Electronic

Two men with formidable reputations set out, at first, to disappear. In 1988 Bernard Sumner of New Order, frustrated that his bandmates had little appetite for synth programming, planned a solo album, discovered he disliked working alone and called Johnny Marr of the Smiths. Italo house and Technotronic shaped their thinking: the idea was anonymous white labels on Factory, and both the name Electronic and the track "Lucky Bag" survive from that plan. The sound they settled on was alternative dance that mixed synthesizers, guitars and analogue technology.

"Getting Away with It" arrived in December 1989, sold around 350,000 copies and reached the American Top 40 the following spring; Depeche Mode took them on tour that August. The debut album Electronic, with the Top 10 single "Get the Message", sold over a million worldwide, and a 1992 reunion with Neil Tennant produced "Disappointed", their highest-charting single. Raise the Pressure (1996) added ex-Kraftwerk man Karl Bartos; Twisted Tenderness followed as a quicker, four-piece record with Jimi Goodwin and Ged Lynch. Marr later called the ending natural, and in July 2013 Sumner joined him at Jodrell Bank for "Getting Away with It".