RMR

Recently, I was driving and the Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls" came on, and I remembered how much I liked the song when it came out. So, I hunted out 6 of my other favorite early to mid 1980's new-wave pop songs. So, I have my list of 7, and I'll post one each day this week in this thread.My picks are more pop oriented new wave, so I'm not including any early 80's Crimson or similar new wave bands (although I really like them), but feel free to add your own picks as well, if you choose.

Monday: Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls"

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RMR
My music reivew site: RMR Music Reviews

RMR

Tuesday: Depeche Mode "Enjoy the Silence"

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Howard the Duck

those are more synth-pop or Anglo-disco than New Wave

New Wave is more like 60s pop with synths and jarring guitars - The Cars, Blondie, Sparks etc

and New Wave intersects with punk

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RMR

Yea, you're probably right (although "anglo-disco" is a new term for me). Some of my picks for the rest of the week might be considered more new wave, but some are 100% synth-pop. I'm going to change the title of the thread slightly to reflect synth pop.

Certainly not my favorite genres of music, but thought I would broaden my horizons a bit this week.

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RMR
My music reivew site: RMR Music Reviews

Unknown Soldier

Now you should know better, Sparks were not new-wave!

New-wave was more or less anything that came out in the 1977-1980 time period that wasn`t traditional rock such as hard rock, soft rock, AOR, prog-rock etc and it wasn`t pop either and it was related to punk in a lot of ways, but was far more melodic than either punk or post-punk (its big creative rival at the time) and some bands had electronic influences and others more diverse influences. New-wave didn`t really have a distinct sound like punk etc they just had more of a feel about them, if you grew up in that era you may know what I`m getting at. The US acts were more zany and diverse whilst the UK acts seemed more focused.

Typical New-Wave bands of the era:
Blondie, Jam, Cars, Talking Heads, Squeeze, XTC, Devo, Television, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, B-52s, the Motels and the Knack, and established artists like The Tubes and Alice Cooper who adopted a more new wave sound. Also there were borderline artists like the Stranglers who had more of a punk image but imo were much more new-wave. Also a lot of art-rock artists were often put in as new-wave or new-wave artists were called art-rock.

Howard the Duck

^^it's said "New Wave" is more of an "era" than a "sub-genre"

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Unknown Soldier

I agree its an era and style rather than a sub-genre, if you include electronica such as Gary Numan under the new-wave moniker then I guess you could include the Sparks who in 1979 and 1980 were completely electronic in sound. I tend to think of new-wave bands as being more guitar driven though or at least making use of a guitar instead of being completely electronic based.

Howard the Duck

before they were called "New Romantics", groups like OMD, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet were piled up in the New Wave grouping

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Unknown Soldier

They were but the grouping was incorrect hence the term "New Romantics" I mean what did Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet have in common with new-wave bands such as the Cars and the Jam?

Bands that fell outside the traditional rock labels, were often classed as punk, post-punk, art rock, new-wave, new romantics and Ska at that time, with one label superseding another. I always think of the late 1970s and early 1980s as probably the most transient era in the history of rock, styles and labels just came and went so quickly. In the end the new-wave label just died out as it had become too general.

RMR

Wednesday: Peter Gabriel "Games Without Frontiers"

Good clarification on musical styles from Il Duce and Unknown Solider. Not sure how my seven picks should all be classified, or maybe they're without classification, but they all have the same "feel" to me. Here's my Wednesday pick for my week of new-wave or synth-pop, whatever you want to call it.

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RMR
My music reivew site: RMR Music Reviews