Electronic

Electronic formed in Manchester in 1988 when Bernard Sumner of New Order and Johnny Marr of the Smiths decided to collaborate. The combination was extraordinary: Sumner's electronic sensibility and Marr's guitar genius, filtered through a shared love of pop melody. Their debut single 'Getting Away with It' (1989) — featuring Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys — was an immediate classic.

The self-titled debut album (1991) was excellent — 'Get the Message', 'Feel Every Beat', and 'Tighten Up' were all strong singles. 'Raise the Pressure' (1996) and 'Twisted Tenderness' (1999) maintained the quality. Electronic were always a side project — both Sumner and Marr had other commitments — but the music they made together was consistently excellent.

Electronic disbanded in 1999. The three albums they left behind are among the finest British electronic pop records of their era. The combination of Sumner's voice and Marr's guitar work was genuinely unique — a synthesis that neither could have achieved alone.