What song embodies 80's "New Wave" more so than any song?

[Taverner]

I know the song is cliche, but Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star" pretty much embodies New Wace to a tee for me.

Pop tune, electronica, disembodied female voice, effects with vocals

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. ?

Didn't I just post it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E97XMyiBNjM&search=%22you%20spin%20me%20round%22

[_testify_]

2. Everything by New Order, OMD, or Crowded House.

[Iniquitous Bunny]

5. No way.

These are some of my favorite bands and I also like "new wave" to a degree, I'd classify these as more postmodern singer-songwriter perhaps, especially Crowded House. OMD or New Order maybe could be new wave, but not quite IMHO.

[_testify_]

6. Give me an example of what you consider New Wave?

Talking Heads?

Japan?

[Iniquitous Bunny]

12. Devo

Blondie
Talking Heads
The Human League
Gary Neuman
Flock of Seagulls

I tend to think more early 80's rather than mid-late 80's (maybe that's my own bias because by the late 80's I listened to stuff like Depeche Mode and New Order, but we wouldn't have considered it New Wave).

Ok, I will give you New Order (but it's earlier Joy Division form was more post-punk) and OMD, but not Crowded House. They are too introspective and sappy to be new wave.

[ghostsofgiants]

15. Yeah, New Order are pretty decidedly new wave...

And Joy Division was post-punk at its finest.

[Iniquitous Bunny]

43. I came of age in the late 80's.

I had a term for a certain kind of guy back then- the "Joy Division" guy- black Joy Division t-shirt, distressed jeans or olive khakis, and hair in their face. It became such a cliche (and I kept having relationships with them). Oh, the freakin' angst of the Joy Division Guy. "No one understands how hard is to be this cool!" :banghead:

It, unfortunately, knocked out the Joy Division love I'm afraid.

[fudge stripe cookays]

72. Aah. You dated "Joy Division" guy.

I dated "REM guy", "Marty Willson-Piper of the Church guy", "Love and Rockets guy" and "Bolshoi guy."

I finally realized that the whole band guy thing just was not working. Ended up with a cuddly adorable guy who USED to be in a band, but thankfully is not any longer.

[_testify_]

18. Okay I see where we differ

I have a broader definition (quite possibly an incorrect one)

But you like some great music! Talking Heads/David Byrne are probably top 3 for me.

[zonkers]

31. Speaking of post punk,... here's a link to great interview with author

Simon Reynolds who wrote Rip It Up & Start Again. Well worth a listen. It's from THE SOUND OF YOUNG AMERICA radio show and its great. Simon is a British pop music critic. His book aims to retrofit the reputation of the rock music of the early 80s, describing the sonically disparate artists who created something new in the wake of the first punk movement's self-destruction. His discussion on Jon Lydon/PIL is great. I didn't know Keith Levine was a Yes-head and used to roadie for them -- but he had to hide the fact in the early days of punk becauase it wasnt cool.

LINK: http://archive-c02m01.libsyn.com/aXdteMd2mXmXdpZ2aHpqpJmpZHac/podcasts/tsoya/tsoya040806.mp3
(interview starts a fw minutes in after theme song and stuff) BTW, check out TSOYA home page for more cool shows/interviews.

[ghostsofgiants]

45. Neat, listening now.

[driver8]

80. Talking Heads?

Talking Heads weren't really New Wave, either.

To me, New Wave was Heaven 17, Soft Cell, Flock of Seagulls, Thomas Dolby, Eurythmics (early 80's), Thompson Twins, Romeo Void...

I always felt that MTV made a lot of these bands popular. MTV started in 1981 and many of these bands were big in the early 80's.

[Pale Blue Dot]

70. I'll settle this.

Crowded House is like God; and like God, can be everything to all people all at once.

But "you in your new blue dress" would know that already, wouldn't you? :D

[driver8]

79. Agreed. Crowded House? New Wave? Uh uh...

Crowded House came along well after the New Wave "explosion". I don't consider New Order to be New Wave, either.

[Yavin4]

3. Devo's "Whip It"

That song defined New Wave.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. I liked "Girl U Want" better.

[NewWaveChick1981]

19. Definitely have to agree...

Whip It got way too much airplay. While I'm happy Devo had success with it, they put out MUCH better songs. :) Girl U Want is a great song!

[ghostsofgiants]

29. Devo = the awesome

[Yavin4]

26. But, "Whip It" Was Greatly Imitated

The op asked for a song that embodied New Wave, and "Whip It" is it because almost every New Wave song thereafter was a derivative in style and substance.

Girl U Want is probably the better song.

[ghostsofgiants]

30. Oh, I know what was being asked.

I just felt like interjecting with my completely irrelevant commentary, ahha.

[Duncan Grant]

42. "Jerkin' Back 'n' Forth"

Another definitive Devo track...

I once saw the Del Rubio triplets sing "Whip It". It forever changed Devo for me. :)

[CanuckAmok]

62. "defined" should be shared with Gary Numan's "Cars".

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. Guess I had a different take on New Wave

I was thinking of "London Calling" and "Tainted Love." :shrug:

[ghostsofgiants]

13. "London Calling", definitely not new wave...

Unless you go by the Claude Bessy new wave philosophy of it just being a polite term for punk.

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. That was always my take on it

Punk on quaaludes.

[ghostsofgiants]

28. Wikipedia has a pretty decent entry on it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_music

[Jara sang]

68. delete

[Javaman]

53. 876-5309...if you know what this is, you lived during that time. LOL nt

[KamaAina]

63. Sorry, the number you have dialed is out of service.

Please dial: 8...6...7.....5...3...0...9. This is a recording. 415-61. (beeeeeeeeeep)

[OhioBlue]

75. takes me back to the school bus - listening to that song

on a "ghetto blaster"... lol..
also
Gloria
Mickey - oh Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind..
I think "Queen of Hearts" was in there too...

my late grade school/jr. high favs....

[ghostsofgiants]

103. I know it and it came out three years before I was born.

[driver8]

81. I was just about to say the same thing. "Tainted Love", to me, is

a fine example of New Wave.

[NewWaveChick1981]

7. That one sums up the video phenomenon...

but I can't put my finger on any one song. "Never Say Never" by Romeo Void and "Sex Dwarf" by SoftCell were watershed songs, as were "Happy Birthday" by Altered Images and "Small Town Boy" by Bronski Beat. Videos definitely were the New Wave domain until the mid-80s, though....

[ceile]

8. "Cars" Gary Newman

For me anyway....

[idgiehkt]

57. THANK YOU

this was probably the first new wave song that went really mainstream.

even today it is just as freaking weird and hip. I bet if it were released today it would still have success.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGIbnRaufVw&search=Gary%20Numan%20Cars

Numan was pop music's first synthesizer star. He wore costumes and make-up and openly proclaimed his influences: David Bowie, Marc Bolan and contemporary electronic acts such as John Foxx's Ultravox. On stage his persona came across as aloof, alien and androgynous; in interviews, however, his disarmingly open manner caught many by surprise. Numan's great popularity and unabashed love of wealth alienated critics and even some fellow musicians; Yes recorded a sardonic song about him, "White Car," for their 1980 album Drama, a reaction to his habit of tearing around London in the white Chevrolet Corvette given to him by Beggars Banquet. His one-time idol, David Bowie, refused to appear with Numan on an episode of The Kenny Everett Video Show on which both were scheduled to perform.

Numan bewildered the music press. He was a driven, creative, troubled 21-year-old loner who still lived with his parents. He was not punk. He was not quite New Romantic either, and retrospectives of the period tended to ignore him and his influence. Yet during this period, Numan generated an army of fans calling themselves Numanoids, enough of whom would remain loyal to carry him through the latter half of the 1980s, when his fortunes began precipitously to fall (even before this time, and throughout his commercial peak, Numan was constantly vilified and ridiculed by the UK music press).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Numan

[Ariana Celeste]

61. Ahh, Gary Numan.

:loveya:

[CanuckAmok]

66. I saw his come-back tour a few years ago....

Man, he just rocked! It was one of those shows where you could tell that everybody involved was really into it; the band, Numan, the bar staff... everybody.

And Cars wasn't the encore! In fact, he got it out of the way in the first three songs.

[Ariana Celeste]

69. That's awesome!!

Was it for "Pure"? I love that album... I've heard he puts on a good show, I'd love to see him some day.

[CanuckAmok]

73. It was for "Exile"

Great show. If there was anything that didn't rock so much, it might have been his not-so-subtle toupee/weave. But in its defence, it stayed on.

