I am a avid 80's fan, I was born in the 80's and sadly missed the best decade of them all. But nevertheless the "New Wave shall rise again!" But I was thinking to myself why did New wave have such a distinctive sound? Why at that point in time did some of the best music of the 20th century come? IMO if you look at the divide in the New Wave revolution by far was dominated by the Brits. Duran-Duran, Spandau Ballet, and Depeche Mode. All came out fairly early in the 80's. Unlike the US which had a massive Disco revoultion and then eventual repression of it after the baseball fiasco in 1979. The UK instead of a wave of hedonism in the UK it was a wave of angst. The economic chaos of the UK in the late 70's with the collapse of the "Mixed economy" made bands like the Sex Pistols and other punks bands appeal to a audience that was tired of the early 70's singer and songwriters movement. In the US it was a economic stagnant era as well, but the American people instead of sulking in there economic morass they went out to dance. In 1979 it was a pivetol moment in music history. With the election of a new Conservative leader in the UK (Margaret Thatcher)and in 1980 the election of another neo-conservative (Ronald Raygun)(lol) the American music scene was thrown into a confused state of denial. It wasn;t disco but it sure did sound like it. In the UK there was a new vibrant energy in a time of even worse economic transition. To uplift the naiton we had such good tunes as "this is planet earth, and Paint me donw", but also we had new wave angst bands like U2 which re-defined the political music. From Punk to new wave. The best year for music it seemed was the year that was the worst economicly,and politcally for the UK, 1982. After the 1982 implosion the music of the new wave began to go into a more uplifting mode as the economy did. So what do u think about the origins of the best era in music?
It would be naive to think that the problems plaguing mankind today can be solved with means and methods which were applied or seemed to work in the past. . .
Mikhail Gorbachev, (1988)