The synthesizer is the prodigy and the marvel of modern-day musical instruments - a machine capable of electronically generating and manipulating sound - offering limitless innovative and expressive sonic possibilities.
Whereas electronic music was first attempted in the 1890s, the invention of the synthesizer in 1955 by Robert Moog and Don Buchla, would establish electronic music as a popular music form.
The stepchild called “Synth”
The invention of the synth was phenomenal. It grew wildly popular during the decades to follow, being used by pivotal bands like Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode. However, this weird and wonderful instrument was not accepted by all. Pushback was strong by those who considered themselves to be virtuosos. As a result, it became the weird stepchild in the family of musical instruments.
Queen, for example, in the era of the ‘70s had a strict rule against synthesizers. They insisted on it being known that they did not use synths during any recordings during this decade. The same was later expressed by bands like Rage Against the Machine.
Even in the year 2023 we still find the odd “gatekeeper” of classical or rock music who would claim that the synth is not a musical instrument at all. Well, if this is true, then why has the magic of the synthesizer been embraced by so many modern-day genres, bending them into hybrid, innovative, progressive and fresh takes on “old waves”? (That is a New Wave joke).
Read on…
The birth of hybrid genres
It is fascinating to look back at influential musicians in the '60s, ‘70s and '80s and how they would use the synth to bend traditional genres, blurring boundaries and giving birth to hybrid genres. These musicians started adding a “synth” prefix to already established genres, i.e. synth-rock, synth-punk, synth-metal, synth-jazz, synth-pop, and even synth-folk.
Strange, and impressive, that there was such a huge need to identify the synth in music that even the genre title would have to be adapted. You don’t hear terms like guitar-pop or piano-folk making rounds. Today, we add a “tronica” suffix instead, i.e. Folktronica, Indietronica, Jazztronica, you get the idea.
Let’s look at punk, metal, jazz, folk and pop, and how the synth found its place in these genres.
But how does it work?
Let’s backtrack for a second. I don’t know about you, but I was dying to find out how sound is created by a synth when I first heard one. Where acoustic instruments produce sound through vibrations, a synthesizer generates sound by manipulating and combining various audio signals. It works on the principle of sound synthesis, wherein electrical signals are transformed into audible sound waves.
The core components of a synthesizer include oscillators, which produce basic waveforms such as sine, sawtooth, and square waves. These waveforms serve as the building blocks for creating sound. The synthesizer then processes these waves through filters to shape their timbre, envelopes to control the sound's amplitude, and modulation sources to introduce variations in pitch, tone, and other parameters.
Okay, now, back to the genres…
Popular artists who use synthesizers: Then and now
The Punk Genre
Behold Suicide, a punk duo founded by Alan Vega and Martin Rev. They were intermittently active between 1970 and 2016 and were the first punk band to use synthesizers and drum machines, thus paving the way for post-punk, industrial and synth-pop.
Suicide was the first to use the phrase "Punk Music " in an advertisement for their concert in 1970. In a tribute to the late Alan Vega, Ben Graham writes: “Suicide weren't interested in nostalgia. In an aging rock industry increasingly preoccupied with looking back, Alan Vega and Martin Rev looked determinedly forward.”
Bringing things back to the current century, bands like Prima Donnas and Youth Code identify as Punk bands that are very enthusiastically synth-lead.
The Metal Genre
The metal genre has been surprisingly drawn to synths for decades now. In an article by Vice, Terence Hannum goes as far as to say, “I believe that synthesizers belong in metal.” Starting with Black Sabbath in the 70s, the trend was to carry through the decades to bands like Dream Theatre.
Today, KEYGEN CHURCH is a great musician slaying in the synth-metal genre.
The Jazz Genre
In the ‘70s, Weather Report was a "supergroup" jazz ensemble that would incorporate the synthesizer in interesting ways. They would go on to inspire other jazz musicians like Miles Davis.
Today, musicians like BIGYUKI are taking synth in jazz to the next level. This New York-based Japanese keyboardist and songwriter is well known for his ability to create a unique sound by infusing elements of jazz and electronica into his compositions.
The Folk Genre
The band Emtidi was one of the first folk bands to use a synthesizer during the early 70s. Emtidi were a duo made up of Maik Hirschfeldt from Germany and Canadian Dolly Holmes. My favourite song of theirs is “Traume”
In the current day, allow me to introduce Johan G Winther, a magnificent musician who has been classified as the master of folktronica of the current day. Gritty textures, acoustic guitars, synth pads, keys, and cello appear alongside minimalist percussion and thoughtful melodies in his unique compositions.
The Pop Genre
The Monkees were among the first bands to use the synthesizer in pop music and featured the instrument throughout their 1967 album. Their song "Daily Nightly" was the first known pop recording to feature a synthesizer, namely the Moog Modular synth purchased by Micky Dolenz, only the third to be sold commercially at the time.
Looking at the present century, Lady Gaga must be my favourite pop artist and it is all because of her obtrusive and exuberant use of grilling sawtooth synth lines like in Bad Romance, Let's Dance and Marry the Night.
Taking it up to the current moment, rated the Happiest Song of 2023 by Spotify, I bring you, Blinding Lights! A song in which a stunning ‘80s synth line is right up in front in the mix alongside the vocal lines. Bahm!
The choice of the progressive
In researching all of the above-mentioned musicians, it appears that, if you throw a synth into the mix you immediately become classified as genre-defying, genre-less, experimental, before-your-time, avant-garde, or progressive. It seems the synth is the mark of the open-minded... Love it!
If you didn’t have much respect for the synthesizer before, I trust you have now.
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Carla Malrowe is an alternative songwriter, musician and producer from South Africa, currently residing in The Netherlands. Malrowe’s music is a juxtaposition of electronic and analogue sounds with lyrics that are unapologetically macabre and melancholic. Listen to her new electropop single, ‘Dear Host’.
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