Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983

Listening to the Music the Machines Make is the enthralling, explosive story of electronic pop between 1978 and 1983—a true golden age of British music. This definitive book explores how krautrock, disco, glam rock, and punk inspired an electronic pop revolution and how that revolution went on to establish the foundations for hip-hop, house, and EDM.

Drawing on years of research and with exclusive input from key figures—including Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure), Martyn Ware (The Human League, Heaven 17), Dave Ball (Soft Cell), John Foxx (Ultravox), Daniel Miller (The Normal, Mute Records) and Rusty Egan (Visage)—Richard Evans tells the stories of the movement’s underground pioneers and its superstars: from Devo, The Normal, Telex, and Cabaret Voltaire to Gary Numan, OMD, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode.