mix title: 80's Electro
shuffle music genre: electro
purpose: slower tempo for shuffle practice
level: beginners > advanced
speed: 100 -120 bpm average
time: 83 mins approx
The few years from 1983 to 1985 produced an explosion of synth based dance music, that we today collectively call Electro.
It was due to the sudden developments in electronic music techniques with the Fairlight CMI digital sampling and polyphonic synthesisers.
Up until the late 1970's synthesisers could only play one note at a time, but the early 80's saw a burst of synths that could play more than one note, usually no more than 8 notes.
This meant synth players could play chords (groups of notes) something only guitars or pianos/organs could previously do.
So now a synth player could fill a concert hall with a big synth sound, often called a 'stab' for a punchy brassy power chord or a 'wash' for a huge orchestral or ambient backing chord.
Add these with synth sequences, synth drums and some jangly guitar with an infectious danceable funk bass, and electro was born.
Here's a medley of electro tracks played 'live' by all time greats Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, at the 1985 Grammy ceremony in LA (USA) with new kids on the block - and eventually proving to be one hit wonders, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby. The Jones and Dolby tracks in full are listed below.
Synthesizer Medley 1985
There was a huge controversy about this Grammy performance, which had computers, drum machines, samplers and sequencers. The controversy was whether you could call this sort of set-up a 'live' performance. Even the announcer was a real computer voice introducing the guys.
To many of the rock generation, including the punks, it signaled the end of 'real' music and the beginning of fake plastic machine music that had no soul.
They of course were wrong about the music having no soul. As Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock would easily demonstrate both having more than enough 'soul' to share around.
Computers were new at the time, and terrifying to many. Some argued if a computer played the music, it wasn't music at all, and certainly was not live !
Check out this 1983 Today Show (USA) clip with Keith Emerson of ELP (Emerson Lake and Palmer) fame.
Fairlight Keith Emerson (1983)
ELP was best known for their brilliant shuffle rhythm take on Fanfare for the Common Man, at the time.
ELP - Fanfare for the Common Man (1977)
Here's a 1982 vid of Peter Gabriel (former lead singer of Genesis) talking about and demonstrating the Fairlight CMI. Peter actually uses a sledgehammer of sorts to try and smash an old TV screen to sample the sound for his music.
Peter Gabriel and Fairlight CMI (1982)