Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983

When Richard first asked me to write the forward for this book, I was well and truly chuffed. This a fascinating, in-depth look at the musical changes and innovations that occurred between 1978 and 1983, a period that – without a doubt – transformed my own personal musical beginnings and direction.Instead of relying on the dodgy memories of the artists who were making electronic music in the late seventies and early eighties, he has largely gone back to the music press of that period, building the narrative from the original reports, reviews and interviews that we all gave back then. When Richard has needed a bit of clarification, I’ve tried to supply some extra information and I know that many other artists and musicians featured in this book have done the same.Although my memories of those early days are often hazy, I do remember how it all started for me. The first single I ever bought was Sparks’ ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us’, which I played until I wore it out. Music had me hooked. I loved that record and still do, and although Sparks weren’t electronic as such, they did comprise of a miserable-looking bloke behind a keyboard and a flamboyant, operatic singer out front – a spectacle I’d never witnessed before.Then I saw The Graduate and that got me into the music of Paul Simon. I bought the soundtrack album and the songbook and I learned to play those songs. I realised that making music, writing songs and even performing was something I could do myself. I didn’t need a fancy recording studio or a major record deal to do the thing that I loved doing the most.Finally, it was OMD who got me interested in the possibilities of electronic music. Their single ‘Electricity’ and particularly its B-side, ‘Almost’ was like the ‘folky’ music I’d been listening to, but created with a completely new and original sound palette. Here was something that I could relate to, a style I could explore, a world with endless possibilities.... Listening to the Music the Machines Make is the enthralling, explosive story of electronic pop between 1978 and 1983—a true golden age of British music. This definitive book explores how krautrock, disco, glam rock, and punk inspired an electronic pop revolution and how that revolution went on to establish the foundations for hip-hop, house, and EDM. Drawing on years of research and with exclusive input from key figures—including Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure), Martyn Ware (The Human League, Heaven 17), Dave Ball (Soft Cell), John Foxx (Ultravox), Daniel Miller (The Normal, Mute Records) and Rusty Egan (Visage)—Richard Evans tells the stories of the movement’s underground pioneers and its superstars: from Devo, The Normal, Telex, and Cabaret Voltaire to Gary Numan, OMD, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode.