At the dawn of the 1980s, Duran Duran was part of Britain's "futurist" or "new romantic" scene, which merged glam-rock attitude with disco beats and synthesizers to form an intensely fashion-conscious variant on new wave. With their good looks and po…

Depeche Mode (French for "hurried fashion") was one of the first and best of the British synth-pop bands, combining breathless, melodic pop with perky electronics. With main songwriter Vince Clarke's departure for Yaz, Martin Gore took the reigns, an…

Born in the early 1980s out of the ashes of U.K. post-punk pioneers Joy Division, New Order became one of the first electro-pop bands to find mainstream success in the US. Their single "Blue Monday" was a landmark in dance music, and subsequent recor…

With their minimalist electronic approach and lyrics preoccupied with the seedier side of sensuality, the British duo Soft Cell were unlikely pop stars. Nevertheless, that's what they became in the early '80s, boosted by their massive hit "Tainted Lo…

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's debut album as Tears For Fears appeared smack dab in the middle of the '80s UK synth-pop invasion, but it was no mere pop trifle. THE HURTING is full of sophisticated production and accomplished songwriting, using the …

As part of Britain's short-lived New Romantic movement of the early '80s, Spandau Ballet initially combined futurist electro-pop with disco and post-punk influences. They found their greatest success, though, with the adoption of a blue-eyed soul sou…

Formed in the mid-1980s, the British electropop dance duo Pet Shop Boys neatly summed up the age of WALL STREET player Gordon Gecko's greed-is-good dictum and Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics policy in one of their early singles, "Opportunities…

Scotland's Simple Minds rose from the ashes of the punk group Johnny & the Self Abusers to experiment with art rock and electro-dance rhythms. Eventually their post-Roxy Music sound grew more anthemic and by the mid-'80s they achieved worldwide succe…

ABC was the epitome of the flashy "new pop" sound that dominated the British charts in the first half of the '80s. The band's roots lay in the Sheffield electro-pop group Vice Versa, which shifted gears when singer/songwriter Martin Fry joined, movin…

This new-wave electro-pop act from Liverpool, England, had remarkable success in the USA before finding a large following in Britain. The band comprised Mike Score (b. 5 November 1957; keyboards, vocals), Ali Score (drum machine, vocals), Paul Reynol…

Led by depressive pop prince Robert Smith, the Cure have taken their legions of fans on a journey from post-punk to gothic to new wave to art rock, stopping only for refills of hairspray along the way. An amazing band both live and in the studio, the…

The origins of this UK synthesizer pop act were much less conventional than their chart material might suggest. Their name derived from the Tin Tin cartoon books of Hergé. Formed in 1977, the line-up featured Tom Bailey (b. 18 January 1956, Halifax, …

The duo of Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox hit the bullseye in 1983 with "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," and the Eurythmics soon became pop idols. With edgy synthesizers, crisp dance beats, and Lennox's powerhouse voice, they created a distinctive s…

Although the press and public were initially focused on singer Debbie Harry's model-like good looks, Blondie was one of the first new wave bands of the 1970s to experiment with other musical styles. Beginning as part of the '70s CBGB scene in New Yor…

One of this UK band's principal assets is the androgynous persona of Pete Burns (b. 5 August 1959, Port Sunlight, England; vocals) who had fronted Liverpool's Mystery Girls in 1977, then Nightmares In Wax, in which he was accompanied by Mick Reid (gu…

Ultravox rose up out of of Britain's late-'70s punk movement, adding a dark, moody touch to the sonic din. But before long Ultravox was incorporating synthesizers and a pronounced art-rock influence. In both their initial incarnation with singer John…

Madness took its cue from other British ska revivalists such as the Specials and the Selecter, but where those bands took aim at social issues, Madness went in for goofy fun. In the early days of MTV, the group had several stateside hits, but nothing…

In the U.S., synth-pop pioneer Gary Numan only had one hit, 1979's new wave smash "Cars," but in his homeland of Britian he was a major pop star. As one of the first pop/rock artists to focus on synthesizers rather than guitars, Numan was enormously …

Despite the band's name, the Love Generation touches that brought the Psychedelic Furs great acclaim came only after they'd established their initial style. Theirs was a dark, swirling sound that mixed Bowie-ish art-rock and post-punk guitars with Ri…

The Norwegian synth-pop trio A-Ha burst onto the pop scene in 1985 with their debut single "Take On Me" reaching the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Equipped with good looks, pop hooks, and a groundbreaking video, A-Ha proved to be i…