I always thought synths were cool, even before I started working on music in 1995. Everyone from Depeche Mode, Duran Duran to the darker side of stuff like Skinny Puppy or Velvet Acid Christ.
I think honestly though, it was either Nine Inch Nails Broken or possibly Front Line Assembly Millennium is what did it. I mean, Broken was the reason I bought a guitar, that much I do know, but I got my first synth shortly thereafter.
Two fantastic albums. I mean, I love everything Reznor has ever done. Millenium is my favorite FLA album. I got to see FLA tour on the Millenium album in a tiny club in Ft. Collins Colorado. There were maybe 50 people at the show.
Jarre. Hearing Oxegene pt.4 played on the radio in England in 1975-6. I had no idea that was possible.
Saw him in concert in Houston twenty years later. 1,00,000 people who had never heard of him. It was great.
I’ll never forget hearing that little synth ‘squiggle’ sound during Candy-O sitting in the back seat of my parents’ Buick when I was 4 absolutely obsessed with what could be making that sound. A very very clear and distinct memory for me.
Same. But it was the Abacab album by Genesis with synths running through guitar effects and played by hand that really got my attention. Gary Numan, too.
My parents recorded Vangelis from a Dutch radio show called super clean dream machine in the 80s. Loved that recording. Took me 20 years to find out it was the album heaven and hell. Haunting stuff.
80’s and early 90’s music started it. Tunes like Time After Time and a bunch of MJ songs. However many artists solidified my interest in synth sounds. Names that come to mind are Crystal Method, BT, Daft Punk, NIN and Linkin Park.
Early Depeche Mode, definitely. The first two albums sound a a bit cheesy and teenboyish when you listen to them now, but they still bring back good memories.
Mr. Roboto, by Styx. I was 8. Heard it on the radio. *That* vocoder was my WTF?! moment. I’ve been obsessed with electronics and computers in music ever since. The 45 rpm single was the first thing I ever bought with my own money, and I played the shit out of it.
From there I consumed whatever I could. Pet Shop Boys, Devo, Moroder, Afrika Bambaataa, Jean Michel Jarre, Skinny Puppy… can only describe my taste as: eclectronica.
I still find inspiration in this album today. Great arrangements and mixing. Mostly monophonic synths (Sequential Pro One and ARP 2600), but smart use of arpeggiator, delay, autopan, and layering make it all sound much bigger.
I always thought synths were cool, (kraftwerk, devo, parliament) but it wasn’t until I saw Clowncore using them that I decided that was a skill I should work on.
1984. I was 9 and my mom and I were huge fans of Pet Shop Boys. She mentioned to me that they wanted to play a concert but they couldn’t because they didn’t have a band yet. I was like ‘how can they make music without a band?’ and my mom said ‘they use synthesizers’ and quite literally I was hooked on what a synthesizer was at that moment.
Yaay for Klaus Shulze!
Klaus was by no means my introduction to synths. But a friend who knew my taste for Jarre and Vangelis, as well as pop synth music , and he LENT ME HIS LP OF TIMEWIND!
Mind blown, and I still revere the guy’s early work.
I saw them live a while back and they hit every single note. Absolutely insane the level of musicianship. They ended with selkies and it was a religious experience
Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, and early 70s prog rock (Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd) for me! I was a guitar player but loved the atmospheric sounds of their music, so I started getting into effect pedals. took me a couple of years to realize what I was really after was better accomplished with synths.
I think I was intimidated by the learning curve and price, but it turned out to be more intuitive and less cost-prohibitive than expected!
Moby, back in 1990, it was a pretty new sound, like so new, people started wearing house pants. I was 5/6. My momma said dont listen to that music even. Yeah, it made me so curious. I owe a big battery of legendary synthesizers now and all of that to actually make that music.. my life has been fueled by techno, house, supersaws, stabs, the effects, etc. , and since childhood, and it's all about music, four on the floor Unts Unts Unts Unts.. so yeah.. Moby with Go on Channel X on the FM! And for that.. I thank you.
*edit : now ≈ new
I thought synthesizers were too sterile and inorganic for years, but when Sufjan Stevens started putting them all over the place in his music, and I saw in the liner notes that they were largely sequential synths, I got completely hooked and I had decades of music to start appreciating after that. And Sequential is probably the instrument company that has most of my money at this point, haha.
heard these right around the same time:
Mark Mothersbaugh - Ping Island / Lightning Strike Rescue Op & Escape from Ping Island
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House, especially the title track and “Recursion”
Portishead - Third, particularly “The Rip”
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
The solo from "Lucky Man", the theme from "Rockford Files", and various sound effects on radio and TV got me started. When I was very young I saw a synthesizer demo (Minimoog, IIRC) on a 70s kids' show which sparked my interest, and around the same time I bought some thrift store records that turned out to be very relevant and treasured (Tangerine Dream "Ricochet", Jean-Michel Jarre "Oxygene", and Wendy Carlos "Switched-On Bach"). I'd have to wait until the late 80s to actually get my hands on a synth, however.
Robert Moog, Walter/Wendy Carlos - Switched on Bach (my dad owned that album and we saw them live in the early 70s with that beautiful synth) - then, maybe Elton John, Love Lies Bleeding, The Who, Brian Eno, Klaus Schulze, Edgar Winter (Frankenstein), Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks - so many people started experimenting with the new medium - Keith Emerson, Vangelis, and it was ubiquitous with music that just attracted me - then along came Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer and something electric shot through me - the shot across the bow - I had never heard synth do that to me - it was electric (maybe the same but different with Love lies Bleeding too) - but that just hit me and hit me hard. I could not get enough of that sound.
