There is an onslaught of new bands with a fetish for the sounds of the 80s. It doesn’t matter that some of them weren’t even born in that decade or that some of the electronic gear they use is actually older than them.
Bands like MGMT, Passion Pit, Owl Eyes and Empire of the Sun are just having fun with those old sounds. With that in mind, some schooling is required about that era. What was the first British techno-pop band to have a Number 1 single in North America? Was it Depeche Mode? Erasure? OMD?
No...it was the Human League. In the summer of 1982, "Don't You Want Me" was huge, ending up at #1 on the charts for 3 weeks. Why is this significant? Because this song opened the door for a mini British New Wave invasion in America that later
featured the Eurythmics and Duran Duran.
And those bands form the historical foundation of the techno-pop-ish new groups we’re seeing today.