While most current popular music in the industrialized world is realized via electronic instruments, synthpop has its own stylistic tendencies which differentiate it from other music produced by the same means. These include the exploitation of artificiality (i.e., the synthesis of sounds from waveforms) where the synthesizers are not used to imitate acoustic instruments, the use of mechanical sounding rhythms, vocal arrangements as a counterpoint to the artificiality of the instruments, and ostinato patterns as an effect. Synthpop song structures are generally similar to those of other popular music.
Influences

Mid-twentieth-century avant-garde and musique concrète composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen were pioneers in the development of electronic music. However, the instruments were originally large, highly complex, temperamental, and expensive.

The British progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer were commercially successful with their song "Lucky Man" which featured a solo using the Moog synthesizer.[1] Rock musicians of the 1970s embraced the synthesizer because it was something new and the synthetic sounds it offered weren’t previously available through any other source.[1]

In 1972, jazz musician Stan Free, under the pseudonym Hot Butter had a top 10 hit in the United States and United Kingdom with a cover of the 1969 Gershon Kingsley song "Popcorn". It is considered a forerunner to synthpop due to the use of the Moog synthesizer.[2] Notably David Bowie, Roxy Music, and Kraftwerk influenced the first wave of British Synthpop.[3]

Giorgio Moroder paired up with Donna Summer in 1977 to release the electronic disco song "I Feel Love". While a disco song first and foremost, the programmed, arpeggiated beats had a profound impact on the bands which would soon be known as synthpop. The American duo Suicide, who arose from the post-punk scene in New York utilized drum machines and synthesizers in a strange hybrid between electronics and post punk on their eponymous 1977 album.[4] That same year, Ultravox member Warren Cann purchased a Roland TR-77 drum machine, which was first featured in their October 1977 single release "Hiroshima Mon Amour".[5]

In 1978, the first incarnation of The Human League released their début single "Being Boiled", in the US, Devo moved towards a more electronic sound, and in Japan, The Yellow Magic Orchestra released their first album although it was with their second album, Solid State Survivor (1979) that they moved decisively into electronic music. Others were soon to follow, including Tubeway Army, a little known outfit from West London, who dropped their punk rock image and jumped on the band wagon, topping the UK charts in the summer of 1979 with the single "Are Friends Electric?". This prompted the singer, Gary Numan to go solo and in the same year he released the Kraftwerk inspired album, The Pleasure Principle and topped the charts for the second time with the single "Cars".[6]

This Zeitgeist of revolution in electronic music performance and recording/production was encapsulated by then would be record producer, Trevor Horn of The Buggles in the international hit "Video Killed the Radio Star".

Giorgio Moroder collaborated with the band Sparks on their album, No. 1 In Heaven. Others were soon to follow, including Frank Tovey, who performed under the name Fad Gadget. Tovey who was signed to Daniel Miller's Mute Records and made use of "found objects" in his recordings such as bottles and razors. Daniel Miller himself had a role in the emerging futurist movement as a performer under the name The Normal which released a one-off single Warm Leatherette. Although the single did not chart, it became a cult favorite and has been covered by many artists since its release, including Grace Jones, Duran Duran and Nine Inch Nails.

The sounds of synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s as well as replacing disco in dance clubs in Europe. Other successful synthpop artists of this era included Alphaville, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode,[1] Erasure, New Order, Blancmange,[7] The Human League,[1] Frankie Goes to Hollywood,[1] Pet Shop Boys,[1] Thomas Dolby, Yazoo, Art of Noise, Heaven 17, OMD, Propaganda,[8] Japan, Tears for Fears, Thompson Twins, Eurythmics, a-ha, Modern Talking, Real Life, Camouflage, Bananarama, Celebrate the Nun[9] and others are bands of the Synthpop style. Polyphonic analogue synthesizers were used during this period and the use of synthesizers were associated with the New Romantic movement.[1]

