Arnaud says

hmmm. I think the real synthpop bands which came first were not from the punk scene.

I talk here about OMD and the Human League.

Although you are right about these two not being ex-punks, both bands have in fact stated Kraftwerk as their MAIN influence. OMD frontman Andy McCluskey specified that their debut single "Electricity" was a Kwk tribute (in a Record Collector interview, IIRC), and they also used to call themselves VCL11, an anorak's detail from the back cover of Radioaktivität. According to Philip Oakey, in a 1995 interview also released as a promo CD, he said that he remembered that the Human League started when either Marsh or Ware came up to him (I forget which one of them) with TEE in one hand and Donna Summer's I Feel Love in the other, and said: "We can do this! Programming and pop... it goes together!" And, if I may pursue my own argument, members from both these bands dismissed punk as something that was gradually turning into yet another uniform, and wanting to do something different... which arguably was an inspiration of the time. If nothing else. So there! ;-) oystein _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger http://www.msn.no/messenger - Den korteste veien mellom deg og dine venner