When did New Wave DIE?

[dearly beloved]

At the base of it, it seems like we have the same ideas of it's cultural relevance and importance, which is ultimately what counts.

Your points are well put and well taken.

"Agree to disagree." -Ron Burgundy: Anchorman

[waukena]

I gotta agree with Hex and the 84/85 bunch...I'm 44 and worked in a bunch of punk clubs that then became NW clubs and it was about that time that the feel changed...

I don't think it had anything to do with the art or airplay or commercial success...I think the scene just got mainstream, overexposed and ultimately tired...

figure if you came on the scene in 79 or 80, it was already pushing 5 years. The initial wave of kids who were into it were growing older, like Hex said...for me, college was over and the real world came in...but more than that, like I said before, the club scene felt different...maybe it was just me but I don't think so because I've had this discussion with a bunch of my old time cohorts...

I worked the clubs til 91 or so, but they never seemed to have the urgency they did in the late 70s/ early 80s...the music was there but the revolution had passed by...the original punk/NW clubs were kind of a place for misfits, people who didn't quite fit into other places...I was that way, as were all of my friends...by 84, NW was 'the' scene, and therefore could no longer be the fringe culture it began as...once a fringe culture or anything becomes mainstream, those misfits who originally were the core group of it are now on the outside once again...it inevitably gets watered down as a whole, and I think that's what happened...

Just my feelings...

[2Nu]

New Wave Died for me on that fateful November day in 1987 when WLIR abruptly went off the air (To the tune 'All the Good Times We Had We'll Have Again)
The airwaves fell silent for a what seemed an eternity (with the exception of some bizzare broadcasted folk styled music)
When much heralded broadcast came back on trumpeting the new call letters WDRE (dubya-derr IMO[xx(])
Somehow the pioneering college radio spirit of the station had suddenly evaporated and the 'new' station was just a lame commercialized retread that chose to ride on the NW coattails of the peerless original.

[middlesexnj]

I admit NW was in decline from '85 on, but I would say the casket was closed until '89.

[phillyidol]

The day Gino Vinnelli hung up his microphone was the day the music died.

[My Aural Stimulator]

[quote][i]Originally posted by phillyidol[/i]
<br>The day Gino Vinnelli hung up his microphone was the day the music died.
[/quote]

Bring it back, Gino! Somebody should do a "Hooked On Gino Vanelli" medley.

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by waukena[/i]
<br>Just my feelings...
[/quote]
Wow, everything you said feels really right-on Wauk! That really put a wrapper on it for me. Now, Knowitallrec's feel's really right-on as well, but you gotta draw a line somewhere. "Time" really is an important component - the time from when new wave was coined and self-recognized ('76?) to when that specific movement dissovled. Otherwise, you're gonna end up saying that anything that was pop, counter-cultural, progressive, and creative can be considered new wave...but it isn't. It doesn't fit into that TIME. The other stuff is "next wave" or whatever other kind of alterno. Otherwise, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", which was also all of the above descriptions (* and whose presence on the top of the pop charts 50 years ago today marked the start of rock and roll! *), is new wave too...but he isn't.

[fortyfives]

1983 was definitely the peak for New Wave - especially from a commercial aspect. I can remember top 40 radio actually being fun to listen to. 1984 was also a good year, but not quite as good as '83. New Wave was on the decline bigtime by 1985, even though there were still some gems being released , the glory days were fast coming to a close. There were even a few gems still coming out as late as '88 and '89 , but they were few and far between.

I know alot of you are going to disagree with me, but I loathe everything U2 released from the "Joshua Tree" and after. Boy and October were fantastic Lp's. War was also a fine Lp. I thought the Unforgettable Fire was spotty at best. I can remember all the anticipation building up for the release of the Joshua Tree, and how when I first heard it I couldn't beleive U2 had recorded such crap! I always viewed this Lp as a "sell-out" as it also turned out to be the beginning of them becoming tremendously successful.

