New wave is a music genre encompassing pop-oriented styles that emerged in the United States and United Kingdom in the mid-to late 1970s. The term was initially synonymous with punk rock but soon branched off into its own distinct style: a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture", in contrast to the more atmospheric sounds of post-punk. Over time, new wave became a catch-all for several musical styles that emerged after the initial popularity of punk rock, such as synth-pop, power pop, and two-tone ska.
New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s to mid-1980s with an abundance of one-hit wonders. In 1981, the MTV channel was launched, which heavily promoted and popularized new wave acts in the United States. Regional new wave scenes developed across Europe, particularly the Netherlands' ultra; Germany's Neue Deutsche Welle; Spain's La Movida Madrileña; France, Poland, and Belgium's coldwave; and Yugoslav new wave. Additionally, the movement inspired subgenres such as minimal wave and darkwave.
By the early 1980s, the original new wave movement was considered over in the UK, being succeeded by the new pop and New Romantic movements. Despite this, the US continued using "new wave" as an umbrella term for these new pop and New Romantic acts, such as on MTV. By the late 1980s, new wave's US popularity declined as other genres gained commercial success, such as glam metal, dance-pop, and alternative rock. In the 1990s and 2000s, new wave experienced brief revivals, labelled the "new wave of new wave" and "new new wave" by the press. The genre influenced later internet microgenres such as bloghouse, new rave, chillwave, synthwave, vaporwave, and devocore.
Etymology and characteristics During the late 1970s and early 1980s, new wave music encompassed a wide variety of pop-oriented styles that shared a quirky, lighthearted, and humorous tone. The term was popularized by Seymour Stein of Sire Records as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock. The phrase also alluded to the French New Wave, a 1960s film movement known for its experimental approach and departure from traditional forms.
Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. According to Simon Reynolds, new wave music had a twitchy, agitated feel. New wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with angular riffs and fast tempos, keyboards, and synthesizers. Stop-start song structures and melodies are common, with the use of jerky rhythms. Reynolds noted new wave vocalists sound high-pitched, geeky, and suburban.Reynolds, Simon Rip It Up and Start Again PostPunk 1978–1984 p.160
In the US, new wave became widely popularized by channels like MTV, which would play British new wave music videos because most American hit records did not have music videos to play. British videos, according to head of S-Curve Records and music producer Steve Greenberg, "were easy to come by since they'd been a staple of UK pop music TV programs like Top of the Pops since the mid-70s". This rise in technology made the visual style of new wave musicians important for their success. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop and rock act, particularly those that employed synthesizers, was tagged as "new wave" by the US general public. The term has been described as so loose and wide-ranging as to be "virtually meaningless", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock.
A nervous, nerdy persona was a common characteristic of new wave fans and new wave acts, such as Talking Heads, Devo, and Elvis Costello. This persona took the forms of robotic dancing, jittery high-pitched vocals, and fashion choices such as suits and big glasses that hid the body. This seemed radical to audiences accustomed to post-counterculture genres such as disco dancing and macho "cock rock" that emphasized a "hang loose" philosophy, open sexuality, and sexual bravado.Bobby Vox: Gorgonen, Hydras & Chimären – Interview with Marquee Moon, E.B. music magazine, issue 3/86, p. 18, May 1986New Life Soundmagazine, issue 38, description of the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, p. 10, November 1988
New wave may be seen as an attempt to reconcile "the energy and rebellious attitude of punk" with traditional forms of pop songwriting, as seen in the rockabilly riffs and classic craftsmanship of Elvis Costello and the 1960s mod influences of the Jam. Paul Weller, who called new wave "the pop music of the Seventies", explained to Chas de Whalley in 1977:
Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself artistic philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by the light strains of 1960s pop while opposed to mainstream "corporate" rock, which they considered creatively stagnant, as well as the generally abrasive and political bents of punk rock. In the early 1980s, particularly in the United States, notable new wave acts embraced a crossover of pop and rock music with African and African-American styles. Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow, both acts with ties to former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, used Burundi-style drumming. Talking Heads' album Remain in Light was marketed and positively reviewed as a breakthrough melding of new wave and African styles, although drummer Chris Frantz said he found out about this supposed African influence after the fact. As the decade continued, new wave elements would be adopted by African-American musicians such as Grace Jones, Janet Jackson, and Prince, who in particular used new wave influences to lay the groundwork for the Minneapolis sound.
