What is New Wave?
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- čas přidán 1. 03. 2024
- This is an abridged version of The Sound of History Podcast. For more context and more discussion about this episode, listen to the full-length episode wherever you get your podcasts.
In the 80s, New Wave music took the world by storm and created an entirely new fashion and a new wave of sound. This short documentary looks at where New Wave came from and what happened to it.
#newwave #musichistory #music - Hudba
Ok I get it - I mispronounced The Buggles. Unfortunately I can’t go back to 2022 and correct that. I’ll do better next time.
Update: this did not stop the comments 😂 oh well, guess I deserve it.
It’s just that Trevor Horn is such an important figure in the “sound of the 80s” that calling his band (and mispronouncing it) a “one hit wonder” - which is essentially true, but not quite - without mentioning his massive contribution to the course of music in the 80s - is a kind of big oversight. In a large way Trever Horn is responsible for what we know as “the New Wave sound”. Even bands that weren’t “New wave” that he produced in the 80s (think “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by Yes) had a certain “New Wave Sheen” applied to their sound which helped them gain an audience they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Great overview overall though. I’m just nitpicking.
@@bradleyconrad678I get it - I wish I pronounced it right, but unfortunately mistakes happen. And I’m interested in learning more about them and Trevor.
Just hoped pinning this comment might stop all of the comments pointing it out 😂
@@soundofhistory_ Advice from an olde Worlde "Do not belittle someone who mispronounced a word, it means they read it, probably in a book, but never heard it spoken, that is a mark of character and ambition in itself". OK, as a kid around at the time, yes, it made me cringe, but you tried.
@@jon-paulfilkins7820that is 100% what happened. I’ve never heard it spoken, only read it. I appreciate the understanding. My research process has gotten better since this audio was recorded so hopefully that happens less now
@@soundofhistory_ the one hit wonder phenomenon in America for new wavers was. due to lack of support from the major labels
several acts that were one hit wonders in America had 4 or 5 hits in England
the difference was that the English label offices supported those artists
All I listened to was New Wave in my teens/80s. Still love it.
same here
I'm an old GenXer who witnessed and lived through all of this; I was in high school when the Police released Roxanne, DEVO (who were a very big underground act, and not a one hit wonder) and Elvis Costello played Saturday Night Live and MTV launched -- oh, and also when My Sharona, by The Knack would literally be playing out of every car/boom box speaker! And I'd say the end of New Wave as a kind of genre and widely used term was 1983, when the Police broke up. Also, around the same time, bands that were too musical to be thought of as Punk, but not fashionable and MTV-friendly, or synth-driven to be New Wave began to emerge. Like The Smiths, Replacements, REM, Jesus And Mary Chain, Pixies, etc. But these bands did also draw a lot of inspiration from The Velvet Underground and Bowie. Back then, it was collectively known as College Rock.
Devo were a CULT phenomenon firstly and foremostly. Only total hicks regard them as "Pop" or "one hit wonder"..
Devo were a CULT phenomenon firstly and foremostly. Only total hicks regard them as "Pop" or "one hit wonder"..
Bring back independent college radio!
I think New Wave was just for people who wanted something a bit classier than Punk and Metal but weirder and artier than disco and conventional pop.
Weirder than disco? czcams.com/video/j7lZhxoldlw/video.html
that's the BEST explanation of what new wave is THANK YOU. I love new wave bc it's weird & quirky but you can dance to it.🩷💛🩵
Some New Wave was actually quite simple, conventional stuff
i don't think any of us looked at it that deeply, i also like almost all punk/post punk, not a class thing for me,, i think it was the melodic jangley guitar and upbeat tempo's combined with less orthodox chord progressions..
new wavers were dance pop fans that couldn't hear any dance pop on the radio in the 70's. because America stopped playing dance pop in the early 70's
there was no dance pop on the radio consistently in America
new wave solved that problem
I could've swore that Devo had some other pretty popular songs besides Whip It. Like Beautiful World, Jerking Back and Forth, Peekaboo, Freedom of Choice, Satisfaction and Mongoloid. I remember hearing them anyway.
