The 10 greatest synth-pop albums
In the latter half of the 1970s, prog-rock, the adept continuation of The Beatles’ late material, was met head-on by the angry voice of punk. Almost as instantaneously as it had begun, the punk movement dissipated, giving rise to the more refined post-punk genre. This transition was most clearly marked by bands like Joy Division and Magazine, who benefitted from synthesised textures and meticulous production. Concurrently, Kraftwerk had begun to find an accessible sound amid their long-laboured synth experiments. The synth-pop age had arrived.
To all intents and purposes, the first synth-pop album was Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine, a release that triggered a surge of synth-based acts to spread across the Western world. Bands like Tubeway Army, Visage and The Human League soon grasped these blueprints and built intriguing structures in their own right. Concurrently, synthesiser technology came on in leaps and bounds to make the mode more accessible and user-friendly.
Through the early 1980s, the post-punk movement prevailed at odds with synth-pop, with fans of bands like Bauhaus, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees notably averse to those of charting pop groups like Duran Duran or The Human League. However, these two factions were intrinsically intertwined, and most bands of this era used synthesisers to some degree.
Below, we have listed the ten greatest synth-pop albums of all time. By our definition, synth-pop is a genre and a musical epoch; hence, while some post-millennium albums and artists may be considered synth-pop, we’re focussing on the popular synth-based music released between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s, when Britpop and rave music took the baton.
The top 10 synth-pop albums:
Japan – Tin Drum
South London synth-pop heroes Japan kept the good ship of David Bowie’s glam-era androgyny afloat in the late 1970s. The 1978 debut album Adolescent Sex garnered Japan a strong following, mostly thanks to its popular eponymous single. After the similarly guitar-driven Obscure Alternatives, Japan turned a corner with the synth-heavy Quiet Life in 1979.
Quiet Life was the band’s first synth-pop release and laid the foundations from which they grew impressively over their final two albums: Gentlemen Take Polaroids of 1980 and 1981’s Tin Drum. Japan’s swan song marked their pinnacle; Tin Drum benefitted from a distinctive oriental aesthetic, a balance of moods and seamless production. Most memorably, the album was home to Japan’s only top-five single, ‘Ghosts’.
Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
German synth pioneers Kraftwerk had been tinkering away since the early 1970s, bringing their innovative electronic music to the masses with such releases as Autobahn and Radioactivity, but it wasn’t until 1978’s The Man-Machine that they truly set the tone for the 1980s and the synth-pop takeover.
The Man-Machine brought a more accessible edge and danceable rhythm to Kraftwerk’s sound and marked the maturation of the German collective into bonafide style icons. With David Bowie, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, OMD and Visage among their disciples, Kraftwerk’s impact on 1980s culture was similar to that of LSD in the 1960s.
Depeche Mode – Violator
In 1990, Essex gothic synth maestros Depeche Mode saw the synth-pop epoch out with a bang. Throughout the 1980s, Depeche Mode withered from the light of saccharine hits like ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ to venture melancholic and more complex themes. Music for the Masses arrived in 1987 to widespread acclaim and appeared insurmountable until its 1990 follow-up Violator.
In Violator, Depeche Mode brandished the full force of their experience to bring four hit singles – ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy the Silence’, ‘Policy of Truth’ and ‘World in My Eyes’ – that one can enjoy pensively reclined or, indeed, on the dance floor. Most crucially, these tracks never seem to age and, combined with the album’s less commercial underbelly, make for one of the most consummate works of the synth-pop genre.
New Order – Power Corruption and Lies
Following Ian Curtis’ tragic suicide in 1980, the remaining members of Joy Division reunited as New Order. After dabbling with synthesisers for their underrated yet unbalanced Joy Division hangover album, Movement, New Order returned triumphant with a seminal classic and quite possibly their masterpiece in 1983’s Power Corruption and Lies.
The album, arriving shortly after the game-changing single ‘Blue Monday’, heard a perfect harmony between formative punk influences and a later affection for all things synth. Gillian Gilbert’s synth prowess is truly unleashed in tracks like ‘Your Silent Face’, ‘The Village’, ‘5 8 6’ and ‘Ultraviolence’ but season the album with precision throughout.