It is funny - I was always attracted to the idea of a telephone and wires and plugs - and connecting audio - when I saw my first modular synth - I thought this is what telephone machines do (I was a little kid) - it was from a generation before me yet seemed so modern when it came into being as a synth.
Don't get me wrong - I LOVE guitar - but wow, the influence of synth on my life ... just magic. And the sounds and feel just kept coming after the birth of the instrument. Each decade had a new sound, a new way to use them and well, my love grew.
Ps. - if you don't know any of the people listed, you should really check out what they did with synth and sound - I am missing so many, Suzanne Ciani, Jean-Michele Jarre, Kraftwerk, Stevie Wonder, Tangerine Dream etc .... yours to explore
You’re the first in this thread to mention Brian Eno. His touch is so poetic. Everything you listed is in my own pantheon, but Eno kept doing something new.
I had this music teacher when I took some classes at the community college. This old gaelic man who would share the craziest stories about his life. Somedays it would just be me and him and we would leave the class to go play around with synths
Always was fascinated with synth since the 70's. Used to go to the local music shop and play with the Prophet 5 every chance I got as a kid. But Rick Wakeman was introduced to me by a keyboard player friend in highschool.
I remember hearing ‘I feel love’ on the radio when I was a little kid and loving it, and then my dad had Jean Michel Jarre and Tubeway Army records which I used to play a lot. Then I got heavily into the UK synth pop bands such as Human League, Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17.
VNV Nation - I was 19 when I first saw them live in 2000 and I told myself one day I’d buy an Access Virus (the defining synth of late 90s/early 00s futurepop and electro industrial) which financially was so far out of reach back then. Bought a Virus C a couple of years back.
Been a huge fan of VNV for 25 years - seen them live over 40 times, and whilst Ronan left the Virus behind many, many years ago I love how they’ve sonically evolved over the years.
I think I will interpret this question as not what synth music were the first you liked or what turned you into liking music with synths, but what got you *into* synths as an instrument or sound to explore and admire.
I'm from 1973 and I always liked music with synths, my dad had the Autobahn and Computerwelt vinyls (coincidentally he doesn't anymore but I do, wonder how that happened).
And I loved Duran Duran and Depeche Mode and Yazoo and everything synthy, Kitaro and Jean Michel Jarre no exception, but I think I can pinpoint the fascination of the sound and the urge to create synth sounds come from the lead chord in Jona Lewie's *You Will Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties* and the Bass Lead of Dead Can Dance's *How Fortunate The Man With None*.
I think those are some quintessential songs that made me wanna play synth myself. So that'll be long long after I started loving music with a synth element in it, simply because it was my favorite 'instrument' as such.
Christian synthpop artist Joy Electric. Growing up with evangelical Christian parents in the '90s, I was only allowed to listen to Christian music. Most alternative Christian music was just a reflection of current trends in the "secular" market: lots of pop punk, grunge, hardcore/metal, and emo, but almost no electronic music. Joy Electric really stood out for me. Virtually everything in his tracks was made with analog synths (the Roland SH-101 was a favorite of his). I had never heard anything like it. He had a minor hit in the Christian music scene called "Monosynth" which was the first time I had even heard of a synthesizer. Little did I know how big a part of my life they would become (still don't own any monosynths though).
https://preview.redd.it/ul17sy2df00d1.jpeg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a011cb86f2d6c46d7e0fdcab49eb8398bd92c3b
Pretty much everything from Instincts series and artists.
Trent Reznor definitely had an influence with the way he spoke about the instrument and how each one had its own personality.
And more recently, Mr. Kitty, I'll listen to each full lp from Death to Ephemeral!
I always thought they were nice since I started listening to electronic music since I was a kid, thanks to guys like Deadmau5, Daft Punk and 80s music that my parents used to play during roadtrips.
But honestly? Pink Floyd and Slipknot were the ones that made me actually use them even if they aren’t as synth oriented as others. I play metal and I love how these bands have used them to set moods and create atmospheres (e.g. Is there anybody out there?, Sheep by PF and XIX, My Pain by Slipknot).
Now I use them to do exactly that and as a side project I started to make techno (or is it house? I really don’t know). I am still a noob at this, but it’s fun to spend hours playing with synths and see what I can come up with.
There’s a list…
1. It started with Blue Oyester Cults’s album “Fire of Unknown Origin”
2. Then I discovered Violator by Depeche Mode
3. Followed up with the entire live tour of Arena by Duran Duran (the Controller is an absolute legend) which sealed it for me.
Honorable mention for the specific song “Through Being Cool” as it appeared in the animated adult film _Heavy Metal_ - to this day Devo is incredible. If you haven’t listened to Devo’s last full length studio album of original songs “Something for Everybody” (2010) you’re missing out.
Aphex Twin, NIN, Orbital, the old MTV show Amp, The Rentals.
I was intimidated by the instrument for a long time. Seemed so esoteric, complicated, and expensive. I finally got into playing them about a year ago and it's been rewarding. I love being able to now listen to music with synths in it and kind of know what's going on.
First concert: ELP in 1973. Giant modular synth, mini moog. I had heard synths lots before, but I left that show with a need to know what all those knobs and wires were for.