History Forerunners The Velvet Underground have been heralded for their influence on new wave. The glam and art rock inspired style of Roxy Music and Sparks were also influential to the genre alongside the works of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Brian Eno. The work of experimental rock artists such as Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, and the Residents, underground psychedelic bands Lothar and the Hand People as well as Germany's krautrock and electronic-based kosmische musik scene, particularly the work of Kraftwerk, have been described as influencing or presaging the movement.
The influence of avant-garde and abstract art movements such as Dada, Cubism and the Bauhaus school would also influence the visual aesthetic and sound of new wave artists, which became contemporaneous with the development of the Memphis Design aesthetic adopted by MTV and many new wave artists during the 1980s. Additionally, Peter Ivers' early output was later recognized as a precursor to new wave with Ivers contributing to the Eraserhead soundtrack and later hosting the influential show New Wave Theatre which helped popularize many early Californian new wave acts.
1970s: Origins and breakthrough
As early as 1973, critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh were using the term "new wave" to classify New York proto-punk groups such as the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls. In the US, many of the first new wave groups were found in the early New York punk scene. Acts such as Milk 'N' Cookies, the Shirts, Mumps, Talking Heads, Mink DeVille, and Blondie drew influences from glam, art rock, and power pop and were primarily associated with the CBGB scene, alongside Devo and Pere Ubu, who emerged out of the early Ohio punk scene, and Ultravox in London. Some influential bands, such as New York's Suicide and Boston's the Modern Lovers debuted even earlier, with drummer David Robinson later joining early new wave band the Cars. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, referring to the first show by Television at his club in March 1974, said; "I think of that as the beginning of new wave".Clinton Heylin, Babylon's Burning (Conongate, 2007), p. 17.
Between 1976 and 1977, the terms "new wave" and "punk" were used somewhat interchangeably. Music historian Vernon Joynson said new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk. That year, the term gained currency when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue, and music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express.Gendron, Bernard (2002). Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press), pp. 269–270. In November 1976, Caroline Coon used the term "new wave" to designate music by bands that were not exactly punk but were related to the punk-music scene.Clinton Heylin, Babylon's Burning (Conongate, 2007), pp. 140, 172. The mid-1970s British pub rock scene became another source of many of the most-commercially-successful new wave acts, such as Ian Dury and Nick Lowe, as well as Ireland's Boomtown Rats.Adams, Bobby. "Nick Lowe: A Candid Interview", Bomp magazine, January 1979, reproduced at . Retrieved 21 January 2007.
In the US, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein, believing the term "punk" would mean poor sales for Sire's acts who had frequently played the New York club CBGB, launched a "Don't Call It Punk" campaign in October 1977 to replace the term with "new wave". At the time, due to the emergence of bands like the Sex Pistols, the media portrayed punk rock as dangerous and violent, leading to a stigma that made punk music "virtually unmarketable". Emerging groups who stemmed from the punk scene began to adopt "new wave" as a way of marketing music that combined the energy and rebellion of punk but was more radio-friendly. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name (New Wave) includes American punk rock bands such as the Dead Boys and Ramones alongside Talking Heads and the Runaways.Savage, Jon. (1991) England's Dreaming, Faber & Faber
The New York Rocker, which was suspicious of the term "punk", had been using the term "new wave" since December 1976 and was the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term, at first for British acts and later for acts associated with the CBGB scene. At first, most American writers used the term "new wave" exclusively in reference to British punk acts.The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition New 3 September 2014 The music's stripped-back style and upbeat tempos attracted Stein and others to new wave. They viewed it as a return to the energetic stylings of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll, which had dwindled in the 1970s with progressive rock and arena rock.Cateforis, Theo. "New Wave". The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press. 2014.
In England, the terms "post-punk" and "new musick" were popularized and coined by Sounds magazine. Music journalists Jane Suck and Jon Savage published editorials in the 26 November 1977 issue of Sounds entitled "New Musick" to describe a strain of bands that were moving past the garage rock conventions of punk rock and incorporating wider influences. The terms "post-punk" and "new wave" were used interchangeably to describe these groups before the genres perceptibly narrowed, as some artists adopted synthesizers. In London, artists such as Ultravox, Elvis Costello and Gary Numan's Tubeway Army later released influential new wave albums during this period. While punk rock wielded a major influence on the popular music scene in the UK, in the US it remained a fixture of the underground.
By the end of 1977, "new wave" had replaced "punk" as the term for new underground music in the UK. In early 1978, XTC released the single "This Is Pop" as a direct response to tags such as "new wave". Songwriter Andy Partridge later stated of bands such as themselves who were given those labels; "Let's be honest about this. This is pop, what we're playing ... don't try to give it any fancy new names, or any words that you've made up, because it's blatantly just pop music. We were a new pop group. That's all."