An interesting essay here on 1983, "the year that electro took over", and a look at what it has meant for the development of popular music over the last 20 years:
http://www.sagant.freeserve.co.uk/1983.htm "While 1981 may have been year 'zero' for the electro sound, with the birth of Tommy Boy records and the release of Kraftwerk's Computer World LP, it was in 1983 that electro emerged from the underground and pulled off a coup in the record industry..." There are also some nice mp3 clips of tracks from that year - some you might know, others you might not! Brendan