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Electropop
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Electropop (also called technopop) is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1981. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented synthpop. Numerous bands have since carried on the electropop tradition into the 1990s and 2000s.
Electropop is different from synthpop because it is characterised by a cold, robotic, emphasized electronic sound, which was largely due to the early limitations of the analog synthesizers used to make the music.
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Encyclopedia
Electropop (also called technopop) is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1981. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented synthpop. Numerous bands have since carried on the electropop tradition into the 1990s and 2000s.
Electropop is different from synthpop because it is characterised by a cold, robotic, emphasized electronic sound, which was largely due to the early limitations of the analog synthesizers used to make the music. It often features alienated deadpan lyrics with a futuristic sci-fi edge.
Most electropop songs are pop songs at heart, often with simple, catchy hooks and dance beats, but differing from those of electronic dance music genres which electropop helped to inspire — techno, house, electroclash, etc. — in that songwriting is emphasized over simple danceability.
History
Many early electropop artists were British and were inspired by David Bowie's "Berlin period" albums Heroes and Low. Other main influences on electropop were the German band Kraftwerk and the Japanese group Yellow Magic Orchestra. Some groups also took inspiration from the NYC synthpunk group Suicide, and the Krautrock groups Neu!, Cluster, and Can.
There had been a long history of experimental avant-garde electronic music, notably in northern Europe, but this had little influence on electropop. The avant-garde electronic music tradition did, however, provide access to a bank of technical expertise built up over decades, via organisations such as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and the London Electronic Music Studios. These institutions were patronised by early rock synth pioneers such as Brian Eno, Roxy Music, Tangerine Dream, and Pink Floyd.
Electropop was strongly disparaged in the British music press of the late 1970s and early 1980s as the "Adolf Hitler Memorial Space Patrol" (Mick Farren).
Electropop later fed into, and its synthesiser sound became intertwined with, the British New Romantic movement of the early 80s. The early electropop sound also changed with the introduction of samplets and later rave elements,notable from New Order's 1983 "Blue Monday" single. Within ten years of electropop's 'death', the cultural meaning of its 'blips and beeps' had been shorn of the taint of modernism, and firmly attached to rave culture's neo-romantic 'nostalgia for the archaic'.
Electropop flourished in the United States in black culture, particularly in Detroit. Musicians such as A Number of Names and Cybotron pursued a version of the style inflected by R&B and funk which eventually established the Detroit techno scene. Afrika Bambaata, from New York, also invented the electro style of hip-hop by sampling Kraftwerk.
Electropop underwent a revival in early 2000s notably wth the electroclash movement. A number of electropop musicians came out of the electroclash scenes, going on to make popular albums from 2002 to present, from London, New York, Berlin, and Ann Arbor. These have included Fischerspooner, Ladytron, Melnyk, Temposhark, Peaches, Gonzales, The Whip, Dragonette, Matthew Dear, T. Raumschmiere, Ellen Allien, Miss Kittin, The Knife,
Current Wave of Female Electropop Acts
As 2009 began female electro pop artists were becoming popular in the United Kingdom. In January a single by New York “electro-pop princess” Lady GaGa entitled Just Dance was number one for three weeks on the U.K. singles chart (It also hit number #1 in the U.S. ) Lily Allen's The Fear followed her at the top position on 1 February. In the ‘’Sound of 2009’’ poll of 130 music experts conducted for the BBC 10 of the top 15 artists named were of the electro pop genre. A video by Little Boots, aka Victoria Hesketh who topped the BBC poll showed her using a Tenori-on , a Japanese computerized sequencer that layers sounds on top of each other..Ladyhawke and La Roux are other new female electropop artists of note.
Record companies are pushing the rise of female electropop artists in their early 20's with the intent of replacing male guitar bands and male electropop acts with a "geeky" image. The labels are hoping that a return of 1980's style credible,idiosyncratic pop music will prove to be a form of escapism in tough economic times.
Bibliography
- Depeche Mode & The Story of Electro-Pop, Q/Mojo magazine collaboration, 2005.
- Electronic Music: The Instruments, the Music & The Musicians by Andy Mackay, of Roxy Music (Harrow House, 1981)
See Also
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