Hello All! Just wanted to correct something. In the Roxy Music section I mention that Brian Eno produced David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy which he did not do. While Eno was a heavy collaborator, songwriter, and influence on the sound and style of those albums he technically does not have a producer credit. The producer credit goes to Tony Visconti. Apologies for any confusion
I was there in the late 70's and early 80's while living in Vancouver. Most of the new wave bands and punk bands were not popular back then. People did not cut their long hair and got rid of their bellbottoms once 1980 hit. It was great back then being able to see a band like Depeche Mode and only 50 people being there. Bands like the Cure and Simple minds played in big nightclubs, not arenas
Not only did I see 75% of these people live in the 70s and 80s, I have a massive brag- I saw The Sex Pistols in one of their only 6 shows in the US ever. I also used to buy coffee and pastries for the B52s and REM in Athens, GA before they got too famous for the city. This was a cool video to run across. YT has changed their algorithm again, I see.
It's amazing how you can talk in depth about a musical genre you weren't even born to appreciate when it was around. Trust me; it was a brilliant time musically to be alive. many of those acts are in their 60s and 70s now and still have it.
Agree. All these bands I grew up with. Seems like yesterday. There remains a freshness with some of this music. Doesn’t even feel nostalgic to me. The newness hasn’t diminished.
In the 80s, New Wave was what you listened to when you weren't listening to Hair Bands, Rap, Club Music, actual Punk, or any indescribable sound which there were many...and trying to decide what you liked more! 80s had so many genres at once it was a feast for the ears and tickled any taste. I guarantee anyone not familiar with the real diversity of sound then would find a dozen or more artists they'd fall madly in love with.
Your description is spot on. I was a hair band/metal head who could not deny the New Wave bands. As much as I loved me some hair bands, to me New Wave defined the true essence of the 80’s.
Today is my 61st birthday. One of the only things I enjoy about growing older is this type of retrospective - hearing thoughts from a modern perspective on pop culture from back in "my" day. Their legacies, their places in history. It's a feeling of having one foot in the past and one in the future. The 80s really were a fun time to be young. Fashion was ridiculous, music was exciting, there was a "do your own thing" vibe in the air, and it seemed like something fresh and new to see or hear would pop up all the time. I remember going to Record World and buying record albums of bands that I'd seen on MTV (later cassette tapes for my boombox and Walkman!) I really can't describe how exciting it was to discover people like Prince, U2, Blondie, the Police, and so many others. Then again, all young people know that feeling - when you branch out from music you grew up with to music that you're discovering on your own, but not only that - you're discovering who you are in part through that music. Thank you for the walk down memory lane; this was a well researched and enjoyable video, and I'm going to check out your post-punk video next.
I think the 80s - especially the early 80s - was the last time that pop music actually invented something new. Everying before or after was very derivative: Even Punk was an attempt to restart the fire of the 1950s. New Wave owes a lot to the availability of electronic music equiptment at affordable prices so that young musicians could experiment - there's a similar moment around 1990 and the birth of Techno.
I was 20 years old in 1980, and started working at a record store. Music was my life for the following decades. I was so into New Wave, and it's still my favorite genre of music all these years later. I was able to see many of these bands live at the time, and I cherish the memories. It warms my old black heart to see a thoughtful video essay about my lifelong favorite music. I think anyone interested in getting into New Wave should make a playlist of all the songs you featured as a starting point. Great job on the essay, you have a new subscriber.
Working at a record store in 1980 sounds like a dream job 💜 so glad you enjoyed the video! Also link to the playlist from this video is in the description 🙌
@@JukeboxHistory Of course you did, how silly of me. Working at the record store paid peanuts, I was poor as a church mouse, but I loved it. We also had a Ticketmaster so I spent any little extra I had on shows. So many shows I lost count.
I know there are too many artists to name all of them but I love Devo and would've loved to hear a word or two about Oingo Boingo also. As Devo made theme music for the cult movie "Doctor Detroit" (1983, with Dan Aykroyd), Oingo Boingo made the theme song for another cult movie "Weird Science" (1985, by John Hughes).... Great show BTW. I'm 71yo and you did well considered your young age.
Thanks for mentioning A Flock of Seagulls in a good light. The band has been unfairly labeled a one hit wonder . Go beyond the haircuts and you'll discover their first three albums are actually quite good.
Adam And The Ants, Bow Wow Wow, The Police, Blondie, The B-52’s, The Human League, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soft Cell, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, The Go-Go’s, Missing Persons, Talking Heads, Devo, Psychedelic Furs, Culture Club, Grace Jones, Prince and The Revolution, Haircut 100, The Fixx, JoBoxers, Depeche Mode, ABC, INXS to name a few were one of my favorite new wave bands and artists.
Some mention of Sparks (another group dating from the 70s glam era that were highly influential on this genre) and Oingo Boingo (Elfman's old group before he turned to movie scoring) would have been in order. Also, no mention of KROQ. That's a radio station in Los Angeles that was playing THIS music even when nothing else was, including MTV, and was secretly instrumental in launching it into American popular consciousness.
And if you want to be really specific, Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ DJ-Rodney on the Roq) was responsible for breaking more bands from that era than any other person.
And also MV3 hosted by Richard Bade from 82-84. It’s this show, which we were able to get on an obscure UHF channel in Portland, OR., is what introduced me to all these new wave bands and more. Our radio stations weren’t playing this music and MTV wasn’t really much either.
Truly a great era in modern music history. Besides having a cool and novel musical sound these groups seemed to have a real sense of style and theatricality and were often good performers as well as musicians. A movement in which imagination and pioneer spirit truly abounded and ruled the scene.
I grew up in the Hamptons I’m 60 years old and I remember working at restaurants during the summers when all this music was coming out , being out to 2,3 4 o’clock in the morning
All great picks! The Cure are one of those interesting ones that really walk the line between Post-Punk and New Wave but are great in most of their ventures. Thanks for watching!
@@JukeboxHistory Thanks for actually seeing passed the modern genre tag...the Cure as Goth... I use to laugh and just say if they are so are the Smiths... Hahaha.. Yes.. and the Smiths are called Goth.. this has to stop... Cheers from Southern California...
Just as I was thinking to myself "no one ever mentions Aztec Camera in videos about New Wave history"...but then you DID! They are my absolute favourite, but they're so often overlooked. Roddy Frame is a ridiculously talented songwriter. He was a guitar prodigy, too! I still have all of Aztec Camera and RF's solo stuff on heavy rotation in my home/car!
duran duran will always be number one in my heart but i also LOVE LOVE LOVE til tuesday, missing persons, the go go's and adam ant also dude this video was really good. appreciate it keep doing it !!!!
Duran Duran was a godsend for MTV. At a time when many bands were working with 'look, colored smoke!' budgets, Duran Duran were releasing short movies.
great video! duran duran is great but they were heavily influenced by the group "Japan" who came before them in 1974. th-cam.com/video/xhm-EqcPta0/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
Absolutely brilliant! Thank you for this trip back to my teen years! (Graduated in 1985) Music was what absolutely ruled our lives, and I was a total New Wave kind of girl. Soft Cells album Nonstop Erotic Cabaret played on repeat, and I saw Missing Persons live. As a matter of fact, my best friend (since we were 7) and I are going to see Adam Ant tomorrow night! Sorry for the novel, lol.
Soft Cell are great! It seems like such an exciting time to have been a teenager. I’ve heard Adam Ant still kills it live so I hope you have fun 😎 thank you for watching!
The first Numan I heard was Cars followed by Engineers on my local college radio station in the U.S. (Montana of all places)... right away I bought the Pleasure Principle and soon after it was Replicas that really blew my mind.
The Jam? Have you mentioned them? English Beat? I think you need to do a 3 hour version. I have some quibbles but overall a very good effort. Oh and for goth... The Cult
Missing Persons deserve much more fame & attention than they received at the time. The story of how they started in 1980 is truly a fascinating one (4 out of the original 5 band members performed with Frank Zappa). Dale Bozzio’s unique voice & appearance has had a strong influence on many female artists since. Her then-husband Terry is also a phenomenal drummer on the level of Stewart Copeland & guitarist Warren Cuccurullo went on to replace Andy Taylor in Duran Duran when MP first broke up in 1986. I think 1984’s Rhyme & Reason is as good of an album as 1982’s Spring Session M, contrary to what the critics said at the time
@@latentsea People really confused Missing Persons with The Motels? Martha Davis is also a phenomenal vocalist, but she & Dale Bozzio have their own very distinct voices & styles. There were also those superficially comparing MP to Blondie & Plasmatics
The Ramones performed on the Sha Na Na show once. Bowser called them new wave. Punk was seen as a dirty word, so the mainstream media and radio between 79-81 were calling everything new wave. Even the Dead Kennedys were labeled new wave. As the 80s wore on, new wave adjacent bands (goth, industrial, post punk) along with hardcore and post-hardcore punk, jangle pop, noise, and early dream pop became the backbone of UK indie and American college radio. The original alternative music scene.
Yes even the Dead Kennedys did a song about it call Pull My Strings. They even performed it live at an LA music awards show where they wore white shirts with a big black "S" on the front. When they went to start the song they had ties tucked inside the & popped them out to cover the big "S" while Jello stopped the intro spoke into the mic "Hold it! We've gotta prove we're adults now We're not a punk rock band, we're a new wave band"
I feel Sparks should have also gotten a mention in the proto new wave section, they were doing that kind of stuff before it was even really a thing and was probably a large contributor as to why they didn't gain commercial success at the beginning.
Very good video. I'll add a couple of things to be pedantic... First - definitions - in the UK 'New Wave' referred to most of the eclectic music that followed Punk, but by something like '82 the term 'New Pop' had replaced it, with 'New Romantic' being a specific sub genre which occurred between the two. In the US the term 'New Wave' was more or less applied to all the bands who got big via MTV. It would also be worth adding how influential the first version of Ultravox was to many early synth acts (like Gary Numan), and mentioning how important both Midge Ure (Ultravox's replacement lead singer after John Foxx went solo), and Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode's synth player on their first album) were to music in the first half of the 80's. And finally, I will say one band that should have been mentioned but wasn't - an act who also - like Depeche Mode - really got big in the US at the end of the 80's - was 'The Cure'. Minor quibbles all. Again - very good vid. PS: OMD.
I did find that the labels for this movement changed quite a bit depending on which side of the pond you were on. It was a lot of fun to see the British perspective of New Wave as an American too. I included The Cure in my Post Punk video but they have some material that certainly could have gone here. Thanks for watching!
@@henrywallace7996You are absolutely correct! Possibly throw in the Police, The Stranglers, Joe Jackson and sprinkle in some Madness. Then you have a list of “New Wave” bands that I saw (all of them) play live back in the day….😊 Then you had synth-pop (Depeche, Human League, Heaven 17, OMD, Soft Cell etc). Then you had the New Romantics (Duran, Spandau, ABC, Culture Club, etc). New Wave was not really a genre, or sub-genre. It was more used as a catch-all label to contain all the acts that were too alternative to be considered mainstream at that time. Most New Romantic and a lot of synth-pop artists went mainstream anyway. That was their intention. Having lived through it all in my prime, it was an exhilarating time for music!
just wanna say that this is the most perfect video essay i've seen. it's the perfect length and it focuses on something that i LOVE to learn about. thank you for this i am def subscribing
As someone who lived through that glorious era and has loved it since the beginning, you did a GREAT job breaking it down. You covered it as if you were there as well. Keep up the great videos!
Excellent job for an overview from a person who was not around at the time, about a "genre" that if you ask 100 people to define you will get 100 different answers.
Yea someone on my community post said trying to define New Wave would be like trying to nail jello to the wall which I’d say is pretty accurate lol thanks for watching!
This was such a well made video and very well explained! I’ve been looking for a channel that dives into music history in this way and was happy to find this channel. I’d love to see more videos like this for other genres!
Great video!!! It was great to see the history laid out the way you did. I was in High School from 1979 to 1983 so this was MY music. Your video brought back so many memories. I didn't know the back story of New Wave. Once, maybe in the late 80's, I heard the song "moving in stereo" by the Cars. I was shocked it came out in 1978. At the time I was thinking it was way ahead of it's time because it sounded so new wave. But watching your video gives me the actual answer. I lived in NJ for 10 years from 2011 to 2021. My landlord had worked at MTV in 1981 when it started. He had a lot of great stories, and my ex partner worked at MTV from 1986 to 2007. I miss the era of New Wave SO MUCH! Music is mostly crap to me today. I guess I'm just like all the older folks that look back at the music of their youth as the best music. In 1983 when I graduated from HS, I took a cross country trip with a friend to CA. Our top song of the trip was "Sex, I'm a" by Berlin, next was "Safety Dance" by Men without Hats, and third was "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant. Oh, and who could ever forget "Sweet Dreams were made of this" by the Eurythmics, which was beyond 1st.....Oh man, I'm forgetting "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde, which I'm not sure is New Wave.....Oh, in the fall, after that trip, I had my first great sexual experience to the song "King of Pain" by the Police. I don't think that was new wave either.
Wall of Voodoo was an AMAZING band, though their only hit “Mexican Radio” might actually be their worst song. Everyone should check out their cover of the Johnny Cash classic “Ring of Fire”
@@markallen2984 Mexican Radio was wall of Voodoo's worst song? Hardly!! Still, Ring of Fire is most assuredly one of their crowning achievements, and remains to this day one Hell of an atmospheric listen!! Can't make Love, Red Light, Big Talk, Back in Flesh and Grandma's House were all top notch tunes!
This is pretty good bro. I missed a lot of this while it was happening. It was like drinking from a firehose. Glad to hear you mention XTC. I didn’t miss that one. 😁
*THANK YOU!!!* So many channels overlook Elvis Costello, ABC, Adam Ant and Grace Jones when reporting about the early 80s New Wave music. I am also very excited about your mentions of Bananarama, Depeche Mode, INXS and The Go-Go's (I saw INXS open for The Go-Go's in 85). I subscribed so I don't miss anything 💝
The fact you went out and bought the original newspaper that had the article shows your dedication. Love the way you describe pop music, this and the 2010’s pop retrospective made me subscribe. How is this channel not bigger???
"...playing shows with the likes of Iggy Pop, and Siouxie and the Banshees. Not at the same time. Could you imagine?" Yes, I could, and I imagine that combination would be utterly epic, and very, very intense. I want to thank you for that thought.