The same goes for REM. When I first heard Chronic Town and Murmur (back in '83), I was completely blown away . Reckoning and Fables of the Reconstruction were also great Lp's. Life's Rich Pageant, Document, and even Green were not bad Lp's, but they all lacked something the first four lp's had. When Out of Time was released, for me, it was like "Joshua Tree" all over again. I could less for anything REM has released from that Lp onward.

Anyone agree or disagree?

[KYYX4ever]

I agree with you about REM. [i]Fables of..[/i] was a great album. [i]Reckoning[/i] was, IMO, their best. It's one of those albums I can listen to every track w/ out fast forwarding anything. Some songs off [i]Document[/i] and [i]Life's...[/i] were great, but not as cool and titillating as their 1st 4 albums.

[waldnorm]

80's Alternative music is supposed to have "died" with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)-- given that, 1985 is the year where new wave seemed to wane as a predominant force as the so-called "Power" dance tunes, glam rock (i.e. spandex, etc.) and 80's rap took over. New wave became passe as a term and thus, we called it all "modern rock" or "alternative". By the 90's, many of the "pop" type of new wave has been called "synthpop."

So take your pick.

[ghosty]

[quote][i]Originally posted by 2Nu[/i]
<br>New Wave Died for me on that fateful November day in 1987 when WLIR abruptly went off the air (To the tune 'All the Good Times We Had We'll Have Again)
The airwaves fell silent for a what seemed an eternity (with the exception of some bizzare broadcasted folk styled music)
When much heralded broadcast came back on trumpeting the new call letters WDRE (dubya-derr IMO[xx(])
Somehow the pioneering college radio spirit of the station had suddenly evaporated and the 'new' station was just a lame commercialized retread that chose to ride on the NW coattails of the peerless original.
[/quote]

Man, it's ALL age related!! When I was in high school it was ALL about WDRE. We thought it was the coolest thing going and listened religiously (The Cure, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins etc).
Had we been born 4 years earlier we would've been listening to WLIR. Everything changes, teenagers become middle aged, and styles of music and come and go. Just life.

[knowitallrecs]

Some of my favorite New Wave records - albums from the Chameleons, the Mission UK, Fra Lippo Lippi, the Wild Swans, the Close Lobsters, the Mighty Lemon Drops, the Adventures, Thrashing Doves, the Railway Children, the Go-Betweens, the Sun and the Moon, 1927, etc - came out between 1986-1988 so the idea of the genre losing steam by the early '80s simply doesn't register. The Philippines didn't get an all-New Wave station really until the legendary XB-102 in 1984, and in 1987 NU-107 and BM-105 were fighting it out. Incredible time.

Michael Sutton

[react010]

Maybe we are mixing things up a little in this topic... New-Wave artists didn't all stop making music in the mid 80's, and even to this day NW artists are still releasing stuff off course, so it didn't really die. But commercially (for me the european charts) it was mostly over by 1986.

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Cured[/i]
<br>1981 Mtv begins. New Wave gradually becomes more lame, and consequently a bigger part of pop culture.

1982 WLIR switches format(The previous wlir did a much better job with new wave music), throngs of "Lawn Guylenders" suddenly become cutting edge New Wavers, daring to be different by copying exactly what everyone else "daring to be different" was doing.

198? Some of the frequent posters to this board discover New Wave.
[/quote]
Grunch, you are hilarious! [:D]

[ghosty]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by Cured[/i]
<br>1981 Mtv begins. New Wave gradually becomes more lame, and consequently a bigger part of pop culture.

1982 WLIR switches format(The previous wlir did a much better job with new wave music), throngs of "Lawn Guylenders" suddenly become cutting edge New Wavers, daring to be different by copying exactly what everyone else "daring to be different" was doing.

198? Some of the frequent posters to this board discover New Wave.
[/quote]
Grunch, you are hilarious! [:D]
[/quote]

Hey Grunch,
What was I supposed to do? I was only 9 when New Wave hit![:D]