[Ariana Celeste]

76. LOL

I've got "Exile", too. I read a review of it once, and the basic gist of it was "Alright Gary, we get it. You hate God. Otherwise, good album."

[driver8]

82. When I was a college dj in the early 80's I used to play Gary Neuman

all the time. I think the song I really liked was called "White Boys and Heroes". Anyhow, every time I played that song, I would get a couple of phone calls from people who wanted to know what I was playing.

He has always been very underrated, IMHO.

[querelle]

74. Absolutely Ariana

Anything by Gary Numan.

Q

[Phillycat]

9. "She Blinded Me With Science" Thomas Dolby

or "Whip It" by Devo.

[atomic-fly]

10. One song that hits it most...*I got you* by split enzs

One song that hits it most...*I got you* by split enzs
I think it represents the sound of new wave perfectly.
The cars and blondie are pretty close.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jQqnZyj2jaM&search=split%20enzs

[_testify_]

20. Can you believe that song came out in the 70s?

'79 i think, but still!!

[atomic-fly]

24. 79...ok it still counts!

[WoodyTobiasJr]

11. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da - The Police

It was the first song I can remember that was out of the mainstream at the time (the mainsteam consisting of Olivia Newton John , Debbie Boone etc), and opened up a whole new - a whole new wave of music for me.

Others that I would include:

Cars - Gary Numan
Nigel - XTC
Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads

[Throd]

14. "She Talks In Stereo"

By Gary Myrick & The Figures

[gollygee]

17. I Ran by Flock of Seagulls

:D

[Phillycat]

22. OMG I forgot about that song!

And was happy to do so! :D

[_testify_]

23. hey gee!

I liked 'Wishing' better by them!

How have you been? Frequenting th pub still?

[idgiehkt]

56. I was thinking more a long the lines of "Space Age Love Song"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6YGqgLD2As&search=space%20age%20love%20song

[MrScorpio]

112. That's my pick

n/t

[Tikki]

25. "Dancing In Heaven" (Orbital Bebop)......Q-Feel.....

snip....

Are you Ready? (Here We Go)
Slow-Slow- Quick Quick Slow
Slow-Slow- Quick Quick Slow

Hey, Here I am
I hear the Universe Sing
The Celestial Scream

I am not alone
Are you receiving me clear ....

There is Others out here...

Dancing in Heaven I never thought I could get my feet this far
(Orbital Be-Bop)
Dancing in Heaven I never thought I could get my feet this far
(Orbital Be-Bop)
(kick it out)....






Tikki

[alcibiades_mystery]

27. I can't believe nobody has mentioned Depeche Mode

Or Echo and the Bunnymen.
Or Erasure.

[MaggieSwanson]

100. I'm with you.

Bring on the Dancing Horses was my favorite Echo and the Bunnymen song.

How about The Cure? A little mainstream, maybe, but right there. And the Smiths?

[SKKY]

32. "Hungry Like The Wolf"...

...or "Come on Eileen".

[MadHound]

33. Hmmm

Eurhythmics, Peter Gabriel, especiall Shock the Monkey, Frankie Eldorado(let's see who knows that one) hmm, have to wander some more through the record library in my mind.

[SteppingRazor]

34. How 'bout "99 Luftballoons"? n/t

[Burma Jones]

35. Let's see, New Wave, I guess Walking on Sunshine

or maybe 99 Red Baloons

[zonkers]

36. Rock Lobster.

[zonkers]

38. Wow, I was just googling an old new wave song,Another Girl, Another Planet

by the Lonely Ones and I had no idea that it was subsequently covered by The Replacements, The mighty lemon drops and Blink 162. Had no idea. The original was smoking.

[Spider Jerusalem]

37. I tend to think of 'New Wave' as more of a late '70's musical movement...

But: Here are a few that come to mind when I think of "New Wave":

Wall of Voodoo, "Mexican Radio" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_0gPrzGA0

Boomtown Rats, "I Don't Like Mondays": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDRxCV8u_S4

David Bowie (who probably influenced New Wave more than anyone else), "Ashes to Ashes": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9e6AjRS1zg

Talking Heads, "Psycho Killer": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIqQxDW0U_U

[zonkers]

41. You have nailed what I think is new wave. Where does Jonothan Richmond

Greg Kihn and the Beserkely sound fit in? And for that matter what aboutthe Stiff records guys like Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric? I think early Elvis Costello counts as NW. What about the retromods like the Jam? Upthread I posted a link to an author interview (about post punk music) that I found very interesting.

