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Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:14 pm
by WeLiveSoFastx83
Everyone seems to love the early 80s Numan, but in all honesty I'm pretty much alone when I say I prefer the Berserker and Strange Charm era.

New wave was a constant genre throughout the decade. New wave enthusiasts only seem to entertain late seventies and early eighties new wave. Why is this? Sigue Sigue Sputnik was 1986 on, Silent Circle 1985 on, Belouis Some didn't really make the scene until '85.... Underworld was very late eighties.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 6:10 am
by Qbertqubes
I agree...Pet Shop Boys were 1985 & onward.. 86 & 87 were great years. Many great artists began their career in 1988 or around there.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 6:57 pm
by Spudboy
Because by 1986 or 1987 new trends like House and Hip-Hop had begun, so anything still recognized as New Wave were almost considered nostalgic, or sadly, a parody or pastiche.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 9:22 am
by postpunkmonk
Spudboy wrote:Because by 1986 or 1987 new trends like House and Hip-Hop had begun, so anything still recognized as New Wave were almost considered nostalgic, or sadly, a parody or pastiche.

I'd go so far to say that New Wave was dead by 1984. 1983, when it was called "New Music" in America, was probably its commercial peak.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:27 am
by tha_farfetch
New Wave died in 1984. The music you like or what you consider "late 80s New Wave" is definitely NOT New Wave. It could be Sophisti-Pop, Pop, Dream-Pop or House.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:10 am
by Passing_Stranger
New Wave, if we shall call this movement by this name, simply got assimilated into the mainstream (commercial elements of it) or pushed back underground (all the rest). The term certainly wasn't used since the mid 1980s - I remember my astonishment while reading a late 1986 review of Wang Chung live show in LA where they were crticized for still retaining "punk elements" to their sound and look. Wang Chung - punk?!! But there you go. Sigue Sputnik also proclaimed themselves punk, not "New Wave".

As for synth-based music, it was certainly seen as an acceptable commercial formula (speaking of Europe at large). PSB weren't considered "New Wave". Silent Circle weren't "New Wave" at all, it was just a German take on Italo Disco (I personally like them, but AFOS-imitating haircuts don't constitute "New Wave" :D ). Belouis Some were seen as a dance act - and so on.

In fact, from what I've read, the music that had some sort of legacy from "New Wave" era, disperced into dance (more synth-based acts) and "modern/alternative rock" (guitar-centric) scenes. I have a feeling that "New Wave" as we use it is a later, retroactive all-encompassing term from the 1990s - but even that is sometimes stretched to 1986, but not much later. So no point describing late 1980s music as "New Wave".

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 2:44 pm
by WeLiveSoFastx83
So, if new wave died in 1984, that means

Pet Shop Boys - Actually
Human League - Crash
Ultravox - U-VOX
Blancmange - Believe You Me
New Order - Brotherhood
Vicious Pink - Vicious Pink
Propaganda - A Secret Wish
The Cure - The Head on the Door
Depeche Mode - Black Celebration

are not new wave?

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 4:06 pm
by tha_farfetch
WeLiveSoFastx83 wrote:So, if new wave died in 1984, that means

Pet Shop Boys - Actually
Human League - Crash
Ultravox - U-VOX
Blancmange - Believe You Me
New Order - Brotherhood
Vicious Pink - Vicious Pink
Propaganda - A Secret Wish
The Cure - The Head on the Door
Depeche Mode - Black Celebration

are not new wave?


Pet Shop Boys, New Order, The Cure are not New Wave.

Only the first album: Speak & Spell by Depeche Mode was New Wave.

All the rest artists can be considered as New Wave, that's why by 1984, they were slowly fading away.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 7:45 pm
by MarcD
tha_farfetch wrote:
Pet Shop Boys, New Order, The Cure are not New Wave.


Silliness.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:51 pm
by bpdp3
For me, new wave's "heyday" was over by '82.... note that l DID NOT SAY that it was gone by then!! But if you have music magazines from that era, which I kept stacks, "New Wave" was only used as a marketing strategy in 79-81. You don't really see the phrase used much after that...they didn't use it on early MTV when discussing a flock of seagulls or haircut 100.

But who's to say if we're wrong or right to call later 80s stuff new wave? Who cares?

So what we are considering 'later new-wave artists' just don't get the love in new wave retrospectives because they just weren't around in the 'glory days'...although most of us will acknowledge that worthy additions were made in the 85-87 era. You just won't hear those acts/albums universally hailed as new wave classics.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 5:20 am
by MarcD
New wave is a sound not just a time period. It's not an exclusive club, it's a musical esthetic, style, and attitude.

The idea that new wave music ceased to be made after 1982 (or any cut-off date) is ridiculous.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:20 pm
by Rubellan
New Wave was all but gone by 1985, being replaced by the general Alt Rock moniker, and the music was no longer as interesting. Some great albums came out but things were more dancey than quirky. The first half of the decade was magic, the second was considerably less interesting.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 6:32 am
by postpunkmonk
Rubellan wrote:New Wave was all but gone by 1985, being replaced by the general Alt Rock moniker, and the music was no longer as interesting. Some great albums came out but things were more dancey than quirky. The first half of the decade was magic, the second was considerably less interesting.

That's putting it mildly. The second half of the decade was dominated by the arrival of "dull, soulless daaaaance music." And that continued throughout the 90s, unless you were thrilled by grunge rock; a retreat to the most retrograde 70s hard rock sound imaginable by sensitive heroin addicts.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 11:36 am
by Michael Bully
In Britain New Wave went into different directions around 1985-6 with the rise of Indie rock, Indie pop, Goth, and others. I can't recall people using the description by 'New Wave' any longer. Dance music obviously had a huge impact at the end of the 1980's and for a lot of the 1990's.
But there were artists such as The Cure, Siouxsie and Banshees, Elvis Costello, New Order, The Fall, amongst them, who had their roots in New Wave and were clearly still flourishing. There were also groups such as Big Country and Simple Minds whose members had been in punk bands in the late 1970's but were getting more success a few years later.
So I am not sure about being frowned upon , unless just like any other genre, other music and attitudes emerged to take the place of New Wave. Which was bound to happen.

Re: Why does it seem late 80s new wave is so frowned upon?

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 5:27 pm
by FreeWave
tha_farfetch wrote:New Wave died in 1984. The music you like or what you consider "late 80s New Wave" is definitely NOT New Wave. It could be Sophisti-Pop, Pop, Dream-Pop or House.

postpunkmonk wrote:
Rubellan wrote:New Wave was all but gone by 1985, being replaced by the general Alt Rock moniker, and the music was no longer as interesting. Some great albums came out but things were more dancey than quirky. The first half of the decade was magic, the second was considerably less interesting.

That's putting it mildly. The second half of the decade was dominated by the arrival of "dull, soulless daaaaance music." And that continued throughout the 90s, unless you were thrilled by grunge rock; a retreat to the most retrograde 70s hard rock sound imaginable by sensitive heroin addicts.



I'd have to mostly agree with this. Only a few key songs by 84 and 85. there was a flurry by 1983 but a steep decline after. Pet Shop Boys and bands like The Smiths really offered a new shift.

No One lives forever. Not even New Wave.