Of course! Freedom of choice, the girl you want, my baby gave me a surprise, done being cool, gates of steel, etc
Uncontrollable urge is a good one too
The best part of “The Greatest Hits, Vol 1” CD release was the DEVO Manif*sto in the liner notes. I’m sure it’s online but I really am tempted to pull all those bins of CD wallets decaying in the closet.
I remember the day my brain put together the Rugrats theme song with DEVO; I’m pretty sure that is the sound of the last shred of my innocence ending.
Elvis Costello, boomtown rats,the cars, blondie come to mind when I think of new wave
In Britain, New Wave basically meant punk-adjacent artsy/poppy rock circa 1977-1981 or so. Defining artists would’ve been Elvis Costello, the Jam, Police, Ian Dury, Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, early XTC, etc. It was very much a late 70s thing, not 80s, and far more guitars than synthesisers. It certainly never referred to the 80s pop groups we now see getting labeled as ‘New Wave’ like Duran Duran. The whole New Romantics/ 80s electropop scene were essentially what killed off New Wave.
The Jam were mods, they weren't New Wave.The Police were more a reggae three piece than New Wave.
Given that Lydon took inspiration from Ian Dury I always find it odd that he is catogorised as as either new wave or post punk. I always feel he's more pre punk (Not aiming this point at you, its a commonly ascribed genre for them)
@@andrewharper1609 The Jam were both. Of course they were mods but Weller considered them part of the New Wave, they were described as New Wave by the press, etc. I’d classify them as New Wave but not Punk.
@@kittling5427 Dury sort of bridged two eras, he was a pub rocker in the early 70s but then part of the New Wave with the Blockheads.
Agree with you.New wave includes synthpop in the U.S..
Also, while "My Sharona" was HUGE, The Knack are NOT considered a one-hit-wonder considering "Good Girls Don't" was a just-shy-of-the Top 10 smash as well.
My baby talks dirty was pretty popular too
Where is Adam and the Ants?
New Wave was my youth - it was wonderful
Very short video. Need to do another one and should include The Cure, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, The Psychedelic Furs, OMD, The Church, REM, Love & Rockets, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Waterboys, The Bolshoi, New Order, The Feelies, Felt, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, The Jazz Butcher, The Woodentops, Julian Cope, Robyn Hitchcock &The Egyptians, The The, The Monochrome Set, The Lucy Show, The Godfathers, Translator, Gene Loves Jezebel, Clan of Xymox, Stephen Duffy, Strawberry Switchblade, The Might Lemon Drops, The Soup Dragons, The Sugarcubes, etc...
Thank you for a small reminder of some of the music of our youth, a wonderful trip down memory lane 🙏
One important aspect of new wave I think was overlooked is the prevalence of saxophone, which was every bit as fundamental to the new wave asthetic as synthesizers, especially during the early phase.
No, most New Wave artists were guitar-based. Elvis Costello, The Jam, Ian Dury, Boomtown rats, etc. Saxophones were more an 80s pop thing, New Wave was over by that point.
@@henrywallace7996 Guitar is a self-evident ubiquity in every realm of rock music. New wave was identifiable by its flourishes, most evidently synth, but sax as well, which carried over from the punk/post punk sounds of X-RAY SPEX/ESSENTIAL LOGIC/BLURT, et al, chiefly played in an unorthodox manner(early/middle period acts include MEDIUM MEDIUM, THE WAITRESSES, MADNESS, THE ENGLISH BEAT, HAIRCUT 100, JOE JACKSON, CHINA CRISIS, HOWARD JONES, THE TUBES, MEN AT WORK, ROMEO VOID, BRYAN FERRY, JOBOXERS, THE MOTELS, as well as some of the artists you mention above). So much so, in fact, that even the image of a saxophone signaled new wave sensibilities, as can be observed in the iconic greeting cards from PAPER MOON GRAPHICS during the late 70s/early 80s. Additionally, by the early-80s, there were scores of purely synth new wave acts with no guitars or drums...or saxophones.