Excellent work young man! as a guy who grew up in the 70/80's I think you got exactly right the feelings and sentiments of that era and for that you get a salute o7! I just wish you could have added another one of Trevor Horns big succeses Frankie Goes To Hollywood! How massive that band was in the 80's can't be denied. First 3 songs no 1's in the UK. I thought they deserve a wee mention! Overall your good work gets a 9/10 for me thoroughly enjoyed it!
Black US music in the UK. 60's into 70's, a cult scene now called called Northern Soul, think music snobbery personified as DJs in the UK hunted down dance floor fillers from the USA, specifically Stax, Motown and adjacent labels. Specifically looking for what was known as "Slipped Discs", singles that failed despite being good and no word of a lie, the more obscure, the harder failing, the better! That is the scene where Soft Cell picked up on Tainted Love as they were both regulars at those club nights. Dexy's Midnight Runners was another band that explicitly owed their formation to that scene. You had Spandau Ballet claiming to be Soul Boys at heart (as can be seen with True), Paul Young's whole career was about reviving lost songs by Black American artists. In working class areas, the pubs would have soul records on the Jukebox and they would get worn out regularly (Punk etc, that was for kids and art school students, maybe coffee shops). You also had a Reggae scene here, mostly thanks to Island Records. Our ears were primed for what was to come. With unsegregated radio in the UK, black artists started getting radio play, even on BBC radio 1, the national pop station (which was not just the chart). And we are not talking revivals via re-release of 60's songs. End of the 70's and early 80's, even though disco was generally a has been elsewhere you had Black R&B artists like Odyssey and Shalamar who were largely ignored in the USA being a big deal here in the UK for about 3 or 4 albums each. With the Electro Funk more came through, mostly one hit wonders. Forrest with "Rock the Boat" Rockers Revenge with "Walking on Sunshine" being constructed out of samples/pastices of other Electronic R&B tracks (That is was an Arthur Baker side project totally flew over our heads at the time), even Sylvester would have more than one hit here in the UK.
Oh man this is awesome information thank you for sharing! As someone who has to dig through old sources it’s nice to get specifics like this. It def sounds like the UK had a love for these genres and it’s no surprise the New Wave artists were able to take it in and make it their own thing. As an American it’s really nice to get some UK perspective on this thanks again
@@JukeboxHistory In a lot of ways it was a cult thing. akin to the indie/alternative of today, a strong fan base that every so often someone in the scene would have a actual honest to goodness hit, a couple of acts would be regular top 30. But its impact was huge. There were UK bands in the style of US Black dance music as well, Hot Chocolate were likely the biggest and best known, you also had bands like Imagination. But the Career of Rod Temperton is the real strange one, He was friends with Quincy Jones and wrote a few songs for an artist he was working with, nothing major, just Thriller, Rock with you, Off the Wall.
So do great compositional talents, which is why Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo) and Danny Elfman (of group Oingo boingo, who weren't mentioned in the video by the way) went on to become succesful and prolific film scorists after the movement had ended.
great video and an awesome intro to new wave!! My favourite new wave groups would have to be DEVO (nice energy dome btw), talking heads, XTC, the B52's, the buggles, split enz, wall of voodoo, gary numan, elvis costello andddd sparks! If you'd classify sparks as new wave that is, they did influence almost everyone from around that era so i'd highly recommended checking them out if you haven't already!!
New subscriber, I love all this music, class of '83, however at the top of that list is Haircut 100 Pelican West. I still own two copies on vinyl and play it often.
Nice video. I'd like to see your take on The Jam and the Two Tone bands - The Specials, Madness, The (English) Beat, The Selecter and The Bodysnatchers. Speaking of The Specials, Terry Hall co-wrote Our Lips Are Sealed with Jane Wiedlin. Also, Scritti Politti never gets mentioned with the other new wave artists but Cupid and Psyche 85 was a great record.
SPARKS, how can you not mention the brothers Ron and Russell Mael. They fit into every sub-genre you cover AND are influential heroes to most of these artists. Have you seen the Edgar Wright documentary “ The Sparks Brothers”
The Hurting by TFF is still my favorite album of all time. Saved my life. Not enough talk here about one of the greatest 80’s and current bands of all time- The Fixx. Please discuss their greatness. Thanks.
The Stranglers were criminally under rated. Before Hugh got locked up for being a rabid junkie, they took loads of punk, lo fi, raggae and baroque and made some very good pop songs.
Very thorough. The music I grew up with and you hit the highlights ... and some pretty deep cuts as well - Orange Juice, man! That is a comparatively obscure one. This is a great series and I get the sense we may be kindred spirits.
What a fantastic, FUN, well researched, and easy to follow video! My answer to your question is: Depeche Mode. However, they became so very much more the singular genre. Thank you, for all the information, snd the great video clips!!
Nice one. I admit New Wave is generally something I didn't get deeply into as a kid of the 80s (first a metalhead, then incorporated punk, then later in life realized I needed to go back and learn all about post-punk). Only very recently have I bothered doing a deeper dive into the New Wave that dominated the airwaves when I was young. The New Romantic stuff still makes me nauseous, though. Too light for me. Talking Heads, though, will probably always be my favorite of bands discussed in this video. I got into them when "Wild Wild Life" was released and pretty much have always had their albums on constant play for literally decades.
As a musician who lived through the events you covered this is quite an excellent video and super accurate (a lot of retro-analysis of distantly older music just feels like rewriting of history by people who weren't there). I do have one little nit though. Hard rock and hair metal didn't flow out of late 80s late new wave such as INXS IMHO. Ofc hard rock had been around and around and around forever and ended up stuck in that rock elitism you mentioned. But my sense at the time was there had been a heavy metal scene in the late 70s and early 80s that kind of crystalized and grew partly out of the guitar-slinger hard rock genre (from Zep to VH) and partly out of fantasy themed hard rock groups like Black Sabbath and Uriah Heap. This true Heavy Metal scene (the one purists would call heavy metal) became a true "scene" with go-along dress-up fashion that fans could indulge in and identify with. And this genre was a vehicle for many virtuoso guitarists who exploited dark neoclassical scales at high speeds. But just as Punk was a little extreme for some and gave way to New Wave, true heavy metal with all its sub-genres was just a little too extreme for many suburban and Midwestern kids. But those kids wanted to rock out to a watered down version of heavy meta, that was a bit more poppy (melodic) l and without he dark over-tones. So hair metal filled that void and brought along some of the Metal aspects (lots of pyrotechnic guitar solos and distorted power chords and the operatic vocals of some heavy metal) while being a lot more accessible with pop-like hooks and choruses and of course the ever-present rock-ballad treatment. The hair part was directly inherited from and exaggerated from artists like Van Halen, Yngwei Malmsteen and even the older early 70s hair styles like that of Uriah Heap. So while true that all this stuff (late New Wave and Hair Metal) was overlapping a bit it felt like 2 very very distinctive movements and sources of origin. To me New Wave morphed into indie rock (i.e. modern rock) with a branch of that ultimately giving birth to grunge. Because grunge does not characteristically have the virtuoso guitar solos and is much more akin to modern rock in that way (and in turn from New Wave).
