Freur

Before Underworld was... well, before Underworld was Underworld; Karl Hyde and Rick Smith had to forge—and forget—a couple misguided synthpop-swaddled funk albums that, at best, scanned as chintzy late-80s Depeche Mode, before evolving into the electronic multihyphenate they're known as today. (Ironically, it was "Stand Up," a track from the second LP, that wound up scoring the band its highest U.S. chart position ever.)


Before those missteps was Freur, Karl (then Carl) and Rick's first real band. (Predating it was their fruity new wave group, Screen Gemz.) As Freur, they released a couple full-lengths, the debut one being a pretty nice slab of New Romantic pop. An ambitious, sincere, heartfelt first at-bat. The duo probably would've continued recording after the dissolution of Freur, but they almost certainly wouldn't've gone as Underworld; their name comes from the title of a 1985 film, based on a Clive Barker (Hellraiser!) story, that they scored.