[Spider Jerusalem]

44. Jonathan Richmond and the Modern Lovers...definitely New Wave

and Magazine, too (Howard Devoto's post-Buzzcocks group)...and early Elvis Costello...I think of "New Wave" as being somewhere at the intersection of post-punk and art rock (with or without synthpop elements), if that makes any sense at all...

[zonkers]

47. Makes sense except when I think of a timeline. Didnt some new wave predate

punk? Like... Television?

[Spider Jerusalem]

48. Not so much, really...

because the punk scene was mostly underground in the NYC clubs in the mid-'70's...'74, '75, in there...New York Dolls, early Ramones...and early Television were arguably a pioneering punk band, too (they were New Wave LATER...Marquee Moon era...but that was after Richard Hell split to do his own thing, too).

[zonkers]

49. What a cool scene it was.

[Dulcinea]

39. Modern English-"I Melt with You"

or "Love Missile F-111" by Sigue Sigue Sputnik

[regnaD kciN]

105. Gee, didn't they use that song...

...in a Burger King commercial? :evilgrin:

[Duncan Grant]

40. Human League - "Don't You Want Me?"

When "Don't You Want Me?" came out it was infectious. I heard it everywhere.

My second choice would be Berlin - "Metro".

Third, Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams".


What an iconoclast! I loved that he wore eyeliner. It was so defiant back in Reagan's America... :)

[NewWaveChick1981]

46. See? It's impossible to agree on any one song...

:) ALL of these embody New Wave... :D

[pitohui]

50. psycho killer by talking heads

"video killed the radio star?" don't get me wrong but i hate that song

[taterguy]

52. a song from 1977? I guess they were prophets :)

[sendero]

51. Several good choices here..

.. (and a few that are simply not new wave, no way no how :)).

How about Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" or "Call of the West"?

Or the Strangler's "Shah Shah a Go-Go" or "Second Coming"?

Or any number of songs from the mid-period Cars output?

[atomic-fly]

55. they have a new wave sound to them, but a bit edgy

I'd pick Dutches by the Stranglers which is a perfect pop song.
The Stranglers have tons of great songs, but their style evolved with
each album. Made it hard to label them, but they did create some very
new wave sounds.
For pure new wave the Cars, Split Enz, Blondie, B-52s are good models.

[sendero]

58. Duchess..

... was on the same album as "Shah Shah a Go-Go". Most of the songs on that album (The Raven) could be called new wave, and the following album, Meninblack, perhaps penultimate new wave :)

[Benfea]

54. Metallica's "Ride the Lightning"

Sorry. It's just that that was their first album after breaking out of the metal underground, their first album produced by and released by a major label, and the overproduction shocked those of us who followed them. I remember getting all weepy and declaring to my friends "They sound just like Phill Collins now!" and burying my head in my arms.

[Rabrrrrrr]

59. Whichever SUCKS the most is the one that embodies New Wave best.

What a shitty "musical" "movement" it was.

Christ, I wish it would just disappear, but I fear it's gonna be soon refound in a large bout of nostalgic assholery.

[CanuckAmok]

67. Already is. But anything beats another year/decade of 70s worship.

Now that was a crap decade for music, for the most part. Bloated oligarchs like Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Yes.

[driver8]

83. Why do you hate America??

The eighties are coming back in a big way!! I see a lot of high schoolers in my area wearing fashions from the eighties. It cracks me up to see them looking all cool...like they had the idea first.

I do love New Wave music, though. It takes me back to a great time in my life -- end of high school and through college.

[Megahurtz]

60. I say Men Without Hats "The Safety Dance"! n/t

[arwalden]

64. .

[Liberal Veteran]

65. Tainted Love by Soft Cell

That's my choice.

[Jara sang]

71. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys

[NewWaveChick1981]

77. I've got a few more...

Wild Sex (In the Working Class) by Oingo Boingo, New Toy by Lene Lovich, Electricity by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and Mongoloid by Devo. :hi:

[_testify_]

88. Wild Sex...

What a GREAT FUCKING SONG. You just shot up about twenty points in my esteem :)

[NewWaveChick1981]

89. I freakin' LOVE Oingo Boingo...

so that's great to know! Besides Dead Man's Party and Weird Science and Private Life and Nothing Bad Ever Happens To Me, that's my favorite OB song!!! Thank you! :hi:

:* :)

[_testify_]

90. I love Not My Slave.

I'd go gay for Danny Elfman, I think.

