away from the current punk rock conformities that pretty much ruled the nation. A more nerdy form of rebellion that proved to inspire much music after its time and have lasting affect across all types of genres. Other artists as well as 'Kraftwerk' that had major influences on the genre and music in general at this time were musicians such as: Giorgio Moroder, who teamed up with Donna Summer to release single "I feel love" in 1977, this was primarily a disco song but again kick-started the electronic sound that people became so fond of; 'The Human League' from Sheffield who debuted with single "Being Boiled" in 1978 and also Gary Numan, who actually inspired 'Kraftwerk'. Artists such as: Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Aha and Goldfrapp also followed in the