@@teptime About half the artists you listed had no relation to the New Wave, at least the British ones…you’re talking about British popstars, and no one in Britain referred to them as that.
@@henrywallace7996 They all fall under the new wave banner.
@@henrywallace7996 I think it depends on where your from. Punk and new wave became pop in the UK, while remained underground in America for a long time before MTV exposed it.
Once again, no one mentions Ultravox's album Systems of Romance. The album that inspired Gary Numan. I think Systems of Romance, the first Devo and Cars albums (all of which came out in 1978) is when you can say the genre actually began.
New Wave began with Punk, and peaked around 1978/79. The stuff you’re talking about is more the fag end of New Wave/beginning of electro pop/rock.
@@henrywallace7996 nope. You're thinking of 80s Ultravox. Pretty much a completely different band. I'm only speaking of one album from 1978, Systems Of Romance.
Agreed. Leaving out Systems of Romance is kind of inexcusable. Definitely at the heart of the Spirit of what we recognize as New Wave.
Foxx's ultravox wasn't popular but numan was hugely inspired by their mixture of guitar and synth, he said as much
You can count Simple Minds as well 👍 Life In A Day album 1978
Incidentally. Simple Minds supported Ultravox in Grangemouth Scotland on the Systems tour in 79 just before being dropped by Island records . Excellent gig as I remember I was 17 then👍
There’s so much to New Wave. Synth-Pop, Sophisti-Pop, Blue Eyed Soul, New Romantic, Rockabilly, Ska, etc.
It’s all a sub genre of Alternative.
Nice one. Althoug I already knew almost all that info, I enjoy the aproach. Educative!
👈 Also, check my music. I have some New Wave influences on my weird electro-punk sound.
I don’t mean to be pedantic (but I’m going to be anyways), but it’s not the “Bugles” it’s the “Buggles”. Kind of important since Trevor Horn of the Buggles essentiallly defined the 80s sound as a prolific producer behind what you would call quintessential 80s “New Wave” hits.
You are so pedantic
Some New Wave artists resisted being classified as New Wave. And some didn’t realize they were New Wave. But retrospectively it’s better to have them in that category so potential listeners know what style of music they’re listening to. It helps them to find similar bands if like the music.
People do describe Blondie as a new wave band.
It was orginally Malcolm McLaren that coined the phrase "new wave" for his own Sex Pistols as he wanted to distinguish between American Punk and the British alternative music scene. However, the UK music heads and press alike insisted on categorizing the Sex Pistols as "punk" as they wanted to exploit the new craze sweeping across Britain. It wasn't until Gary Kurfirst used McLaren's new categorization for his own band, Talking Heads, did it become acceptable.
Doug Fieger's older brother, Geoffrey, is a prominent lawyer in Michigan. He pronounces the name with a long I sound (Fy-gur) so I go with that, even though my inclination upon reading it is to pronounce it with a long E sound (Fee-gur) based on German pronunciation.
the musical characteristic of new wave is the syncopated sound inherited from reggae. The rhythm is supported by the kick drum and bass, and each track relies on the silences left by the other tracks.The Cure takes this to incredible levels, achieving very complex arrangements
The Knack were power pop (almost the quintessential throwaway example of power pop)
The Cars self titled debute album often is cited as one of the first New Wave bands, although I think DEVO beats it. Having lived through that era I don't see how you can have New Wave without a synthesizer or some kind of electronic organ. You keep showing pictures of the The Police for instance, but I never thought of them as New Wave compared to groups like Missing Persons, Talking Heads, B 52s etc. Come to think of it if you are weird I guess you can get by without using a synthesizer.
In Britain, New Wave basically meant punk-adjacent artsy/poppy rock circa 1977-1981 or so. Defining artists would’ve been Elvis Costello, the Jam, Police, Ian Dury, Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, early XTC, etc. It was very much a late 70s thing, not 80s, and far more guitars than synthesisers. It certainly never referred to the 80s pop groups we now see getting labeled as ‘New Wave’ like Duran Duran. The whole New Romantics/ 80s electropop scene were essentially what killed off New Wave.
