LimeWire Music Blog

I’m gearing up to see Devo on Friday and have been revisiting the classic era of synth-punk, a genre the band had very much to do with pioneering during their earlier years.  The genre combines the intense, guitar-driven fury of punk rock with often sloppy and simplistic synth mashing.

Though the instrumentation may be the same, synth-punk has little in common with new wave, the fluffier, more pop-driven counterpart.  Synth-punk was often gritty, poorly recorded, nasty, and powerful as sin.  With that in mind, let’s touch upon a few genre classics, both new and old.

1. Suicide – “Ghost Rider”
Often considered the first of the American synth-punk acts, Suicide walked a fine line between the gritty New York nightlife, the experimentation of the krautrock/kosmische greats, and just plain absurdism.  Equal parts Kafka and the Ramones, they’ve left quite a legacy on the U.S. underground, whether they’re remembered for their grotesque imagery or for their innovations.

2. Nervous Gender – “People Like You”
If Suicide fronted the East Coast wave of synth-punk, Nervous Gender are the undisputed kings of the west. As confrontational with their imagery and stage presence as they were with their music, Nervous Gender blurred the lines between the sexual and the perverse.  The band were mostly peerless, joining rank with The Screamers and opening up for industrial titans such as SPK, Einsturzende Neubauten, and Factrix.

3. Geza X – “We Need More Power”
I’d already touched on this one for my Tesla video playlist, but it deserves another mention.  Most of Geza X’s material was more true punk, but this particular anthem to electricity combines punk fury with a more humorous edge, a trend seen in peers such as the Dead Kennedys and The Germs.

4. Devo – “Turnaround”
Well, I couldn’t help but include Devo. Though the band’s earlier, more raw material was more in line with the true synth-punk edge. This plucked from the “Whip It” single is one of their best, most furious tunes, complete with angular rhythms and whirring synths.

Fun Fact: More astute LWMB readers may recall Nirvana’s equally captivating take on the song on Incesticide.

5. Métal Urbain – “Panik”
This French band combined a love of The Clash and Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music and sounded abrasive as hell. Though virtually obscure during their existence, they were championed by legendary BBC DJ John Peel and heavily influenced Big Black’s reign of sonic terror.  Otherwise unwelcome by their home country, who instead obsessed over The Sex Pistols, the band split in 1979, but not before releasing several powerful singles.

6. The Units – “Digital Stimulation”
This particular band is a genre favorite.  Hailing from San Francisco, The Units added a far more playful edge to their electronic punk approach, attacking conformity and consumerism with the help of live visual aids.  The band gained a small, but devoted cult following opening for the likes of Gary Numan, Soft Cell, and Ultravox.  The Units went on a more pop-driven direction after the release of their debut album, but left their mark upon the world before taking a turn for the worse.

7. The Screamers – “Eva Braun”
The Screamers left behind a curious legacy on the Los Angeles punk-rock scene.  Though the band was one of the first to be labeled as synth-punk, The Screamers split before recording a proper full-length record, leaving fans and historians to piece together the band’s legacy from a series of shoddy demo tapes.  The band were due to release a full-length record in video form (a completely unheard of concept at the time), but split before the plans came to fruition. Nevertheless, their legacy remains intact and as influential as ever.

8. Sigue Sigue Sputnik – “Love Missile F1-11″
Though a little more electronically flavored than most of their peers, Sigue Sigue Sputnik deserve mention simply due to their lineup, which included former Generation X bassist Tony James.  Of all of bands listed here, Sputnik achieved the most commercial success, as this song was featured heavily on MTV.  They are also the cheesiest and most over the top band on the list, partially due to their futuristic edge and love of T.Rex and David Bowie.  Otherwise, the band’s sound and image were heavily influenced by films such as Terminator, A Clockwork Orange, and Blade Runner, and their sound had more in common with late ’70s synth-punk pioneers.

9. Six Finger Satellite – “Rabies (Baby’s Got The)”
Let’s skip ahead to the ’90s, shall we?  Synth-punk as a genre was all but dead by the end of the decadent ’80s, overshadowed by the more club driven, pop-edge of new wave.  Dance music (and as the history books state, hair metal) were in, and it took Nirvana and the grunge era to blow the balance out of proportion.  The Providence, RI-based Six Finger Satellite rose from the confusion, reigning terror among the underground scene with their revivalist synth-punk edge.  Nowadays, the band’s sound engineer James Murphy moonlights as head of DFA records and LCD Soundsystem, while former member John MacLean moonlights under the electronic moniker The Juan MacLean but I still can’t get past Six Finger Satellite’s more powerful punk edge.

10. Duchess Says – “Black Flag”
Which brings us to the new millennium for our final selection, with a band who covered the above track on their first EP.  Hailing from Canada and worshipping at The Church of Budgerigars, Duchess Says have made a prominent splash in the new indie scene as one of the buzzworthy bands of 2009’s CMJ Festival.  Meanwhile, this particular track could have easily passed for a classic synth-punk cut from the first wave, despite the glossier production and dancier edge.