Loved New Wave in late 70's and was kind of alone in my neck of the woods with only Rolling Stone to guide me and then MTV came on cable and I realized I was NOT alone - then so many great years of seeing these bands on TV. Actually SEEING your favorite artists perform was nearly impossible unless you saw them live, before MTV. New Wave was in some ways so mature and Avante Garde with its somewhat non-conformist themes but seems so sweet and innocent now - such a lovely view of the world and it filled me with hope as a young man.
@ 43:10 In 1983, just after I finished college, I backpacked around Europe. I had a Walkman strapped to may belt which usually contained the Police album Synchronicity. I wore that cassette tape out.
To Depeche Mode myself I just can't get enough of new wave music in all its forms. To save up enough scratch to buy a copy of Dare back in the day was a defining moment for me.
I just discovered this video and it's amazing!! I'm 34 (1990 baby) and my whole life I've gravitated toward a category of music that pre-dates my birth, and I only recently realised it's an actual genre - 'new wave'! I grew up listening to Duran Duran, The Smiths, Tears for Fears, Sting & The Police - all thanks to my mum who shaped my musical upbringing. In my 20's I went on a deep dive of my own and fell in love with the discography of The Human League, The Cure, Gary Numan, INXS to name just a few. I've recently been learning all about the history of this genre and I found your video. You have given me a bunch of artists that I'm only vaguely familiar with to explore further, and I'm excited to have some 'newness' (heh, oldness) in my ears! Thank you so much
I lived through this era... Well-Done: it really was all about Prog Rock, Funk, and Punk in-Fusion; and Roxy Music was even referenced by Trent Reznor as his earliest influence for Nine Inch Nails (Alternative Metal) duting NiN's Induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Reznor really pulled a lot from the Post Punk and New Wave scenes during the 90’s (and after) so it doesn’t surprise me that he has a love for Roxy Music. Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!
Thomas Dolby was a fave New Wave act, although not enough people have listened to his material beyond "She Blinded Me w/ Science" and "Hyperactive." Truly distinctive sound --- and a proponent of a unique retro-futuristic sensibility. He releaased more albums in the 90s nd the 2010s as well.
Saw The Talking Heads live (been to TONS of shows from TONS of styles/genres) and hand down, it was the best show I've ever seen (didn't expect such a great show)..
Another great video! The music nerd in me loved your new wave family tree chart! Ps. Do you know the New Zealand band Split Enz? They were also around in that golden age of Post Punk/New Wave, I think you would like them. ‘One Step Ahead’, ‘My Mistake’ and ‘Dirty Creature’ are my fave tracks, cool goofy film clips too ☺️
You made an absolutely excellent documentary about 1980s pop and electronic music!! As a 80s kid, I learned quite a bit (you did your homework, sir!) and it brought back a lot of great memories. Thank you!! Loved this!!
Thanks. Great work. I lived through the period during my formative years and you covered the key players well. Still think I lived in a golden age of popular music. I saw Adam Ant, who was not respected like some of those others, BUT he was great live, and the songs were not far off XTC style/quality. Really good. I also saw New Order at the peak of their powers in 87 - they forged a few different kinds of "Sound" (indie guitar, goth, electropop) which were imitated by U2, Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche. Killing Joke were great live. I saw Gary Numan play with The Church, great. This is an unhumble-brag. A gen x clinging to this life raft. Regrets? I wish I had seen XTC (who stopped doing gigs early) and The Pixies.
Those are some amazing artists to have seen live in their hey day! Yea I think most people would have to be lucky to have caught XTC before they quit touring 😂 thanks for watching!
"There would be no Punk Rock if it wasn't for Brainstorm released in 1972 by Hawkwind" John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten. Brian Eno worked with Robert Calvert, former member of Hawkwind. 😊
I'd say not enough acknowledgement. The Chic literally formed after seeing Roxy Music live. They arguably invented New Wave with mid-late 70s albums and then invented sophisti-pop with Avalon LP
@@LuDux Their first 5 records are very underrated in their influence. They're often cast off historically as "just glam rock in the vein of Bowie/T Rex" and Eno being their main influential component. The genre-bending/twisting and dramatic song structures throughout was remarkable
This video is so beautifully well made and in depth , I love it to bits and 100% will find myself coming back to it again and again. New wave and post punk music is one of my biggest special interests, and it warms my heart so incredibly much to see others just as passionate about it!!❤❤
This is my fist video of yours and I’m definitely subscribing! New Wave is my favorite music genre and it was really great to learn more about this history of the genre and these bands that I’d only known bits and pieces about before. Great work!
Speak and Spell.. Black Celebration... Cassette given to me when I was 10 years old.. by my friends Sister.. Listen to this and you'll be cool forever.. haha.. that was 1984..
This is very well done, especially for someone so young (I saw the Police before they broke up 😅). The artists here make up a large portion of my Spotify playlists. While I agree with much of the content, I never really considered groups like Duran Duran, Culture Club, Banarama, Billy Idol, or the Go Go’s as New Wave. Glad you emphasized the Cars as they seem to be mostly forgotten, but were huge for a short period of time. Even as an American, I knew the importance of Soft Cell outside of Tainted Love. Non Stop Erotic Cabaret was genius. You are forgiven for leaving out my main man Joe Jackson (Elvis equivalent), but his music is very diverse. Excellent work.
Where’s the Australian artists like INXS, Midnight Oil,Men at Work, Spit Enz and the Divinals that are totally ignored in this video because they are not American or British
Australians literally make up that Olivia Newton-John, AC/DC and the Bee Gees are Australian when in fact they are British! Even the singer of Men At Work is British!
A bit about Elvis Costello's Radio, Radio, while in the US it was taken as a satire of the commercialization of radio that was taking place at the time. From what I understand it's was actually targeting the BBC's conservative practices and stance against punk and punk adjacent music at the time. Hence lines like "Radio is a sound salvation Radio is cleaning up the nation" Either way though, great video and glad that you mentioned The Cars they are one of my favorite bands and feel like they get passed over a lot in conversations/videos about New Wave. Also Stand and Deliver by Adam Ant is one of my favorite songs of all time. :P
Top of the Pops in the UK, artists would often record in a studio earlier in the day the track they would mime to. To appear on it meant you were in the living rooms of at least a 1/3rd of the country! In the 70's, 80's and 90's for a band to consider itself to have "made it" in the UK, a band/artist needed to score the trilogy, a TotP appearance, a John Peel Session (John Peel was a big deal for indie and alternative music, his radio show broke dozens of bands, record 3-5 songs in a studio for special broadcast), front cover of one of the big 3 music press weeklies. That now all 3 are gone, no band can truly make it in the UK.
I think you may be confusing TOTP with en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Grey_Whistle_Test? But maybe both shows used "record in the morning, mime in the evening" method
@@LuDux Yes they did, it was rare for a live performance to be used on TOTP, straight mime to the record or Record in the Morning, Mime in the evening. New Order famously played live and were rubbish.
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and Ministry and lets not mention Oingo Boingo, Erasure, Missing Persons, The Sparks, Yaz, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby, Missing Persons, Greg Khen Band, Bow Wow Wow, so many from the 80's. Such a great time to from growing up with KROQ in LA, Socal. Thanks for your video.
Hello All! Just wanted to correct something. In the Roxy Music section I mention that Brian Eno produced David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy which he did not do. While Eno was a heavy collaborator, songwriter, and influence on the sound and style of those albums he technically does not have a producer credit. The producer credit goes to Tony Visconti. Apologies for any confusion
I was there in the late 70's and early 80's while living in Vancouver.
