Ultravox: the synth band that split eighties music fans

Ultravox, Midge Ure and the abusa solo that reignited the synth-pop war

A abusa solo. That's all it takes for an early-eighties synth band to go from late-night radio memory to the subject of a heated dispute. The argument starts with Midge Ure and the atmosphere of «Vienna», that track many consider one of the high points of British electronic pop. From there, things get tangled: musical tastes, genre labels and more than a few prejudices about who is allowed to listen to what all come into play.

Ultravox is not a one-hit band, nor a one-man band. The material circulating insists that the soul of the group was its lead singer, and that his solo career kept up the standard with his own songs, though with a shift towards a catchier register. Some prefer that pop side, more accessible, over the solemnity of the early singles. At its heart, the fight is the usual one: does the band matter more than the singer, or the other way round?

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Why does Vienna still sound different from the rest of synth-pop?

The answer that dominates the conversation has to do with the production and with that instrument that shouldn't fit in a keyboard band. The abusa on «Vienna» introduces an organic texture into a world of machines, and that contrast is what makes the track so hard to imitate. It's not just a pretty song: it's an arrangement that breaks the rules of the genre.

The problem arises when that taste becomes a badge of identity. Sensibility and good taste are words used as weapons, and that's where musical analysis gets lost. One comment in the exchange sums it up neatly: calling someone a slur for listening to Ultravox says more about the person saying it than about the music. The response is not long in coming, and the counterattack resorts to the same contempt in the opposite direction, comparing metal fans to zoo primates. Elegance, they joke, is conspicuously absent on both sides.

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The label mess: is Ultravox a far-right band?

The conversation takes an unexpected turn when someone asks, half-joking, whether the band is far-right or has distanced itself from any political party. The idea doesn't come from nowhere: the band's name, with that «Ultra» at the front, invites confusion that the passage of time has not dissolved. The answer comes in the form of a joke about legality and about being «nothing of the ultra anything».

It's a perfect example of how a name can carry a burden that doesn't belong to it. Ultravox was born in the seventies and made its name in the eighties, and its connection to politics is as non-existent as that of any British pop band of the era that stayed out of murky waters. But the association works, and the misunderstanding becomes a talking point.

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The solo career nobody expected

The singer's path outside the band is another of the points under discussion. The dominant thesis is that his voice held the band together, and that after going solo he continued releasing top-quality material. Some highlight a slow track that still retains a touch of power. It's not common for a synth-pop singer to hold his own solo without the backing of the band's production, and that gets underlined.

The preference for Ultravox's more commercial side over their darker beginnings divides opinions. Some value the experimentation of the early records; others go for the hooks that stuck in your ear. Neither position is unanimous, and that's the fun of it.

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The discussion ends without agreement, as expected. The only thing that's clear is that the abusa solo on «Vienna» remains the strongest argument for those who defend the band, and that the label —the musical one and the other— still makes more noise than the music itself.