1980 Albums

Harald Grosskopf first appeared early in the timeline as the drummer for Wallenstein, playing on their first four albums. He then performed with Klaus Schulze off and on in the mid-70s, before joining forces with Manuel Göttsching and Lüül Ulbrich in Ashra in 1978. Grosskopf got the opportunity from Sky Records to record his first solo album, Synthesist, in 1980. With only a Mini-Moog, sequencer and a somewhat legendary eight-track tape machine, he retreated to the Krefeld home of Udo Hanten (one half of the soon-to-be electronic group, You).

When Tangerine Dream next appeared in January 1980, it was at a concert in East Germany; they were one of the first Western bands to perform there. The addition of keyboardist Johannes Schmölling returned the band to its trio format; though it ultimately would provide even further distance from their 70s style as they forged ahead into the new decade. Of course, the technology of electronic music was now rapidly changing. The 1980s saw the rise of digital and sampling technology, which effectively changed "sound design" forever.