Did straight teenage boys like new wave...

[WoodlandParkPunk]

back in the 80's? Not trolling here, but thinking back to my high school days 1980 - 1984 I can't remember many of the guys I went to high school with liking new wave music and or fashion. Hell, I was a metal guy through and through and thought all other music was shit. Now, many many years later and I LOVE new wave and not so much the metal and I love women.lol Just wondering and ranting.

"You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music." ~ Sid Vicious

[Surly]

Well, I'm straight and I've always loved new wave, but in high school, yeah, a lot of kids thought I was gay because I listened to this "weird" music and had "weird" hair. I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, and all of my classmates were pretty much into corporate rock at the time. There was a handful of us, though, who went beyond that, mostly because of MTV. There was also a new wave radio channel for about 6 months back in 1983; it was amazing. It did poorly in the ratings, though.

Of course, my dislike of sports (and inability to play them) certainly didn't help matters.

But - I went to my 20th high school reunion in '06 and everyone had changed. The jocks all got fat. All of them. People were super nice to me, many didn't recognize me at first, and I was the guy who had moved to NYC and worked in the music biz, and had good clothes on, as opposed to the other guys who were either in polo shirts and khaki pants, or ill-fitting suits they bought at Sears.

I've gained an appreciation over the years for some hard rock/metal, too. I just never liked the hair band stuff.

"Words like conviction can turn into a sentence"

[Crocodiles]

Boy, this is an interesting topic. No matter what anyone says here it is going to sound funny and certainly politically incorrect. But I'll go anyway.

Have to define some terms here. New wave in the '80s encompassed the synth bands to the punk bands. Back then Dead Kennedys were considered new wave along with Visage. Now back to the question at hand.

Yes, straight guys did like new wave back in the '80s. That new wave straight guys liked was The Clash, The Cult, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Model Army... But if you were a guy in the '80s and were into Depeche Mode or Erasure, well, you were probably not a straight guy.

[budaniel]

in my high school, most guys either listened to heavy metal or didn't talk at all about what they listened to because they were jocks. The blatant 'new wave' guys (dressed the part) were mostly considered weird, and sort of assumed to be gay. Those few 'preppy' guys who hung out with the preppy girls who were into new wave came across as very gay--and I'm pretty sure that they were (because they were way gayer than me...). While I listened to any and everything, anytime I mentioned the local new wave station, I was usually told that was gay by the tough guys. But I swear--listening to new wave didn't make me gay--I was gay first!

Funny thing is, as soon as I graduated and became of age to go to clubs, it didn't even MATTER. all kinds of guys, from queeny to butch, were at the new wave clubs just loving and dancing to the music.

[KYYX4ever]

I was kind of clueless about that back in high school in the early 80s. I can only say in retrospect, it was usually the thespian/artsy-type guys that were into new wave. Lotsa gay guys there.
This topic has come up with Mr. kyyx4ever, who went to high school in Connecticut. He had a hardcore new wave girlfriend (ha !), and her entire crowd of male new wave friends were gay guys. He concurs that it was a solid stereotype that waver guys were gay, though not all of the male fans were.

[Blaster]

I'm pretty sure it was a scene in some movie ... ( But I might have 'dreamt it .. ) & it answers the topic here..:

<I> " It's 1983.
New wave looking guy ( Skinny Tie, Black shoes/white socks, neon colors in shirt, Duran Haircut, ect) ... walks into a Country nightclub in Texas..
All the Big Cowboys, in their Cowboy hats, Cowboy ties & attire, turn around, stare at him, & all wonder who the Gay guy is, & why he came to the "wrong bar" ..

Now, Fast forward to New York City, 1983:
One of those muscular Cowboys walks into a new Wave club, With his Cowboy hat, Cowboy Tie ect... All the New wavers, with their skinny ties, Black attire, Neon shirts, leather jackets ect .. turn around, look over, & wonder why this obviously "Gay guy" walked into the wrong club....
</I>:)

[InvisibleMan]

Cal: [Pointing to a framed poster] I mean, seriously, Asia? You framed an Asia poster? How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in?
Andy Stitzer: They did not laugh at me.
David: Know why you're gay? Because you like Asia.
.
.
David: You know how I know you're gay?
Cal: How?
David: You like Coldplay.

[:D]

[empyrean]

its different here, back when i was in HS, we are what they labeled as "the few and the proud" because only a few people are listening to new wave. So when you listen to NW, you have "good taste in music".

What rivaled NW in my HS years were MENUDO, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Pop Stars. And most listeners to these artist were Gays.

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r72/din1081/?action=view¤t=215613201067hitmedawg.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r72/din1081/215613201067hitmedawg.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Qbertqubes]

I loved all new wave, depeche mode, culture club, Erasure Pet Shop Boys etc & I am straight as an arrow

[quote][i]Originally posted by Crocodiles[/i]
<br>Boy, this is an interesting topic. No matter what anyone says here it is going to sound funny and certainly politically incorrect. But I'll go anyway.

Have to define some terms here. New wave in the '80s encompassed the synth bands to the punk bands. Back then Dead Kennedys were considered new wave along with Visage. Now back to the question at hand.

