Five things I learned after reading Bob Stanley's great piece about synth history in The Times today:
1: The shiny silver band in Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You' video was based on 70s French synth-pop dude Didier Marouani of Space.
2: Trevor Horn played a Yamaha CS80 on Top of The Pops with Buggles.
3: Rick Wakeman developed a super-mellotron called a Birotron. There are six left, and one sold last year for $35k.
4: Sheena Easton played a Moog Liberation strap-on keyboard.
5: The Pet Shop Boys recorded most of their first album with a PPG Wave 2.2.
6: Nick Rhodes real name is Nick Bates. He named himself after the Fender Rhodes "for aesthetic reasons".