As a Brit, that is also what I think of as New Wave, but I am aware that the US meaning is different.
@@trickygoose2Maybe amongst some, but American critics who were aware of New Wave when it was happening (including Christgau, Bangs, and I’d guess Ira Robbins) seem to agree with what I’d consider the more sensible meaning.
@@henrywallace7996I agree wholeheartedly. Late '70s and early '80s music is my favourite genre within my own lifetime, and certainly the acts you mentioned would fall into the New Wave or Post Punk categories. There was also the whole 2 Tone scene, which made that period even more exciting.
I certainly wouldn't classify the likes of Duran Duran or Wham! as New Wave, I think their popularity phased out that era.
However, as you say, perhaps the American perspective is different. 😊
New Wave is often associated with keyboards and synthesisers, but doesn't have to be.
Great video and explanation! Music was really changing fast at the time and going in many directions - Thanks to punk for bringing rock back to simplicity! But, 'new wave' was a term used to describe all of the early evolvements of punk. Also, punk bands like the Sex Pistols were scaring people in America, which is why it exploded in England and not in America. American rock disc jockeys wouldn't play punk, or better yet, they weren't allowed to. Anyway, I think new wave also was a term used to re-coin some of the punk bands for marketing sakes.
Post-Punk is not aggressive, it is the predecessor to New Wave. You can't ignore the Manchester music scene in this discussion.
Saying Devo got "significant" airplay on MTV is such a ridiculous understatement and misses so much context; When MTV first started in LA they only had a handful of videos to play, and Devo had provided like 3 or 4 of them. They invented the idea of the music video as we know it.
There are lots of little inaccuracies in this whole essay that are frustrating for anyone who's really deep into this genre.
This video definitely isn’t made for people deep into the genre, it’s surface level and introductory.
I have entire videos on Devo and MTV, so that might get more of the context you want.
But it sounds like you are super knowledgeable and passionate about this genre, so I would suggest making your own videos about it. I’m sure they’d add a lot to the discussion and I’d be interested in learning from them.
Post punk occurred simultaneously with new wave, and they ultimately merged, but the inception of new wave was in power-pop and "art bands" such as SPARKS and THE TUBES.
@@teptime New Wave overlapped with both punk (1977-1979) and postpunk (1979-1981). By 1982 it was all over.
@@henrywallace7996 Your timeline is subjective, to say the very least. Are you of the mind that there are precisely designated dates to mark the inception and demise of artistic movements? You really think there were no more punk acts post-79? If true, then isn't ALL music released after that date "post-punk"? New wave had established a mainstream presence by 1982, but it wasn't "over".
@@teptimeThe New Wave had ended or was ending by the start of the 80s…this was certainly the case in Britain, and American critics like Christgau & Bangs would seem to agree. There were punk bands later, but the original Punk/New Wave era began and ended in the late 70s.
The term was taken on by marketeers and record companies esp. in the U.S. who were afraid of punk rock (despite bands like the Sex Pistols having hits in the UK) who wanted to make money but weren’t really interested in it.
You conflate the New Romantic movement with New Wave.
Many consider new romantic as a sub genre of new wave which had a lot of sub genres spanning from Scott, to synth pop, pop, more rock, or punk influenced, and leading into alternative rock
Cool Channel. Cool topic. Lots of style with the animation etc.
Billy Idol actually did a demo of Don’t You Forget About Me. It’s on CZcams
I heard it,........
It's forgettable 🤣🤣
To me the epitome of New Wave is New Order, in particular Blue Monday.
It’s a disco record.
More specifically, Hi NRG Disco genre.
New Wave 70s & 80s, Es mi genero musical preferido, saludos desde Sudamérica.
Very nice video! I own a HUGE amount of New Wave CD’s and 45’s
Love that. Some of my favorite artists of all time are New Wave but I need to dig in and listen more broadly.
Parallel Lines by Blondie was released in 1978, not 1979.
so weird that you brought up Jim Kerr‘s wife, talking him into the song, but didn’t mention who his wife is… Legendary lead singer Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders
Sparks and Roxy Music are the early origins of new wave. Discussion closed!
