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Before Gary Numan | How Synth-Pop Became Synth-Pop

A vision of the future that never properly arrived, Synth-pop was an ever present staple of the British charts in the 1980s.

2021-04-30 19:00:00 - Trash Theory

A canny fusion of pop-suss and technological invention, its height reflected the increased affordability of commercial synthesizers from the late 1970s onward.


But that doesn’t mean that the likes of The Human League, Ultravox, OMD and Gary Numan were the first to splice synths and pop together. So who were the pioneers?


What were the essential steps along the way, the key tracks and influencers? And how did we get to the point where “Are “Friends” Electric” got to number one?


This is how Synth-pop became Synth-pop.


00:00 | Introduction

02:12 | Del Shannon

03:18 | Delia Derbyshire

05:26 | 1968

08:14 | Wendy Carlos

10:46 | Popcorn

12:38 |Roxy Music & Brian Eno

15:06 | Kraftwerk

17:50 | Jean-Michel Jarre

19:54 | David Bowie

22:10 | I Feel Love

24:26 | That New York Synth Band

26:01 | Ultravox!

28:19 | The Human League

30:05 | Warm Leatherette

31:45 | OMD

33:10 | Gary Numan & Tubeway Army

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