by David Stubbs
Electronic music is everywhere now. Look at the TV series ‘Stranger Things’, for example, with its John Carpenter-inspired synth-scapes. ‘Mars By 1980’ tells the story of how music got to this point. It was a long time getting here but now the future has arrived.
The book is split into four main parts:
Part 1 describes the birth of electronic music and is indeed an education to read; very little of this was I aware of so a great pleasure to learn of it in such detail.
Part 2 covers the work of such individuals as Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra and Miles Davis.
My favourite part of the book is part 3 covering bands I love such as Kraftwerk, New Order, Depeche Mode and The Human League. As well as being electronic bands we would do well to remember these were all pop bands too – and bloody good as well!
Part 4 takes us up to now with artists such as Brian Eno, who could well have a book unto himself.
I must question the absence of John Carpenter in this book – as well as producing many wonderful synth-driven soundtracks, he has been a great influence on many modern artists, Zombi and Survive, for example.
But this aside, the splendidly named ‘Mars By 1980’ is an informative read indeed.
Published by Faber & Faber
https://fabersocial.co.uk/2018/04/04/mars-by-1980-the-story-of-electronic-music
