The Top 5 Synth-Pop Hits That Took Over 1983

The sound of the '80s is that of the synthesizer, and the era felt like it arrived and found a kind of music all its own in 1983, when synth-pop took over the hearts and minds of mainstream music listeners, not to mention the music charts. Often used interchangeably with keyboards, synthesizers are elaborate machines embraced by composers and performers in the 1980s that did their best to emulate or recreate organic sounds or those made by real brass, wind, string, and percussion instruments. They've never quite nailed it, however, resulting in music that feels icy, futuristic, and hypnotic, or, essentially, synthetic. Throw in a drum machine and some more keyboards, and you've got a musical sub-genre that was all the rage in the '80s called synth-pop, right in line with the manufactured, superficial, and technological progress-embracing endemic to the decade.

Those artists who embraced synths and synth-pop found great and broad success, particularly in 1983, because the songs were so well-written and timeless that they transcended getting dated. Here are the hits from Eurythmics, the Human League, Men Without Hats, Depeche Mode, and New Order that helped make 1983 synth-pop's greatest year.

Synthesizers, and the entire style of synth-pop, can be employed in a satirical or dystopian manner to call attention to the changing nature of art while commenting on the superficiality of modern times. In their early works, the duo Eurythmics pointed out the sci-fi elements of '80s music culture in such a fashion, particularly on the almost entirely digital, computerized, and inorganic masterpiece "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)."

Multi-instrumentalist Dave Stewart makes everything that isn't already synthetic sound robotic, giving everything an intriguingly spooky and hollow feel. It's enchanting and bewildering, especially when paired or juxtaposed with the soulful-meets-operatic vocals of Stewart's co-Eurythmic Annie Lennox. You might have been singing the Eurythmics' biggest hit wrong this whole time, but those dark and disjointed lyrics make it all super-modern and postmodern all at once. Nobody in the 21st century seems as futuristic as the Eurythmics did in 1983, when they took "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" all the way to No. 1 for a week.

The Human League is a major '80s band we completely forgot about despite the forward-thinking U.K. collective landing a No. 1 hit in 1982 with the musical breakup conversation "Don't You Want Me." The group followed up its gold 1981 LP "Dare" with 1983's "Fascination!" and the semi-title track "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" was so vital that it appeared in multiple versions. 

Every take on the song expanded on what the Human League had done on its previous album while also embracing a more buoyant and joyous radio-friendly appeal. While "Don't You Want Me" was an ominous and understated heartbreak song in which synthesizers reasonably and believably imitated simmering electric guitars, the horn stabs on "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" are braying, loud, and unabashedly fake. With the Human League at the fore, synth-pop was developing rapidly by and within 1983, wherein the phoniness was the entire point. Synths could and should sound like synths, and big audiences enjoyed it. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" made it up to No. 8 in the summer of 1983.

The magic of a synthesizer is that it can sound like anything in the proper hands. And for Canadian alternative dance group Men Without Hats, electronic instruments were the path to creating a sound reminiscent of ancient and classical string instruments played by bards or jesters as if they were employed by future people instead of those stuck centuries in the past. Men Without Hats brought a new vibe with keyboards that sounded as much like acoustic string instruments as they did heavily processed electric guitars. And the act used all that to make one of the most definitive and easy-to-sing-along-to songs of the 1980s. "The Safety Dance" doesn't really describe a dance as much as it is a bizarre series of commands and reflections on the pros and cons of dancing and having friends who do and don't partake.

While Men Without Hats are often considered a one-hit wonder, "The Safety Dance" isn't the synth group's only success. The dreamy, spacey, and infectious "Pop Goes the World" made the Top 20 in 1988, years after Men Without Hats broke out in a big way in 1983 with "The Safety Dance," a No. 3 hit and foundational synth-pop piece.

Depeche Mode started out as a synth band. While at first their music was spare and joyous on tunes (and U.K. hits) like "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Dreaming of Me," by 1983, the approach had moved into something more lush and progressive. The difference could be heard in songs like "Everything Counts." The members of Depeche Mode added more of everything — layer upon layer of synthesizers and effects to create a fluid and malleable wall of noise — while also giving lead singer Dave Gahan the chance to both truly soar and brood with his vocal work.

"Everything Counts" is complicated and dense, and it indicated where synth-pop musicians in the rest of the '80s may head. Gahan croons, coos, and goes for the high notes while the rest of the band gives him a rich tapestry with which to compete. The lyrics dole out little life lessons along with social and political commentary, elevating synth-pop into something more cerebral. Though a No. 6 smash in the U.K., "Everything Counts" didn't appear on the Hot 100, but a No. 17 placement on the dance chart marked the first time that Depeche Mode had a big hit in the United States.

Joy Division is a '70s band that broke up right before their fame exploded, owing to the tragic death of singer Ian Curtis in 1980. The stark, gothic, stripped-down band was in the process of adding synthesizers to its traditional rock band instrumentation, and after Curtis died, Joy Division evolved into a band dominated by and reliant on synthesizers. Adopting a new name, New Order, the remaining members explored the possibilities of synthesizers in its half-alternative-rock, half-synth-pop style. On the 1983 single "Blue Monday," they created a credibly humanity-laden and relatable romance-gone-cold song while also managing to make the track seem like it came from a colony of robots furiously working on computers. Repetitive and catchy riffs abound, and they mix with guitar and bass to create something both with and without a soul. But there are just enough strange choices and bleeps and bloops to make "Blue Monday" a brand new kind of music unto itself.

In New Order's native U.K., "Blue Monday" became their first-ever Top 10 hit in 1983. The band would take longer to break through to the mainstream in the U.S., although "Blue Monday" still managed to make it into the Top 5 of Billboard's dance chart.