When could you feel...

[Frau_Blucher]

...that New Wave was ending. I think for me it was around 1985, about my junior year in college. I'd go to these parties and clubs where break-dancing was starting to bust out. For lilly-white Irvine CA it was a great bit of diversity to have a crowd of asians, hispanics, and african-american's come to these parties (yes, that was a novelty there), but I could feel that New Wave wasn't all shiny and new any more and that I was somewhat on the outside looking in. This wasn't a bad thing mind you...it was good to have my "alternative" music start being alternative again.

[Frau_Blucher]

Duh, by the way, that was around '85-'86.

[Bob-O]

I would agree... about 85-86. Once electronic-based music started becoming the norm instead of the novelty. Rap, pop, and even country started using synthesizers in non-organic ways (ie not trying to emulate acoustic instruments).

[Plata66]

For me it was in 86'.New wave was always something that was true "alternative" and the true new wave rareley had regular time airplay.Sure there was plenty of alternative shows but was really "off the beaten path".I think I heard the last shoe drop at a D

[MikeP]

'86 fer sure when I graduated from high school. I could already feel the changes. I spent my first year of college at USC in L.A., where I got to listen to KROQ when it was still decent, and you still heard tons of new wave (Depeche Mode, Smiths, Echo & t

[unguarded moment]

TRUE STORY:
I met my wife-to-be in early '87. This happened to coinside with the winding down of the new wave era, & also marked an end to my new wave "club hopping" with the buddies.
However, The real eerie clincher for me came in late '87.

[1981baby]

dear blaster,

however, didn't this in reality not happen to WLIR?
they somehow managed to retain control of the frequency,
but the owners had to change the station name to WDRE for
a couple of years, then by the early 1990s had returned to
the for

[unguarded moment]

Actually, The "original" WLIR never came back.
The New Owners of 92.7 camein a couple of months later with call letters WDRE, & eventually tried to keep a very similar format.
After years of being WDRE, they applied to the FCC to regain the origin

[Momotaro]

It's so interesting that everyone feels the same way, as I felt it around '85 -'86 as well. Probably alot of it has to do with what your perception of new wave is; I always consider the heyday of it from say 79-82, just looking back at the dates on some o

[1981baby]

blaster---

right you set it straight, the ownership of WLIR
changed hands, and that was perhaps the only reason
the station survived as long as it did, still going
strong today. they're still playing new modern rock
and new music but I have not be

[unguarded moment]

Here's another few thoughts on the subject....

1 - For whatever it's worth, I don't remember back in 83 having, like 47 different "category names" for new wave type music.
Today, A teenager that hears an 80's song says stuff like..." Oh, that's T

[1981baby]

blaster....

good post. I think I mentioned something like that,
regarding not having these splinter group labels for music
in the early 80s anyway, or even the late 1970s. When I was
buying Blondie's albums or Cheap Trick or even Pink Floyd The
W

[unguarded moment]

.... I Knew someone Back in '81/82 (age 21-22 ) that was so into "underground" music that he considered virtually ANY song that made it to any Radio station that played commercials as "beneath him".
He would listen to, like 1 DJ that was on a low-powe

[retroman]

1986 for sure. In '85 there was still Tears For Fears, Echo and The Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, and Simple Minds, just to mention a few, to headline. However, when Duran Duran broke up, U2 and Peter Gabriel took over. Away went style and in came a differ

[1981baby]

"I remember complaining to friends, back when a new wave song would become a hit, "Hey, This song is now # 7 on the Billboard top 10, & there still isn't any major NYC station that plays it"...
I Think the Term "Classic Rock" actually was born at that ti