New Wave in America vs. NW in Europe

[Go-Between]

First let me thank for all the songs of the week, some i knew, many i did not, but i liked most of them.
While searching the net for 80s songs and New Wave artists i see a lot of american and canadian bands that would not really have counted as new wave back then (especially the Hooters post in this forum made me wonder again, no insult).
This reminds me of the strange decors of american teenagers rooms in that periods movies like Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink (nice one though!), always decorated with large posters of often british bands that should be pushed into the mass market.
In Europe at least in the early 80s NW was the tag for alternative (then = underground) bands on indie labels playing "difficult" music, later it got watered down, maybe because first and second generation bands got record deals with big companies, mostly losing something by the way, either the fans or the quality, often both. The original fans went away when the music became more widely available. It had a lot to do with "i was a punk before you were a punk".
Unfortunately (at least in Germany) there was no college radio and the really interesting music was only played very rarely on the radio. In Germany only SOUNDS (until 82) and SPEX were music magazines dealing with new music. The "original" NW was over by 84/85, German NDW even died a year or two earlier when there was a massive overload on crap bands pushed by the industry while the originators went on to become more obscure or started working in PR or IT.
This post somehow wanders away...
What do you count as the top american (or other) New Wave bands? And please post your age, because i would like to know what the old guys like me prefer from the time and what young people of today know or like about NEW WAVE.
I'm 38, from Germany and was hooked on the New Wave in 79 by accidentally listening to THE one radio show for that music : John Peel's Music on BFBS (british forces radio), then my weekly fix, as well as fixture.
Best wishes to everyone
Jörg
I have a pretty large record collection from that time but unfortunately not the time to digitalise them.

Life is hard, ...and then you die.

[MikeP]

Thanks for taking the time to open up a discussion about this topic. I think it's interesting how new wave was perceived in different parts of the world. I'm curious what the top Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, "German new wave") bands were as well -- which art

[hm3093]

Funny ... when I think of new wave, I think of bands with an obvious UK accent.<p>

In the late 70's, in my neighborhood, it was either disco or heavy Led Zep imatators. Ok, that's a little harsh, but new wave was quicker, lighter, more fun ... but at t

[fritzb]

In defense of my Hooters post, I would certainly agree that their later material isn't what any of us would consider New Wave. But before The Hooters signed with Columbia Records in 1984, they were a Ska club band and actually did Reggae covers at their

[Jimbo]

1st... thanks to those who run this site. I have been checking in off an on for a little while.

I first started listening to New Wave i guess on college radio in Tampa, FL, circa 1980? I mean I had already heard stuff like Boomtown Rats, Blondie, etc.

[Go-Between]

I am far from being fanatic or a die-hard fan but i was delighted of hearing The Hooters did ska covers, i only knew All You Zombies mid-Eighties and what followed in Europe. On the other hand we have to ask why they quit doing those ?
Devo, TH, Blondie,

[fritzb]

Why did The Hooters stop doing Ska?

Well, my guess is because of pressure from Columbia Records, an attempt to be more mainstream, and the inevitable musical evolution that all groups go through. Remember most of the ska bands of the early 80s had f

[fliegenklatscher]

I was in New York in the early 80s and California in the mid 80s. Most of what I consider New Wave was by British bands. Especially if you throw the ska bands in. (Madness, The Specials, The Selecter, Bad Manners, etc.). For US bands I would include Devo,

[Plata66]

MY first Post I'm glad I found this site!!!
In my local (The Quad Cities Illinois) you really couldn't distinguish between USA & Euro unless you could detect an accent or got to peek at the liner notes.We only had 1 AOR station that would dare to play re

[retroman]

Hi guy. I thought my sense of humour was dry. Life is tough and then you die? A-ha, a-ha, a-ha. Anyway, in Canada we have Spoons, Blue Peter, Trans-X, Men Without Hats, and Martha and The Muffins to name a few. My guess is that Elvis Costello brought the

[Tomb]

Firstly, grat site - I have been linking to it for a while but have not really visited it to my shame....

New Wave here in the UK was the term given to bands that followed punk in 1978-79 - most were pretty dreadful! Some were good such as The Skids an

[Go-Between]

Hi retroman,
except from Spoons, Blue Peter I know the bands as diverse as they are.
I have a special rememberance with Men Without Hats; in 86 I backpacked through Europe with a friend. We stayed with people in Sagres, Portugal and every breakfast we

[XTC]

Believe it or not Seattle never really had a REAL GOOD scene OK but not like LA or New York....Most folk that I would meet up with in even the most hip of places still had NO idea who TOYAH, JAPAN or Steve Strange was.

XTC was barley on the list at all

[stillcool]

i think it was in 1993 or thereabouts that a friend of my mom's made me a mix tape including artists such as depeche mode, joy division, echo and the bunnymen and new order. (interestingly enough, he also added ministry, of all things.)

at age 13 in a

[British]

Martha and The Muffins

I thought I was the luckiest man in the world when I got a CD compilation of them. Mind you, they really should have included "Casualties of Glass", and I would have loved to get everything else pre-M+M(wo