New Wave Outpost Forum

In my opinion, it's so OBVIOUSLY '79 to '82.

Sure, fantastic music came out before and after, but that is the period I keep going back to.

I'm curious what the rest of you think; will be interesting if more of you are into the mid- to later 80's period.

There's no wrong answers!!

(I should add that I got the idea for this thread from XXX and Edisonside on the 'new romantic' thread.....)

But that's four years, and that's exactly the rub. Which three of those four?! 79-81 or 80-82? 79 was seminal when new wave/post punk seemed to truly distinguished itself from punk and everything else. Joy Division seeped into our consciousness then - "best" in and of this fact alone.

But New Wave went amazingly large in 82, popularized by signature albums from the Cure, Duran, English Beat, Fixx, Gang of Four, Haircut, Jam, Missing Persons, Modern English, Roxy Music, Simple Minds, Thomas Dolby, Thompson Twins, X, Yaz, etc. I know we shun "popularized", but 82 is going to be pretty tough to leave off the cut. I'll say 80-82 then since I wasn't exposed to much of the 79 stuff probably until 80 anyway. But 79 is still the most defining to me - if that doesn't sound totally contradictory!

OK - - so I wasn't a math major, myirwin. And you are right about both '79 and '82 being crucial years. '82 is the Flock of Seagulls debut and the opening of the MTV era, a very big deal.

'81 gives me Human League's Dare, the Duran debut.....

'79 gives me London Calling, the 2-tone bands, the Gang of 4 debut....

If I must choose 3 years, I'm going with '79 to '81.

Best three years:

1980, 1981, 1982.

[i]Gentlemen Take Polaroids[/i]
[i]Speak And Spell[/i]
[i]Duran Duran[/i]
[i]Upstairs At Eric's[/i]
[i]Movement[/i]
[i]Avalon[/i]
[i]Boy[/i]
[i]Dare![/i]

That's just the short list [:)] 1977-1979 was all the prototypical stuff, but once the 80s commenced they took off full-speed (and sort came to a grinding halt when the Hair Bands took over in 84 and 85 [:p] ). I'm just talking the big acts. I know New Wave and SynthPop never really stopped, but it pretty much stopped being the thing to play on the airwaves where most people would get to hear it.

80-81-82! After that still good but not as good.

I haven't yet assembled the data to back my assertion . . . but I'm going with the most recent of the answers so far . . . 81, 82, 83.

Seven and Ragged Tiger
Rio
The Hurting
Shaboo Shabah
Japanese Whispers (the singles)
The Crossing
Eurythmics
Lexicon of Love
Upstairs at Eric's
Special Beat Service
Combat Rock

(Yes, I like the mainstream stuff!)

This is very difficult. I agree with Hexicon, for me it's 81-82-83. Partly because I was able to buy and collect more material during this period. Here are some of my favorites from around 83.
U2 - War
Tears for Fears - The Hurting
New Order - Power Corruption And Lies
Ministry - With Sympathy
Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain
AFOS - Listen
Bollock Brothers - The Last Supper (Very cheezy but I really like it!)
Depeche Mode - Get The balance Right

[quote]Originally posted by bpdp3
[br]In my opinion, it's so OBVIOUSLY '79 to '82.

Sure, fantastic music came out before and after, but that is the period I keep going back to.

I'm curious what the rest of you think; will be interesting if more of you are into the mid- to later 80's period.

There's no wrong answers!!




1982 - 1985
[;)]

Not in the 80s. But I'd say the 90s sort of began the same way as the 80s: Great music at the beginning and at the end it was a mere shadow of itself. '90-95 was fairly solid depending on what you like to listen to. I think that was a period where Indie bands got more coverage... or, at least, where I got to hear them more often on the radio. Here in SoCal, Pirate Radio were the ones who introduced me to bands like Sonic Youth, Husker Du/Sugar, The Goo Goo Dolls (waaaay back when they sounded different than their new Pop selves), and Faith No More. It wasn't SynthPop that reigned supreme then, but at least there was no more Motley Crue and Poison to deal with!

[quote][i]Originally posted by SwampThing[/i]
<br>
Ministry - With Sympathy
Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain
[/quote]

Ooh yeah, how could I forget those. And Construction Time Again (the last good Depeche Mode Record, IMHO). Into the Gap just squeaked in at the beginning of 84 so I guess I can't list that.

Easy--79/80/81

I've always loved 82-83-84. Musically the peak began with the Isreali invasion of Lebanon and ended with Lionel Ritchie singing All night long at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

It's got a complicated one though but,For Me,

Synthpop/New Romantics it's gotta be 1980 - 1985
Paisley/US Scene - '82 - 87 (REM,Dumptruck,The Dream Syndicate,Etc.)
Guitar Bands/Indie - '86 - '90

cheers!

1979 to 1981

i would vote for 1982-85...that was when i listened to KYYX and steven rabow (and KHIT too)