Let's Play: New Wave or Not New Wave?!!!!

[StormyPetrel]

OK, I'm being a total nerd. But many bands are NW to some, not to others. Please comment on my suggestion and submit yours!

So:

The Police. New Wave or not New Wave?

I say no. They started out pop/reggae-lite and eventually became mainstream/top 40. And then Sting became the sole proprietor of Lame.

The Police. Not New Wave.


B
A

-~Obscene dreams in rusty beds.~-

[hexicon]

Mentally, my criterion for whether something is New Wave or not is whether it was played on my local New Wave station. (By that test, anything from Prince's "1999" is New Wave, so that tells you something.)

So by that test, the Police are New Wave in my book. When the first album came out, the local hard rock station played it (they also played the Clash, Elvis Costello, etc., right there along with Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith).

[fritzb]

Their first 2 albums were definitely New Wave. After that, you're right, they strayed into mainstream pop.

[Bitter Almonds]

New Wave

Kim Carnes: New Wave or not New Wave?

That one hit she had totally sounded New Wave!

[WolverineSyr]

I'd say no on Kim Carnes.
Before Bette Davis Eyes she was popular as an adult contemporary artist. Nothing else on Mistaken Identity sounded like Bette Davis Eyes - all California pop. Her Voyuer album had more synth stuff, but it still sounded like "we hit on a formula - let's exploit it!" After that she did some dance songs, some pop, a duet with Kenny Rogers and into oblivion. She seems more of an opportunist to me than belonging to any particular genre.

Pet Shop Boys - New Wave or not?

[StormyPetrel]

I would say no to Kim Carnes.

The Pet Shop Boys...hmmmm.. I would also say no. They are pop-ish. Definately 80's, though.


B
A

-~Obscene dreams in rusty beds.~-

[RiverHockey]

Pet Shop Boys : Yes New Wave, just popular.

[LovePlusOne]

[quote][i]Originally posted by RiverHockey[/i]
<br>Pet Shop Boys : Yes New Wave, just popular.
[/quote]

Like Wolverine, my criterion is if KROQ played it in the '80's then it's new wave, to whit:

Police, yes
Pet Shop Boys, yes
Kim Carnes, HELLLLLLL no! [:D]

[New Wave Dave]

[quote][i]Originally posted by LovePlusOne[/i]
<br>[quote]Like Wolverine, my criterion is if KROQ played it in the '80's then it's new wave...[/quote]
Just remember that KROQ played a mish-mash of stuff in the late 70's/early 80's. Just look at their year-end Top 106.7 song lists for reference. Hell, I remember them playing "Shout It Out Loud" by KISS. Definately NOT New Wave! [:D]

Anyway... The Police? New Wave.

Does anyone remember hearing Dire Straits, Tom Petty and The Cars on the radio for the first time and not being able to make out where they fit in? [?]

[Mechi]

The Police.... totally New Wave. They were like the first ones to get the label.
Kim Carnes....ummm....noooooooo!!!
Pet Shop Boys.... yes, yes, yes!

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~myirwin/JD_Montage2.jpg">

[highway1pch]

Police: New Wave
Sting: Not New Wave

Genesis: Not New Wave
Peter Gabriel: New Wave

Oingo Boingo: New Wave
Danny Elfman (So-Lo): New Wave
Danny Elfman (composer): Not New Wave

Tom Petty: Not New Wave

Dire Straits: Not New Wave

ZZ Top: Not New Wave

Malcolm McClaren: New Wave?

Beastie Boys: New Wave?

Where does New Wave end and Hip Hop begin?

Breakthrough Hip Hop artist Afrika Bambaataa once met Malcolm McClaren on the streets of New York wearing a The Clash t-shirt. His hit "Planet Rock" is heavily based on a sample of "Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk, and he later teamed up with John Lydon to perform "World Destruction" as Time Zone.

<a href="http://www.ocnewwave.blogspot.com/"><font color="#ff6600"><font size=+1.5>OC New Wave Blog</font></a>
<font color="#00ff00"><font="westminster">Music videos, Orange County concerts, and more.</font>

[bpdp3]

highway, I have to tell you whenever you post I click on your link just so I can watch the Elvis Costello "Pump it Up" video again and again. I'd never seen it before and it's like THE visual definition of what's "new wave"!!!

I think the Police were new wave. I still consider their debut to be the first new wave lp I ever acquired.

I think I first heard Pet Shop Boys in '85 which is kind of after-the-fact from a new wave time-period perspective....ah, hell - they sure sound like they fit in with new wave to me. Why fight it?

Those of you who really remember the very early 80's will recall that alot of acts got marketed as new wave and were kind of lumped into that category -- Pat Benetar, Tom Petty, Dire Straits are all examples.

I never considered Prince new wave but I love that 1999 lp and it has all the trademarks of new wave (synths, drum machines) -- it's a game of inches.

U2's "Boy" is undoubtedly new wave to me. I was asking myself after reading this post 'when did U2 STOP being new wave?'- - I think that War is the last one I can even consider new wave. 'Unforgettable Fire' I could maybe let someone argue. 'Joshua Tree' - - you'll never convince me that's new wave.

[Bitter Almonds]

What about that stuff some music listeners label as "ItaloDisco"? New Wave? Not New Wave?

Gotta give F.R. David MOAR props[8D]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dug-K2FHeMA

[highway1pch]

Thanks bpdp3.

Another question given their upcoming release:

Red Hot Chili Peppers: New Wave?

<a href="http://www.ocnewwave.blogspot.com/"><font color="#ff6600"><font size=+1.5>OC New Wave Blog</font></a>
<font color="#00ff00"><font="westminster">Music videos, Orange County concerts, and more.</font>

[milkbone]

[quote][i]Originally posted by New Wave Dave[/i]
<br>

Does anyone remember hearing Dire Straits, Tom Petty and The Cars on the radio for the first time and not being able to make out where they fit in? [?]
[/quote]

As a matter of fact, I do.

Tom Petty's first album came out in 1976. It took a while to catch on, and people didn't really start paying attention to it for a while. Tom wore a leather jacket and a cartridge bandolier on the front cover, which definitely wasn't standard 1976 rock wear. The first two albums, particularly the first, are actually kind of strange, with odd song structures and weird vocals. I suppose those first two albums were kind of an American version of pub rock (cf. Graham Parker). On "Damn The Torpedos" he moved into full-fledged rock classicist territory.

I started working at a campus radio station in 1977. They were probably the most conservative college station in the country; they had some sort of linkage with a bunch of commercial AOR (album-oriented rock for you young'uns; think Jefferson Starship, Crosby/Stills/Nash, etc.) stations. During the time I worked there, The Cars' first album came out, and it was actually controversial - the older DJs wanted to relegate it to "C" status (play only one track during a 4-hour shift) because it sounded so "weird". The Cars were pretty much the first "new wave" band in many ways; they definitely sounded "modern", but without a lot of the things that turned off older folks like David Byrne's strangled vocals or The Clash's loud guitars.

Dire Straits' first album came out in January 1979, at a time when there was sort of a lull in what radio had to program - the bigger bands at the time had all put out their albums last fall. The radio programmers found this strange new band - incredibly underproduced by the standards of the time, and with a bleak and uninviting album cover (again, by the standards of the time), but "Sultans of Swing" had enough ties to Dylan and Clapton that listeners responded to them, and the story goes from there. New Wave - no, despite what Jimmy Page thought. But it was a new sound at the time.