Minimal Wave Records

Hi hi people.

Need to do an 8-pages work lately about the Synth Pop trend and New Romantics and its integration into the scene during the 80’s for the liberalists countries and commuists. lol
To make it have any sens i need to do a statment and collect many points of view and personal definition of these two “music styles.”
So here i see, we’re from all around the world and so if you’re able to do it, please give me your definition about “synth pop” and “new romantics”. I Would like to know what is it technically for you and what are the essential points to recognize these styles of music (way of life i you see one, references, rules, philosophy….). lol i know it can sounds stupid what i say here but finally, it is interesting to have all your point of views to make a sociologist-cultural analyse about it (or at least it is usfull for my studies :!:)
Huge thanks for your help.

Hmmm, tough one.
Both are used to describe the same thing although I would say that New Romantic originally had more to do with cloths, nightclubbing and image and synthpop was used to discribe synthesizerbased popmusic. A term that in this day and age seems almost ridiculous as most popmusic is made on synthesizers and keyboards ( which owes a lot to our beloved synthpop pioneers), but at the end of the 70’s and early 80’s it was very clear what being meant by synthpop. Synthpop focused on popmusic and experimented with it. Image somehow doesn’t seem to be very important. It’s the music that’s important, not clothes.
These are not very strict definitions, but that is how I feel and think about it.

I agree with ACB new romantic / synthpop are two sides of the same coin. The one describing the fashion, the other the music.
My take on synthpop is it being basically synth based new wave with disco influences, and with the goal of creating a “popular” song. Perhaps that is hard to proove, but sometimes in very obscure releases you can hear they copy the sound of duran duran, human league etc. When people try to make electronic dance music without this goal (perceived by the listener) it is
minimal electro or cold / dark wave to me. Some people also make the distinction between synthpop and electropop but I’m not sure about that…based on the previous distinction I make between the two one could argue electropop would be music not meant for the masses but with a poppy feel to it. A lot of the french stuff like Deux, Moderne, also a band like Beograd would fit this description for me.

Here’s my take, which you can all ridcule:

Synthpop first and foremost is all electronic, and, while not necessarily looking for a chart hit, is concerned with making the listener want to get up and dance with a smile on their face.  Lyrics (usually) are pretty lightweight as is the music.  Vince Clarke is a prime example of synthpop.

New Romantic had much more of a “traditional” instrumentation: guitars, live drums (either acoustic or electronic).  While the music was still quite “poppy” the sound and lyrics could be a bit darker than synthpop.  When i think of New Romantic I think of Midge Ure era Ultravox, the first Visage album, and the first 2 Classix Nouveaux records.

Huge thanks for your answers! What you said is very interesting to analyze to me. Sometimes what i read is very weird, depending on the people, their area and culture seems to make different opinions, sometimes not. Anyway, now i need to think about it alone

[quote author=“Ollie_Stench”]Here’s my take, which you can all ridcule:

New Romantic had much more of a “traditional” instrumentation: guitars, live drums (either acoustic or electronic).  While the music was still quite “poppy” the sound and lyrics could be a bit darker than synthpop.  When i think of New Romantic I think of Midge Ure era Ultravox, the first Visage album, and the first 2 Classix Nouveaux records.

I agree that the main difference would be the use of guitars and real drums backed with synths. And don’t forget the Fashion aspect (silly pirate costumes).

BB