Most of the new wave bands and punk bands were not popular back then.
People did not cut their long hair and got rid of their bellbottoms once 1980 hit. It was great back then being able to see a band like Depeche Mode and only 50 people being there.
Bands like the Cure and Simple minds played in big nightclubs, not arenas
JOY DIVISION->NEW ORDER->THE CURE!
Not only did I see 75% of these people live in the 70s and 80s, I have a massive brag- I saw The Sex Pistols in one of their only 6 shows in the US ever. I also used to buy coffee and pastries for the B52s and REM in Athens, GA before they got too famous for the city.
This was a cool video to run across. YT has changed their algorithm again, I see.
How does the two-tone bands fit in? Many of the so called nu wave bands also recorded ska and reggae.
@mstayloronline What you on about? Going woke retroactive back into the 80s?
It's amazing how you can talk in depth about a musical genre you weren't even born to appreciate when it was around. Trust me; it was a brilliant time musically to be alive. many of those acts are in their 60s and 70s now and still have it.
Agree. All these bands I grew up with. Seems like yesterday. There remains a freshness with some of this music. Doesn’t even feel nostalgic to me. The newness hasn’t diminished.
In the 80s, New Wave was what you listened to when you weren't listening to Hair Bands, Rap, Club Music, actual Punk, or any indescribable sound which there were many...and trying to decide what you liked more! 80s had so many genres at once it was a feast for the ears and tickled any taste. I guarantee anyone not familiar with the real diversity of sound then would find a dozen or more artists they'd fall madly in love with.
Your description is spot on. I was a hair band/metal head who could not deny the New Wave bands. As much as I loved me some hair bands, to me New Wave defined the true essence of the 80’s.
Today is my 61st birthday. One of the only things I enjoy about growing older is this type of retrospective - hearing thoughts from a modern perspective on pop culture from back in "my" day. Their legacies, their places in history. It's a feeling of having one foot in the past and one in the future.
The 80s really were a fun time to be young. Fashion was ridiculous, music was exciting, there was a "do your own thing" vibe in the air, and it seemed like something fresh and new to see or hear would pop up all the time. I remember going to Record World and buying record albums of bands that I'd seen on MTV (later cassette tapes for my boombox and Walkman!) I really can't describe how exciting it was to discover people like Prince, U2, Blondie, the Police, and so many others. Then again, all young people know that feeling - when you branch out from music you grew up with to music that you're discovering on your own, but not only that - you're discovering who you are in part through that music.
Thank you for the walk down memory lane; this was a well researched and enjoyable video, and I'm going to check out your post-punk video next.
Happy Birthday!! 🎁🎈🎉
Glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching
I think the 80s - especially the early 80s - was the last time that pop music actually invented something new. Everying before or after was very derivative: Even Punk was an attempt to restart the fire of the 1950s.
New Wave owes a lot to the availability of electronic music equiptment at affordable prices so that young musicians could experiment - there's a similar moment around 1990 and the birth of Techno.
I was 20 years old in 1980, and started working at a record store. Music was my life for the following decades. I was so into New Wave, and it's still my favorite genre of music all these years later. I was able to see many of these bands live at the time, and I cherish the memories. It warms my old black heart to see a thoughtful video essay about my lifelong favorite music. I think anyone interested in getting into New Wave should make a playlist of all the songs you featured as a starting point. Great job on the essay, you have a new subscriber.
Working at a record store in 1980 sounds like a dream job 💜 so glad you enjoyed the video!
Also link to the playlist from this video is in the description 🙌
@@JukeboxHistory Of course you did, how silly of me. Working at the record store paid peanuts, I was poor as a church mouse, but I loved it. We also had a Ticketmaster so I spent any little extra I had on shows. So many shows I lost count.
I know there are too many artists to name all of them but I love Devo and would've loved to hear a word or two about Oingo Boingo also. As Devo made theme music for the cult movie "Doctor Detroit" (1983, with Dan Aykroyd), Oingo Boingo made the theme song for another cult movie "Weird Science" (1985, by John Hughes).... Great show BTW. I'm 71yo and you did well considered your young age.
How popular was morrisey and the smiths
@@Patrickhit87 They were very popular for alternative, but not as popular as best-seller mainstream acts.
Thanks for mentioning A Flock of Seagulls in a good light. The band has been unfairly labeled a one hit wonder . Go beyond the haircuts and you'll discover their first three albums are actually quite good.
I actually recall them having TWO "hit" songs - I ran and Space Age Love Song.
@@McVicar-ks8qb Yup! Plus "Wishing" was a number 10 hit in the UK charts.
I saw them a couple years ago. Fantastic band
I always thought that they would have had tremendous success if they had slightly different haircuts. Great band, bad stylist.
NOBODY has EVER called FOS a "one-hit wonder band". NOBODY. They had a string of hits and you've been taking too many hits of your own...
Adam And The Ants, Bow Wow Wow, The Police, Blondie, The B-52’s, The Human League, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soft Cell, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, The Go-Go’s, Missing Persons, Talking Heads, Devo, Psychedelic Furs, Culture Club, Grace Jones, Prince and The Revolution, Haircut 100, The Fixx, JoBoxers, Depeche Mode, ABC, INXS to name a few were one of my favorite new wave bands and artists.
Wall of Voodoo
You mentioned Soft Cell twice
INXS were NOT New Wave
@@SmartCookie2022so?
@@opietwoep1247they’re okay
Some mention of Sparks (another group dating from the 70s glam era that were highly influential on this genre) and Oingo Boingo (Elfman's old group before he turned to movie scoring) would have been in order. Also, no mention of KROQ. That's a radio station in Los Angeles that was playing THIS music even when nothing else was, including MTV, and was secretly instrumental in launching it into American popular consciousness.
And if you want to be really specific, Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ DJ-Rodney on the Roq) was responsible for breaking more bands from that era than any other person.
Omg I LOVED Oingo Boingo❤
@@Cooper1he was a busy guy
92.3 ( later k-rock) New York was breaking Euro-punk before LA KROQ even heard of it and then Infinity bought them both out.
And also MV3 hosted by Richard Bade from 82-84. It’s this show, which we were able to get on an obscure UHF channel in Portland, OR., is what introduced me to all these new wave bands and more. Our radio stations weren’t playing this music and MTV wasn’t really much either.
Truly a great era in modern music history. Besides having a cool and novel musical sound these groups seemed to have a real sense of style and theatricality and were often good performers as well as musicians. A movement in which imagination and pioneer spirit truly abounded and ruled the scene.
It was depressing man. Synth & drums machine 😱
@@likearollingstone007 Yeah well, not everyone of us is a hippy synthphobe.
Probably in 1059 there were guys going: oh,man, it's terrible now, electric guitars and stuff...
Theatricality? 😂
@@eddiesaddict Yeah, in particular Devo, Adam Ant, and Talking Heads (with the big suit for example). Do yo know the definition?
Watched it right to the very end. I’m 61, and lived through all this glorious music! Great video!
Im 60 and love all this music. So grateful I experienced it as it came out.
I grew up in the Hamptons I’m 60 years old and I remember working at restaurants during the summers when all this music was coming out , being out to 2,3 4 o’clock in the morning
58 and from the UK, at the time I was more of a metalhead but time has given me a deeper appreciation of this musical style.
