As a child of the 1980s it’s great to see music, game and film icons from my youth having such a strong influence on today’s pop-culture. One example is the excellent Netflix TV series, Stranger Things. I loved the Stranger Things soundtrack and, thanks to Spotify, I started to explore a whole genre of music: synthwave.
Synthwave is a type of futuristic electronic music inspired by 1980s films such as Terminator, TV shows like Knight Rider and video games such as Sega’s Outrun. It also takes inspiration from 80s dance music.
I didn’t know it at the time but I’d actually come across this genre before when playing the excellent Hotline Miami on PS4. There’s a fascinating video by Michael Saba which looks at Hotline Miami and the rise of Synthwave which is worth watching.
Synthwave is great music to listen to whilst in the gym, driving, playing video games and even working. It’s fantastic to be able to listen to modern dance tunes which are inspired by this iconic decade.
These are ten tunes which I love – they are all available to listen to on Spotify where there are tons more great artists such as Com Truise, Mega Drive, Power Glove and Electric Youth. If you’re a fan of synthwave I’d be interested to know how you first discovered it and if you’re a newcomer, tell me what you think of these songs I’ve selected.
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