New Wave music:

New Wave is a genre of music that emerged in in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and disco and 1960s pop music, as well as much of the original punk rock sound and ethos, such as an emphasis on short and punchy songs.^[1]^[2] The 1990s and 2000s have seen revivals, and a number of acts that have been influenced by a variety of New Wave styles.

Overview

The term "New Wave" itself has been a source of much confusion and controversy. It was used in 1976 in the UK by punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue, and then by the professional music press.^[3] In a November 1976 article in Melody Maker, Caroline Coon used McLaren's term "New Wave" to designate music by bands not exactly punk, but related and part of the same musical scene.^[4] For a period of time in 1976 and 1977 the two terms were interchangeable.^[5]^[6] By the end of 1977, "New Wave" had replaced "Punk" as the definition for new underground music in the UK.^[3].

In the United States, Sire Records needed a term by which it could market its newly signed bands, who had frequently played the club CBGB. Because radio consultants in the United States had advised their clients that punk rock was a fad, they settled on the term "New Wave". Like those film makers, its new artists, such as the Ramones and Talking Heads, were anti-corporate and experimental. At first most American writers exclusively used the term "New Wave" to describe British punk acts. Starting in December 1976, The New York Rocker, which was suspicious of the term "punk," became the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term starting with British acts, and later appropriating it to acts associated with the CBGB scene.^[3]

Music historian Vernon Joynson states that new wave emerged in the U.K. in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk.^[7] Music that followed the anarchic garage band ethos of the Sex Pistols was distinguished as "punk", while music that tended toward experimentation, lyrical complexity, or more polished production, came to be categorized as "New Wave". This came to include musicians who had come to prominence in the British pub rock scene of the mid-1970s, such as Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Eddie and the Hot Rods and Dr Feelgood;^[8] and according to allmusic "angry, intelligent" singer-songwriters who "approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense, aggressive energy of punk" such as Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and Graham Parker.^[9] In the U.S., the first New Wavers were the not-so-punk acts associated with the New York club CBGB, such as Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie.^[10] CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, referring to the first show of the band Television at his club in March 1974, said, "I think of that as the beginning of new wave."^[11] Furthermore, many artists who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed New Wave. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name (New Wave) features US artists including the Dead Boys, Ramones, Talking Heads and The Runaways.^[10]^[12]

Talking Heads set the template for the New Wave sound of this era. This sound represented a break from the smooth-oriented blues and rock & roll sounds of late 1960s to mid 1970s rock music. According to music journalist Simon Reynolds, the music had a twitchy, agitated feel to it. New Wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos. Keyboards were common as were stop-and-start song structures and melodies. Reynolds noted that New Wave vocalists sounded high-pitched, geeky and suburban.^[2]

Power Pop, a genre that started before punk at the very beginning of the 1970s, became associated with New Wave at the end of the decade because their brief catchy songs fit into the mood of the era. The Romantics, The Records, The Motors^[10], Cheap Trick, and 20/20 were groups that had success playing this style.^[13] Helped by the success of the power pop group, The Knack, skinny ties became fashionable among New Wave musicians.^[6]

Later still, "New Wave" came to imply a less noisy, often synthesizer-based, pop sound. The term post-punk was coined to describe the darker, less pop-influenced groups, such as Gang of Four, Joy Division, the Cure, and Siouxsie & the Banshees, some of which did later adopt synths. ^[14]^[15] Although distinct, punk, New Wave, and post-punk all shared common ground: an energetic reaction to the supposedly overproduced, uninspired popular music of the 1970s.^[16]

Allmusic explained that New Wave's stylistic diversity occurred because New Wave "retained the fresh vigor and irreverence of punk music, as well as a fascination with electronics, style, and art". This diversity extended to the numerous one hit wonders that came out of the genre.^[17]^[18]

The term fell out of favour in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s because its usage had become too general.^[10] Conventional wisdom holds that the genre "died" in the middle of the 1980s. Theo Cateforis, Assistant Professor of Music History and Cultures at Syracuse University, contends New Wave "receded" during this period when advances in synthesizer technology caused New Wave groups and mainstream pop and rock groups to sound more alike.^[6]

