“Generator (laserbeam) synthesizes your wildest dreams” (Excerpt of the lyrics of the song “generator (laserbeam)” by Tim Blake, the former keyboardist of the Hawkwind, and of the Gong, contained in his album of the year 1978)
Among the many, pleasant illusions of mankind there is a scientific theory similar to the philosophic concept of progress, the theory of the evolution of the species. It is based on a moral axiom, the superiority of the human species, as the final result of an evolutive process of all the forms of life. The evolutive process has precise steps of improvement, and there’s a continuity inside the steps. For instance, the man derives from monkeys, even if an intermediate step has been imagined, regarding a peculiar evolved monkey, on the way to acquire all the features typical of human status, called the “missing link”. Naturally, the described theory has the same problems of the concept of progress, because requires a finalistic vision, and the existence of a transcendent rationality. However, the notion of missing link has become very popular, and it’s applied in many other fields of culture.
Talking about pop music, progress and evolution are sorts of archetypes, and the implicit idea is that the cited music is advancing and improving, according to precise steps. Starting from blues, and passing through rock ‘n’ roll, in the 60’s there was a flood of psychedelic music, that has originated new subgenres, among which electronic music. At the beginning of the page, you can find an except of the lyrics of a song by Tim Blake, a notable musician who was the keyboardist of two well-known bands of psychedelic rock, the Hawkwind, and the Gong. Well, in the field of musicians, Tim Blake fits the notion of missing link between psychedelic and electronic dance music. The cited song is particularly interesting, because the content is about 45 years ahead of its time. It’s a prophecy in the matter of new revolutionary technologies, able to translate into reality your wildest dreams. How myriads of persons are today naming those technologies? The new name is “generative artificial intelligence”.
Honestly, I think that the missing links between psychedelic and electronic dance music have been various, and not only Tim Blake. For instance, there has been a radio DJ, who was the living connection between hippy music and synth pop of the 80’s, whose contribution to EDM is undeniable, and still fundamental. The prominent DJ, dead in the 2000’s, was a British icon, Mr. John Peel. Without John Peel’s musical and personal tastes, the playlist of the page would be senseless. It has become a beautiful mix of synth pop, into which experts can recognize almost all the best ideas developed by EDM artists. OK, sexually speaking, the content might appear rather bizarre, more or less like Mr. Peel himself.
File name is “synth pop, the missing link between disco and EDM, by Max Look DJ (Aug 2026)”, 1 hour and 22’ of the best synth pop of the 80’s (with an exception, the Japan, whose track was released in the 70’s).
Wild and synthetic, the playlist:
Wally Badarou – mambo
Erasure – senseless (mix version)
Talk Talk – living in another world
Depeche Mode – lie to me
Roxy Music – the main thing (extended remix)
Tears for Fears – mothers talk (US mix)
Scritti Politti – absolute (Magnums extended mix)
Sparks – when I’m with you
Gary Numan – telekon
Alison Moyet – love resurrection (U.S. long version)
Japan – adolescent sex
Yazoo – don’t go (extended version)
Peter Godwin – images of heaven (dance mix)
Kraftwerk – sex objekt
Ministry – should have know better
Soft Cell – sex dwarf
