1985: The Year British Synthpop Morphed Into Something Else
By 1985, the golden age of British synthpop was both peaking and fraying at the edges. The sound that had once stormed the charts with icy futurism and neon-lit melancholy was evolving, mutating, and in some cases, disappearing into something more commercial, more eclectic—or simply more dated.
At the top of the pile, Tears for Fears delivered Songs from the Big Chair, a masterclass in big-budget, transatlantic synth-rock. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was everywhere—spacious, sleek, and a perfect marriage of Roland synths and radio-friendly ambition. Likewise, Depeche Mode toughened their edges with Some Great Reward, wrapping industrial clangs around anthems like "People Are People."
But it wasn’t all glossy triumphs. The Human League, who had defined synthpop’s early ‘80s blueprint, stumbled with Hysteria—a record that felt trapped between past innovation and future uncertainty. Meanwhile, Ultravox was running out of steam, and Heaven 17 softened their once-sharp social commentary into slicker, but less biting, grooves.
Elsewhere, new names were twisting the genre into fresher shapes. Pet Shop Boys crashed the scene with "West End Girls," bringing a detached, urbane cool that set the stage for synthpop’s next evolution. Scritti Politti, with Cupid & Psyche 85, married synths with funk and glossy American R&B, a move mirrored by Paul Hardcastle’s electro-jazz hybrid "19."
Synthpop wasn't dead in ‘85, but it was shifting. The raw minimalism of 1981 had been traded for polished, MTV-ready hits, while underground scenes were already plotting its next reinvention. The sound that once belonged to cold machines was now inescapable, for better or worse.