I sort of see all the futurism and obsessive device-buying going on now as a throwback to the '80s, and just the general fascination with things being machine-like and futuristic. Also, all the metrosexuality seems sort of '80s and taken out of new wave.

New Wave is extremely metro.  Look at Gary Numan or Phil Oakey and you'll see what I mean.

New Wave is extremely metro.  Look at Gary Numan or Phil Oakey and you'll see what I mean.

Fashion-wise, yes:  On the surface, it's pretty much self-evident.  We're talking about clean-cut males who are dressed/groomed into a very antiseptic look.  No facial hair, no "rebel" image, no wrinkled shirts, the most business-friendly look that you could possibly imagine.

Mentality-wise, no:  I enjoyed both metal and new wave as a child of the 80s, but in my heart, I was a waver.  I can say from personal experience that my metal-brain liked hot chicks and fast cars, but my waver-brain knew that life was about more than that.  Life?  Life!  Life was about the advancement of humanity through the eradication of emotion and the relentless pursuit of technological advancement, regardless of the social cost.

A Metrosexual shaves his face and dresses well to attract chicks.

An 80s new-wave-fan (in my case, a fanatic of Devo) shaves his face, wears a yellow bodysuit, a set of goggles, and a  a flowerpot on his head, because looking like a dork is OK as long as it shields you from the fallout.  Who cares about getting laid, as long as you survive WW3, and there are cool electronic toys to keep you occupied while the world burns around you?

"It's a beautiful world / for you / for you / for you / not me.  It's a beautiful world / for you / for you / it's not for me." 
- Devo.

Whether you interpret that last line as "It's not a beautiful world, but not by my standards ('It's not, for me')" or "It's a beautiful world, but it's not to my taste. ('It's not for me')"

Although the placement of the comma is critical, it's also deliberately ambiguous.  Neither sentiment is the kind of thing that a metrosexual would be caught dead thinking, let alone singing.

Further elucidation may be had from Devo, "Freedom of Choice".  (aka, "Freedom from choice").

Fashion-wise - I'll take Kraftwer, over Devo.  Take it from me and my fellow 80s geeks.  The guys from Kraftwerk may have dressed like metros - but they (we, even though we didn't know we were doing it, we knew why!) did it to repel women, not to attract them.  Any chick who couldn't put up with our geekiness wasn't worth talking to.  Any chick who could put up with our geekiness was one of us on her own merit -- and at the time, being able to talk tech with someone trumped any sexual interest we may have had in her, or any she had in us.  Regardless of your genital configuration, it was a good time to be a turbo nerd.