KEXP 90.3 FM - where the music matters

Rising out of the ashes of post-punk legends Joy Division, New Order chose a lighter pop sound. They incorporated influences from disco and from electronic-pop pioneers Kraftwerk to create the top-selling UK single of all time--“Blue Monday."

Classically-trained musicians meet cutting-edge producers in The Art of Noise. A London band whose state-of-the-art dance tracks went on to influence hip-hop and dance music worldwide.

One of the longest-running careers in electronic pop, Depeche Mode are also one of the most successful bands of all time. Click here to find out about the men behind the machine.

The duo Soft Cell took punk attitude and added synths and catchy pop melodies to make songs about the seedier side of life. Their international megahit “Tainted Love” changed the face of pop music forever.

The Human League were a well-known underground band in the UK electronic pop scene. Find out how one of the members, Phil Oakey, became famous after ditching this original band to recruit 2 girls right off the dance floor to sing on the top-charting 1981 hit “Don’t You Want Me”.

Best known in the US for his single “Cars”, British artist Gary Numan had several top-charting electropop hits in the UK. Many say he was just copying Kraftwerk, others give him flack for his outfits and extravagant stage show. Meet the man behind the myth!

David Bowie left Los Angeles in 1976 to escape the rockstar nightmare he had created for himself. In Berlin he found fellow Brit artist Brian Eno and their 3-album collaboration “The Berlin Trilogy” would bring electronic pop to new artistic heights.

Italian musician/producer Giorgio Moroder tells the story of “Love to Love You Baby” and “I Feel Love”--the two electronic singles he recorded with Donna Summer in Germany in the 1970s.

Kraftwerk added lyrics to create the first electronic pop single “Autobahn” in 1974. In this episode member Karl Baudaus tells the secrets of the band whose music inspired not only other electro-pop but also the creation of hip-hop, jungle and house music.

Inventors, artists and musicians had experimented with electronic sound since the 1890s, but it was Berlin’s Tangerine Dream that were the first electronic band to hit the pop charts with “Phaedra” in 1974. Influenced by the improvisational nature of free jazz and the rebellion of hippie music, this group created a sound that still resounds today.