synth-pop

1986
The Sugarcubes formed on 8 June 1986 with Björk on vocals, Einar Örn

The Sugarcubes formed on 8 June 1986 with Björk on vocals, Einar Örn on vocals, Björk’s then-husband Þór (Thor) Eldon on guitar, Friðrik Erlingsson on guitar and Bragi Ólafsson on bass. On the same day, Björk gave birth to her and Þór Eldon’s son, Sindri Eldon. The band first performed…
Read More

New Order (band) Pretty in Pink soundtrack

In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring ” Shellshock ” was released on A&M Records .

Depeche Mode Stripped

In the United States, the band’s music appealed primarily to an alternative audience who were disenchanted with the predominance of “soft rock and ‘disco hell’” on the radio. This view of the band was in sharp contrast to how the band was perceived in Europe, despite the increasingly dark and…
Read More

New Order (band) Brotherhood

Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides.

Duran Duran After releasing three studio albums and one live album in five years

After releasing three studio albums and one live album in five years, each accompanied by heavy media promotion and lengthy concert tours, the band lost two of its core members to fatigue and tension in 1986. After Live Aid and Arcadia, Roger Taylor left the band and retired to the…
Read More

A-ha nominated for eight awards

The video used a pencil-sketch animation/live-action combination called rotoscoping , in which individual frames of film are drawn over or coloured. It was received to high acclaim in the US, where it was nominated for eight awards at the third annual MTV Video Awards in 1986, winning six, including Best…
Read More

A-ha nominated at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards

The band’s second single worldwide was ” The Sun Always Shines on T.V. “, even though “Love Is Reason” was the second single in Norway. In the US, the song peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 17 on Radio & Records airplay chart. A…
Read More

Duran Duran Andy Taylor led the remaining members to believe he would return to

Andy Taylor led the remaining members to believe he would return to work on a new Duran Duran album, even as he was signing a solo recording contract in Los Angeles with MCA Records , eventually releasing a solo album in 1986 called Thunder . The band resorted to legal…
Read More

Heart (band) Nothin’ at All

” Nothin’ at All ” (number 10, 1986)

A-ha 1986 Grammy nomination

A-ha’s American success culminated in their 1986 Grammy nomination in the Best New Artist category, which was eventually won by Sade . “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” turned out to be A-ha’s last Hot 100 Top 40 single and to this day – in the United States – A-ha…
Read More