New Wave Outpost Forum

I know this topic has been brought up before, but with so many new wavers (get it? heh heh)--new posters--on this site, I am very curious as to what was the 1st New Wave song you heard that made you sit up and exclaim "wow! I've got to have more of [i]THAT[/i]". It might not necessarily be the 1st NW song you heard, although for many, it was. So, what was your 1st NW song that made you really sit up and take notice of this brilliant new style of music?

Me: "Love My Way" by the Psychedelic Furs, which still remains in my Top 3 to this day. It really twisted my ears. That's when my radio dial stayed stuck at 96.5 KYYX.

The Cars whole first album. Best Friends Girl and Let The Good Times Roll were high school anthems.

And don't F&*KING tell me again that the Cars weren't considered new wave at that time. [:(!]

Growing up as a child in the 80's I remember a few new wave songs. One of the first ones I remember was this song I remember hearing often in my parent's car when i was like 4 yrs. old. It had a lot of whirling dreamy synthesizers. And toward the end of the song the singer starts talking. It's a very cool memory, but I can't think of what the song is. Oh well, other songs I remember back then were a-ha's take on me (favorite), limahl's never ending story, camoflauge's great commandment, and Erasure's chains of love.

I would have to agree with Blir. When The Cars first album came out it was so unlike anything else that was being played on any of the stations around me. [^]

Probably the demo tape of The Cars, "Just What I Needed", on Boston radio station WBCN in early 1977. The booklet in The Cars-Deluxe Edition has liner notes from 'BCN dj Maxanne Sartori describing how she would play it, which led to an eventual record contract with Elektra. And of course the demo is on CD2 of that deluxe edition.

I remember listening to a disco radio station and they put Pop Music by M into heavy rotation. I remember thinking it was something very different & I loved it.

I had already been exposed to Blondie, Talking Heads, Ramones, etc. but M was just something different and unique - it seemed to defy a genre at the time I heard it. I was also excited that this new music seemed at home on it's own, coupled with disco, or hooked up with the usual radio junk of the time.

I heard Just What I Needed in a friend's car. We were all blown away. I went out and bought the album (I never bought too many albums I was always tired of getting burned by filler). It was the first album that I loved from start to finish.

Other firsts that stick out:

Rock Lobster - Unmatched for WOW factor.
Blinded Me With Science - middle of the night working on an art project April Whitney played it on K-ROQ.
Satisfaction - I had heard the single before but I really remember when these guys played SNL, everyone freaked the next Monday at school.
Gigantor - "whoa, that's that show we used to watch!!"

Funny thing- after they played Blinded Me With Science I kept wondering when I would next hear it.

"Don't worry, over the next 20 years they're going to play this one to death."

"Thanks Magic Genie, I don't mind that at all!"

I guess I'm with Blir... The Cars first album, but for me it was the song "Just What I Needed".

A couple of somewhat later "Ooooo I just gotta have that" NW moments included:

Thompson Twins - Make Believe (LP Version) (BTW: it's MikeP's current <a href="http://www.nwoutpost.com/song_of_the_week.html" target="blank"><I>Song Of The Week[/i]</a>)
<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~newwavefan/PN-OutOfReach.mp3">Positive Noise - Out Of Reach</a> (a little known Synthpop gem I heard just once on a late night new music radio show)
<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~newwavefan/Hooters-ManInTheStreet.mp3">The Hooters - Man In The Street</a> (their very first demo recording to get airplay in Philly)

Without a doubt, it was what I believe was the first 45 I ever bought: Devo's "Whip It". I played that single to death. I liked the song so much I later bought the album (a huge cash outlay but I had to hear more). I wound up liking "Girl U Want" even more [8D]

Split Enz, "I Got You."

Thats a tuff one. Way back far as i can remember[:D]. I would say Der Kommisar was one I just couldnt get enough off

Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" and The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" in 1981 sort of brought new wave into my consciousness... although the term "new wave" was not on the radar. And neither song got me to the record store. I was a kid looking for a harder sound.

I watched a TON of early MTV, but listened to AOR radio. I remember being intrigued by Heaven 17's "Sunset Now" on another station (probably WLIR). I had already bought Duran Duran's "Rio" -- one of the first albums I purchased.

But I do recall hearing Howard Jones' "New Song" one day on MTV, and I think that's when it hit me. The "Human's Lib" LP soon occupied a spot between those from Def Leppard and Quiet Riot, and tastes fell into place thereafter.

Being a callow suburban youth, it'd have to be Devo and Talking Heads on separate Saturday Night Lives. (And then Devo on ABC's "Fridays".)

Or was it "One Step Beyond" on HBO's Video Jukebox? Nah, that was later.

Buit it was probably Night Flight that solidified my alternative leanings...

-Sean
Altrok Radio
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For me, it was Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I'm pretty sure that was the one. I was like nine or ten and I kept hearing it on the radio. I set my radio to the station that played it the most. The station was with a DJ named Charlie or Charlie tuna or somthing like that. I don't know. Anyway, I loved that song and couldn't get enough. Then I started hearing more and more new wave, mostly Duran after that. I was hooked on Duran since '82. I was 11 and in six grade by then.

What trips me out though is my nephew is eleven and still playing with trading cards, Yugioh and stuff. I must have been ahead of my time I guess. Although I can remember other school mates commenting on Oingo Boingo and other bands. It just trips me out that he is into trading cards at that age and I was into New Wave and being much more social, talking to girls and starting to focus on how I was dressed. *shrugs*

(edit) After reading the thread, (should've done that before I posted) I do remember hearing B-52's, Devo, and definitely the Cars from my sister. She is seven years older than me and a huge influence on me back then. Even before that when I was like six years old I was sneaking into her room to listen to Journey on eight track when she wasn't home. ;o)