I'm 59. Likewise!
@@Para2normal I was a punk metalhead myself. But the musician in me listed to it all, and appreciated so many of these bands. Cheers.
It's worth knowing that Gary Numan is still performing, and his voice is just as spectacular as it was in the 80s.
From someone who lived through this time you did any excellent job.
Thank you!
Missing Persons, Smithereens, Talking Heads, The Fixx, OMD, The Go-Go's, Tears for Fears, The Cure
All good stuff
All great picks! The Cure are one of those interesting ones that really walk the line between Post-Punk and New Wave but are great in most of their ventures. Thanks for watching!
The Fixx is underrated!
Been listening to Missing Persons again recently.
Terry Bozzio and Warren Cuccurrulo never cease to blow my mind. Then they are Zappa alumni
@@JukeboxHistory Thanks for actually seeing passed the modern genre tag...the Cure as Goth...
I use to laugh and just say if they are so are the Smiths...
Hahaha..
Yes.. and the Smiths are called Goth.. this has to stop...
Cheers from Southern California...
ha ha ha....Average American, I don't think you know anything about the UK scene.
I was a teenager in the 80's . This was very special to me . Thanks
Man, I really want to thank you for putting this video together as it took me back in time to a lot of groups I enjoyed listening to.
Just as I was thinking to myself "no one ever mentions Aztec Camera in videos about New Wave history"...but then you DID! They are my absolute favourite, but they're so often overlooked. Roddy Frame is a ridiculously talented songwriter. He was a guitar prodigy, too! I still have all of Aztec Camera and RF's solo stuff on heavy rotation in my home/car!
I never hear Wall of Voodoo mentioned either. Stan Ridgway was a geeky genius.
I love it when the algorithm serves up gold like this.
duran duran will always be number one in my heart but i also LOVE LOVE LOVE til tuesday, missing persons, the go go's and adam ant
also dude this video was really good. appreciate it keep doing it !!!!
Duran Duran is one of the best! Thanks for watching
Duran Duran was a godsend for MTV. At a time when many bands were working with 'look, colored smoke!' budgets, Duran Duran were releasing short movies.
I saw Duran Duran in the 3rd row in 1984, my first concert. So insane!
great video! duran duran is great but they were heavily influenced by the group "Japan" who came before them in 1974. th-cam.com/video/xhm-EqcPta0/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
Duran Duran still putting out music today. Just released a CD last year? They also have utube channels.
Absolutely brilliant! Thank you for this trip back to my teen years! (Graduated in 1985) Music was what absolutely ruled our lives, and I was a total New Wave kind of girl. Soft Cells album Nonstop Erotic Cabaret played on repeat, and I saw Missing Persons live. As a matter of fact, my best friend (since we were 7) and I are going to see Adam Ant tomorrow night! Sorry for the novel, lol.
Soft Cell are great! It seems like such an exciting time to have been a teenager. I’ve heard Adam Ant still kills it live so I hope you have fun 😎 thank you for watching!
@@JukeboxHistoryIt was! I love that our music is still loved!
@jukeboxhistory The concert was PHENOMENAL!!!! Adam was on FIRE and still soooo gorgeous, lol😍😁
I'll never forget the first time I heard 'Are Friends Electric?' in 1979. That was my musical Year Zero.
The first Numan I heard was Cars followed by Engineers on my local college radio station in the U.S. (Montana of all places)... right away I bought the Pleasure Principle and soon after it was Replicas that really blew my mind.
Song is bad ass.
Very enjoyable for someone born in the mid-70s like me. I will always have a soft spot for 80s synth pop.
The Jam? Have you mentioned them?
English Beat?
I think you need to do a 3 hour version.
I have some quibbles but overall a very good effort.
Oh and for goth... The Cult
That needs to be his Ska/Reggae video, if he didn't already cover that.
Two of my favorites as well👍
The Jam a 3 piece band that had more energy than most 5 piece bands.
Songs From The Big Chair is the greatest pop album ever made, great video!
It’s crazy how well it’s held up. Everybody Wants To Rule The World and Shout are some of the best pop songs ever written
Still being wowed by it in 2024 ❤
It's a great album but not as good as Rio.
This is a fantastic well put together video/documentary, well done 👍
Thank you!!
Missing Persons deserve much more fame & attention than they received at the time. The story of how they started in 1980 is truly a fascinating one (4 out of the original 5 band members performed with Frank Zappa). Dale Bozzio’s unique voice & appearance has had a strong influence on many female artists since. Her then-husband Terry is also a phenomenal drummer on the level of Stewart Copeland & guitarist Warren Cuccurullo went on to replace Andy Taylor in Duran Duran when MP first broke up in 1986. I think 1984’s Rhyme & Reason is as good of an album as 1982’s Spring Session M, contrary to what the critics said at the time
Saw them live in (I think) 1982. Dale is still my spirit animal. ❤
@@LCarolineSparks I met Dale after one of her shows this January, I gave her a drawing I did of her & she gave me an autograph! A true sweetheart ❤️
u spoke volumes.
Some confused them with The Motels. Missing Persons was definitely under the radar as far as organic musicianship..Great players.
@@latentsea People really confused Missing Persons with The Motels? Martha Davis is also a phenomenal vocalist, but she & Dale Bozzio have their own very distinct voices & styles. There were also those superficially comparing MP to Blondie & Plasmatics
This video covers all the music of my high school years, back when MTV played music videos 24/7. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Thanks for watching!
MTV stands for Music Television. Now it's " reality shows".
The Ramones performed on the Sha Na Na show once. Bowser called them new wave. Punk was seen as a dirty word, so the mainstream media and radio between 79-81 were calling everything new wave. Even the Dead Kennedys were labeled new wave. As the 80s wore on, new wave adjacent bands (goth, industrial, post punk) along with hardcore and post-hardcore punk, jangle pop, noise, and early dream pop became the backbone of UK indie and American college radio. The original alternative music scene.
Yes even the Dead Kennedys did a song about it call Pull My Strings. They even performed it live at an LA music awards show where they wore white shirts with a big black "S" on the front. When they went to start the song they had ties tucked inside the & popped them out to cover the big "S" while Jello stopped the intro spoke into the mic "Hold it!
We've gotta prove we're adults now
We're not a punk rock band, we're a new wave band"
I feel Sparks should have also gotten a mention in the proto new wave section, they were doing that kind of stuff before it was even really a thing and was probably a large contributor as to why they didn't gain commercial success at the beginning.
Very good video. I'll add a couple of things to be pedantic... First - definitions - in the UK 'New Wave' referred to most of the eclectic music that followed Punk, but by something like '82 the term 'New Pop' had replaced it, with 'New Romantic' being a specific sub genre which occurred between the two. In the US the term 'New Wave' was more or less applied to all the bands who got big via MTV. It would also be worth adding how influential the first version of Ultravox was to many early synth acts (like Gary Numan), and mentioning how important both Midge Ure (Ultravox's replacement lead singer after John Foxx went solo), and Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode's synth player on their first album) were to music in the first half of the 80's. And finally, I will say one band that should have been mentioned but wasn't - an act who also - like Depeche Mode - really got big in the US at the end of the 80's - was 'The Cure'. Minor quibbles all. Again - very good vid. PS: OMD.
