Sparks

Sparks anticipated synth-pop by a decade, Ron Mael's Oberheim synthesizer and Fender Rhodes creating dense, hyperactive arrangements that sat somewhere between glam theatricality and avant-garde composition. The Gibson Les Paul work on Kimono My House provided a muscular guitar foundation over which the keyboards could dart and stab, while Russell Mael's falsetto vocals added another layer of timbral extremity. Their willingness to push gear into unconventional territory — using synthesizers for rhythmic aggression rather than ambient texture — made Sparks impossible to categorize and essential to everything that followed.