Electronic were an alternative dance supergroup formed by New Order singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. They co-wrote the majority of their output between 1989 and 1998, collaborating with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, of the Pet Shop Boys, on three tracks in their early years, and former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos on nine songs in 1995.
The two first met in 1984 when the Smiths guitarist contributed to a Quando Quango track that Sumner was producing. Later in 1988, Sumner was frustrated because his New Order bandmates were not receptive to his desire to add synth programming to their music. He decided to produce a solo album but found that he did not enjoy working alone, so he called Marr for help.
Inspired by contemporary dance music like Italo house and acts such as Technotronic (Sumner even did a remix of Technotronic’s “Rockin’ Over the Beat” in 1990), their initial concept was to release white label records on Factory and remain an anonymous…