Burnout in the 80s because everyone added them to their bands without any forethought whatsoever to do with them other than they're the "new thing".

They needed a whole article for this?

Excellent Troll piece, Guardian.

Oh Bullshiat. I still listen to old Nik Kershaw videos

Synthesizers aren't sexy.

(Well, except when Wendy & Lisa play them)

Synths were killed by the infinite suck field of their booger-eating cousins, the drum machines.

I dunno, ask the robots.

DjangoStonereaver: Synthesizers aren't sexy.

(Well, except when Wendy & Lisa play them)

Or Petra & Rachel Haden

Abstruse: Burnout in the 80s because everyone added them to their bands without any forethought whatsoever to do with them other than they're the "new thing".

They needed a whole article for this?



this.

I also blame the Keytar for proving that no matter how "futuristic" synthesizers may be, you're still not as cool as your band's guitarist.



oh, and rave techno as well.

I like the explanation from the same Guardian music blog yesterday:

Despite the fact that it is old, smelly and too hard, the guitar has never been successfully replaced as pop's coolest instrument, mainly because the synthesiser makes a poor penis/machine gun substitute.

The failure of electronica to make it to a wider market is that, in the end, not much people are interested in paying to see a bunch of people tinkering in front of keyboards and laptop

it's boring

Honestly? I think its because in its infinite possibilities for sound, it just comes off as less creative. Its much more difficult to build an original sound off of string instruments and drums. A synth can do "anything", and people know it.

Its ability for perfect pitch is not natural to the ears of people, either.

Also, it doesn't compliment vocals as well. Its the beautiful imperfection of voice (sort of a stringed instrument itself) on top of the perfection of synth. Comes off as awkward in a bad way.

And finally, it was overused. When a band has a synth, it tends to be the main instrument- even above vocals.

Also: Kraftwerk (along with most synth and even industrial bands) comes off as a gimmick. I love me some Kraftwerk, but they'll always seem just a notch less authentic than rock bands.

Much as I like Karaftwerk, it's really little more than driving music.

'Kraftwerk', even.

As someone who owns as many synths as guitars, I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

Florian Schneider left because he doesn't want to tour with the abomination that is Radiohead.

Florian Schneider - Hero of the Universe

Florian Schneider - Radiohead non-fan

Florian Schneider - even HE can't stand Radiohead

downstairs: Honestly? I think its because in its infinite possibilities for sound, it just comes off as less creative. Its much more difficult to build an original sound off of string instruments and drums. A synth can do "anything", and people know it.

Its ability for perfect pitch is not natural to the ears of people, either.

Also, it doesn't compliment vocals as well. Its the beautiful imperfection of voice (sort of a stringed instrument itself) on top of the perfection of synth. Comes off as awkward in a bad way.

And finally, it was overused. When a band has a synth, it tends to be the main instrument- even above vocals.

Not going to argue the fundamental point, because there's some truth there, but proper old-school synths were anything but perfect in tone.

Part of me thinks it harkens back to something my music teacher told us when composing - don't do it on a keyboard, because you'll end up playing keyboard patterns. I think there's some truth in that - people play the same rote patterns and most never seem to break out of that box. People also tried for years to make synthesizers into fake versions of real instruments*, something that finally went by the wayside and has given rise to genres where they are prominent and sound good, just less as a lead instrument and more as the "wall of sound" in rock.

*for the ultimate example of synth bad, listen to the painfully fake strings in The Princess Bride.

notmtwain: I like the explanation from the same Guardian music blog yesterday:

Despite the fact that it is old, smelly and too hard, the guitar has never been successfully replaced as pop's coolest instrument, mainly because the synthesiser makes a poor penis/machine gun substitute.

The machine gun bass this article linked to was sweet! I'm going to assume the tone is horrible, though.

The electronic revolution has already happened. There's electronics or keyboards in practically every mainstream track now. You can especially see it in hip-hop, which uses loops, samples and that god awful autotune technonology. Screw you Kanye West!

Saw the Guitar-wielding Luddites in their heyday.

It's because these assholes keep hogging them.

These guys didn't get enough of a chance

FeedTheCollapse: Abstruse: Burnout in the 80s because everyone added them to their bands without any forethought whatsoever to do with them other than they're the "new thing".

They needed a whole article for this?



this.

I also blame the Keytar for proving that no matter how "futuristic" synthesizers may be, you're still not as cool as your band's guitarist.



oh, and rave techno as well.

