Being New Wave in a Small Town

[pikeprof]

I posted this as part of another thread-but I was listening to and being "new wave" in a small town that didn't have a plethora of bands-clubs-zines-what have you-

Most of my college classmates were stuck in the REO-Styx-Journey nexus of rock at that time.

We had one bar that played the music, a college radio station (where I was a deejay for many years)and a record store that was run by the same weird, friendly, gay man that owned the club (Most of the guys I ran into who were "new wave" were gay-I was about the only hetero male in our scene-but that meant there were lonely women around too!!).There was new wave on cable TV also

I realize people's defs of "new wave" are different, I was into the punk-power pop side of things-my fave raves were Ramones, Jam, Undertones, Fleshtones, Gang of Four-Clash, Plimouls-probably the most "mainstream" band I liked was the Police and later REM.

So, how did the "wavers" oustide the big cities do it. How did yo "get along" in the heartland-I'd particularly like to hear the stories of Midwest new wave fans.

--Jon R. Pike--

[bpdp3]

I did a topic like this awhile ago but can't remember it exactly - -

Anyway...I too was in a small town with no new wave radio or clubs. I relied largely on reviews in Trouser Press and early 80's Creem. Rarely was I disappointed. I kept all those mags, by the way, and still go through them now and then.

As a vinyl geek I now find myself going through the racks looking for titles that I remember from those days, or just couldn't afford at the time.

Undoubtedly, not having easy-access made the pursuit itself quite fun; it certainly heightened my love of the music. It's probably why I still dote on it today.....

[buffalochipz]

I got a big-ass rotateable FM antenna to pull in some decent radio stations--most notably the CBC from Windsor, Ontario. Even though it was about 150 miles to the north it came pretty good late at night when the seminal "Brave New Waves" came on. Also WRIF-Detroit had a "new music" show on late Sunday nights. I specifically remember hearing Nik Kershaw for the first time and "Happy Boy" from the Beat Farmers on that show. I also hung out a lot at the VERY short lived record store Screaming Thumb in Celina, Ohio. First purchases: cassettes from Kate Bush, Dead Kennedys and the Tubes and a Killdozer tee shirt. An excellent store in retrospect. How "hip" was the area I grew up in? Let's just say that our class song was Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" which was not only dreadful but a good 10 years old by the time the geniuses in our class of 1988 picked it.

[oneno]

I being from a very small midwestern town here in Illinois as well, had to venture into The Quad Cities (Where I live now) or Chicago to do my music shopping. The only stations that played any new wave was a small FM station in Muscatine Iowa (KFMH 99.7)that played OTBT "Off the beaten track" and spun the likes of the Hawaiian pups,Wall of Voodoo etc...and a college station that played a Jack Schrage show and Music from the hearts of space.CO-OP tapes and records was our main local music connection and sold bongs, pipes etc. as well. ahh nostalgia

[Ophidian]

[quote][i]Originally posted by oneno[/i]
<br>I being from a very small midwestern town here in Illinois as well, had to venture into The Quad Cities (Where I live now) or Chicago to do my music shopping. The only stations that played any new wave was a small FM station in Muscatine Iowa (KFMH 99.7)that played OTBT "Off the beaten track" and spun the likes of the Hawaiian pups,Wall of Voodoo etc...and a college station that played a Jack Schrage show and Music from the hearts of space.CO-OP tapes and records was our main local music connection and sold bongs, pipes etc. as well. ahh nostalgia
[/quote]
KFMH was hardly a small station at 100,000 watts of "pure acoustic power." They were one of the most influential stations in the area, and since their last broadcast in 1992, 13+ years later they still have a devout following since "Captain" Steve went on to DJ at KCJJ Iowa City.

[Moparmark]

Being from a small Canadian city(around 65,000 in 1980) we had no punk/new wave scene.Occasionaly one of the strip bars would have a punk night only to have a dismal turn out.I remember seeing one of the countrys bigger punk acts(the Demics)in Dec 80 in a local bar to about twenty people.As for the radio,the same plethora of Segar,Styx,Stones,Boston etc.If it wasn,t for Blondie,Cars,Police being international stars they also would have had limited play in Smalltownville Canada.I do for some reason remember the Vapours hit Turning Japanese getting alot of airplay.Any minor new wave scene we had was soon forgotten as hair metal took hold.

[Ape Module]

Good thread! Man, I know all about this. I did my undergraduate work at a small university in a small town in Oklahoma and had to listen to tons of horrid FM radio shite from the 80s.

People in my wing of the dorms used to jam crap like Journey and REO and bad hair metal SO LOUD.

I generally hate it when people jam music so that everyone can't avoid being exposed to it, and thus I usually don't do that.