I did find that the labels for this movement changed quite a bit depending on which side of the pond you were on. It was a lot of fun to see the British perspective of New Wave as an American too. I included The Cure in my Post Punk video but they have some material that certainly could have gone here. Thanks for watching!
You're absolutely correct. The Jam, Elvis Costello, Blondie, Ian Dury, Squeeze, skinny ties and farfisas...now that's what I call New Wave!
@@henrywallace7996You are absolutely correct! Possibly throw in the Police, The Stranglers, Joe Jackson and sprinkle in some Madness. Then you have a list of “New Wave” bands that I saw (all of them) play live back in the day….😊
Then you had synth-pop (Depeche, Human League, Heaven 17, OMD, Soft Cell etc). Then you had the New Romantics (Duran, Spandau, ABC, Culture Club, etc).
New Wave was not really a genre, or sub-genre. It was more used as a catch-all label to contain all the acts that were too alternative to be considered mainstream at that time. Most New Romantic and a lot of synth-pop artists went mainstream anyway. That was their intention.
Having lived through it all in my prime, it was an exhilarating time for music!
just wanna say that this is the most perfect video essay i've seen. it's the perfect length and it focuses on something that i LOVE to learn about. thank you for this i am def subscribing
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
As someone who lived through that glorious era and has loved it since the beginning, you did a GREAT job breaking it down. You covered it as if you were there as well. Keep up the great videos!
Thank you!
Excellent job for an overview from a person who was not around at the time, about a "genre" that if you ask 100 people to define you will get 100 different answers.
Yea someone on my community post said trying to define New Wave would be like trying to nail jello to the wall which I’d say is pretty accurate lol thanks for watching!
This was such a well made video and very well explained! I’ve been looking for a channel that dives into music history in this way and was happy to find this channel. I’d love to see more videos like this for other genres!
Very impressive I found this video captivating and would be a great intro for people discovering this kind of music! Bravo
Thank you!
Great video!!! It was great to see the history laid out the way you did. I was in High School from 1979 to 1983 so this was MY music. Your video brought back so many memories. I didn't know the back story of New Wave. Once, maybe in the late 80's, I heard the song "moving in stereo" by the Cars. I was shocked it came out in 1978. At the time I was thinking it was way ahead of it's time because it sounded so new wave. But watching your video gives me the actual answer. I lived in NJ for 10 years from 2011 to 2021. My landlord had worked at MTV in 1981 when it started. He had a lot of great stories, and my ex partner worked at MTV from 1986 to 2007. I miss the era of New Wave SO MUCH! Music is mostly crap to me today. I guess I'm just like all the older folks that look back at the music of their youth as the best music. In 1983 when I graduated from HS, I took a cross country trip with a friend to CA. Our top song of the trip was "Sex, I'm a" by Berlin, next was "Safety Dance" by Men without Hats, and third was "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant. Oh, and who could ever forget "Sweet Dreams were made of this" by the Eurythmics, which was beyond 1st.....Oh man, I'm forgetting "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde, which I'm not sure is New Wave.....Oh, in the fall, after that trip, I had my first great sexual experience to the song "King of Pain" by the Police. I don't think that was new wave either.
Wall of Voodoo was an AMAZING band, though their only hit “Mexican Radio” might actually be their worst song. Everyone should check out their cover of the Johnny Cash classic “Ring of Fire”
@@markallen2984 Oh I like Mexican Radio. It's very catchy. But now I will have to check out their other stuff! Thanks for the info!!
@@markallen2984 Mexican Radio was wall of Voodoo's worst song? Hardly!! Still, Ring of Fire is most assuredly one of their crowning achievements, and remains to this day one Hell of an atmospheric listen!! Can't make Love, Red Light, Big Talk, Back in Flesh and Grandma's House were all top notch tunes!
You just made a video of my record collection. Thanks!
Sounds like a fantastic record collection 🫡
This is pretty good bro. I missed a lot of this while it was happening. It was like drinking from a firehose. Glad to hear you mention XTC. I didn’t miss that one. 😁
Oh I can only imagine! There was so much happening all at once I couldn’t imagine living through it. XTC were one of the greats 💚
Xtc were sadly overlooked and yet as almost profound as The Beatles in their era!!
*THANK YOU!!!* So many channels overlook Elvis Costello, ABC, Adam Ant and Grace Jones when reporting about the early 80s New Wave music. I am also very excited about your mentions of Bananarama, Depeche Mode, INXS and The Go-Go's (I saw INXS open for The Go-Go's in 85). I subscribed so I don't miss anything 💝
INXS opening for The Go-Go’s sounds like such a fantastic lineup! Two of the best. Thanks for watching and thanks for the sub!
@@JukeboxHistory I wish I could have seen INXS open for Adam Ant!
I subscribed do your channel because I enjoyed this video so much.
Thank you for the sub 🫡 glad you enjoyed the video!
The fact you went out and bought the original newspaper that had the article shows your dedication. Love the way you describe pop music, this and the 2010’s pop retrospective made me subscribe. How is this channel not bigger???
Really appreciate you checking out both videos! Honestly I just need to upload more lol thanks for the sub and thanks for watching!
Great video! New Wave was such an influential part of growing up in the 80s. Thank goodness I grew-up in the 80s. #generation_X
"...playing shows with the likes of Iggy Pop, and Siouxie and the Banshees. Not at the same time. Could you imagine?" Yes, I could, and I imagine that combination would be utterly epic, and very, very intense. I want to thank you for that thought.
Excellent work young man! as a guy who grew up in the 70/80's I think you got exactly right the feelings and sentiments of that era and for that you get a salute o7! I just wish you could have added another one of Trevor Horns big succeses Frankie Goes To Hollywood! How massive that band was in the 80's can't be denied. First 3 songs no 1's in the UK. I thought they deserve a wee mention! Overall your good work gets a 9/10 for me thoroughly enjoyed it!
Black US music in the UK. 60's into 70's, a cult scene now called called Northern Soul, think music snobbery personified as DJs in the UK hunted down dance floor fillers from the USA, specifically Stax, Motown and adjacent labels. Specifically looking for what was known as "Slipped Discs", singles that failed despite being good and no word of a lie, the more obscure, the harder failing, the better! That is the scene where Soft Cell picked up on Tainted Love as they were both regulars at those club nights. Dexy's Midnight Runners was another band that explicitly owed their formation to that scene. You had Spandau Ballet claiming to be Soul Boys at heart (as can be seen with True), Paul Young's whole career was about reviving lost songs by Black American artists. In working class areas, the pubs would have soul records on the Jukebox and they would get worn out regularly (Punk etc, that was for kids and art school students, maybe coffee shops).
You also had a Reggae scene here, mostly thanks to Island Records. Our ears were primed for what was to come.
With unsegregated radio in the UK, black artists started getting radio play, even on BBC radio 1, the national pop station (which was not just the chart). And we are not talking revivals via re-release of 60's songs. End of the 70's and early 80's, even though disco was generally a has been elsewhere you had Black R&B artists like Odyssey and Shalamar who were largely ignored in the USA being a big deal here in the UK for about 3 or 4 albums each. With the Electro Funk more came through, mostly one hit wonders. Forrest with "Rock the Boat" Rockers Revenge with "Walking on Sunshine" being constructed out of samples/pastices of other Electronic R&B tracks (That is was an Arthur Baker side project totally flew over our heads at the time), even Sylvester would have more than one hit here in the UK.