You can rock the Keytar if you are this guy.

Keyboards, no matter how hard people try, are just not as expressive as instruments that actually vibrate. Yes, you can program it to do a lot more stuff, but you can't spontaneously color your tone the way you can with a guitar. Also, there's something magic about a guitar or other traditional instrument physically resonating while in contact with the human body. Hard to explain, but I believe it's the reason singing on key is easier while playing an instrument than while listening to a cd or someone else playing the instrument.

There was a synthesizer revolution? Why wasn't I invited?

A lot of bands these days play on electric guitars (six-string and bass), keyboards and drum kits. All of those are pretty recent inventions. I don't see a reason why there should've been an all-or-nothing revolution when it came to one particular brand of instruments. That's like asking why the pianoforte didn't abolish lutes and other plucked instruments. It didn't even entirely abolish harpsichords and hammered dulcimers.

The synthesizer revolution didn't fail or die out, nearly every new album out there has at least some synthetic elements. It's just gotten pushed more into the background because it isn't new or novel anymore.

One other thing: The presumption this article is based on is that there's an official instrument of the day and that it is either the guitar or the keyboard. That is just plain silly. Both instruments are pervasive in popular music and popular culture, and both instruments have a completely different timbre and dynamic range, even if you use actual guitar samples in the keyboard. Many, many recordings employ both instruments. The premise would be more relevant if it were keyboard vs. piano.

Jenkees disapproves

Because only Christian rock bands haven't realized they sound really outdated?

I think it's interesting how sometimes if an artist decides to use the best drum and keyboard or production/engineering technology available at the time, it will sometimes [most of the time?] sound very dated, or OF the time.

take "Radio K.A.O.S" by Roger Waters for example.
a bunch of 80's sounding keyboards, 80's processed and/or electric drum sound, etc.

kind of like when i hear a moog of vcs3 or mellotron i instantly think of early/mid 70's rock or prog rock.
[yes, i know, a few modern artists are using the analogue ancient keyboards,synths in some of their works...
i think i even heard that there's a "watcher" [genesis] 'mellotron' patch for some recent keyboard.]

/ as lou reed said in his liner notes for the "new york" album:
"nothing beats two guitars, a bass, and drums." [paraphrased from memory]

Synths make is too easy to make bad music.

KOMPRESSOR DOES NOT DANCE

.

Any instrument "revolution" only last a few years tops - after that, everybody's incorporated it so much that it's either accepted or worn out. Also:

VE ARE ZE ROBOTS

buncha showroom dummies if you ask me

and you didn't

Third_Uncle_Eno: I think it's interesting how sometimes if an artist decides to use the best drum and keyboard or production/engineering technology available at the time, it will sometimes [most of the time?] sound very dated, or OF the time.

That's true in general - the best way to get a handle on the now of a culture is to look at their vision of the future. Most movies in the future look incredibly dated for that reason (with notable exceptions, such as IMO Blade Runner)

40below
Much as I like Karaftwerk, it's really little more than driving music

I know you caught it, but Karaftwerk could be a really cool band of guys in plastic clothes playing various sized bottles and glass containers.

Huh? Lots of great bands used synts to great effect. The Who, Van Halen, every pop band in the 80s, etc...

NorCalLos: Keyboards, no matter how hard people try, are just not as expressive as instruments that actually vibrate. Yes, you can program it to do a lot more stuff, but you can't spontaneously color your tone the way you can with a guitar. Also, there's something magic about a guitar or other traditional instrument physically resonating while in contact with the human body. Hard to explain, but I believe it's the reason singing on key is easier while playing an instrument than while listening to a cd or someone else playing the instrument.

And then there are some of us who can program feeling into a synthesizer!

ask Dr. Fey about Kraftwork

Pengfish: NorCalLos: Keyboards, no matter how hard people try, are just not as expressive as instruments that actually vibrate. Yes, you can program it to do a lot more stuff, but you can't spontaneously color your tone the way you can with a guitar. Also, there's something magic about a guitar or other traditional instrument physically resonating while in contact with the human body. Hard to explain, but I believe it's the reason singing on key is easier while playing an instrument than while listening to a cd or someone else playing the instrument.

And then there are some of us who can program feeling into a synthesizer!

Dave Formula from Magazine could do this.

