Hit me with your best shot: No ’80s playlist is complete without songs by Madonna, Elton John, Sinead O’Connor, Bruce Springsteen, Janet Jackson, and The Pet Shop Boys. Yet while their sing-along hits were dominating the airwaves, each of these artists recorded lesser-known tracks to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was largely ignored […]
Hit me with your best shot: No ’80s playlist is complete without songs by Madonna, Elton John, Sinead O’Connor, Bruce Springsteen, Janet Jackson, and The Pet Shop Boys. Yet while their sing-along hits were dominating the airwaves, each of these artists recorded lesser-known tracks to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was largely ignored […]
Shawn Decker remembers the first time he heard Depeche Mode. He was 12 or 13, and getting a ride home from his friend’s brother when he noticed the music coming out of the car stereo. “What is this?!” he asked. The vulnerability of the lyrics, the mood of the new wave/synth-pop sound—it was unlike anything […]
There was something rather poetic about Synthetic Division’s recent impromptu performance at Goth Night at The Pit at Cinema Taco on the Downtown Mall. Melancholy cabaret duo Please Don’t Tell was scheduled to perform that night, but vocalist Christina Fleming lost her voice. Shawn Decker—the musician behind Synthetic Division—stepped in with his keyboard, his synth […]