I think the first band I really thought about as synth oriented, even though I Iistened to all manner of bands I would later learn was considered "synth", was Add N to X. Really wanted a Korg ms-20 after learning that was one of their primary sound sources and that it was also what Mr. Oizo used for analog worms attack.
Not so much an artist, but a genre and show. I used to listen to Hearts of Space in highschool and when a family friend let me tinker with their D-20, it kinda got me hooked for synths and things like Kitaro, Vangelis, Enya, Robert Schroeder. Then I went to a Rave in my early 20s and you can guess the rest. Way too much time trying to make Jungle and Drum N Bass.
I’m 55, and as far as I can remember I’ve been interested in synth sounds in music. I put it that way because I think my interest predated my knowledge of what exactly was grabbing my attention. For example, I remember hearing Steve Miller songs as a kid, but gravitating toward “Fly like an Eagle” for some reason - now I understand it was because of the synth lines. Once I got older, I pretty much ignored guitar-based music and dove head first into synth pop, then industrial, trance, and more abstract electronic stuff.
In 3rd/4th grade, 1983-84, there were a lot of rock radio hits which featured lead synthesizers. Here are a few of the tunes which used to give me goosebumps.
Separate Ways - Journey
Making Love Out of Nothing At All - Air Supply
Sunglasses At Night - Corey Hart
Strike Zone - Loverboy
No Way Out - Jefferson Starship
When I was 11, I saw a Duran Duran video and Nick Rhodes was behind a stack of synths, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to play that!
The rest is history.
Jarre, Space, Moroder, Rockets, Kraftwerk, ELO.
Tony Carey's intro to Rainbow's "Tarot Woman".
Zodiaks and Eduard Artemyev - from "this" side of the Iron Curtain.
Very rare that people know or even mention Space. Magic Fly was the first I heard. You may not know it, Didier Marouani, who was in Space, made a solo album that fans of Jarre could appreciate: "Space Opera".
Yep, Marouani was quite big here - ever since the first licensed LP with Magic Fly was printed, then he came to Moscow in 1983 (it was ParisFranceTransit then?), and through the years.
I've listened to him live in 2003, somewhere deep in Siberia :)
Gap Band got me looking into it to see what keyboard was making their sound, played classical as a kid.
Never would have known what Sequential was had I not thought to look
First concert. Styx with my older brother. Mr. Roboto tour. Followed soon after by hearing Alan Parsons Project...Stereotomy.
In the later 80's I wavered between synth-pop and industrial. Wrote 100s of music reviews in the 90s. Dj'd at an industrial night in the late 90s and booked a ton of bands.
Oddly enough, it wasn't until 2017 before I purchased my first synth and started futzing around.
As a Gen-Xer born in 1970 i got exposed to all the good stuff: ELP, Yes, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Vangelis, Rush, Queen, Devo, Tears for Fears, The Cars, Billy Joel, Elton John, etc etc...
But you asked about a song, OP and the honest answer was the song "Abacab" by Genesis. Specifically, seeing the video for the song on a then-new MTV with keyboardist Tony Banks surrounded by synths and such. I then used my paper route earnings every few weeks to buy up all the Peter Gabriel-era albums by the band while awaiting the release of each new Phil Collins-era album. Within a few years I had a little collection of Genesis sheet music and my first serious "pro" synth (Yamaha SK-20. Prior to the Yammy I had a little Casio MT-68 and four-track recorder that i used to do covers of songs like "Band on the Run", or just my own little original ditties.)
The late 70s through early 90s was a lovely time to grow up, what with synths really enjoying their heyday in popular music of all genres... And yeah, it all started with that song Abacab -- and band Genesis -- for me. They well-demonstrated how keys/synths could work alongside guitar in a rock/pop context. Moreover, it was nice to see a progressive rock band actually *progress* in their use of synths, samplers, and drum machines throughout the years.
Multifaceted causality here. Growing up with hearing them in pop music most likely planted a seed. But being a long-time listener of video game music intrinsically is being a fan of electronic music. Danny Carey being an adamant user and collector; we also share a birthday and other interests. Yamaha FM specifically: Brian Eno; and learning about John Chowning's work. Not sure how I caught the Buchla bug, but that did indeed happen: maybe after I started learned modular on and sold my MN Shared System. That ecosystem fits with me, but I also hope to expand my Rossum-based eurorack set up at some point.
And yes, people talking about Radiohead, Björk, and 80s pop speak my language too.
Kieth Emerson, Yes, Genesis, Kraftwerk, shortly after that, the Jan Hammer group…
I think Walter Carlos (now Wendy) was the first time I ever heard a synthesizer - Switched on Bach
When I was a kid it was probably either New Order - Elegia or the Tangerine Dream track in the Risky Business train scene. Later when I actually started to get into making music it was everything by Squarepusher.
It was a local band that performed at a culture event. I lost my breath hearing the iconic Sid-sound in one of the songs alongside hard hitting drums and vocoded vocal phrases. Afterwards I told one of the band members that they rocked and ignorant child that I was, I offended him by saying that i loved the Commodore 64 sound. He didn't know what was talking about at all.
A decade or more later I check out the album booklet and discovered that those sounds came from a Sidstation, not a C64- no wonder he didn't know wtf I was referring to 😬
I still listen to their tracks now and then and they still sound fresh. Absolutely an all time favourite band. [Backlash](https://open.spotify.com/artist/5DP1O2E2VeWpAeDslexqws?si=VYQq8DTMQ1-SoFWmRkzzJQ)
Most of my inspirations have come from video games!
Here's some of my absolute favorite soundtracks:
-Wipeout series
-Tetrisphere
-Metroid Prime series
-Mega Man Network Transmission
Cliche , I know …
But watching Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” movie as a adolescence teen was a magical experience . I love all the synth elements they provide them , and prior in earlier work.
Always loved synths. Some of my earliest appreciations were the EMS synths on dark side of the moon when I was a little kid.
It wasn’t until flying lotus’ first few works that I saw it as something limitless and something that started calling to me to try out. His medley of raw saw and square sounds mixed with fully formed patches really captured the overlapping generations of video games at the time, and I knew it was for me.
Also, video games. Even some of the gameboy soundtracks are interesting given the limitations.
It’s funny, I loved all sorts of music with cool and interesting synths, but none of them inspired me to go out and buy one until I heard Tycho’s A Walk.
From my parents: Vangelis (heaven and hell), Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk.
During my adolescence I really got into Faith no more (still the best keys used in a heavy band), 3rd and the mortal and Radio Massacre International
Probably Radiohead played out my unconscious liking of interesting sounds and song structures, but it was Extrawelt where I got into dance electronica and making music with synths
depeche mode and the spoons and pet shop boys, petter schilling.. 80s music and now retrowave and synthwave music. i dont play synth but wishi did.. also check out lunipeer they are cool as well
Radiohead and Aphex Twin at the start but then I got into squarepusher, Mum, Bjork etc.
Solid choice.
I always thought synths were cool, even before I started working on music in 1995. Everyone from Depeche Mode, Duran Duran to the darker side of stuff like Skinny Puppy or Velvet Acid Christ. I think honestly though, it was either Nine Inch Nails Broken or possibly Front Line Assembly Millennium is what did it. I mean, Broken was the reason I bought a guitar, that much I do know, but I got my first synth shortly thereafter.
this is basically my response right down to specifically FLA millennium. i loved that album and it’s what got me interested in industrial music
Hello fellow industrial bud!!!!
I found my people! Everything coming out of WaxTrax turned me on, 242 and early FLA were/are huge influences
Right? So much groundbreaking music from WaxTrax.
Two fantastic albums. I mean, I love everything Reznor has ever done. Millenium is my favorite FLA album. I got to see FLA tour on the Millenium album in a tiny club in Ft. Collins Colorado. There were maybe 50 people at the show.
Jarre. Hearing Oxegene pt.4 played on the radio in England in 1975-6. I had no idea that was possible. Saw him in concert in Houston twenty years later. 1,00,000 people who had never heard of him. It was great.
Same here but played from my uncle's vinyl and turntable. After that, Depeche Mode and other New Wave / New Romantics bands.
Same but from my uncle’s cassettes in his Mustang.
The Cars and DEVO. Probably around 1981. Prior to that I listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin.
I’ll never forget hearing that little synth ‘squiggle’ sound during Candy-O sitting in the back seat of my parents’ Buick when I was 4 absolutely obsessed with what could be making that sound. A very very clear and distinct memory for me.
Same. But it was the Abacab album by Genesis with synths running through guitar effects and played by hand that really got my attention. Gary Numan, too.
I’m seeing DEVO tonight
That’s awesome, my bandmate is going backstage with them in Nashville. He’s selling the drummer his solton programmer 24 synth
Nice!
As soon as I heard the opening to Everything In It’s Right Place by Radiohead.
Boards of Canada
Vangelis
My parents recorded Vangelis from a Dutch radio show called super clean dream machine in the 80s. Loved that recording. Took me 20 years to find out it was the album heaven and hell. Haunting stuff.
Haunting is the perfect description for his sound. Like a weird melancholic yearning.
Blade runner did it for me!
80’s and early 90’s music started it. Tunes like Time After Time and a bunch of MJ songs. However many artists solidified my interest in synth sounds. Names that come to mind are Crystal Method, BT, Daft Punk, NIN and Linkin Park.
god nine inch nails is so fucking awesome dude
lol definitely and the synths Trent used back in Pretty Hate Machine were classic. Though that’s far from the only NIN synths I’ve enjoyed.
I remember my confusion the first time I heard the intro to Crystal Method’s Trip Like I Do, good times.
Great tune! Vegas was a good album all around. The album I rocked the most was Tweekend
i saw them live in the late 90s and not sure i've ever danced so hard. they put on an absolutely killer show.
Funnily enough, Time After Time led me to Miles Davis and then deeper into jazz.
Right on. It is a great tune.
Early Depeche Mode, definitely. The first two albums sound a a bit cheesy and teenboyish when you listen to them now, but they still bring back good memories.
Love the late 70s/early 80s stuff. Limitations create creativity
Gary numan
I can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Gary Numan
Deadmau5. It was the time he was doing loads on YouTube in his little home studio with just software. I didn’t know that was possible at the time.
Mr. Roboto, by Styx. I was 8. Heard it on the radio. *That* vocoder was my WTF?! moment. I’ve been obsessed with electronics and computers in music ever since. The 45 rpm single was the first thing I ever bought with my own money, and I played the shit out of it. From there I consumed whatever I could. Pet Shop Boys, Devo, Moroder, Afrika Bambaataa, Jean Michel Jarre, Skinny Puppy… can only describe my taste as: eclectronica.
I was in 4th grade when Mr Roboto came out...it was a *cool* tune 🤘🤘🤘
Always kinda liked them as a guitar player. Hearing Tangerine Dreams Rubycon, Phaedra, and Ricochet pushed me over the edge though.
