Blinded by science: Remembering the surreal ‘Synthesizer Showdown’ of the 1985 Grammys
Thirty-five years ago, something totally awesome went down at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards that changed television — at least in the science-blinded eyes of members of the original MTV generation.
That fateful evening, onstage at Los Angeles’s Shrine Auditorium, elder-statesmen keyboard icons Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock joined new-school new-wavers Thomas Dolby and Howard Jones (the former in a powdered Beethoven wig, the latter resplendent in billowing primary-yellow satin while brandishing a keytar). Together, they delivered a futureshocking performance that has come to be known as the Great Synthesizer Showdown of ‘85.
It was probably the most ’80s thing that ever happened. Ever. And yet, the grainy Betamax footage of that night still seems cooler than anything that has taken place at the Grammys in the three and a half decades that have followed.