synthwave
Sign in to saveAlso known as outrun, retrowave, futuresynth
Synthwave (also called retrowave, or futuresynth) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with the soundtracks of action, science fiction, and horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. Other influences are drawn from the decade's art and video games. Synthwave musicians often espouse nostalgia for 1980s culture and attempt to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it.
Key facts
- Music genre.name
- Synthwave
- Music genre.image
- Synthwave.svg
- Music genre.caption
- An interpretative illustration featuring the common visual motifs of synthwave as an Internet aesthetic
- Music genre.other_names
- Retrowave future synth
- Music genre.stylistic_origins
- Electronic synth-pop new wave 1980s film soundtracks electro Eurodisco French house video game music Italo disco chiptune
- Music genre.cultural_origins
- Mid-to late 2000s; France, Western Europe
- Music genre.subgenres
- Darksynth dreamwave Outrun scifiwave Spacewave
- Music genre.other_topics
- Eurobeat synth-pop vaporwave new wave
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Perturbator - Rock am Ring 2017-AL6980.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- date popularized
- 2010-00-00
- inception
- 2005-00-00
- Commons category
- Synthwave
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Characteristics and related terms
- Origins
- Popularity and legacy
- See also
- References
- External links
Synthwave (also called retrowave, or futuresynth) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with the soundtracks of action, science fiction, and horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. Other influences are drawn from the decade's art and video games. Synthwave musicians often espouse nostalgia for 1980s culture and attempt to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it.
The genre developed in the mid-to late 2000s through French house producers, as well as younger artists who were inspired by the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Other reference points included composers John Carpenter, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis (especially his score for the 1982 film Blade Runner), and Tangerine Dream. Synthwave reached wider popularity after being featured in the soundtracks of the 2011 film Drive (which included some of the genre's best-known songs), the 2012 video game Hotline Miami as well as its 2015 sequel, the 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok, and the Netflix series Stranger Things.