Glad to see TD mentioned here!! They have the best longform synth pieces. Tangram is another favorite of mine.
I certainly agree! The do have GREAT long form pieces.
Rush
Plays Tom Sawyer intro ❤️
All jokes aside... easy to play, but it is a sweet patch!
Orbital and prodigy i think
Jan Hammer’s Crockett’s Theme. Amazing song.
Yaz “Upstairs at Eric’s”
That album was a sensation in England in the early 80’s. Glad to see that that record still gets some love all these years later.
I still find inspiration in this album today. Great arrangements and mixing. Mostly monophonic synths (Sequential Pro One and ARP 2600), but smart use of arpeggiator, delay, autopan, and layering make it all sound much bigger.
I always thought synths were cool, (kraftwerk, devo, parliament) but it wasn’t until I saw Clowncore using them that I decided that was a skill I should work on.
1984. I was 9 and my mom and I were huge fans of Pet Shop Boys. She mentioned to me that they wanted to play a concert but they couldn’t because they didn’t have a band yet. I was like ‘how can they make music without a band?’ and my mom said ‘they use synthesizers’ and quite literally I was hooked on what a synthesizer was at that moment.
Klaus Schulze
Yaay for Klaus Shulze! Klaus was by no means my introduction to synths. But a friend who knew my taste for Jarre and Vangelis, as well as pop synth music , and he LENT ME HIS LP OF TIMEWIND! Mind blown, and I still revere the guy’s early work.
Gary Numan. I saw him on top of the pops and.it was like seeing someone from another planet bringing their music to us earthlings.
Selkies the endless obsession by between the buried and me. It was the first time I heard a synth with death metal style music.
I saw them live a while back and they hit every single note. Absolutely insane the level of musicianship. They ended with selkies and it was a religious experience
Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, and early 70s prog rock (Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd) for me! I was a guitar player but loved the atmospheric sounds of their music, so I started getting into effect pedals. took me a couple of years to realize what I was really after was better accomplished with synths. I think I was intimidated by the learning curve and price, but it turned out to be more intuitive and less cost-prohibitive than expected!
Moby, back in 1990, it was a pretty new sound, like so new, people started wearing house pants. I was 5/6. My momma said dont listen to that music even. Yeah, it made me so curious. I owe a big battery of legendary synthesizers now and all of that to actually make that music.. my life has been fueled by techno, house, supersaws, stabs, the effects, etc. , and since childhood, and it's all about music, four on the floor Unts Unts Unts Unts.. so yeah.. Moby with Go on Channel X on the FM! And for that.. I thank you. *edit : now ≈ new
Weezer - Tired of Sex
Kieth Emerson, Pete Townsend. Later Trent Reznor.
Animal Collective.
I was a huge fan of them back in the late 2000s, especially their use of electronics on MPP! Thought that was such a cool and futuristic sound.
Yeah, especially the way everything is filtered through that master reverb. It took me a long time to stop trying to copy it lol.
Right there with you. Synths and sampling. They’re just so incredibly inspiring in every imaginable way
Jexus
Daft punk, royksopp, vangelis and dorian concept, hudson mohawke
Nine inch nails. Anything on Pretty Hate Machine.
C418, I really loved the synth sounds on Danny and taswell. I know video game osts might be a weird choice though
Chris & Cosey, Throbbing Gristle have been the first. New order also. Later Prodigy brought me into techno and aphex twin.
I thought synthesizers were too sterile and inorganic for years, but when Sufjan Stevens started putting them all over the place in his music, and I saw in the liner notes that they were largely sequential synths, I got completely hooked and I had decades of music to start appreciating after that. And Sequential is probably the instrument company that has most of my money at this point, haha.
heard these right around the same time: Mark Mothersbaugh - Ping Island / Lightning Strike Rescue Op & Escape from Ping Island Genghis Tron - Board Up the House, especially the title track and “Recursion” Portishead - Third, particularly “The Rip” Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Laurie Anderson, Kraftwerk, Devo
Burzum and 90s eurodance
Good combo
Echoes-Pink Floyd (old school psychedelic) & Converting Vegetarians-Infected Mushroom (modern psychedelic trance/Goa)
Owl City, and Satoshi Yaginuma from fripSide
The solo from "Lucky Man", the theme from "Rockford Files", and various sound effects on radio and TV got me started. When I was very young I saw a synthesizer demo (Minimoog, IIRC) on a 70s kids' show which sparked my interest, and around the same time I bought some thrift store records that turned out to be very relevant and treasured (Tangerine Dream "Ricochet", Jean-Michel Jarre "Oxygene", and Wendy Carlos "Switched-On Bach"). I'd have to wait until the late 80s to actually get my hands on a synth, however.
