Editing Synth-pop (section)

===Declining popularity (1986–2000)===
[[File:Pet shop boys boston concert.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=A colour photograph of the two members of the Pet Shop Boys on a stage with a synthesizer and a microphone respectively|The [[Pet Shop Boys]] performing in 2006.]]
Synth-pop continued into the late 1980s, with a format that moved closer to dance music, including the work of acts such as British duos [[Pet Shop Boys]],<ref>{{Citation|author=J. Ankeny |title=Pet Shop Boys |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pet-shop-boys-p5135 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110802234524/http://allmusic.com/artist/pet-shop-boys-p5135/ |archive-date=2 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]]<ref>{{Citation|author=S. T. Erlewine |title=Erasure |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/erasure-p4198 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804185124/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/erasure-p4198/biography |archive-date=4 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[the Communards]]. The Communards' major hits were covers of disco classics "[[Don't Leave Me This Way]]" (1986) and "[[Never Can Say Goodbye]]" (1987).<ref>{{Citation|author=A. Kellman |title=The Communards |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-communards-p12589/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520044044/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-communards-p12589/biography |archive-date=20 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author=S. Thornton |contribution=Understanding Hipness: 'Subcultural capital' as feminist cultural tool |year=2006 |title=The Popular Music Studies Reader |editor1=A. Bennett |editor2=B. Shank |editor3=J. Toynbee |isbn=978-0-415-30709-3 |page=102 |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bnU1c3xElQC&q=%3A+%27Subcultural+capital%27+as+cultural+tool%22&pg=PA99 }}</ref> After adding other elements to their sound, and with the help of a gay audience, several synth-pop acts had success on the US dance charts. Among these were American acts [[Information Society (band)|Information Society]] (who had two top 10 singles in 1988),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/information-society-mn0000077578|title=Information Society – Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography – AllMusic|author=John Bush|publisher=AllMusic}}</ref> [[Anything Box]], and [[Red Flag (band)|Red Flag]].<ref name=McNett1999>{{Citation|author=G. McNett |date=12 October 1999 |title=Synthpop Flocks Like Seagulls |journal=Long Island Voice |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-12/long-island-voice/synthpop-flocks-like-seagulls/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522110616/http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-12/long-island-voice/synthpop-flocks-like-seagulls/ |archive-date=22 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=N. Forsberg |title=Synthpop in the USA |journal=Release Music Magazine |url=http://www.releasemagazine.net/Spotlight/spotlightussynthpop.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927071921/http://www.releasemagazine.net/Spotlight/spotlightussynthpop.htm |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> British band [[When in Rome (band)|When in Rome]] scored a hit with their debut single "[[The Promise (When in Rome song)|The Promise]]". Several German synth-pop acts of the late 1980s included [[Camouflage (band)|Camouflage]]<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/camouflage-mn0000647246 Camouflage|AllMusic]</ref> and [[Celebrate the Nun]].<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/celebrate-the-nun-mn0000185248/biography Celebrate the Nun|AllMusic]</ref> Canadian duo [[Kon Kan]] had major success with their debut single, "[[I Beg Your Pardon]]" in 1989.<ref>[http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Volume+49-No.+22-March+27+-+April+1%2C+1989.pdf RPM Top Singles - March 27, 1989, p.6] RPM Magazine</ref><ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kon-kan-mn0000112360 Kon Kan|AllMusic]</ref>

An American backlash against European synth-pop has been seen as beginning in the mid-1980s with the rise of [[heartland rock]] and [[roots rock]].<ref name="Reynolds2005p535">{{citation|title=Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 1978–1984 |author=S. Reynolds |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-571-21570-6 |page=535 |publisher=Faber & Faber |author-link=Simon Reynolds }}</ref> In the UK the arrival of [[indie rock]] bands, particularly [[the Smiths]], has been seen as marking the end of synth-driven pop and the beginning of the guitar-based music that would dominate rock into the 1990s.<ref>{{Citation|last=S. T. Erlewine |title=The Smiths |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smiths-p5466/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716055657/http://allmusic.com/artist/rem-p116437/biography |archive-date=16 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=S. T. Erlewine |title=R.E.M. |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smiths-p5466/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628082715/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smiths-p5466/biography |archive-date=28 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1991, in the United States synth-pop was losing its commercial viability as alternative radio stations were responding to the popularity of [[grunge]].<ref>{{Citation|author=M. Sutton |title=Celebrate the Nun |publisher=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/celebrate-the-nun-p12521/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311152114/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/celebrate-the-nun-p12521/biography |archive-date=11 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Exceptions that continued to pursue forms of synth-pop or rock in the 1990s were [[Savage Garden]], [[the Rentals]] and [[the Moog Cookbook]].<ref name=McNett1999/> Electronic music was also explored from the early 1990s by [[indietronica]] bands like [[Stereolab]], [[EMF (band)|EMF]], the [[Utah Saints]], and [[Disco Inferno]], who mixed a variety of indie and synthesizer sounds.<ref name=AMIndieElectronic/>