New Wave music

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The New Wave is a movement in American and British popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City musical scene centred around the club CBGB.

The term itself is a source of much confusion. Originally, the term "new wave" was interchangeable with punk rock though they quickly diverged into two different, though related forms. The term was then applied indiscriminately to any of the bands that followed in punk's wake without relying on punk's faster, harder and louder ethos; throwing together many different musical styles and attitudes. Eventually, New Wave came to imply a less noisy, poppier sound, while the term post punk was coined to describe the artier, less pop influenced groups. Although distinct, punk, new wave and post punk all shared common ground, as an energetic reaction to overproduced, uninspired popular music of the 1970s; and many groups fit easily into two or all three of the categories over their lifespan.

New wave is also commonly used to describe the style and fashion associated with new wave music (which may otherwise only be labeled "80s"). Examples include hairstyles of the band A Flock of Seagulls and Elvis Costello's bi-colored glasses poster.

See also: synth pop

New Wave bands and artists

• ABC
• Adam Ant
• A Flock of Seagulls
• Altered Images
• Alphaville
• Anne Clark
• Aztec Camera
• The B-52's
• Bananarama
• The Bangles
• Berlin
• Big Country
• Black Tape for a Blue Girl
• Blancmange
• Blondie
• Bow Wow Wow
• Bronski Beat
• The Buggles
• Camper Van Beethoven
• The Cars
• Cheap Trick
• Communards
• Cruexshadows
• Culture Club
• The Cure
• Cyndi Lauper
• Dave Edmunds
• David Arkenstone
• The dB's
• Dead or Alive
• Depeche Mode
• Dexy's Midnight Runners
• Devo
• Duran Duran
• The English Beat
• Elvis Costello
• Erasure
• Eurythmics
• Falco
• Fine Young Cannibals
• The Fixx
• The Flying Lizards
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• Gang of Four
• Gary Numan
• General Public
• The Go-Gos
• Graham Parker
• Haircut 100
• Hall & Oates
• Heaven 17
• Human League
• Human Sexual Response
• Ian Dury
• INXS
• The Jam
• Joe Jackson
• Joy Division
• Kajagoogoo
• Kate Bush
• King Bees
• The Knack
• Kraftwerk
• Lene Lovich
• Let's Active
• Level 42
• M
• Madness
• Marc Almond
• Marshall Crenshaw
• Martha and the Muffins
• Men at Work
• Men Without Hats
• Mike Oldfield
• Missing Persons
• Modern English
• The Modern Lovers
• The Motels
• Nick Lowe
• Nik Kershaw
• New Order
• Oingo Boingo
• The Only Ones
• Orange Juice
• Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
• Pet Shop Boys
• The Plimsouls
• The Police
• The Pretenders
• The Psychedelic Furs
• The Ramones
• Real Life
• R.E.M
• Rockpile
• The Romantics
• Romeo Void
• Shriekback
• Sigue Sigue Sputnik
• Simple Minds
• Soft Cell
• Spandau Ballet
• The Specials
• Split Enz
• The Spoons
• Squeeze
• Strange Advance
• The Stranglers
• The Stray Cats
• Talking heads
• Talk Talk
• Tears for Fears
• Television
• The The
• Thomas Dolby
• Thompson Twins
• Til Tuesday
• Tom Tom Club
• Toni Basil
• Trio
• Ultravox
• Violent Femmes
• Wall of Voodoo
• Wang Chung
• White Town
• XTC
• Yazoo
• Yello

New Wave Styles

• New Romantic
• Synth pop
• Two-Tone ska revival
• power pop
• Mod Revival
• 1980s Electronic music
• Rockabilly revival

Punk rock | Punk genres
Anarcho-punk - Gothic rock - Hardcore - Horror punk - New Wave - Oi - Pop punk - Post punk - Riot Grrl
Anti-folk - Death rock - Psychobilly - Two Tone
Other topics
DIY - Punk pioneers - First wave - Second wave - Punk cities - Punk movies

Alternative music | Subgenres
Britpop - College rock - Dream pop - Gothic rock - Grunge - Indie rock - Jam band - Madchester - New Wave - Shoegazing - Twee
Bands