Yes, straight guys did like new wave back in the '80s. That new wave straight guys liked was The Clash, The Cult, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Model Army... But if you were a guy in the '80s and were into Depeche Mode or Erasure, well, you were probably not a straight guy.
[/quote]

[InvisibleMan]

[quote]Originally posted by WoodlandParkPunk
[br] Now, many many years later and I LOVE new wave and not so much the metal and I love women.lol
[/quote]

midlife crisis is a bitch, but you better try the Exploring Your Masculinity In & Out test, just to be sure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JidfV5xvdjY

[dearly beloved]

I was in HS in the mid-late 80s and loved new wave. First and foremost I was a punk, but being a lower/middle class kid with no money to buy records, I was told I could listen to 92.7 WLIR across the LI sound and hear the occasional Sex Pistols/Clash/Gen X track. Naturally, those hundreds of "new wave" tracks played daily between the errant punk song became just as important to me as most of the hardcore-punk I identified with. Yeah, I'd rock a Psych Furs pin right next to a Black Flag pin.... oh, and I'm straight.

[korova1]

I'm exhausted after making the mistake of running in the stifling heat and humidity but I will attempt to reply to this topic.

I was always about the music first so I pretty much liked whatever I liked at the time, never really thought about this one. Interesting, most guys at my school liked the 70's stuff... Zeppelin, Priest, Rush, AC/DC, etc. My brother liked that stuff so I enjoyed it too, but I thought it got old after hearing it CONSTANTLY on the radio all of the time.

I never really paid attention to the "gay" tag when liking music. Bowie was one of my idols and he looked like a girl most of his career. I just always thought it came with the territory, a person looks different... they probably are. In retrospect, new wave and dance music in the 80's was generally pretty popular in the gay community in DC and Baltimore. But the smalltown clubs I went to it was more about the music and having fun. I was too young to know the difference I guess. Nowadays women are considered lesbians if they have short spiky hair but back then it just wasn't the case. Back then the "look" was about being different, standing out, and speaking out, and not accepting the conservative look and agenda of the Reagan era.

The only time I ever got shit about liking a particular kind of music was when I brought my brand spanking new cassette tape of "Kill 'Em All" by Metallica to a local skate park. My skater buddies asked me to throw something on and when I did - they just were relentless about it. "This shit sucks", "Fuck this crap", "Dude your taste in music sucks", some of the rats were actually really pissed that I could do such a thing. A couple of them didnt mind at all. Kinda funny in retrospect considering this year Metallica is hosting and headlining a two day music festival with a boatload of indie and "alternative" bands, almost none of them metal.

I never really gave a crap what anybody thought. I had my Paul Weller styled haircut and my skinny tie, but I liked Black Flag, DK, Minor Threat, The Smiths, Echo, and even early Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. I went to see all of those bands in concert... and I still have a pretty varied interest in all types of music. My wife likes the old synth stuff, but these days I seem to favor my old hardcore, punk, blues, and the early 80's post punk stuff a bit more.

[Rubellan]

I loved and identified with New Wave immediately, even before I entered puberty and knew I was a fruit. Once I did hit that age, I hid it (like most kids), but dealt with it when I was 16. I think in most cases it takes the open-minded nature of a gay kid to appreciate New Wave. My dyke sister was the metal head, and came across as a typically repressed straight man, because I guess that’s what some bulldozer dykes feel they need to do to be macho. But in later years she confessed to liking a lot of the New Wave music that I have always loved, and began to belatedly add it to her collection. She admitted she was originally resistant because of how “gay” it sounded, but eventually gave in to the dark side.

I have a friend now who is in his early thirties, loves metal and thrash, but also has a major love of some of the New Wave stuff. But the New Wave stuff he likes is definitely more of the gay sounding stuff: The Flirts, Q-Feel, and other dance related sounds. Though this guy still claims devout heterosexuality, myself and some of his friends have through for years he is a repressed gay man for various reasons. I don’t doubt it’s that repression that allows him to embrace the gay New Wave dance music that he loves.

But for me, it was kind of interesting to find through the internet over the past decade that some of my favorite New Wave ladies are known for having a strong gay male following: Siouxsie, Toyah, Clare Grogan, Josie Cotton. I guess the gay element of the music could be that it’s more fun and experimental, rather than homogenized and samey. In my lifetime I have had conversations with loads of closeted or formerly closeted men, and they often talk of the choices they’ve made were for the sake of fitting in. Enjoying creative and catchy music by artists with crazy hair and wild makeup is not usually the heterosexual view of “fitting in”, so a little gay always helps.

[LilyLace]

Well, my boyfriend at the time loved New Wave & Punk. I'm quite sure he didn't switch teams later. Although, I do think that some of the other guys I knew back then were probably closeted. I really can't estimate, but I want to say where I grew up it was about half and half maybe a little more towards the gay side. I agree with what others have mentioned; New Wave guys did get frequently teased back then and called gay. It must have been awful for guys who actually were gay because of all the stereotypes that were around back then.

[WoodlandParkPunk]

How many guys liked Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Japan etc......

"You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music." ~ Sid Vicious