Synthpunk - Recent Usage

Recent Usage

Recent use of the term techno-punk usually refers to music sequencer dance or techno that has punk fashion or performance influences, rather than synthpunk's identification as punk rock being played live on synthesizer keyboards. In popular culture, the word "techno" itself has become independently imbued with its own music genre and alternative subculture meanings, which are not linked to the same roots of punk rock, but are instead rooted in electronic music and disco. Prior to the techno music genre, use of the word "techno-" was usually as prefix modifier to simple words (techno-lighting, techno-furnished) in order to suggesting heavy involvement or embracing use of technology. For this reason, "techno-punk" used in the Los Angeles Times' 1978 article can not logically mean what most post-techno music usage of the word "techno-punk" refers to, thus "synthpunk" has a distinct purpose in describing this pre-techno keyboard-playing, punk music, as well as those later influenced specifically by it. It also ties in well with the genre name "synthpop", another pre-techno genre, where pop music influences are the central instead of punk. Several of the original synthpunk artists of the late 1970s would later record synthpop in the 1980s.

The term "synthpunk" (without hyphenation) is first documented as Damian Ramsey's web domain name hosting record for the Synthysteria! web pages that he authored in 1999 at http://www.synthpunk.org.

The web pages document his selected focus on the American synthpunk groups Nervous Gender, The Units, The Screamers, Tone Set, Our Daughters Wedding, and Voice Farm under one curatorial umbrella. Some later (post-2004) print media uses the genre word to describe most any band who were combining a vaguely punk style with synthesizer use, where guitars are not largely replaced by synths (for instance, The Stranglers). More appropriately, "synthpunk" is used to describe Suicide, who were not originally covered on the web site (because they were so well documented on the web already), but were described as synthpunk later in print media.

The term is used in retroactive reference to these early bands, such as when Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post describes late early 1980s Devo, "...the band's sci-fi synthpunk is revealed as the missing link between the Ramones and Depeche Mode." But the term is increasingly used in print media for loosely describing new bands that have a punk guitar sound with a synthesizer sound added to the mix, such as Le Tigre, or The Epoxies, Blowoff/Bob Mould, Ima Robot, or Full Minute of Mercury, as well as a description of re-discovered and re-released artists such as Futurisk from the original pre-midi period of the late 1970s through early 1980s. Modern bands like New Jersey's "Parenting" continue to expand on punk/rock based ideas using only synthesizer, drums, and vocal.