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Synth Britannia Avi

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The electric story of a generation of post-punk musicians, who took the

synthesiser from the fringes of musical experimentation to the centre of the

pop stage, is the subject of this documentary film, which continues BBC Four's

ongoing assessment of popular music's most significant movements.



Welcome to a time when there where no guitars and no drums ñ just synthesisers.

In late-Seventies Britain, musical heroes of the day were a young bunch of

post-punk pioneers, obsessed by Kraftwerk, Kubrik's Clockwork Orange and

British author JG Ballard. Around the country, acts like early Human League,

The Normal, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Joy Division were

synthesising the sound of the future against the backdrop of a bleak, concrete,

high-rise Britain.



Despite their pioneering sounds, none of these acts met with much recognition

until 24 May 1979, when the future of British pop finally arrived in the form

of a punk who loved sci-fi and played the synthesiser. Most impressively, Gary

Numan was on Top Of The Pops and, with songs like Cars and Are Friends

Electric?, he ushered in the synth-pop era. As Britain shrugged off the

austerity of the late Seventies and entered the Eighties, with a shift to the

right, synth-pop became the new soundtrack.



As well as Numan's success, Daniel Miller's fledgling indie label, Mute,

produced huge synth acts, including Depeche Mode and Yazoo. And, across the

country, fringe post-punk bands such as Ultravox, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the

Dark and a revamped Human League stepped out of the pages of the NME and onto

the front page of Smash Hits.



Eighties progressive synth-pop became increasingly formulaic, lacking the

invention of its original pioneers. However, by 1983, acts like the Pet Shop

Boys and New Order would show fans that the future of electronic music lay in

dance music.



The film features interviews and music from a host of artists and industry

figures, including Daniel Miller, Richard H Kirk, Martin Gore, Vince Clarke,

Andrew Fletcher, Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware, Gary Numan, Bernard Sumner, Alison

Moyet and Neil Tenant.