The Cars could be the first New wave band.
I think the Jam or Television have them beat.
Not the first , but one of the best.
@malteserfalcon Not sure if they were the first New Wave band, but I believe they were the first to have a commercial New Wave hit with “Just what I Needed” in 1978.
The Cars were for sure New Wave
I heard once that the term 'New Wave' was invented by someone at Blondies record label to mainstream lighter Punk acts like Blondie which came out of the CBGB club Punk scene.
Andy Partridge [ XTC ] developed some kind of ptsd related stage fright and stopped touring , in 1982 i believe,, this definitely hurt their career as they got zero mainstream radio airplay in the U.S. .. the 1987 video of xtc performing ''dear god'' live at the Casby awards in Toronto was performed in a mostly empty theater with only 50 people , instead of the normal crowd of 2000.
Btw, here’s an interesting person you should make a video on: The Dutch rock singer/ artist, Herman Brood.
I’ll add it to the list - thanks!
Hhhmmm. i was there and i don't remember it quite this way. But i guess that's a matter of perspective. Is this how New Wave looks from 2024?
Mostly white and middle class, you mean its a variation of art-pop/art-rock. Stick with me, theory time. Well, if you look at where most of the early bands formed and what degrees they studied (Art, Art History, Literature etc). Some early bands identified as "New Wave", Ultravox (John Foxx era), Split Endz (From New Zealand, kind of morphed into Crowded House), even Simple Minds started as Art Rockers that discovered Punk/Synths.
If you want the eras Pop-Punk, The Buzzccocks album, Singles - Going Steady is worth you wrapping your ears around.
Before Cobain passed, he wanted to put new wave music out 😊 so Nirvana,maybe-couldve swayed into a new wave band.
It's Buggles, with a short "u". Not like the instrument.
New wave was more of a nicer way to say punk because punk was more of a derogatory name for bands like television and Blondie.So that's where that came from as well
How do you talk about New Wave and not mention, INXS, U2 or Falco.
I thought U2 deserved its own thing and not just like a passing mention in a 15-minute video. I'm sure there were countless artists who I could have talked about. I tried to focus on the people I thought my wife would be most interested in. And, honestly, I don't know Falco. So that'll be interesting to dig into, thanks for that!
@@soundofhistory_ czcams.com/video/kVNPwmFkf-Q/video.html
U2’s first record was rather New Wave, but that’s the only connection I can see.
everything, everything that U2 did up to (and including) Rattle and Hum was New Wave. Go listen to Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree, then come back and tell me that they were not New Wave. @@henrywallace7996
To me Blondie was one of the first New Wave bands/albums..
I think it would probably be fair to describe Roxy Music, particularly post Brian Eno when they became more poppy and less proggy, as a 'Proto New Wave' band, especially with their hit 'Love is the Drug'. In the UK the movement was also very commonly known as the 'New Romantic' movement and was also particularly noted for its androgynous fashion style and influence from the European Romance period that emerged in nightclubs in the late 1970s.
We talk about the New Romantics in our podcast episode on 80s pop. Definitely something I can dig deeper into
@@soundofhistory_ cool - you should check out the Ultravox album 'Systems of Romance' for more proto-New Wave.
@@soundofhistory_ also check out 'Nag Nag Nag' by Cabaret Voltaire for what is probably the most perfect fusion of Punk and New Wave you will ever hear.
Will do! Thanks for the recommendations
No, New Romantics were completely different. In Britain, New Wave basically meant punk-adjacent artsy/poppy rock circa 1977-1981 or so. Defining artists would’ve been Elvis Costello, the Jam, Police, Ian Dury, Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, early XTC, etc. It was very much a late 70s thing, not 80s, and far more guitars than synthesisers. It certainly never referred to the 80s pop groups we now see getting labeled as ‘New Wave’ like Duran Duran. The whole New Romantics/ 80s electropop scene were essentially what killed off New Wave.
Rock is pop - if you sing, it's pop.
