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Bananarama clothing in 1985

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Pet Shop Boys performing in 2013- notice the flamboyant clothing!

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Most well known venues from the 1980s are no more. The Astoria is the Marquee, the Kentish Town & Country Club is no more the old Hammersmith Palais is unrecognizable. The Brixton Academy and Hammersmith Apollo are still going although known by other names now.

The Marquee (London-May 12th 1982)

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Synth pop and the use of synthesizers have influenced many of todays main artists including Lady GaGa-Just Dance, Kesha-Tik Tok and Calvin Harris-Empire of the sun. Japan and Korea  have also become dominated by synth-pop groups including, f(x) and Wonder Girls.

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Some of the main synths used where Linn Electronics LM-1 Drum Computer (used by Prince 1999 or Peter Gabriel: Securityr ),  also the E-MU Systems Emulator was very popular (used by Yes: 90125) and PPG Wave 2.2/2.3 Synthesizers (used by Gary Numan: Berserker)

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Synth pop was very much linked with alternative sexuality, for example Phil Oakey's (from English synth band "The Human League") use of eyeliner and asymmetric hair.  Due to bands/artists dressing and looking the way they did this drew the attention of gay male and female artists and helped the acts gain fans.

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Synth pop did get a lot of criticism due to the way the artists dressed, particularly in the U.S. they called the synth bands "English haircut bands" or "art fag" music. Also due to the use of synthesizers a lot of musicians have described it as soulless and not needing much talent to create the music. Artists such as Gary Numan did not agree with peoples ignorant claims against synth music. Andy McClusky (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark frontman ) said that many people thought the synthesiser wrote the song for you and this was not the case, there was no magic button to hit to create a hit song. Artists still had to play the synthesizers. This is why there was often more than  just a singer in synth pop, other artists in the band would play the synthesizer as the artist sang (a-ha)

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_in_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synth-pop
http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/10-synths-that-defined-the-80s-213447
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g186338-i17-k7731892-New_Wave_Synth_Pop_80s_Rock_City_Tour-London_England.html

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IU7E5bPn0D8/TiQol3vhpCI/AAAAAAAAA9M/Y85esVhtCNo/s1600/marquee_12.05.1983_front.jpg

https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/mun/munc8i-webpsb2.jpg?w=620

http://nightflight.com/wp-content/uploads/BANANARAMA10.jpg

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Synth-pop became most popular in the 1980s due to the decline in popularity of dance music in disco's particularly in Europe. It features the synthesizer as the dominant instrument in the music.  It began to take shape in the late 1970s due to the development of drum machines and synthesizers. Most artists therefore relied heavily on technology to create the bones for the song. The songs where constructed mostly of simple repeated riffs and not much harmonic progression. The lyrical topics around this time where very more deep, bringing up topics such as isolation and being cold and hallow however when the 1980s came around the lyrical topics changed to more optimistic themes such as romance and aspiration (more common themes for pop music). This could be linked to as why it became more popular in the 1980s. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.