Top 10 of the 80s
These are the movers and (synthesised) shakers that soundtracked the “me” generation’s biggest hits
01 ZTT & TREVOR HORN If there is one record label that seemed to conjure the spirit of the 80s, it would have to be ZTT. Operating out of their Sarm West studios in West London, ZTT were a collective of producer Trevor Horn, former journalist Paul Morley, manager Jill Sinclair, with many other associates such as Richard Niles and Stephen Lipson. Their work with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Propaganda and Grace Jones combined live musicians with the finest tech of the day. The LinnDrum, Fairlight and Jupiter-8 were in plentiful supply.
02 ROLAND JUPITER-8
After the initial release of the SH-101, released in 1981, the Jupiter-8 quickly became one of the most highly-regarded synthesisers of this era. Its iconic layout, with simple voice architecture, meant that it was easy to use, boasting reliable Japanese electronics, and a sound which was rich and creamy. The infamous cross modulation feature allowed aggressive tones to emanate with total ease. Still regarded as an eternal classic, with current secondhand prices that are frankly outlandish!
03 MICHAEL JACKSON, THRILLER
The sixth studio album from Michael Jackson was released in 1982. Produced by Quincy Jones, Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time, with close to 50 million copies sold (and some say much higher). With yet more outings for the LinnDrum, Jupiter-8 and Minimoog, Thriller’s tracks were bolstered by an extraordinary cast of LA’s finest studio musicians, such as trumpet player and arranger Jerry Hey. Thriller yielded seven single releases, which include the number one hit, Billie Jean.
04 ATARI ST
Atari Inc. are the company that brought you the relatively unimpressive game called Pong, which could be regarded as an early version of virtual tennis. Thankfully their foray into the home computer market led to the Atari ST computer, released in 1985. Equipped with MIDI sockets, the ST was the computer that allowed music making on something of a budget. You weren’t a serious bedroom producer without one, and it arguably changed the way we make music forever.
05 PRINCE
Prince’s iconic status was wholly justified. His extraordinary musical prowess, across many different musical instruments, was only part of the story. As a producer, he enjoyed using acoustic and electronic instrumentation, with extensive use of Oberheim synths, and artistic use of the LinnDrum. His trademark sound required the rimshot to be considerably lowered in pitch, to create a completely different timbre.
06 KORG M1
This rather bland-looking synth is regarded as the first of the new breed of workstation keyboards. Equipped with a very healthy bank of super-glossy sounds, the M1 supplied an inbuilt sequencer, allowing the preparation of up to eight tracks. However, with no disk drive or tape interface to offload your sequencing data, it was very difficult to build up a song library. Third-party products filled the data-offload gap, such as the then-popular
Alesis Data disk.
07 PETER GABRIEL
Peter Gabriel was once described by synth programmer Larry Fast, as the only artist he knew who had a thorough understanding of the technology. His love of the Yamaha CP-80 piano, often coupled with a Prophet-5, was later bolstered by the use of a Fairlight CMI, which he used extensively in the collation of world sounds, for use in many of his tracks. His album So is considered a true icon of 80s recording techniques.
08 ROLAND TB-303 The accidental sound-centre of the acid house and rave scene, the humble TB-303 started life as a failed attempt by Roland to replicate the sound of a bass player, in a box, for gigging guitarists. Its ultimate demise meant that it was cheap as chips for hard-up bedroom producers. They were bought in their thousands, which is ironic, because that is how much they cost secondhand these days.
09 JAN HAMMER
Originally a jazz fusion keyboard player, seen in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jan turned to film and TV scoring in the 80s. His most notable work was from the
80s hit TV series Miami Vice, which yielded a Fairlight-driven main theme, alongside character motifs, like hit single Crockett’s
Theme. His haunting synthetic voicings, coupled with strong melodic forms, made his work highly recognisable throughout the 80s.
10 YAMAHA DX7
Unquestionably, the synth that defined the second half of the 80s was the DX7. Its sharp and angular tones were a result of a form of frequency modulation (FM) synthesis, the like of which had not really been heard in the mainstream before. It not only changed the sound of records, but it changed the way we used synthesisers, with a complex programming architecture that many subtractive aficionados found hard to grasp.