Does anybody else here feel like there was a big change in new wave around 1983? 1983 is when new wave became popular in a mainstream sense, and became removed from "post-punk" and being more artsy and daring into synthpop, a genre which I like as well, but which was heavily removed from its punk roots. New wave really began in like, 1977, with the beginnings of bands like the Talking Heads and the Cure and Blondie, but about 1983 was when new wave became MTV synthpop with the British Invasion. By the time of 1985, stuff like Simple Minds and Tears for Fears was so removed from the original punk that it arguably could've been when new wave dissolved...some of this was overexposure, but part of it was the move towards newer, darker, less shiny directions by bands like PSB and New Order (dance) and the Smiths (neo-college rock.)

Does anybody else here feel like there was a big change in new wave around 1983? 1983 is when new wave became popular in a mainstream sense, and became removed from "post-punk" and being more artsy and daring into synthpop, a genre which I like as well, but which was heavily removed from its punk roots. New wave really began in like, 1977, with the beginnings of bands like the Talking Heads and the Cure and Blondie, but about 1983 was when new wave became MTV synthpop with the British Invasion. By the time of 1985, stuff like Simple Minds and Tears for Fears was so removed from the original punk that it arguably could've been when new wave dissolved...some of this was overexposure, but part of it was the move towards newer, darker, less shiny directions by bands like PSB and New Order (dance) and the Smiths (neo-college rock.)


Yeah, new wave became a more pop/wave, household thing around the first half of '83. I'd even draw a line with 1982 new wave still possessing some of that punkish attitude (even if the music was totally pop) - say "Words" from Missing Persons.

Yeah, new wave became a more pop/wave, household thing around the first half of '83. I'd even draw a line with 1982 new wave still possessing some of that punkish attitude (even if the music was totally pop) - say "Words" from Missing Persons.


Yeah...new wave was pretty household by 1983, even if it was mostly in the form of stuff like the Thompson Twins, which is a mixture of pop and new wave more than "true new wave" like the Talking Heads. One quote I've heard about new wave is that "it was about aggressively and archly recontextualizing the musical forms of the 1960s and 1970s." Also, even artsier, melodramatic new wave like Tears for Fears was garnering #1 singles...by 1985, new wave was very far from the "experimental" 1979 stuff. Part of it was the British interpretation of new wave-influenced, new romantic pop like ABC coming into the States and changing the perception of new wave.

Synthpop was part of the loose "new wave" spectrum, but it was really more of a revival of innovative '60s radio-friendly pop in many ways with new wave influences. Also, new wave did not have to include synthesizers, whereas synthpop did. Though I think new wave died in 1986 as a genre, it was around in a fragmented, synthpop form after that, mostly through the "clubby" stuff and through the general influence of synthpop on stuff like "The Promise" and "Venus."

I recall New Wave as being the likes of Blondie, The Cars, The Police, Gary Numan, Sniff 'N The Tears, etc. in the late 1970's/early 1980's. Would you include acts such as Quarterflash, The Motels, and Missing Persons in that genre as well?

Bump...

Most musicologists and music historians mark 1983 as the 'death' of true-blue, 'real' 'New Wave', which was hardly synonymous with the glossier, more effects-based pop of the late 80s (the likes of Tears for Fears, Matt Bianco.etc). True New Wave uphead a 'punk with lipstick' aesthetic, and personally, I only consider bands out of the New York scene of the late 70s and early 80s (closely tied with punk and disco) of the likes of the Talking Heads, Blondie.etc.etc as 'true' New Wave. Hence to me, 1983 (when bands like Devo become more 'poppified'') saw the death knell of New Wave.

What we call "New Wave" is actually a combination of several different styles.

First you had the "Post-Punk" movement, with groups like Blondie and Talking Heads.  Then you throw in a few foreign groups like Dexy's Midnight Runners, Flock Of Seagulls, and Duran-Duran.  Mix it well with an Icon of older rock like David Bowie.  The end result is "New Wave".

New Wave was not any one thing.  It was a combination of a bunch of different things all thrown together.

Or as Billy Joel sang in 1980:

It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock & roll to me.
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

However, 1983 is when we first started to get the influx of foreign groups.  Before then, it was almost all DOmestic groups.  Then in late 82-83, we had Flock Of Seagulls, Duran-Duran, Men At Work, Big Country, and a lot of other groups meld into "New Wave".  In fact, to many people the name New Wave actually came to symbolize the influx of foreign music, a modern "British Invasion".  Although this invasion came from other countries, like Germany, Australia, Canada, and even Austria.

Most musicologists and music historians mark 1983 as the 'death' of true-blue, 'real' 'New Wave', which was hardly synonymous with the glossier, more effects-based pop of the late 80s (the likes of Tears for Fears, Matt Bianco.etc). True New Wave uphead a 'punk with lipstick' aesthetic, and personally, I only consider bands out of the New York scene of the late 70s and early 80s (closely tied with punk and disco) of the likes of the Talking Heads, Blondie.etc.etc as 'true' New Wave. Hence to me, 1983 (when bands like Devo become more 'poppified'') saw the death knell of New Wave.


You could say about 1983 was when new wave was replaced with synth pop, though this had been happening since 1982, with the beginnings of the British Invasion. Bands like ABC, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, The Human League, etc. were moreso synthpop than new wave.

The whole "British Invasion" I think began in 1982 and wasn't really, totally concluded until 1986, with the invasion of New Order and the Pet Shop Boys, and the Human League's last hit (if I'm correct, they had the first trans-Atlantic hit with "Don't You Want Me.")

You could say about 1983 was when new wave was replaced with synth pop, though this had been happening since 1982, with the beginnings of the British Invasion. Bands like ABC, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, The Human League, etc. were moreso synthpop than new wave.

The whole "British Invasion" I think began in 1982 and wasn't really, totally concluded until 1986, with the invasion of New Order and the Pet Shop Boys, and the Human League's last hit (if I'm correct, they had the first trans-Atlantic hit with "Don't You Want Me.")


Yeah I agree, bands like ABC, Tears for Fears.etc were not 'New Romantic' nor were they anything like 'New Wave.' I think true Brit new wave bands would include early XTC, The Jam, the Clash (later stuff), the Police, the Specials, the Replacements.etc.

Yeah I agree, bands like ABC, Tears for Fears.etc were not 'New Romantic' nor were they anything like 'New Wave.' I think true Brit new wave bands would include early XTC, The Jam, the Clash (later stuff), the Police, the Specials, the Replacements.etc.


The Replacements were neither British nor new wave. They came from Minneapolis and were early college rock  ;).

I think they were sort of "new romantic", actually. I think they fall in with Spandau Ballet, Ultravox, OMD, and the like. Synth pop is sort of a subgenre of what I'd call new wave/post-punk. The lines between new wave and post-punk were blurred with bands like the Pretenders and the Talking Heads.

Yeah, "Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC is true British new wave/post-punk. So is something like "Killing An Arab" by the Cure.

I actually think a fairly good definition of new wave is what you were, as a rock group or artist, if you were primarily active between 1977-1986 and were not influenced by the first 2/3 of the '70s and the end of the '60s.