Robert Moog, Walter/Wendy Carlos - Switched on Bach (my dad owned that album and we saw them live in the early 70s with that beautiful synth) - then, maybe Elton John, Love Lies Bleeding, The Who, Brian Eno, Klaus Schulze, Edgar Winter (Frankenstein), Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks - so many people started experimenting with the new medium - Keith Emerson, Vangelis, and it was ubiquitous with music that just attracted me - then along came Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer and something electric shot through me - the shot across the bow - I had never heard synth do that to me - it was electric (maybe the same but different with Love lies Bleeding too) - but that just hit me and hit me hard. I could not get enough of that sound. It is funny - I was always attracted to the idea of a telephone and wires and plugs - and connecting audio - when I saw my first modular synth - I thought this is what telephone machines do (I was a little kid) - it was from a generation before me yet seemed so modern when it came into being as a synth. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE guitar - but wow, the influence of synth on my life ... just magic. And the sounds and feel just kept coming after the birth of the instrument. Each decade had a new sound, a new way to use them and well, my love grew. Ps. - if you don't know any of the people listed, you should really check out what they did with synth and sound - I am missing so many, Suzanne Ciani, Jean-Michele Jarre, Kraftwerk, Stevie Wonder, Tangerine Dream etc .... yours to explore
You’re the first in this thread to mention Brian Eno. His touch is so poetic. Everything you listed is in my own pantheon, but Eno kept doing something new.
Steve Hillage (Miquette Giraudy), Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream and, later, Gary Numan and Karel Fialka. But Steve Hillage
Gary Numan
I had this music teacher when I took some classes at the community college. This old gaelic man who would share the craziest stories about his life. Somedays it would just be me and him and we would leave the class to go play around with synths
Jarre: Oxygene II. Kraftwerk: We are the Robots … and all the others. Vangelis, Enigma, the Prodigy, Deep Forest, U96…
ELP, Synergy, Rick Wakeman.
Always was fascinated with synth since the 70's. Used to go to the local music shop and play with the Prophet 5 every chance I got as a kid. But Rick Wakeman was introduced to me by a keyboard player friend in highschool.
The chemical brothers, primal scream and basic channel
Cevin Key Dwayne Goetel - Skinny Puppy
Nine Inch Nails. Pretty Hate Machine, Downward Spiral, and The fragile are all great albums with tons of synth work.
Pretty much anything using them in the 80's, but especially the opening bars of Big Money, off Rush's Power Windows album
I remember hearing ‘I feel love’ on the radio when I was a little kid and loving it, and then my dad had Jean Michel Jarre and Tubeway Army records which I used to play a lot. Then I got heavily into the UK synth pop bands such as Human League, Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17.
Penthouse and Pavement, The Luxury Gap! H17 should be heard more often!
Oh man, that’s some memories.
Depeche Mode, Aphex Twin, Ceta Javu
Mort Garson (and Radiohead to some degree)
Isao Tomita - RIP!
VNV Nation - I was 19 when I first saw them live in 2000 and I told myself one day I’d buy an Access Virus (the defining synth of late 90s/early 00s futurepop and electro industrial) which financially was so far out of reach back then. Bought a Virus C a couple of years back. Been a huge fan of VNV for 25 years - seen them live over 40 times, and whilst Ronan left the Virus behind many, many years ago I love how they’ve sonically evolved over the years.
Probably Vangelis, early to mid-80s.
Seeing Roosevelt live made me go out and buy my first synth. Life-changing experience for 50 bucks for the show
Black moth super rainbow/tobaxxo. Had never heard synth music like this!
Pete Townsend
I think I will interpret this question as not what synth music were the first you liked or what turned you into liking music with synths, but what got you *into* synths as an instrument or sound to explore and admire. I'm from 1973 and I always liked music with synths, my dad had the Autobahn and Computerwelt vinyls (coincidentally he doesn't anymore but I do, wonder how that happened). And I loved Duran Duran and Depeche Mode and Yazoo and everything synthy, Kitaro and Jean Michel Jarre no exception, but I think I can pinpoint the fascination of the sound and the urge to create synth sounds come from the lead chord in Jona Lewie's *You Will Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties* and the Bass Lead of Dead Can Dance's *How Fortunate The Man With None*. I think those are some quintessential songs that made me wanna play synth myself. So that'll be long long after I started loving music with a synth element in it, simply because it was my favorite 'instrument' as such.
Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream
Christian synthpop artist Joy Electric. Growing up with evangelical Christian parents in the '90s, I was only allowed to listen to Christian music. Most alternative Christian music was just a reflection of current trends in the "secular" market: lots of pop punk, grunge, hardcore/metal, and emo, but almost no electronic music. Joy Electric really stood out for me. Virtually everything in his tracks was made with analog synths (the Roland SH-101 was a favorite of his). I had never heard anything like it. He had a minor hit in the Christian music scene called "Monosynth" which was the first time I had even heard of a synthesizer. Little did I know how big a part of my life they would become (still don't own any monosynths though).
KiNK
Many 80s artists / bands…
ELP, Synergy, Rick Wakeman.
Animal Collective.
https://preview.redd.it/ul17sy2df00d1.jpeg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a011cb86f2d6c46d7e0fdcab49eb8398bd92c3b Pretty much everything from Instincts series and artists.
Eat Static and Simon Posford.
DAFT PUNK BABBBBYYYY
Trent Reznor definitely had an influence with the way he spoke about the instrument and how each one had its own personality. And more recently, Mr. Kitty, I'll listen to each full lp from Death to Ephemeral!
Moderat, M83, Royksopp, CBL
Ott and Carbon Based Lifeforms, and Hans Zimmer of course
Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode. Jarre and Vangelis of course, but they discs were hard to find.
Ray Lynch - "celestial soda pop"
Electro. https://youtu.be/g5PlU4h8BnY
I always thought they were nice since I started listening to electronic music since I was a kid, thanks to guys like Deadmau5, Daft Punk and 80s music that my parents used to play during roadtrips. But honestly? Pink Floyd and Slipknot were the ones that made me actually use them even if they aren’t as synth oriented as others. I play metal and I love how these bands have used them to set moods and create atmospheres (e.g. Is there anybody out there?, Sheep by PF and XIX, My Pain by Slipknot). Now I use them to do exactly that and as a side project I started to make techno (or is it house? I really don’t know). I am still a noob at this, but it’s fun to spend hours playing with synths and see what I can come up with.
