Just out of curiosity, what kind of bands/singers/songs would fall under this category/style of sound? Personally, I thought New Wave was something like Suicide, Einsturzende Neubauten, Kraftwerk, The Normal, Joy Division (a few of their songs), Throbbing Gristle, Current 93, and Laurie Anderson (you know, the stuff most people find hard to sit down and listen to). But most "new wave" comps have bands like The Bangles, A Flock Of Seagulls, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, New Order, Spandau Ballet, Japan, and The Go-Gos - all these bands should fall under a banner other than New Wave - perhaps New Romantic and (just plain) Rock. New Wave is actually defined in most comprehensive dictionaries and it does fit the former list of bands/singers. There isn't a definition for New Romantic (yet), but most of us would agree that New Wave has been applied far too liberally to too many bands from the 80s (even though it's a musical movement borne out of the ashes of punk in the late 70s). New Romantic seems like an extension of Disco music: I mean, I can actually picture ABBA and KC and the Sunshine Band putting forth music alongside the likes of ABC and Tin Tin, and Soft Cell and The Flying Lizards could be made to be 70s Disco bands with a little remastering...

Just wondering.

Tarzan Boy

I think some of the confusion lies in the sound of the music. Nowadays, when people talk of music by bands like Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, ABC, and similar bands, they consider them New Romantic. If I remember correctly, this bands were initially termed New Wave. Primarily the reason behind this lies within the strong shift in music (specifically, I'm refering to what's was popular in the US) during the early 1980s. Because of changes in radio formats, lots of bands had problems get onto US airwaves. Thanks to MTV, and occasional djs who fought the formatting, bands like the Police, Duran Duran, Devo, and others were able to break into the US mainstream--basically a "new wave" of music, primarily from Europe, made the move into US airwaves, and were hence termed New Wave.

Jack

I don't have a definition, but an example.

In the 90s, anything that didn't fit into the current Pop (New Kids.., Madonna, Michael Jackson), Rock (Def Leppard, Poison), or Heavy Metal (Metallica, Megadeth) categories became Grunge. Then, in the mid- to late-90s, some Grunge bands were moved to Rock or Heavy Metal and the rest, along with the 'new' stuff that didn't fit, became Alternative. It seemed that EVERYthing new was from an Alternative band/performer.

But, then again that always happens. EVERYTHING must fall into a category. And if Band X LOOKS like Band Y and Band Y SOUNDS like Band Q, then all 3 must be in the same category.

In other words, use your OWN definition for New Wave, and always look before you by "The Industry's" New Wave.

There, I was of no help. My job is done.

>;-P

I always considered anything with Synthesizers to be New Wave. Synthpop is a type of New Wave.
Many of the bands you mentioned first I would consider to be Industrial.

basically you're right. most new wave did include synthesizers. some bands concidered new wave are duran duran, depeche mode, the cure, the police, go-go's, bangels, missing persons, dead or alive, cyndi lauper.....etc. >but some of these bands are considered other things too. putting music into catagories is confusing, if it sounds good, listen to it.:)

: if it sounds good, listen to it.:)

Amen!!!!