New Wave Outpost Forum

I'm not sure how to put this notion for a topic I have in words,but here goes...

In my favorite new wave period, '79-'82, one thing that struck me as I was getting into the music was all the movements. Not just 'styles'; each of these felt like their own 'revolution' to me. In '80 and '81 we had (with some examples)-

Neo-rockabilly - Stray Cats, Rockcats, Polecats...
New romantic/'Blitz' movement - Spandau, Duran..
Synth-pop - Soft Cell, Depeche..
L.A. punk/hardcore - Black Flag, Circle Jerks...
post-punk - Gang of Four, Raincoats..
Two-Tone - Specials, Selector, Madness...
new-mod - the Jam, Secret Affair...
power-pop - the Records, the Jags....
neo-psychedelia - Echo, Teardrop Explodes...
paisley underground - REM, Dream Sydnicate..
There are others I'm forgetting...

I mean, all this was going on in a two-year period!! It was really exciting to read about the new movements as they came out, and look forward to hearing the bands coming out of them... in my mind I lumped them all into the 'new wave' category and dug them all - -

To me, that's one aspect of the period that made it so special - so many revolutions in music. I know many of you probably hate the idea of sub-categorizing groups (I feel the same way most of the time), but hopefully you can follow my point..

I think it's what's been missing since. Yes, the 90's developed some interesting 'movements' as well (shoegazing, electronica, Seattle, etc) but COME ON, MAN - - they just weren't as EXCITING!!!

What do you think?

I totally agree with you.

And how about "pre-goth"? The Cure's "Grinding Halt" and "Jumping Everybody Else's Train" -- and Bauhaus's "Kick in the Eye" were in the new wave genre before goth really took off. They played those songs in the same new wave

I first heard those songs (Bauhause & the Cure) in the very early 80's along with Specimen and Siouxsie... we always called them Darkside bands or Goth bands.

I agree that we need more movements in the underground. Unfortunately it seems that any time

Yeah, I think there was the whole 'Batcave' scene in England around that time, which seemed very 'goth'....gave us Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend - -