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FOUND: Omd - What They Never Told You

“They’re the best synth band in the '80s not to have a hit”: 6 under-appreciated synth-pop acts from the 1980s that deserve your attention

Forget your OMDs, your Depeche Modes, Human Leagues, Pet Shop Boys and A-has, because these not-so-popular bleep combos are well worth tracking down instead

MusicRadar

“I was always uneasy about the fact that it was a bright, perky pop song about a nuclear holocaust, but it was insanely catchy”: How OMD recorded one of the best anti-war songs ever made

And it’s pretty much the only song about a nuclear bomb you can get away with playing at a wedding

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘To be honest, our first single was a fast, punky version of your song.’ They all chorused, ‘Yes, we know!’”: How Kraftwerk influenced a band who influenced a whole era of British music

An undersold concert by the German icons in 1975 led a young duo to adopt electronic instruments. Their first song launched a clutch of cutting-edge genres

Louder

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“People never believe me that Kraftwerk created Atomic Kitten”: OMD’s Andy McCluskey says that it was an electronic music legend who advised him to form the ‘00s girlband who would hit number 1 with Whole Again

“He took me by surprise that he actually did it!,” said the Kraftwerk member in 2022

MusicRadar

‘We kicked Bono’s arse’: how we made Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again (with a little help from Kraftwerk)

‘Kerry’s spoken verse needed 39 takes spread over several months because she’d had her tonsils out’

The Guardian - UK

Dirty Business: The Guardian and Channel 4 partner to promote new factual drama exposing Britain’s sewage scandal

The Guardian will use its full suite of formats including a Guardian-wide advertising takeover to drive audiences to watch Channel 4’s new series, Dirty Business.

The Guardian - UK

‘Pictures unite!’: how pop music fell in love with socialist infographics

When Austrian philosopher Otto Neurath invented the visual language of Isotypes, it was to democratise education. As a new exhibition shows, it ended up influencing pop art, graphic design and electronic musicians from Kraftwerk to OMD

The Guardian - UK

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May the fizz be with you: how a $10 Chilean beer ad took on Star Wars

After being posted on X and becoming a feature on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, the 2003 commercial that sees Obi-Wan Kenobi hand Luke Skywalker a cold beer has gone viral

The Guardian - UK

“We treated them like a bunch of hairy blues wankers… I wish we’d had the sales Eliminator had!” How British synth-pop duo OMD unwittingly set ZZ Top on the path to mega-stardom

It may seem unlikely, but Billy Gibbons and co. learned their best moves from electro-pop duo OMD

Louder

Vince Clarke: "Martin Gore brought along his synthesizer, we looked at the thing and thought, this is a lot easier than learning chords on a guitar and you only need one finger to play it"

As synth icon Vince Clarke releases his debut solo album, Danny Turner discovers how he’s embraced the electronic dark side

MusicRadar

Now That’s What I Call Music! 10 writers on their first ever Now! album

A formidable collaboration between the major music labels of the Eighties birthed this iconic compilation series. Forty years on and the genre-hopping records remain a bellwether of mainstream music for pop historians to come. Below, 10 Independent writers wax lyrical about their first Now! album and what it means to…

The Independent UK

Soft Cell review, Heritage Live: Synth-pop stars are in fine form

Soft Cell are joined by Heaven 17 and OMD in the rather grand setting of a Jacobean manor

The Independent UK

Music megastars to play huge Let's Rock Leeds festival at Temple Newsam this summer

Soft Cell and OMD are some of the acts headlining Let's Rock Leeds 2023

Leeds Live

Happy Mondays, Shed Seven and OMD announced for this year's Party at the Palace

Organisers had been teasing fans before announcing headliners Shed Seven, saying they were “going for gold” in a reference to the band’s hit

Daily Record

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Salon

The essential "John Hughes Mixtapes"

Life moves fast ... check out the mixtapes for Hughes movies, from "Ferris Bueller's" to "Pretty in Pink"

The Guardian - UK

The power of music in John Hughes films: ‘When you hear those songs you see those moments’

The director’s movies provided an intense emotive soundtrack to teenagers’ lives. A new box set collects tracks from his best-loved films, by artists such as Simple Minds, the Smiths and OMD

Leeds Live

Let's Rock Leeds 2023 sees Soft Cell headline Temple Newsam festival

Let's Rock Leeds 2023 will also welcome performances for OMD and Tony Hadley

Irish Mirror

Singer Nik Kershaw vows to stick to music after being badly stung in Irish property deal

Exclusive: 'It was a bit of a sickener at the time alright'

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Liverpool Echo

Unassuming telephone box people travel across the world to see

Once destined for the red phone box graveyard, campaigners fought to save this piece of Merseyside history

The Guardian - UK

‘Nobody can even find a photograph of him. He’s quite mysterious’ – OMD’s Andy McCluskey on Maurice Wade

The Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark founder fell in love with the British painter’s empty landscapes – and convinced Robbie Williams to buy one. He explains their melancholic beauty

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