But when I got subjected to some fratboy jock type playing this crap, I'd go to my room, aim my very large speakers right at the door and blast everyone's head off with something like "Never Understand" or "you Trip Me Up" by the Jesus and Mary Chain or some noisier stuff like Throbbing Gristle or Birthday Party until people on the floor BEGGED me to stop and swore they'd knock it off.

(I also used a lot of old hardcore for these situations...Crass, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, The Crucifucks, etc.)

Oh! (hahaha)-- on a related note I remember once playing an early Butthole Surfers album at a decent volume and had my door open because I was getting ready to take off. This small town girl stopped by my door and had this stricken look on her face. She asked me "Is...uh...is this music [b]LEGAL[/b]?"

[:o)]

[KYYX4ever]

Most of my teen years were near Seattle, but in the middle of my Senior year of HS, I had to move to a tiny town (16,000) in Alaska, and then I immediately trundled off to University of Alaska-Fairbanks. This (being away from all that delicious new wave and culture, not UAF) SUCKED. I often wonder how things might have been different had I continued living near Seattle, or another huge city, and how that would have influenced my own leanings. There was NOTHING--I mean NOTHING--in Alaska for new wave and punk. Well, a local punk band or 2, that had like 10 fans. Even the college radio stations didn't even play new wave, punk, or "alternative". It totally sucked.
But as buffalochipz said:
[i]Undoubtedly, not having easy-access made the pursuit itself quite fun; it certainly heightened my love of the music. It's probably why I still dote on it today.....[/i]
I think that's completely true. Everything became hard to find, and that made me love it even more.

[birdmadgirl]

I lived in a small town and I was young in the 80s (born in 1974--no clubbing for me), so I'm surprised I didn't miss the New Wave thing completely.

The two things that saved me: 1. A radio station out of Amarillo, Texas, played the mainstream New Wave music (Duran Duran, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, etc.). 2. We got that video show, Night Tracks, on TBS. (Didn't get MTV until 1991--and it was caca by then, anyway). Night Tracks still played mostly mainstream New Wave, but it did open some doors to me that the radio did not. We also got Friday Night Videos, but it paled in comparison to Night Tracks, IMO.

Now that I have the Internet, I'm going back and leaning about all these bands I never knew existed. So, while I'm sorry to have missed it the first time around, it's cool, too. While people like my husband gripe that there is no new music worth listening to, I'm finding "new" stuff all the time.

[kola]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Ape Module[/i]But when I got subjected to some fratboy jock type playing this crap, I'd go to my room, aim my very large speakers right at the door and blast everyone's head off with something like "Never Understand" or "you Trip Me Up" by the Jesus and Mary Chain or some noisier stuff like Throbbing Gristle or Birthday Party until people on the floor BEGGED me to stop and swore they'd knock it off.[/quote]

i did exactly the samething!
i worked as a youth worker andwas blasting some "upside down" on a pa system in the building where we worked - ony to have an outraged metal fan rip the single off the record player... but the got the message...
i was forced to hang around with psychobillies in my small town, depsite not being at all into their music - they were good fun to hang with though...

[WolverineSyr]

[quote][i]Originally posted by birdmadgirl[/i]
While people like my husband gripe that there is no new music worth listening to, I'm finding "new" stuff all the time.
[/quote]

Me too - since coming here I cannot believe all the incredible music that passed me by when it was new.

I don't think that Syracuse is necessarily a small town - but we were dominated by AOR radio, so new wave & punk were fairly non-existant. We did have a college station, but I recall tuning in only to find avante garde jazz or "Fish Heads" type of "experimental" music. There was an AOR station out of Utica that played some new wave & punk - but not exclusively.

My exposure pre-1980 was through the Midnight Special, Saturday Night Live and other shows on TV. I also read Creem & Trouser Press magazines & would hear about bands through that. Fortunatly the University had some great record stores & I would buy anything that looked remotely interesting or different. After 1980 I was in college & heard a lot of things from people at school, then Mtv came along. I started going out to clubs & discovered the local music scene. Some of the old discos had switched over to a more new wave format at the time too. I heard mostly hits and the big name acts - but it was more than most of the people around me at the time who were still stuck listening to Styx & Kansas.

[fortyfives]

I grew up in small town (pop.300) in Northeast Arkansas. Everyone I went to school with listened to either Southern Rock , Metal, or Disco. I started listening to Punk and Power pop about '77, and New Wave shortly thereafter. I was thought to be totally weird due to my musical tastes earning the nickname "Punk Rock".

Radio was pretty much hopeless there in the late 70's. There was one Rock station in Memphis that would occasionally play something interesting. I can remember staying up to listen to "King Biscuit Flower Hour" every week and hearing artists like Joe Jackson or the Ramones.

Saturday Night Live introduced me to alot of New Wave bands, as well as the show "Fridays".

There was also a record store in a nearby larger town that had some cool people working there who were into Punk and New Wave.
They introduced me to alot of the bands I still listen to.