(Dated, but stil...)

bigbadideasinaction: *for the ultimate example of synth bad, listen to the painfully fake strings in The Princess Bride.

this.

It's also kind of why I like earlier electronic music or ambient: no one's trying to make the music sound like something else. Keyboards should sound like keyboards, not tinny-sounding guitars and fake strings. Same with drum machines: you can't use a drum machine for music that would've otherwise have almost required a real drummer, but you can use them (like Big Black, Godflesh, Cocteau twins, etc) and make it sound like an actual instrument all its own.

bigbadideasinaction
*for the ultimate example of synth bad, listen to the painfully fake strings in The Princess Bride.

lol wanna hear something funny/stupid?
I watched that movie lots of times when i was a kid, great movie, and i loved the soundtrack. But i didn't know that the strings in it were synth ones.... i always just assumed that they [and the horns and and whatever else they have in that score] were The Real Thing.
that is, until i looked at the credits in my copy of "screenplaying" [MK sdtrk collection] and saw:
"Performed by Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher". No credits for an orchestra whatsoever. not even auxillary real horns or anything.
i was like wow. they sure sounded like real strings.

and looking back, i don't think i share your exact opinion of it "painfully fake strings". i wouldn't be that harsh. but to each his own.

/ "I wouldn't say such things if I were you!"

// "humperdink! humperdink! humperdink!!!"

Third_Uncle_Eno: and looking back, i don't think i share your exact opinion of it "painfully fake strings". i wouldn't be that harsh. but to each his own.


Fair enough - I think part of that is me not really watching TPB until I was older - by that time they were very dated-sounding so I didn't have the benefit of growing up with that sound. Also I know people who think it works well - it provides the cheesy story-within-a-story element but I don't think that was exactly the original intention. I don't know if putting the Berlin Philharmonic behind it is the answer either, to be honest. I just know the "danger song" that seems to be on loop through much of the movie still makes me twitch.

As long as Autobahn doesn't break up, I'll be happy.

The torch. It has been passed.

Please do yourself a favor and listen to this woman's wonderful music. You might as well hear the original now, because you'll be hearing copycats for the next 15-25 years.

/Seriously. She's that good.

Kraftwerk paved the way for so many. Those of you in the electronic music scene know what I'm talking about. Hell, combine Jimi Hendrix and Kraftwerk and what do you get? Aphex Twin baby, Aphex.

If I were Florian I would have gone on a rampage after being raped by Coldplay. I'm surprised he held out this long.

/huge Kraftwerk fan
//did you know their first album was released under the band name Organisation?
///and it was acoustical hippy music?

FTA:

The early 90s was a bad time for everything, including keyboards. New cheap digital models made sounds like the careless brass fart of Carter USM's Sheriff Fatman while Eurodance and rave, with Altern 8 and Culture Beat, failed to locate the soul of earlier keyboard-based dance music. But there were those working at the fringes for a more considered textural experience. 808 State's Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson are arguably responsible for kick-starting both techno and drum'n'bass. Furthermore, many of today's A-list producers are on a direct line to the hopes and dreams of the 80s. From the Neptunes hefty synth thuds harking back to Kraftwerk and electro to the more explicitly electro-pop referencing production and remixes of Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont and the throbbing pop-erotica of Goldfrapp.

Okay, this is officially the dumbest music snob article ever. 808 State had fark-all to do with "kick-starting" drum n bass and techno. 808 State were merely copying Detroit and Chicago records. Yeah, Simpson went on to do a few decent jungle records, but the main thing I want to point out is this author's incredibly stupid opinion of Altern 8.

Altern 8 were one of the greatest hardcore acts because they were absolutely ridiculous. Saying they failed to "locate the soul" is farking stupid, as they were ripping off tons of old house and techno records and producing nosebleed hardcore on a couple of Amigas.

Then they drove a tank around for a music video, ran for government office, and hired a balloon to drop puddings on people. If you want to seriously analyze the duo, you are a farking mental patient.

They were fun, silly, and one of the best hardcore acts other than the Prodigy.

To hell with this stupid author.

The synth revolution disappeared? Every RB song on Top 40 has that stupid autotuned Daft Punk "One More Time" vocal effect. Arguably the two biggest commercial "arena rock" bands today, The Killers and Coldplay, are both fronted by synth players.

DNRTFA, but there were tons of awesome electronica albums this last year. Tons. Add to that the massive amounts of bands that use one or two synths in their act and it's REALLY not going anywhere.