I don't want to nitpick, but the Buggles is pronounced like bug-gulls, not bugles.
maybe he just likes bewgs
lol "BUG-els"
The Bugles? Wrong! It's The Buggles.
Don't expect too much accuracy, here. He sounds like he's reading from Wikipedia...
Ah, sorry. I miss some typos sometimes. Thanks for catching that.
New Wave = Talking Heads, Blondie, Crowded House, Cars
Xtc failed to realize how indie they were and that's why they were called new wave
John Hughesack
New approach to expression; either cerebrally or lifestyle wise. In other words, the extreme all the way to corporate pop depending how far you want to go. It can be purely inspired by the stranger side of art Rock like Bowie or Yoko Ono or even more hippy transom like Captain Beefheart. Then again it is a label that even newer Billy Joel or Phil Collins could get thrown into.
How about Ultravox, dudes?!
do The Police count as new wave? if they do were they the first new wave band?
Absolutely counts as New Wave. At least, that's what it sounded like to us who were around at the time (Sting going in another direction later on is another matter). Wouldn't say it was the first New Wave band though.
@@somerandomvertebrate9262 Not to get too into it, but the term New Wave is an empty term. It was just sort of used by American radio stations to cover a certain period in time not so much a certain type of music. If anything the police are a prog rock band but instead of using jazz influences or whatever like King crimson they use some reggae influences and some Arabic music influences. Stuart Copeland came from a Prog Rock band called Curved Air and Andy Sumner was in the animals the band that did House of the rising Sun he was in like a slightly later version of that band. I'm not saying that the police weren't New Wave I'm just saying the term New Wave itself didn't really mean anything
@@FrithonaHrududu02127 Probably true, but everything of essence needs a name, and the label isn't the essential thing. It's the Spirit manifested that matters.
@@somerandomvertebrate9262 I know exactly what you mean I'm not trying to be like a dick. I hate CZcams warriors who are like pedantic about s*** like "well actually...."
@@somerandomvertebrate9262 but if you're drawing a Venn diagram most New Wave will fit into one little corner of post-punk. New Wave is an American radio term for like the shittier, poppier and later end of what post-punk is. I mean post-punk includes everything from echo & the Bunnymen ,Joy division to like human League human League has a whole bunch of music before like "don't you want me"you know. Like calling something new wave was more about saying what something wasn't.
calling DEVO a one hit wonder is an insult to their lengthy repertoire
My Aim is True Elvis Costello
The Buggles is pronounced Bug gles. Not Bugles.
Metal?
No. New wave, post punk grew out of punk rock.
Yep - that’s what I said multiple times throughout the video. But the use of synthesizers is far more metal than it is punk.
@@soundofhistory_ New wave is nowhere near metal. It came out of punk rock influences and scene. Its sound is closer to punk rock, too. Punk can be heavy as well.
Metal is more complex sophisticated structures (punk is usually more simplistic) , more shredding guitar solos normally, style, song length (much longer than punk rock), vocal styles, etc. Punk is also bouncier, energetic and shorter songs normally. Listen to Megadeth and Dead Kennedys and you will see the difference. lol
Also, synths were used in all kinds of genres. Such as G-funk, hip hop, punk, darkwave (goth new wave), rock, pop music, prog rock, disco, hip hop etc. Not just metal. Also used in lots of post punk music.
The Buggles! Not The Bugles.
well either people dont know or just trying to be nice.the reason punk died was because all the songs sounded somewhat the same.the reason is many of them didnt know more than about 3 cords.not knocking punk but it was bound not to last long.bands who actually knew how to play moved forward with more talented music.also disco just got to be a joke in its later years when newwave was just entering the scene.