Talk Talk – It’s My Life
Led by the meticulous creative Mark Hollis, Talk Talk blossomed through a series of stylistic changes throughout the 1980s. The sound they eventually landed on in 1988’s Spirit of Eden and 1991’s Laughing Stock was simply breathtaking, but one would be hard-pressed to describe them as synth-pop.
Each of Talk Talk’s five studio albums bettered the previous, but only the first two can be comfortably classed as synth-pop. Hence, Talk Talk’s synth-pop musings peaked in 1984’s It’s My Life. The band’s days of introspective art-rock were yet to come and hits like ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Such a Shame’ helped buoy the album to respectable chart positions across Europe.
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Eurythmics was formed by vocalist Annie Lennox and multi-instrumentalist Dave Stewart from the ashes of The Tourists in 1980. In the Garden, the duo’s debut effort of 1981 was poorly received both critically and commercially, but they more than redeemed themselves in 1983 with the masterpiece follow-up Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).
The album is understandably remembered for the towering force of its titular single, which made it to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. Beyond its blockbusting singles, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) boasted thematic and tonal balances that grant it a place among the most accomplished synth-pop records, arriving at the peak of the genre’s power.
Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)
Simple Minds formed in the late 1970s as a post-punk outfit and gradually folded synth into their sound. After breaking through with Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call in 1981, the band, led by Jim Kerr, soared to higher heights with New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84), the band’s first album classifiable as synth-pop.
In spite of its remarkably unattractive album artwork, New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84) was Simple Minds’ masterpiece album, containing a wealth of timeless hits. The three brilliant singles, ‘Promised You a Miracle’, ‘Glittering Prize’ and ‘Someone Somewhere in Summertime’, were joined by equally listenable album tracks like ‘New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)’ and ‘Big Sleep’.
Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle
Gary Numan released his most consummate and critically revered album, The Pleasure Principle, in 1979. Just by looking at the album cover, one can tell Numan was almost singularly inspired by Kraftwerk. The record marked Numan’s debut solo effort following a successful run of two albums fronting Tubeway Army.
Like much of Kraftwerk’s seminal material of the 1970s, The Pleasure Principle celebrates the post-industrial age. Numan brings soulless, eerie vocals to mononymous, quotidian subjects like ‘Cars’, ‘Films’ and ‘Metal’. All the while, industrial synth textures hammer home the post-modern concept. The hit singles’ Cars’ and ‘Complex’ and other popular tracks like ‘M.E.’ helped boost the album to number one on the UK Albums Chart shortly after its arrival.
Yazoo – Upstairs at Eric’s
Yazoo – or Yaz, as they were known in North America for legal reasons – was a duo comprised of singer Alison Moyet and former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke. It was a transient project boasting only two studio albums, but what they lacked in longevity, they more than compensated for in enduring impact.
Upstairs at Eric’s arrived in August 1981 as the duo’s debut studio album and was given the global attention it deserved thanks to its smash hit preview single, ‘Only You’. The single peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in May 1982 and remains Yazoo’s most beloved hit. Upstairs at Eric’s was also home to genre classics like ‘Don’t Go’, ‘Situation’, ‘Bad Connection’ and ‘Midnight’.
Blancmange – Mange Tout
Blancmange consisted of Neil Arthur on vocals and Stephen Luscombe on keyboards. The pair significantly impacted the early 1980s synth-pop scene, but a lack of chart longevity has seen them retrospectively eclipsed by many of their peers. The first two of their three 1980s albums, Happy Families and Mange Tout, are true gems and determining which was the salient masterpiece was a difficult task.
Ultimately, Mange Tout took the lead as the more well-rounded and perennial record. To counter Happy Families’ top ten hit ‘Living on the Ceiling’, Mange Tout was home to ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me’, two highly absorbing and danceable singles. Elsewhere on the album, ‘The Day Before You Came’ and ‘Game Above My Head’ marked more suppressed highlights.