Fade to Grey
Song by Visage
“Synthpop, a sub-genre of New Wave Music that originated in Japan and the United Kingdom, was beginning to take shape in the late 1970s.”
Its characterized as an electronic or Synth-Based style of rock music. It contains strong musical hooks, tends to be bright and catchy with a danceable groove, features synthesizer melodies, cool sounds, and Beats.
The song "Fade to Grey" By Visage is an excellent example of Synth-pop and the genre's characteristics. Founded by Midge Ure and Rusty Egan, Visage was a massively influential Synthpop band from London in 1978.
The band has been a massively significant influence on popular British Music and is well known for their use of synthesizers, wailing vocals, and unusual style made Visage a fantastic band for the 1980s.
Released on Polydor Records in 1980, "Fade to Grey" was the second single by Visage. The song written by Billy Curie and Chris Payne was produced by the founder Midge Ure. This was their first release on a major label and also the first music video Visage ever dropped.
The song's lyrics are written in both English and French (The chorus in French and the Verses in English). The Album Version of the track (4:02) was sampled in 11 songs, covered 39 times, and remixed at least thrice.
“One of the most popular remixes was by BT, and it has been displayed on several occasions, including at a DJ set in Bristol.”
This gives the idea of how influential the song was during that time.
However, "Fade to Grey" is based on the topic of suicide and depression that many people feel in their lives. The anguish in this song is melancholy, a feeling of Loneliness and emptiness conveyed by the Vocalist's distant singing.
In Composing the track, instruments such as the Roland CR-78 were used for the analog drums under real drums, and a CS-80 analog synthesizer was in the mix. The song is played in the key of A Minor, maintaining a tempo of 113 bpm.
The song "Fade to Grey" was Visage's most successful single.
It peaked at #8 in the UK Singles Chart and was #1 in Germany and Switzerland in the charts from (1980-1981); moreover, it gained the top ten position in 6 other countries in Europe. The song received a gold Certification in France and Germany and a silver Certification in the UK.
Although it doesn't state how many copies were sold worldwide, it's mentioned that over one million copies of the song were sold in just France and Germany. Releasing five studio albums (Visage, The Anvil, Beat Boy, Hearts and Knives, Demons to Diamonds) and numerous singles, Visage is considered one of the best Synthpop bands ever produced to this day, and they were the leaders of 80s electronic pop.