In early synthpop the synthesizer stood out and the music sounded eerie, sterile and slightly menacing. By the mid 1980s the technology had improved to the point that synthpop acts used the instrument to create a sound that resembled many instruments and allowed mainstream rock and pop acts to incorporate the synthesizer into their sound. At this point the synthesizer did not stand out and the differences between synthpop and mainstream music started to decrease.[3][10] According to music writer Simon Reynolds the hallmark of original synthpop was its "emotional, at times operatic singers" such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox.[11]

Throughout the United States, where synthpop is considered a sub genre of new wave,[3][10] the genre became popular, in large part due to the cable music channel MTV.[10] In addition, filmmaker John Hughes also played a major role in popularizing the genre through films such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink.[12]

Declining popularity and continuing influence (1991–2000)

By 1991 in the United States synthpop was losing its commercial viability as alternative radio stations were responding to the popularity of grunge rock.[13][15] Exceptions during the decade were Savage Garden, The Rentals, and Moog Cookbook.[13]

During the 1990s the influence of 1980s New Wave Synthpop could be seen in various incarnations of Eurodisco and trance.[16][17] In Europe underground and counterculture bands loosely labeled as electronic body music[18] The band Freezepop gained popularity in the video game market.[19]

By the end of the 1990s many of the 1980s acts had been dropped by their labels and added other elements to their sound.

Синти-поп (синтипоп, от англ. synth-pop) — жанр музыки, в котором синтезатор является доминирующим инструментом. В то время как подавляющее большинство современной популярной музыки создаётся с помощью синтезаторов, синти-поп обладает стилистическими особенностями, отличающими его от остальной музыки, произведённой технологически подобным образом.
Таковыми особенностями являются: искусственность звука (синтезаторы более не имитируют звучание реальных музыкальных инструментов), акцент на механических ритмах, использование вокала в качестве контрапункта искусственному происхождению аранжировки, многократное повторение структурных элементов. Форма композиции синти-поп песен не отличается от формы обычных поп-песен. Тексты песен зачастую имеют лёгкую социальную или научно-техническую темы.

В 1980-х годах музыкальная сцена показала несколько популярных синти-поп групп. Большинство из них остались малозаметными в США, хотя имели определённый коммерческий успех в Европе и Латинской Америке. В это время синти-поп был непосредственно связан с пост-панк музыкой Новой волны (New Wave) и представлял собой ритмичную, лёгкую электронную музыку. В этой связи часто синти-попом в широком смысле именуют музыкальную сцену начала и середины 1980-х, активно использующую в музыке звук синтезаторов (например, Pet Shop Boys и Depeche Mode), а также волну популярной Новой романтики (группы Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet и другие). Однако это определение справедливо только для раннего периода синти-попа.

Со сходом «новой волны» в середине и конце 1980-х появились новые коллективы, как правило, из континентальной Европы, которые успешно стали использовать арсенал технологических и мелодических находок «новой волны» и синти-попа (A-ha, Alphaville, Camouflage), также ряд уже существующих групп переработали некоторым образом своё звучание. Всё это дало виток новому периоду стиля синти-поп. Самая известная группа, с именем которой связывают окончательное формирование стиля в конце 1980-х — Depeche Mode. Именно эту группу считают законодателями моды синти-поп культуры.

В 1990-е годы синти-поп стремительно развивается в Германии. Огромный поток коллективов, играющих синти-поп и не боящихся экспериментировать, хлынул на Европу. Такие группы, как And One, De/Vision, Wolfsheim, Dance Or Die и т. д., смело играли неординарный синти-поп (сильно технически усложнилось звучание, основу составляли минорные мелодии в стиле музыки Depeche Mode). Позднее синти-поп стал пересекаться с некоторыми стилями индустриальной музыки (EBM, Techno-industrial, Future-pop), так как ряд новых коллективов активно смешивали музыкальные элементы синти- и индастриал-музыки.

Таким образом, в настоящее время синти-поп популярен в кругах электронно-индустриальной, а также готической электронной музыки.

Кроме того, в последнее время имеет некоторую популярность такой жанр, как электроклэш, основанный на стилистике синти-попа 1980-х, совмещённой с современными звуковыми приёмами и текстами, близкими по тематике к панк-року.

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