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Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode, formed in Basildon, England in 1980, built their sound almost entirely around electronic synthesizers rather than traditional guitar-based rock instrumentation, becoming one of the most commercially significant and influential purely electronic bands to emerge from new wave's broader early-1980s movement. The band's evolution from relatively lighthearted synth-pop on their earliest albums toward darker, more industrial and BDSM-influenced imagery on mid-1980s releases like Black Celebration and Music for the Masses reflected a deliberate artistic maturation that distinguished their later catalog from more straightforwardly upbeat synth-pop contemporaries. Depeche Mode's 1990 album Violator, featuring the hit single "Personal Jesus," became a massive commercial breakthrough in the United States specifically, and the band's Los Angeles concert during that album's tour drew a riot when far more fans showed up for a promotional in-store appearance than the venue could safely accommodate. The band's sustained commercial and critical relevance across more than four decades, continuing to release new material and tour arenas well into the 2020s, has made Depeche Mode one of the most enduringly significant purely electronic bands in the history of popular music.
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Duran Duran
Duran Duran, formed in Birmingham, England in 1978, became one of the defining bands of MTV's early-1980s programming, and their elaborately produced, cinematically shot music videos, filmed in exotic international locations, helped establish the music video as a central commercial and artistic tool for breaking new artists. The band's synthesizer-driven, danceable sound combined new wave's electronic production with genuine pop songwriting craft, and hits like "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" became defining sonic touchstones of early-1980s mainstream new wave. Duran Duran's teen-idol visual image, cultivated deliberately through their glossy videos and fashion-forward styling, made them one of the most commercially dominant "MTV bands" of the network's earliest years, reflecting the new, video-driven promotional model reshaping the music industry at the time. The band's continued commercial relevance across four decades, including a notable 1980s commercial peak and periodic later comebacks, has made Duran Duran one of the most enduringly successful acts associated with new wave's specific MTV-driven commercial breakthrough.
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