Editing Synth-pop (section)

{{Short description|Music genre in which the synthesizer is a key instrument}}
{{Redirect|Technopop}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Synth-pop
| other_names       = Techno-pop
<!--- * electrobeat<ref name="SR"/> --->| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Electronic music|Electronic]]<ref name="AV Club">{{cite web |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/where-start-80s-uk-synth-pop-215560 |title=Where to start with '80s U.K. synth-pop |publisher=[[The A.V. Club]] |date=26 February 2015 |access-date=27 August 2015 |author=Zaleski, Anne}}</ref><ref name=Reynolds2009/><ref name="CP">{{cite web|website=[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]]|url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2022/10/birth-of-synth-pop/|title=Things that dreams are made of: The birth of synth-pop|author=[[Paul Lester]]|date=20 October 2022}}</ref>|[[pop music|pop]]<ref name="AV Club"/><ref name=Reynolds2009/><ref name="CP"/>|[[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]]<ref name="CP"/><ref name=Borthwick/>|[[disco]]<ref name=Borthwick/><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.synthpunk.org/units/keyboard1.html| title= The New Synthesizer Rock|date=June 1982| magazine= Keyboard| access-date= 15 May 2011}}</ref>|[[New wave music|new wave]]<ref>{{allMusic|subgenre|synth-pop-ma0000002887|Synth Pop}}</ref>|[[progressive rock]]<ref name="CP"/>|[[krautrock]]<ref name="CP"/>|[[glam rock]]<ref name=Borthwick/>|[[Eurodisco]]<ref name=Borthwick/>||[[art pop]]<ref name="FisherGold">{{cite journal|last=Fisher|first=Mark|title=You Remind Me of Gold: Dialogue with Simon Reynolds|journal=Kaleidoscope|issue=9|year=2010}}</ref>}}
| cultural_origins  = 1977–1980 in West Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom
| derivatives       = {{hlist|[[Electropop]]|[[House music|house]]|[[Electro (music)|electro]]|[[techno]]<ref name="MT">{{cite magazine|magazine=Music Technology|title=The Techno Wave|url=https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-techno-wave/2291|last=Trask|first=Simon|date=September 1988|access-date=27 April 2023}}</ref>|[[Detroit techno]]<ref name="MT"/>|[[dance-pop]]|[[alternative dance]]|[[futurepop]]<ref name="apell423">{{cite book|title=American popular music: a multicultural history|year=2006|publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation|Thomson Wadsworth]]|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=978-0155062290|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCwYAQAAIAAJ|author1=Glenn Appell |author2=David Hemphill |access-date=12 May 2012|page=423|quote=The 1980s brought the dawning age of the synthesizer in rock. Synth pop, a spare, synthesizer-based dance pop sound, was its first embodiment.}}</ref>|[[hypnagogic pop]]|[[chillwave]]}}
| subgenrelist      = 
| subgenres         = 
| fusiongenres      = {{hlist|[[Electroclash]]}}
| regional_scenes   = 
| other_topics      = {{hlist|[[Post-punk]]|[[new pop]]|[[synthwave]]|[[techno]]|[[electronic rock]]}}
| current_year      = no
}}
{{Electronic music top}}
'''Synth-pop''' (short for '''synthesizer pop''';{{sfn|Trynka|Bacon|1996|p=60}} also called '''techno-pop'''<ref name="SR">{{cite journal|title=High-fidelity sound systems|journal=[[Stereo Review]]|year=1983|volume=48|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVkJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22technopop%22+%22synthpop%22}}</ref><ref name="electrosynth">{{harvnb|Collins|Schedel|Wilson|2013|p=97|loc="synth pop (also called electro pop, techno pop, and the like)"}}; {{harvnb|Hoffmann|2004|p=2153|loc="Techno-pop, also termed synth-pop or electro-pop"}}</ref>) is a [[music genre]] that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the [[synthesizer]] as the dominant musical instrument.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Synth-Pop Music Guide: A Brief History of Synth-Pop|url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/synth-pop-music-guide|website=Masterclass|date=7 June 2021}}</ref> It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in [[progressive rock]], [[electronic music|electronic]], [[art rock]], [[disco]], and particularly the [[Krautrock]] of bands like [[Kraftwerk]]. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the [[post-punk]] era as part of the [[New wave music|new wave]] movement of the late 1970s.

Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, and the mid-1970s saw the rise of electronic art musicians. After the breakthrough of [[Gary Numan]] in the [[UK Singles Chart]] in 1979, large numbers of artists began to enjoy success with a synthesizer-based sound in the early 1980s. In Japan, [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] introduced the [[TR-808]] rhythm machine to popular music, and the band would be a major influence on early British synth-pop acts. The development of inexpensive [[polyphonic synthesizer|polyphonic]] synthesizers, the definition of [[MIDI]] and the use of [[Dance music|dance]] beats, led to a more commercial and accessible sound for synth-pop. Thus, its adoption by the style-conscious acts from the [[New Romantic]] movement, together with the rise of [[MTV]], led to success for large numbers of British synth-pop acts in the US during the [[Second British Invasion]].

The term "techno-pop" was coined by Yuzuru Agi in his critique of Kraftwerk's ''[[The Man-Machine]]'' in 1978 and is considered a case of [[multiple discovery]] of naming. Hence, the term can be used interchangeably with "synth-pop", but is more frequently used to describe the scene of Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shikata|first=Hiroaki|date=October 17, 2005|title=The Origin of Techno-pop|url=https://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/205790/|website=All About (in Japanese)}}</ref> The term "techno-pop" became also popular in Europe, where it started: German band Kraftwerk's 1986 album was titled ''[[Techno Pop]]''; English band [[the Buggles]] has a song named [[The Age of Plastic|"Technopop"]] and Spanish band [[Mecano]] described their style as tecno-pop.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.grupomecano.com/libros.html |title=Mecano site |access-date=30 May 2023 |archive-date=1 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001154611/https://www.grupomecano.com/libros.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

"Synth-pop" is sometimes used interchangeably with "[[electropop]]",<ref name="electrosynth"/> but "electropop" may also denote a variant of synth-pop that places more emphasis on a harder, more electronic sound.{{sfn|Jones|2006|p=107}} In the mid to late 1980s, duos such as [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]] and [[Pet Shop Boys]] adopted a style that was highly successful on the US dance charts, but by the end of the decade, the synth-pop of bands such as [[A-ha]] and [[Alphaville (band)|Alphaville]] was giving way to [[house music]] and [[techno]]. Interest in synth-pop began to revive in the [[indietronica]] and [[electroclash]] movements in the late 1990s, and in the 2000s synth-pop enjoyed a widespread revival and commercial success.

The genre has received criticism for alleged lack of emotion and musicianship; prominent artists have spoken out against detractors who believed that synthesizers themselves composed and played the songs. Synth-pop music has established a place for the synthesizer as a major element of [[pop music|pop]] and [[rock music]], directly influencing subsequent genres (including [[house music]] and [[Detroit techno]]) and has indirectly influenced many other genres, as well as individual recordings.