Original Desmond

I liked Yazoo, particularly the song 'Only You'

also like the Human League, they had a number of good songs, i think my fav would be the Lebanon

Howard Jones was cool as well and Depeche mode

Wormwood

Duran Duran.

jonathan.e

Quarks - Mechanical
Suzi Q - Computer Music
Hard Corps - Je Suis Passée
Peter Baumann - Strangers in the Night
SPK - MetalDance
TorchSong - Prepare to Energize
Severed Heads - Dead Eyes Opened
Thomas Dolby - Europa & the Pirate Twins
Information Society - What’s on your Mind (Pure Energy)
The Twins - Modern Lifestyle

...and a thousand others. I love synth-pop.

grunter

"Nowhere Girl" - B-Movie

I could list a million of them, since this is my favorite era and genre. But that one B-Movie track leads the pack.

atlantamoi

Without a doubt, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD).
Their early work and especially "Architecture and Morality" were amazing recordings. And "Dazzle Ships"... man, that is just cool stuff. After "Crush" I never cared for them as much even though each album/CD had a few good songs on them.

mllefoo

Grunter, you're my hero. Of course 80s synthpop would be the best

Here's a partial list of the bands I listen to regularly. I can't list favorites because I like them all.

Depeche Mode
Anything Box
Aztek Camera
The The
Yazoo (not Yaz, damn_lawyers)
Human League
New Order
Joy Division
Red Flag
Cause and Effect
CCCP
Belouis Some
Jimmy Somerville/Soft Cell
Robert Hazard
Wild Swans/Lightning Seeds/Teardrop Explodes/The Care
Camouflage
Peter Godwin
Erasure
Ultravox/Midge Ure
Kon Kan
Q-Feel
Alphaville
SSQ
Cetu Javu
Seven Red Seven
Dominatrix
Visage
Peter Schilling
Propaganda
OMD
Modern English
Fancy
Fiction Factory
A Flock of Seagulls
Gary Numan
Pete Shelley (I love Telephone Operator)
Blancmange
The Spoons
Front and Centre

And this is a partial list. I have made a couple of compilations using all these artists. Makes for a great commuter selection.

Thank the gods for Napster and Kazaa. Otherwise I wouldn't have a lot of the more obscure bands on cd.

Alyoshka

Depeche Mode is probably my favorite.

Original Desmond

wow there's some classic stuff here Mllefoo

i've heard of many but not all of these artists

are some of them non British Mllefoo ?

kansai999

Depeche Mode and Erasure

mllefoo

Some of them are non-british.

To the best of my knowledge:
Front & Centre - Canadian
CCCP - possibly German
Robert Hazard - American
Alphaville - I thought they were/are German
Peter Schilling - German
Camouflage - European (not sure of origins)
SSQ (?) - American, I think. Suzy Quattro's band.

I also forgot Kraftwerk. They're good for a long drive sometimes.

I have quite a few obscure 80s bands in my collection, mostly culled from Napster last year. I long for the day I can find some of them on CD because a lot of the MP3s are really poor quality (most are only 128 bps). Not quite CD quality, and on a really good sound system, you DO hear the difference.

Pikul

Associates - "White Car in Germany"*
Fad Gadget - "Back to Nature"
The Human League - "Almost Medieval"
The Normal - "Warm Leatherette"
OMD - "Electricity"
Soft Cell - "Memorabilia"
Stockholm Monsters - "Fairy Tale"
Suicide - "Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne"*
Tubeway Army - "Listen to the Sirens"
Yellow Magic Orchestra - "Technopolis"


*Not necessarily synth pop groups, but the songs fit.

**Love love love Propaganda's version of Josef K's "Sorry for Laughing," almost to the point of favoring it over the original.

monkeyboy

depeche mode and the thompson twins

raithen

Camouflage are from Germany. They had a fabulous debut album - though it was rightfully criticized for ripping the sound and flavour of Depeche Mode. Just check out their "The Great Commandment" track for proof.

That being said, they're pretty decent and released what is, IMHO, their best track to date a couple years back, "Thief".

As for the best 80s synthpop bands (my top 5 picks):

DEPECHE MODE - far and away the best synthpop band - EVER.
New Order - it's sometimes hard to believe this band was Joy Division
Pet Shop Boys - err... why has no one mentioned them yet??
Erasure - an ABBA for a new generation
OMD - irresistably catchy pop tracks

Cheers,

-matt

monkey

New Order - Technique (whole album)

raithen

Quote:

Originally posted by mllefoo

Cause and Effect

- American (IIRC, the guys are from Sacramento)

CCCP - German

Alphaville - German (Berlin)

Cetu Javu - IIRC, German (though they had quite a few Spanish hits)

Propaganda - German

The Spoons - Canadian - and from my hometown!

-matt

mllefoo

Canada does have some decent music, though I still don't understand why they inflicted Celine Dion on us.

I recently ran across a band that resembles Depeche Mode. I would have added them to my list, but De/Vision isn't an 80s band.

raithen

Yes, we are sorry about that.

De/vision is absolutely fantastic! Definitely one of my favourite bands - and another from Germany. Very Depeche-like. IMHO, the premiere synthpop band of the 90s.

Not to hijack this into a non-80s synthpop thread, but a couple other great bands are: Wolfsheim and Echo Image.

-matt

mllefoo

I accept your apology on behalf of Canada, raithen. Just don't ever let it happen again.

I have heard a bit of Echoing Green. So far Science Fiction is one of my favorite songs by this band. I have also heard Wolfsheim but I haven't paid much attention to them. They appear on a compilation I bought some time ago called "Wave Romantics" which includes a lot of dark wave/synthpop from the 80s and 90s.

Jnuke

Yes! Arias & Symphonies is a fantastic album.

I guess I have to be predictable and nominate Depeche Mode as my favorite.

Don't think anyone's included Talk Talk on their lists yet.

Also, has ANYONE else here ever heard of an 80s band called De Film?

Numanoid

<-------- You have to ask?

atlantamoi

Well, if we can include Talk Talk's "Spirit of Eden" on the list then they are up there!

jonathan.e

I saw your dream. I saw the love that you gave.....

I believe I have their album and 12" somewhere.

I’d also recommend:

Sandra
Micheal Cretu - His album Legionnaires is superb
Peter Schilling’s Noah Plan,better than Major TomIMO
DATA
Agents aren’t Aeroplanes - Upstroke
Paul Haig
Romanelli
Rusty Egan His version of Twilight Zone is superb
The Passions I’m in love with a German Film Star natch
Thirteen at Midnight
Play
Telex
YMO
President President
Our Daughter’s Wedding

to be continued.....

Jnuke

You made my day! I've spent the past 15 years thinking I was the only one in existence who had that album.

atlantamoi

Oh man, reading about unknown bands just made me think of this GREAT album I have by a British band named The Wake from the mid-80's. They were on Factory records and that is about all I know about them. "Here Comes Everybody"... great stuff. I would kill to have that on CD. Guess I'll search the download sites!

atlantamoi

And the Blue Nile as well. Classic.