Pop Prototypes: ’80s Acts That Inspired Today’s Chart Toppers

The first band Jimmy Shaw ever saw in concert was Duran Duran, but he may have been the only person ignoring Simon LeBon. “I didn’t even know the singer’s name,” the Metric guitarist says. “I was super into the keyboard player.” Metric’s new album, Synthetica, out in June, continues that love affair with epic synthesizers—but it’s not the only outfit whose aesthetic harks back to Max Headroom. Quite a few of today’s acts crib liberally from the days of neon and Swatches. Allow us to highlight the connections.