The New Wave Appreciation Thread

[Boxer Monkey]

I dig what you're saying, man. BUT No Wave was certainly a genre, as was post-punk. To me New Wave was a music that incorporated more pop influence and incorprated synthesizers, was fashion-conscious and an ironic detachment.
Aut, again, I know what you're saying because morons at the time called EVERYTHING New Wave. And, worse that that were the people who called Devo and The B-52's Punk!
I guess post-punk could be used as a cacth-all to describe the post-Pistols era, and Roxy was  the biggest influence on that time, but calling Roxy post-punk when they predated punk itself is pretty damn silly. But it does give a measure of how ahead of their time Roxy was.
Aww hell, the whole thing's foda silly. Forget I said anything. It's all foda rock and roll.

I pretty much exactly agree almost completely with the majority of all of that.

[I. Spaceman]

And the Most Carefully Worded Reserved Praise Award goes to ANDY MONKEY! 

[the captain]

In some aspects, I sort of understand the general concepts of your praise for what appears to be that earlier post, Ian.

[I. Spaceman]

OK, you're second place, Luther.
That is, if you accept the concept of theoretical competition as valid. 

[the captain]

I'm all about theoretical competition. It beats the alternative.

[I. Spaceman]

It beats the alternative.

Theoretically or literally?
Sexually or financially?

[the captain]

Literally. Real competition isn't for me. Too fvcking intimidating. I'm a 'fraidy-cat.

[I. Spaceman]

So I guess I can't expect your presence at the  "Over The Top" 20th Anniversary arm-wrestling Faire I'm organising, eh?

[the captain]

Faire though I may be called, arm-wrestling won't happen.

[Boxer Monkey]

I'll be there with my commemorative Lincoln Hawk leather mug!

Sample dialogue from "Over the Top":

"Ungh!"

"Ungghh!"

"Ergh!"

"Ergghh!"

"Vrrrrrgghhh!!"

"Vmmrrrrrgghhhhahhhhhhhhh .... !"

[rob68]

Flying Lizards  ~  Money   

[Mark A. Moore]

Well, yeah, but the Velvet Underground as an influence on punk or calling them "punk" in the sense that the Stooges or Suicide were "punk" -- I don't have any problem with that. But "New Wave" was never a positive label in the sense that "punk" was. That's my point.

Well, speaking of Punk . . .

The roots of Punk can be traced to Jan & Dean . . . Check out these references, excerpts from an essay written 35 years ago, as Dave Marsh explains the Bonzo Dog Band, Iggy Stooge, Alice Cooper, and Frank Zappa as an extension of Jan & Dean's public persona in the early and mid-'60s.

The analysis is one-sided (not focusing on the music itself) . . . but it's a very important statement . . . especially since it was written so soon (relatively) after Jan & Dean's heyday.

Jan & Dean: The Original Punks

M.

[I. Spaceman]

Absolutely true, in every way, shape and form. J&D INVENTED surf-skate-punk culture, PERIOD!

[LaurieBiagini]

Awesome! 

[al]

You want to know what 'new wave' was? New Wave descibed everyone with a skinny tie and an attempt at a short haircut in the period following the brief rise and fall of punk. It was a way for record companies to sell acts that had cottoned onto the fact that flares and long hair were now passe and that songs should not be 12 minutes long or part of a concept LP. It was Joe Jackson and The Police. The USA quickly realised that this was punk they could package and sell, so you got The Cars and The Knack. If you could play more than 3 chords you were new wave. For the record, Roxy Music were Glam, and follow in a direct line from Lou Reed, David Bowie and King Crimson. Ironically, when they reformed at this time you could barely tell the difference between them and the bands they had influenced. Manifesto is a new wave album right down to Gary Tibbs' skinny tie, but that was just Ferry's postmodernist impulse at work. I STILL don't know where The Teardop Expoldes fit in though, but they were wonderful, and as barmy as Jonathan Richman on a tricycle.

[I. Spaceman]

The Knack was power-pop, as was the entire skinny-tie arsenal.

[Boxer Monkey]

I think a good deal of latter-day power pop, from the Knack to the Shoes to 20/20 would fall under the great and terrible aegis of New Wave, skinny ties and all. (For me, skinny ties themslves are a hallmark of New Wave. And "everybody's cut their hair short/ everybody's got tight pants on.") That's the problem with "New Wave'' as a label, and what I was trying to get at yesterday: "New Wave" didn't really signify anything beyond what Alan says. It was pretty much everything that was Day-Glo rock in popular culture from 1979-82.

[I. Spaceman]

You're right, I just remember the big Power-Pop movement spearheaded by Greg Shaw in Bomp magazine in the late 70's. Dwight Twilley, Shoes, Cheap Trick etc. Then The foda Knack came in from nowhere and ruined the whole thing by pigeonholing it.
That bled into the Paisley Revival thing in LA, as a lot of movers in the Power-Pop thing went straight into The Plimsouls, Rain Parade etc.

[Sir Rob]

'New Wave' was, to my mind, more of an American term reflecting the US musical establishment's horror and incomprehension at punk, particularly of the UK variety.  They seemed to be referring to things like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  'New Wave' was the term that they applied to those 'new' acts deemed musically worthy enough for Rolling Stone magazine to take notice of them.  Even now to me, that paper seems horribly staid and old fashioned.  Roxy Music were definitely not 'new wave'.  They were part of the early 70s UK glam/art rock scene along with people like Bowie which influenced punk, not necessarily in a musical sense - more just because the individuals concerned preferred Bowie, Roxy Music, T Rex et al to prog rockers like Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd etc.

[Old Rake]

They seemed to be referring to things like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

New Wave: Missing Persons. Gary Numan. Not Tom Petty.

[Sir Rob]

They seemed to be referring to things like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

New Wave: Missing Persons. Gary Numan. Not Tom Petty.

I can assure you that in 1977 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were what the moribund old hippies at Rolling Stone considered 'new wave'.  I admit that the term does seem to have a rather flexible meaning.

[mark goddard]

the Best new wave single goes to Bram Tchaikovsky for the song 'Girl of my Dreams "

[GP1138]

I hope nobody was actually knocking Joe Jackson's two "New Wave-ish" albums, Look Sharp! and I'm the Man. Both released in 1979, I really don't know how to categorise them, but I know "New Wave" is one way to describe them.

[dude ll doo]

Right, the term "New Wave" was a more palatable marketing term designed to sell records to people who incorrectly assumed that any music that was new, was "punk". To the FM radio set, currently grooving to Southern Rock and the stagnant classic rock fare, New=punk, and punk=bad.
As a result,many bands like Tom Petty, were incorrectly pigeonholed. No one really complained tho, and why would they?
They were finally getting their sh*t played on the radio.

[al]

I suppose the best example of a 'new wave' band were Talking Heads, who were clearly not punks, but were obviously something new on the block. And they had short hair and skinny ties.....