It's the "buggles" not bugles. (Rhymes with thug, not moog)
Punk was alternative to pop and rock. While new wave was a more tame and classy alternative
What a surprise that the Americans wouldn't know how to say "kraftwerk" 😂
Devo what's not necessarily a one hit wonder. They had a couple of other songs, they could more over be considered a flash in the pan, along with some of the other groups. That being said I think they need to do a little more research on New Wave.
omg, you guys, Wham! was NEVER NEW WAVE. _Never._ And also BTW, it was the BUGGLES (like RUG) not the Bugles, 🙄 that sang Video Killed the Radio Star. You're obviously younger than...well, you're young. 😉 Some of us have actually lived through the whole 70s through disco, punk, 80, new wave, electronic, all the way up to 90s and grunge, and even further.
This video is pitifully information-poor… Seymour Stein, of Sire Records, was the one who dreamed up “New Wave” as part of a “Don’t Call It Punk” campaign designed to make bands emerging from NYC’s legendary CBGB that he’d signed to his label eadier to market in the US. Meanwhile, in the UK at the end of the Seventies a whole host of art-school kids had turned away from Punk and begun experimenting with different music (and different drugs, and clothing). As they started bands and got signed, they were happy to embrace “New Wave” as their portemanteau descriptor. Read up on the Blitz Club in Covent Garden and its various counterparts all over England if you’re interested in how that parallel culture to a US record label head’s marketing gimmick happened. Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp’s memoir is a great place to start. And yhe first “New Wave” act promoted as such by Sire was Talking Heads. As far as the young lady’s thoughts on Simple Minds, we oldsters who have followed the band from the beginning in the late Seventies tend to think of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” as a shitty song written by hacks which made an awesome band go to, well, shit. Just listen to their first four albums and compare. You’ll thank me.
So glad someone metioned Blitz - I don't see how you can talk about new wave in the UK and not dive into Blitz kids!
Duran Duran are a dogey one to class as new wave. The fact that they were never blitz kids meant that most of the new wave scene didn't consider them part of the genre. thier ire only increased when DD actually used the term new wave in one of thier songs! Personally I'd say they were new wave but also signaled the end of new wave simply by breaking the in group/out group dynamic that is so central to teen culture.
The Blitz Kids and Spandau Ballet were New Romantics and they never embrace the term ‘New Wave’ (it was old-fashioned by 1979 and they were Futurists). The main influences were Bowie, Kraftwerk, and Moroder - glam rock, electro and Eurodisco, in other words. Spandau and Duran Duran talked about themselves as making ‘White European disco music’. Musically, it was certainly closer to that than Punk or New Wave.
@@henrywallace7996 the “New Wave” label suited them just fine as far as the American side of tgeir marketing went. Believe me, I was a teenager when MTV came along and “New Wave” was a term very much in use by all concerned. I didn’t make it to The Blitz on time, but did become familiar with what Rusty Egan played at the club andvtalked to many who frequented it. Rusty would drop all sorts of wonderfully eclectic strangeness, from Hugo Montenegro, Can, Kraftwerk and Lene Lovich to chunks of Mahler’s 5th, Yellow Magic Orchestra and the Hitler Youth hymn from Cabaret. It was all very druggy and adventurous and poseurish and label-defying at the same time. Of course, later, as the kids became stars, labels adjudicated by marketing people and dumbass DJs were unavoidable.
@@kittling5427 the Durans being from Birmingham didn’t help matters, really. They made their own scene, then exported themselves to London. Gary Kemp’s book, I insist, is very handy as a guide to all the exclusions and infights at Blitz.
@mcamblor2 I couldn't agree more with your comment. The bands called "punk" starting in the New York CBGBs were never really punk rock which is more of a phenomena from England in response to The Ramones' diy ethos with Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood creating the "punk" look (based upon Richard Hell's bohemian look) that none of the bands were actually wearing. The CBGB bands were incredibly diverse with very few of them doing anything which would be considered punk rock unless you think The Ramones' stripped down 3 or 4 major chord pop/surf music was punk rock. The only bands I thought were punk were in California a bit later but everyone was trying to be weird and different. The New York bands were tagged with the punk rock label and many said that it was a drag as places were afraid to book them or afraid that they would be stabbed with a knife. Probably more due to CBGBs' Bowery location which was far more dangerous than the band members.
What's pretentious about a band wanting to play their own songs?
What a boring video