Pop Tarts “Age of the Thing” 1988. World of Wonder/Funtone USA Records. Very 80’s, very dancey synthpop. Think a mixture of New Oder, Pet Shop Boys, Fine Young Cannibals with  dashes of *early* Ministry, Nitzer Ebb and Paula Abdul. I know nothing about Pop Tarts (plenty about the breakfast/snack of course): turns out it was a short-lived project put together by World of Wonder producers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey; WoW is most notable for managing RuPaul and producing RuPaul’s Drag Race, plus a slew of other shows and films and the production company has won several awards over the years.

Age of the Thing was the first of just two LP’s (the second is Gagging on the Lovely Extravaganza, 1992, upon which RuPaul produced a couple of the tracks). It’s a fun, very danceable album though it does feel a bit generic in the disco-synth-dance genre. The opener “Money Success Fame Glamour!” has an EBM/industrial edge as does “Elected!” but that track also has some metal-shred moments and some light “rap” (it’s not really rap). The vocals on “Cherry Red!” (and some others) is very reminiscent of Pet Shop Boys’ singer Neil Tennant’s deadpan tone and other tracks could be pulled directly from a New Order record (“Ultra Brite” among others). I’m not sure I have a top pick as the LP does start sounding the same after awhile, though it’s a perfect example of the disco-synth sound of the latter half of the 80’s that evolved the simpler synthpop style of the early 80’s with more musical influences, sampling (for instance I think they lifted the riff at the intro to “Off Your Mind (Can’t Get ‘Em)” directly from INXS’ “Need You Tonight”) and better technology. There isn’t much available to link from Pop Tarts Age of the Thing – but one of the links below is from a very FYC-meets Pet Shop Boys track “Another Grey Day in London!” which is a pretty bland dance pop song, and according to the YouTube caption it “was their first music video to be broadcast on MTV. Fenton Bailey filmed and produced the music video.”