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December 1985: Silent Circle release "Touch in the Night" - #15 in Germany, 14 weeks in the chart. A West German trio: Tychsen, Breitung, Behrens. Producers Dietrich and Simons, label Blow Up. Ten tracks, charts and Russian popularity.
24 April 1956: Roberto Turatti is born in Milan. With Miki Chieregato he created Den Harrow - a project named after the Italian "denaro" (money). Stefano Zandri was the face, Tom Hooker the voice. An Italo-disco factory, 1983-1988.
January 1980: Hugh Padgham accidentally opens a talkback mic above Phil Collins's drums. Reverb is chopped by a gate after half a second. Gated reverb - the effect that defined the sound of the 80s. Processing scheme, AMS RMX16 and five imitation mistakes.
1978: the Prophet-5 at $3,950. 1983: the Yamaha DX7 at $1,995 - 200,000 sold. 1988: the Korg M1 at $1,800. In ten years the price dropped threefold while polyphony doubled. Three waves of 80s synthesizers - analog, digital and workstations.
1978: the Roland CR-78 - the first drum machine with a microprocessor. By 1980 two approaches: analog synthesis (TR-808, $1,195) and samples (Linn LM-1, $4,995). How 16 buttons in a row rewrote the rhythm of pop music - in plain words.
1977: Space releases "Magic Fly" - 12 million copies in a year. Space disco was born not on singles but on full-length records. Twelve albums from Space and Cerrone to Koto and Laserdance - a guide to the genre through the LP format.
How to distinguish synth-pop from any song with keyboards: twelve signs across arrangement, rhythm, voice and form, a 1977-1986 timeline and a test for borderline tracks.
1 October 1981 - Australian release. January 1983 - Billboard #1 for 4 weeks, UK #1 for 3 weeks. Greg Ham's flute line (F-G-F-E♭) - the track's most recognisable part. In 2010 the Federal Court called it an infringement of 1934's “Kookaburra”; in 2012 Ham was found dead in Melbourne.
26 August 1986: Billboard #1 for 2 weeks. Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg wrote it about Steinberg's mother, dying of cancer. Lauper stripped the arrangement to the bone: voice, Yamaha C7 grand and a faint DX7, vocal cut on the first take. 1987 Kodak commercial at $500K. 26 June 1987 Gay Freedom Day in San Francisco, 500,000 strong - an LGBT anthem was born.
27 February 1981: Springfield writes his debut hit in 2 hours after a stained-glass class in Pasadena - a real woman called Karen, her boyfriend Gary (a coincidental surname match). Billboard #1 for 2 weeks from 1 August 1981, 1982 Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal. Same months he was Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital.
6 May 1985: Duran Duran write the theme for the 14th Bond film with John Barry at Abbey Road. The only Bond single to hit Billboard #1 - two weeks there. £200,000 fee, Eiffel Tower video.
20 October 1986: UK #56 and US #98 on release - a flop. Bass cut on Emulator II from a sampled Moog Source, Hook never plays. Shep Pettibone's remix became club canon; Marie Antoinette 2006 brought it back.
27 June 1989: The B-52's return after 2 years of silence (Ricky Wilson's AIDS-related death in 1985). #3 Billboard, #2 UK, #1 Australia for 5 weeks. Dreamland Studios, producers Don Was and Nile Rodgers. “Tin roof, rusted” - Cindy Wilson's improv on the last take. RuPaul's MTV debut in the video, $500 fee.
3 August 1987: M|A|R|R|S on 4AD release the first UK #1 built from 30+ samples. Eric B. & Rakim, James Brown, Public Enemy, Chris Montez. Main sampler - Akai S900 at Powerhouse Studios. A Pete Waterman lawsuit over a Mel & Kim sample settled at $70K; in 1988 the UK passed the Copyright Act.
1 October 1982: Thomas Dolby drops the Blinded by Science EP. By April 1983 - Billboard #5 via MTV heavy rotation. Dr. Magnus Pyke (74, the BBC scientist) shouts “Science!” 5 times for a £200 fee - by 1985 he had collected £180,000 in royalties. The whole EP was tracked on one Fairlight CMI Series II.
13 June 1983: “Rockit” takes #71 Billboard but Dance Club #1. Five 1984 Grammys - a record for an electronic track. Scratching by 22-year-old Grandmixer DST at 1 TON Records. Godley & Creme's video with Jim Whiting kinetic mannequins opened MTV to only the second Black artist after MJ.
13 March 1981: a cover of DeShannon/Weiss's forgotten 1974 original becomes the longest #1 of 1981 - 9 weeks Billboard. Bill Cuomo's synth hook improvised in 10 minutes. Bette Davis sent a thank-you note.
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