Page 1 of 1

What's your definition of "New Wave"?

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 3:20 pm
by MissingPersons
I have seen many artists being branded as New Wave, even Bruce Springsteen during the mid-80s, to the point it became more like a generic term. Also I have noticed many Synth-Pop artists are also branded as New Wave, but I think that's wrong.

I would say New Wave is mostly a genre of short-length (usually between 2:30-3:30) and bass-driven songs with a Pop appeal. The perfect examples of New Wave artists are Squeeze, The Vapors or XTC.

Re: What's your definition of "New Wave"?

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:11 pm
by swerve
About as good a definition as you're going to find >>> http://www.allmusic.com/style/new-wave-ma0000002750

Re: What's your definition of "New Wave"?

PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:20 pm
by telekon3
What people tend to forget is most of the time a music genre is a journalistic phrase and/or a term used by the music business as a marketing tool.To reprint an earlier post:

"Back in the late 70's the record companies and the bands themselves were guilty of falsely marketing Power Pop as New Wave. I hated Power Pop until about 10 years ago, because I felt duped by the record companies and the bands. Back in the late 70's, except for used record stores, the mall record stores sold albums that were sealed in plastic and if the record wasn't being played on the radio you had nothing to go by except the artwork and photos on the album cover. These Power Pop albums were fashioned with a strong New Wave look and style when most of these bands were merely Pub Rock, Glitter, Power Pop, or Garage Rock bands. Bands like Cheap Trick & Tom Petty were being labelled as "New Wave". Some of these bands received some popularity by the middle of the road music listeners that thought real New Wave like, Ultravox and Gary Numan were just too weird. Power Pop bridged the gap and transition from Rock to New Wave for most of America."

"New Wave" is really just a term that was invented to categorize newer artists that came along in a time period different to the standard sub-genres of rock and pop that had already dominated the music business. (Similar to terms Alternative or Indie of the last couple decades) Also during the New Wave era, genre terms would evolve into different terms for the same musical style. i.e. Euro-disco to Techno-pop to Synth-pop.

"A New Wave of Rock & Roll Music"

Genre: New Wave

Sub-Genres:

New Romantic
Techno-Pop
Post-Punk
Synth-Pop
Guitar-Pop
Futurist
British-Pop
Early Punk
Minimal Synth
Italo-Disco
Jangle-pop
Euro-Disco
Power-Pop
Paisley Underground
2nd Wave Ska
Coldwave
Goth
Early Industrial
EBM
80's Mod
Alternative
80's Rockabilly
Sophisti-Pop

Re: What's your definition of "New Wave"?

PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:09 am
by Jim2
This topic was discussed before and will certainly be again in the future.

Here's one from July of 2011: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31270

If you're confused by Bruce Springsteen, try Peter Gabriel

Re: What's your definition of "New Wave"?

PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 12:24 am
by MissingPersons
Jim2 wrote:This topic was discussed before and will certainly be again in the future.

Here's one from July of 2011: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31270

If you're confused by Bruce Springsteen, try Peter Gabriel


I think the only Peter Gabriel album, that's defined as "New Wave" is "3".