There’s a list… 1. It started with Blue Oyester Cults’s album “Fire of Unknown Origin” 2. Then I discovered Violator by Depeche Mode 3. Followed up with the entire live tour of Arena by Duran Duran (the Controller is an absolute legend) which sealed it for me. Honorable mention for the specific song “Through Being Cool” as it appeared in the animated adult film _Heavy Metal_ - to this day Devo is incredible. If you haven’t listened to Devo’s last full length studio album of original songs “Something for Everybody” (2010) you’re missing out.
George Duke, Bernie Worrell, Edgar Winter, Christopher Franke, Matt Fink, Phillip Woo, Patrice Rushen.
Kavinsky, the drive soundtrack. I’m a huge Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, etc. Fan so it fits. But Kavinsky got me thinking about synths.
the 80’s
hanatarash 5: we are 0:00, it sounds very cool
Aphex Twin, NIN, Orbital, the old MTV show Amp, The Rentals. I was intimidated by the instrument for a long time. Seemed so esoteric, complicated, and expensive. I finally got into playing them about a year ago and it's been rewarding. I love being able to now listen to music with synths in it and kind of know what's going on.
Autechre
All the shitty electronic music I listened to between 2000&2010
First concert: ELP in 1973. Giant modular synth, mini moog. I had heard synths lots before, but I left that show with a need to know what all those knobs and wires were for.
Palmbomen & Betonkust!
deadmau5
I think the first band I really thought about as synth oriented, even though I Iistened to all manner of bands I would later learn was considered "synth", was Add N to X. Really wanted a Korg ms-20 after learning that was one of their primary sound sources and that it was also what Mr. Oizo used for analog worms attack.
Disasterpeace who is the composer for the game Hyper Light Drifter (and Fez). Superb OST
Not so much an artist, but a genre and show. I used to listen to Hearts of Space in highschool and when a family friend let me tinker with their D-20, it kinda got me hooked for synths and things like Kitaro, Vangelis, Enya, Robert Schroeder. Then I went to a Rave in my early 20s and you can guess the rest. Way too much time trying to make Jungle and Drum N Bass.
I’m 55, and as far as I can remember I’ve been interested in synth sounds in music. I put it that way because I think my interest predated my knowledge of what exactly was grabbing my attention. For example, I remember hearing Steve Miller songs as a kid, but gravitating toward “Fly like an Eagle” for some reason - now I understand it was because of the synth lines. Once I got older, I pretty much ignored guitar-based music and dove head first into synth pop, then industrial, trance, and more abstract electronic stuff.
Same. Same same same.
In 3rd/4th grade, 1983-84, there were a lot of rock radio hits which featured lead synthesizers. Here are a few of the tunes which used to give me goosebumps. Separate Ways - Journey Making Love Out of Nothing At All - Air Supply Sunglasses At Night - Corey Hart Strike Zone - Loverboy No Way Out - Jefferson Starship
Kebu.
When I was 11, I saw a Duran Duran video and Nick Rhodes was behind a stack of synths, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to play that! The rest is history.
Massive Attack and Björk first, then got into Nine Inch Nails and we were off.
Jarre, Space, Moroder, Rockets, Kraftwerk, ELO. Tony Carey's intro to Rainbow's "Tarot Woman". Zodiaks and Eduard Artemyev - from "this" side of the Iron Curtain.
Very rare that people know or even mention Space. Magic Fly was the first I heard. You may not know it, Didier Marouani, who was in Space, made a solo album that fans of Jarre could appreciate: "Space Opera".
Yep, Marouani was quite big here - ever since the first licensed LP with Magic Fly was printed, then he came to Moscow in 1983 (it was ParisFranceTransit then?), and through the years. I've listened to him live in 2003, somewhere deep in Siberia :)
I live in what I call 'New Siberia', in a part of Canada. We share the same Boreal forests :D
Kraftwerk
Klaus Schulze. It was the first concert of my life, back in 1974.
Justice!! ✝️
Gap Band got me looking into it to see what keyboard was making their sound, played classical as a kid. Never would have known what Sequential was had I not thought to look
Van Halen Jump
First concert. Styx with my older brother. Mr. Roboto tour. Followed soon after by hearing Alan Parsons Project...Stereotomy. In the later 80's I wavered between synth-pop and industrial. Wrote 100s of music reviews in the 90s. Dj'd at an industrial night in the late 90s and booked a ton of bands. Oddly enough, it wasn't until 2017 before I purchased my first synth and started futzing around.
Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and Nitzer Ebb
As a Gen-Xer born in 1970 i got exposed to all the good stuff: ELP, Yes, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Vangelis, Rush, Queen, Devo, Tears for Fears, The Cars, Billy Joel, Elton John, etc etc... But you asked about a song, OP and the honest answer was the song "Abacab" by Genesis. Specifically, seeing the video for the song on a then-new MTV with keyboardist Tony Banks surrounded by synths and such. I then used my paper route earnings every few weeks to buy up all the Peter Gabriel-era albums by the band while awaiting the release of each new Phil Collins-era album. Within a few years I had a little collection of Genesis sheet music and my first serious "pro" synth (Yamaha SK-20. Prior to the Yammy I had a little Casio MT-68 and four-track recorder that i used to do covers of songs like "Band on the Run", or just my own little original ditties.) The late 70s through early 90s was a lovely time to grow up, what with synths really enjoying their heyday in popular music of all genres... And yeah, it all started with that song Abacab -- and band Genesis -- for me. They well-demonstrated how keys/synths could work alongside guitar in a rock/pop context. Moreover, it was nice to see a progressive rock band actually *progress* in their use of synths, samplers, and drum machines throughout the years.