[NewWaveChick1981]

91. Damn! Forgot about that one.

Not My Slave is a great song too. :bounce: I'm assuming you've seen Forbidden Zone? Danny Elfman as the Devil is just too damn funny! :rofl: I love him to pieces! Oh, and he's done some GREAT movie soundtracks too.

[_testify_]

92. Are you sure you're not my gf posting from the other room?

:)

[NewWaveChick1981]

94. Hmmmm....

Nope. I checked. :P

Nice to find another OB fan! :hi:

[_testify_]

95. Likewise!

They managed to infuse so much sex into their sound it's almost devilish. I don't think they got the credit they deserved.

[NewWaveChick1981]

96. I saw Oingo Boingo at a street festival in 1982...

I didn't have to pay a dime to see them. The rednecks there could not have cared less about seeing them.... and all I did was hang out with them! :bounce: I stayed there practically all day, as did a handful of other fans. Actually spoke to Danny and a couple of the other guys, and they could not have been nicer or cooler! :D

[_testify_]

97. Don't get mad.

I was 6 in 1982.

[NewWaveChick1981]

98. That's OK!

:P Some great people were 6 in 1982! :* I was 19. :D I got to go to cool concerts that I could appreciate.. :P

:hi:

[_testify_]

99. I wish I was older during the 80s

Cuz that was my decade, no matter what.

[CanuckAmok]

104. Alan Thicke used to have an afternoon chat/variety show in Canada....

... I was home ill from school one day, and watching it, and Oingo Boingo were the musical guests. There were, like, ten people in the band, and they were great. They did "Who Do You Want to Be Today", and it was *live* not lim-sync.

Alan Thicke was still terrible, though. Even then.

[NewWaveChick1981]

107. I heard about that awful Alan Thicke show...

..but I'm glad you got to see Oingo Boingo at their best! :) *sigh* I love OB.....

[CanuckAmok]

108. You don't need to say "awful". Saying "Alan Thicke" implies awful.

So "awful" is redundant.

[NewWaveChick1981]

111. ROFLMAO!

:rofl: Then you know what I mean when I say "Thicke of the Night." :puke:

[OhioBlue]

78. I don't really know what songs embodied the "new wave"

but I'm having a ball right now listening to the '80's channel on Serius!

You are an obsession, you're my obsession, who do you want me to be to make you sleep with me...

and now....

I get up, and nothing gets me down......

might as well jump.. might as well jump, go 'head and jump...

[driver8]

84. Aztec Camera version, right?

I love Aztec Camera. I saw them warm up for Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians and they (well, Roddy Frame) was absolutely amazing!

[Pale Blue Dot]

86. My 2nd favorite "band".

I never saw them live, though.

BTW, Roddy Frame just released his third solo album, in England. He is doing more of an acoustic thing now, which I don't really go for, but it does show off what a incredible guitarist he is.

:thumbsup::hi:

[driver8]

93. When I saw him, he did "Birth of the True" with just an acoustic

guitar. I was about six feet away from him and it was absolutely amazing.

I'm a Finn fan, also. :toast:

[RiffRandell]

85. "The Cutter" by Echo & The Bunnymen. n/t

[outofbounds]

87. I hope it doesn't come back

as a fad. Cindy Lauper, B 52's Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, Devo, Eurythmics{how ever you spell it} Culture Club. NOOOOooooooooo! God NOOOOOOoooo! in my very best Eric Cartman voice.

[WCGreen]

101. Take on Me..... Ah Ha....

[njdemocrat106]

102. I'll say "Call Me" by Blondie

The new wave movement started in the late 70s, IMO, but I think "Call Me" is a good 80s example of the genre.

[regnaD kciN]

106. What, no Psychedelic Furs...?

:shrug:

[Elidor]

109. "Don't you forget about me"

Ugh. How did I live through the '80's with so much crap music being flogged on the radio?

(Although I have since learned to enjoy Depeche Mode, much to my amazement.)

[DemsRBetterLovers]

110. "In the Air Tonight" -Phil Collins

I think it was in the 80s. I still like it. I was born in 83 so my knowledge of music in that era is limited.