| Biography | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English new wave/synthpop group formed in 1978, whose founding members, Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. While steadily eschewing pop star status, the band cultivated a fanbase in the United Kingdom from 19781980. They gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 single "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via Architecture & Morality (1981) and its singles. OMD garnered acclaim for their experimental recordings, which were noted for their intellectual depth.
Although retrospectively lauded, the challenging Dazzle Ships (1983) eroded European support during the mid 1980s; the group shifted toward more pop-oriented songwriting on Junk Culture (1984), while continuing to experiment with sounds via newly-acquired digital samplers. Concurrently, OMD reached their peak in the United States and had a major hit with 1986's "If You Leave", written for the film Pretty in Pink. Humphreys departed in 1989 with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Malcolm Holmes (drums) to form The Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey to lead the outfit with new members: Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were sizeable hits in Europe. By the mid 1990s, however, synthpop had been supplanted by alternative rock, and McCluskey dissolved the band in 1996. Two years later, he founded pop group Atomic Kitten.
The band reformed in 2006 and began releasing new material in 2009. Their European fanbase remained steadfast: History of Modern (2010) became the group's biggest hit on the German chart; English Electric (2013) their largest in the UK since Sugar Tax. The band have sold over 40 million records and have cultivated a legacy as innovators within popular music. Cited as an influence on many modern artists, OMD's songs have been covered, remixed and sampled by numerous chart acts, and the group are the subject of two tribute albums. |