Reception in The United States

In the summer of 1977 both Time^[19] and Newsweek magazines wrote favorable lead stories on the "punk/new wave"^[17] movement. Rock critics had mixed opinions. Acts associated with the movement received little or no radio airplay or music industry support. Small scenes developed in major cities. Continuing into the next year, public support remained limited to select elements of the artistic, bohemian and intellectual population ^[3] as arena rock and disco dominated the charts.^[18]

Starting in late 1978 and continuing into 1979, acts associated with punk and acts that mixed punk with other genres began to make chart appearances and receive airplay on rock stations. Blondie, Talking Heads, and The Cars would chart during this period.^[6]^[18] My Sharona, a single from the The Knack, was top selling single in 1979. The success of "My Sharona" caused record companies to rush out and sign New Wave groups.^[6] New Wave music scenes developed in Ohio^[18] and Athens, Georgia.^[20] 1980 saw brief forays into New Wave-styled music by non new wave artists Billy Joel and Linda Ronstadt.^[6] The release during this period of Gary Numan's album The Pleasure Principle would be the pop chart breakthrough for gender-bending synthpop acts with a cool, detached stage presence.^[18] Success was short lived as second albums by artists who had successful debut albums, along with the newly signed artists, both failed to sell, forcing radio to pull New Wave programming.^[6]

The arrival of MTV in 1981 would usher in New Wave's most successful era. British artists, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on.^[18]^[21] Several British acts signed to independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American artists that were signed with major labels. Journalists labeled this phenomenon a "Second British Invasion".^[21]^[22] MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by New Wave-oriented acts until 1987, when it changed to a Heavy Metal and rock dominated format.^[23]

14% of teenagers answering a December 1982 Gallup Poll rated New Wave music as their favorite genre, making it the third most popular genre. New Wave had its greatest popularity on the West Coast. Unlike other genres, race was not a factor in the popularity of New Wave music ^[24] By this period the definition of New Wave music in the United States had changed from the less rebellious, more commercial version of punk that it had been described as a few years earlier. For most of the remainder of the 1980s the term "New Wave" was used in America to describe nearly every new pop or pop rock artist that largely used synthesizers. New Wave is still used today to describe these acts, as well as late 1970s and 1980s post punk and alternative acts.^[25]^[26]^[27]

New Wave soundtracks were used in mainstream "Brat Pack" films such as Valley Girl, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink^{[citation needed]}, and The Breakfast Club.^[18] Critics would describe the MTV acts as shallow or vapid,^[18]^[21] but the danceable quality of the music and quirky fashion sense associated with New Wave artists appealed to audiences.^[18] The use of synthesizers by New Wave acts influenced the development of House music in Chicago and Techno in Detroit. New Wave’s indie spirit would be crucial to the development of college rock and grunge/alternative rock in the latter half of the 1980s and beyond.^[18] New Wave is considered part of Alternative Rock today.^[26]

1990s lull, 2000s resurgence

In 1991 Retro futurist acts such as Stereolab and Saint Etienne mixed New Wave and kitschy 1960s pop.^[29] In the aftermath of grunge, the British music press launched a campaign to promote the New Wave of New Wave. This campaign involved overtly punk and New Wave influenced acts such as Elastica and Smash, but was eclipsed by Britpop.^[10] Other acts of note during the 1990s included No Doubt, Six Finger Satellite, and Brainiac.^[30]^[31] During that decade the synthesizer heavy dance sounds English and European New Wave acts influenced various incarnations of Eurodisco and trance.^[18]^[28] Chris Martin was inspired to start Coldplay by a-ha^[32]

In 2009 Indie music acts were regularly citing various 1980s New Wave Acts as their influences.^[28]

Parallel movements

New Wave music

Contents

Overview

Reception in The United States

1990s lull, 2000s resurgence

Parallel movements

See also

References

External links