Prince

Prince is one of the most prolific pop and rock artists of all time. Starting in the late 70s through the 80s, prince released a barrage of hit albums, many of them pushing the use of classic analog and digital synthesizers. He used synths for many famous melodies, hooks, and harmonies in some of his biggest songs.

The Beatles
The Beatles are one of the most popular rock bands of all time. They acheived worldwide fame in the 1960s, and were instrumental in the counterculture movement and changing music scene of the period. Though they were only active for about a decade, they released over a dozen albums, and experimented in a variety of genres from pop, to classic rock to progressive and art rock.

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson, also known as the King of Pop, is one of the most successful artists of all time. His albums in the 1980s and 1990s featured many synth parts, using both classic analog and modern digital synthesizers to craft his unique melodies, harmonies and sound effects.

Muse

Muse is one of the most prolific alternative rock, hard rock and synth rock bands over the past three decades. Matt Bellamy has used a variety of analog and digital synths, plus synth effects on some of Muse's most popular songs from the past couple decades.

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode is one of the most successful new wave, synth pop and electronic rock bands of all time. Through the 80s, they released many highly acclaimed songs, and they used a variety of classic analog and more modern digital synths in their hit songs.

Van Halen
Van Halen, the quintessential 1980s hair band, penned dozens of huge hit songs with both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar as front men. Virtuoso guitarist Eddie Van Halen is well known for his guitar chops, but he also played synthesizer on many of their biggest hit songs. The intro to Jump is perhaps the most ubiquitous and well known synth riff of all time.

Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel is one of the most prolific and successful artists over the past four decades. Starting with Genesis in the late 1960s, Gabriel showed his skills as a talented instrumentalist and vocalist in the progressive rock genre. After leaving Genesis, Peter Gabriel went on with a solo career, continuing his roots in progressive rock, but also incorporating elements of pop, electronic, world music, orchestration and more. He has used a variety of keyboards and synthesizers over the years.

Toto
Toto is an American rock band that formed in the 1970s. They achieved critical and commercial success with several hit albums in the 1980s. They have experimented in a variety of genres including pop, rock, progressive, and jazz fusion. They have used a variety of synthesizers in their hit songs.

Madonna
Madonna, also known as the Queen of Pop, is one of the most prolific pop artists of all time. She had a variety of hit albums and songs in the 1980s, and has continued to release music over the past four decades. Her albums have featured a variety of synth sounds for basslines, harmonies and textures.

Journey
Journey is an American rock band formed in the early 70s. Initially, they were focused on progressive rock, arena rock and jazz fusion type of sounds, but once Jonathan Cain joined the band, they branched out in the more usage of synthesizers for many of the harmonies and melodic hooks.

The Cars
The Cars were an American rock band that formed in the late 1970s. They achieved critical and popular success with several hit albums and songs in the late 70s and 80s. Their sound combined guitars, bass drums and synthesizers, and their new wave and pop rock melodies are often cited as influencial on modern bands.

Queen
Queen were a rock band formed in the 1970s in England. Their early works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and metal. They acheived critical and popular success in the 70s and 80s, with a string of hit songs that received regular radio play.

Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears is one of the most successful 80s pop and new wave bands. They had a string of hit songs in the 80s, and their hits get regular radio play to this day. They used a variety of synths on their albums.

U2
U2 are an Irish rock band that formed in the late 70s. In the 80s, they achieved critical and popular success with several hit albums and songs. They have continued to innovate and release new music over four decades now, and are one of the best selling bands of all time, with regular mega arena tours.

Phil Collins
Phil Collins is an English drummer, vocalist and songwriter who is best known for his tenure with Genesis, and then his following solo career in the 1980s. He has penned many hit pop and progressive rock songs.

Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in the late 70s. They achieved critical and popular success in the 80s with several hit albums and songs that received regular radio play. They included synthesizers in many of their biggest hits.

Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English new wave band formed in the late 1970s. They achieved critical and popular success in the 80s with several hit albums and songs. They have used a variety of classic and more modern synths in their hit songs, and been at the frontier of the synth pop and new wave movements.

Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper is an American singer and songwriter who released some of the biggest pop song hits of the 1980s. She was a regular in the early MTV rotation and her songs have continued to receive radio play over the past four decades. Many of her songs incorporated synth bass, melody or harmonies, as well as drum machines.

M83

M83 is a French rock group that formed in the late 90s. They achieved critical success in the 2000s and 2010s with their synth pop, shoegaze, post rock and ambient sounds. They have used a variety of classic analog and more modern synths.

Gary Numan
Gary Numan is credited as being one of the earliest pioneers of the synth pop and new wave movements in the early 1980s. Starting with his 1979 Tubeway Army release, he release many albums with synth centric melodies and harmonies.

A-ha
A-ha was one of the pioneer bands of the synth pop and new wave movements in the 1980s. They penned several big radio hits that showcased synth melodies, leads and harmonies, with Take on Me being front and center.

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is an English singer-songwriter who received popular success in the 2010s with a variety of hit songs and albums in the pop, folk-pop and soft rock genres. His albums feature the use of many synthesizer parts and high production values.

A Flock of Seagulls

A Flock of Seagulls are an English synth pop and new wave band who rose to fame in the 1980s with several MTV first generation music videos. 

Tubeway Army

Tubeway Army was a late 1970s band with front man and songwriter Gary Numan. They were known for being at the frontier of the synth pop and synthwave movements which followed in the 1980s.

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in London in the mid 1960s. They released many critically acclaimed and popular hit albums in the 60s, 70s and 80s. They used synthesizers and keyboards in many of their biggest hits.

The Eagles

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. They have released several number one singles and albums over the years. Their sound has varied from country rock to folk rock to pop.

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band that formed in the early 1970s. They became one of the most popular arena rock bands of the 70s and 80s, releasing a variety of hit albums and songs. They have sold over 150 million records worldwide.

Green Day

Green Day is an American rock band formed in California in the late 1980s. They received critical and popular sucess in the 90s and 00s with several hit albums and songs.

Nena

Nena is a German singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the mid 1980s with her synth pop song 99 Luftballoons.  99 Red Balloons in English.

Harold Faltermeyer

Harold Faltermeyer is a musician, composer and music producer, best known for his cinematic soundtrack work in the 1980s.  He composed the theme to Fletch, Top Gun, and Beverly Hills Cop.   He earned grammys for The Top Gun Anthem and Axel F theme song,