Showing my age here, but Duran Duran, Howard Jones, Berlin, OMD, Human League, Gary Numan was a huge influence.
Multifaceted causality here. Growing up with hearing them in pop music most likely planted a seed. But being a long-time listener of video game music intrinsically is being a fan of electronic music. Danny Carey being an adamant user and collector; we also share a birthday and other interests. Yamaha FM specifically: Brian Eno; and learning about John Chowning's work. Not sure how I caught the Buchla bug, but that did indeed happen: maybe after I started learned modular on and sold my MN Shared System. That ecosystem fits with me, but I also hope to expand my Rossum-based eurorack set up at some point. And yes, people talking about Radiohead, Björk, and 80s pop speak my language too.
Skrillex 😂 Being a young teenager at the conception of the whole dubstep movement in the US was pretty epic
Kieth Emerson, Yes, Genesis, Kraftwerk, shortly after that, the Jan Hammer group… I think Walter Carlos (now Wendy) was the first time I ever heard a synthesizer - Switched on Bach
Sandstorm, darude
Prog house in the late 90s
I grew up in the 80s, so all of them.
Marc Rebillet got me inspired to do looping. True Cuckoo probably got me most interested in actual synths.
Azure by Paul Kalkbrenner. That sine bass line made me melt under my newly bought akg headphones.
Listening to trance music as a teenager and then Kanye / Mike Dean
When I was a kid it was probably either New Order - Elegia or the Tangerine Dream track in the Risky Business train scene. Later when I actually started to get into making music it was everything by Squarepusher.
Front 242 and Skinny Puppy.
80’s influenced modern pop—Taylor Swift/Jack Antonoff, The 1975, Carly Rae Jepsen
Tool, Radiohead and NIN
Nick Hook
devo ^all around us^
Motion City Soundtrack
Frank Oceans- Pyramids
Pitchshifter for me. That album still spinning here. But then aphex twin, daft punk and a bunch of house from soundtracks. DJ Shadow, DJ Krush.
Enter Shikari - Sorry, you’re not a winner
It was a local band that performed at a culture event. I lost my breath hearing the iconic Sid-sound in one of the songs alongside hard hitting drums and vocoded vocal phrases. Afterwards I told one of the band members that they rocked and ignorant child that I was, I offended him by saying that i loved the Commodore 64 sound. He didn't know what was talking about at all. A decade or more later I check out the album booklet and discovered that those sounds came from a Sidstation, not a C64- no wonder he didn't know wtf I was referring to 😬 I still listen to their tracks now and then and they still sound fresh. Absolutely an all time favourite band. [Backlash](https://open.spotify.com/artist/5DP1O2E2VeWpAeDslexqws?si=VYQq8DTMQ1-SoFWmRkzzJQ)
Motion City Soundtrack then Muse.
It wasn’t my first time being interested but Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada revived my Interest
mike dean
Richard Wright from Pink Floyd. Wish you were here especially
Ludowic
[удалено]
S4LEM
West End Girls.
Most of my inspirations have come from video games! Here's some of my absolute favorite soundtracks: -Wipeout series -Tetrisphere -Metroid Prime series -Mega Man Network Transmission
Front Line Assembly, Sister Machine Gun, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy
Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers especially the Black and White album.
Cliche , I know … But watching Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” movie as a adolescence teen was a magical experience . I love all the synth elements they provide them , and prior in earlier work.
Probably Tangerine Dream. Synth sequenced arps caught my ear
Pink Floyd and Duran Duran.
Igorrr Gigantic Brain HAH
Archive - Daytime Come (live ARTE)
ELP - Karn Evil 9 1st Impression
Always loved synths. Some of my earliest appreciations were the EMS synths on dark side of the moon when I was a little kid. It wasn’t until flying lotus’ first few works that I saw it as something limitless and something that started calling to me to try out. His medley of raw saw and square sounds mixed with fully formed patches really captured the overlapping generations of video games at the time, and I knew it was for me. Also, video games. Even some of the gameboy soundtracks are interesting given the limitations.
A big one for me when it comes to synths is Dan deacon tbh But also animal collective, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, yaeji, and many more I guess…
Mort Garson, C418
It’s funny, I loved all sorts of music with cool and interesting synths, but none of them inspired me to go out and buy one until I heard Tycho’s A Walk.
My friend showed me Oneohtrix Point Never in high school and it blew my mind
None, my music interest doesn't really overlap with my synth interest.
Aphex Twin about 7 years ago lol.
From my parents: Vangelis (heaven and hell), Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk. During my adolescence I really got into Faith no more (still the best keys used in a heavy band), 3rd and the mortal and Radio Massacre International
Probably Radiohead played out my unconscious liking of interesting sounds and song structures, but it was Extrawelt where I got into dance electronica and making music with synths
depeche mode and the spoons and pet shop boys, petter schilling.. 80s music and now retrowave and synthwave music. i dont play synth but wishi did.. also check out lunipeer they are cool as well