Oh man this is awesome information thank you for sharing! As someone who has to dig through old sources it’s nice to get specifics like this. It def sounds like the UK had a love for these genres and it’s no surprise the New Wave artists were able to take it in and make it their own thing. As an American it’s really nice to get some UK perspective on this thanks again
@@JukeboxHistory In a lot of ways it was a cult thing. akin to the indie/alternative of today, a strong fan base that every so often someone in the scene would have a actual honest to goodness hit, a couple of acts would be regular top 30.
But its impact was huge.
There were UK bands in the style of US Black dance music as well, Hot Chocolate were likely the biggest and best known, you also had bands like Imagination. But the Career of Rod Temperton is the real strange one, He was friends with Quincy Jones and wrote a few songs for an artist he was working with, nothing major, just Thriller, Rock with you, Off the Wall.
Great video on the New Wave movement! Depeche Mode's longevity shows great lyrics and songsmith outlast music trends.
So do great compositional talents, which is why Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo) and Danny Elfman (of group Oingo boingo, who weren't mentioned in the video by the way) went on to become succesful and prolific film scorists after the movement had ended.
great video and an awesome intro to new wave!! My favourite new wave groups would have to be DEVO (nice energy dome btw), talking heads, XTC, the B52's, the buggles, split enz, wall of voodoo, gary numan, elvis costello andddd sparks! If you'd classify sparks as new wave that is, they did influence almost everyone from around that era so i'd highly recommended checking them out if you haven't already!!
Sparks are certainly one of the best duos to ever do it. Honestly deserve their own video. Thanks for watching!
@@JukeboxHistory omg I'd be so invested in a sparks video if you ever did make one!!! And no problem
New wave is basically Punks that went to college and got nerdy.
Yes!!!
art school punks
Yes
Didn't go to college, but I still got nerdy.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Such a fantastic job!! Truly your best work so far. Absolutely amazing and informative! Thank you 😊
Thank you!!
I have an uncontrollable urge to say that Devo started as a punk band!
New subscriber, I love all this music, class of '83, however at the top of that list is Haircut 100 Pelican West. I still own two copies on vinyl and play it often.
Ive been WAITING for this one.
It has arrived 🫡 thanks for watching!
Nicely done, two big omissions: The Cure , The Clash…..well researched! Bravo!!!
Be sure to check out the 1970’s Punk video for The Clash and my Post-Punk video for The Cure!
Nice video. I'd like to see your take on The Jam and the Two Tone bands - The Specials, Madness, The (English) Beat, The Selecter and The Bodysnatchers. Speaking of The Specials, Terry Hall co-wrote Our Lips Are Sealed with Jane Wiedlin.
Also, Scritti Politti never gets mentioned with the other new wave artists but Cupid and Psyche 85 was a great record.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
SPARKS, how can you not mention the brothers Ron and Russell Mael.
They fit into every sub-genre you cover AND are influential heroes to most of these artists.
Have you seen the Edgar Wright documentary “ The Sparks Brothers”
Yeah they were predecessors of a lot of new wave sounds, and doing it in the early 70's.
Would you believe Depeche Mode were a big fan of them?
@@imrytebeehyneu
Absolutely
The Hurting by TFF is still my favorite album of all time. Saved my life. Not enough talk here about one of the greatest 80’s and current bands of all time- The Fixx. Please discuss their greatness. Thanks.
Eno rules! - Oh, by the way, brilliant video.
He’s the best 🙌 thanks for watching!
The Stranglers were criminally under rated. Before Hugh got locked up for being a rabid junkie, they took loads of punk, lo fi, raggae and baroque and made some very good pop songs.
Excellent research. Old Gen X here. Learning things I thought I was pretty good on. You clearly love this topic. Impressed. Subscribed.
Very thorough. The music I grew up with and you hit the highlights ... and some pretty deep cuts as well - Orange Juice, man! That is a comparatively obscure one. This is a great series and I get the sense we may be kindred spirits.
Orange Juice is definitely one of those groups that deserve way more praise. Such killer music. Glad you liked the video and thanks for watching!
Berlin was one of my favorites until they did Take My Breath Away. This is a great retrospective, good job.
Berlin was forced to record that song. Before that they recorded their own songs. Typically, Take My Breath Away was the biggest hit they ever had.
@@JohnnySmithWhite-wd4ey Yeah, it may have been their biggest hit, but it sucks.
So nostalgic! Amazing job!
Thank you!
I lived through - and loved - all of this. *Very* well done, young man.
Great video. I recommend you give Talk Talk a listen. Amazing band
What a fantastic, FUN, well researched, and easy to follow video!
My answer to your question is: Depeche Mode. However, they became so very much more the singular genre. Thank you, for all the information, snd the great video clips!!
Depeche Mode is a great pick. They really don’t have a bad album. Even recent projects are fantastic. Thanks for watching!
Nice one. I admit New Wave is generally something I didn't get deeply into as a kid of the 80s (first a metalhead, then incorporated punk, then later in life realized I needed to go back and learn all about post-punk). Only very recently have I bothered doing a deeper dive into the New Wave that dominated the airwaves when I was young. The New Romantic stuff still makes me nauseous, though. Too light for me.
Talking Heads, though, will probably always be my favorite of bands discussed in this video. I got into them when "Wild Wild Life" was released and pretty much have always had their albums on constant play for literally decades.
As a musician who lived through the events you covered this is quite an excellent video and super accurate (a lot of retro-analysis of distantly older music just feels like rewriting of history by people who weren't there). I do have one little nit though. Hard rock and hair metal didn't flow out of late 80s late new wave such as INXS IMHO. Ofc hard rock had been around and around and around forever and ended up stuck in that rock elitism you mentioned. But my sense at the time was there had been a heavy metal scene in the late 70s and early 80s that kind of crystalized and grew partly out of the guitar-slinger hard rock genre (from Zep to VH) and partly out of fantasy themed hard rock groups like Black Sabbath and Uriah Heap. This true Heavy Metal scene (the one purists would call heavy metal) became a true "scene" with go-along dress-up fashion that fans could indulge in and identify with. And this genre was a vehicle for many virtuoso guitarists who exploited dark neoclassical scales at high speeds. But just as Punk was a little extreme for some and gave way to New Wave, true heavy metal with all its sub-genres was just a little too extreme for many suburban and Midwestern kids. But those kids wanted to rock out to a watered down version of heavy meta, that was a bit more poppy (melodic) l and without he dark over-tones. So hair metal filled that void and brought along some of the Metal aspects (lots of pyrotechnic guitar solos and distorted power chords and the operatic vocals of some heavy metal) while being a lot more accessible with pop-like hooks and choruses and of course the ever-present rock-ballad treatment. The hair part was directly inherited from and exaggerated from artists like Van Halen, Yngwei Malmsteen and even the older early 70s hair styles like that of Uriah Heap. So while true that all this stuff (late New Wave and Hair Metal) was overlapping a bit it felt like 2 very very distinctive movements and sources of origin. To me New Wave morphed into indie rock (i.e. modern rock) with a branch of that ultimately giving birth to grunge. Because grunge does not characteristically have the virtuoso guitar solos and is much more akin to modern rock in that way (and in turn from New Wave).
Loved New Wave in late 70's and was kind of alone in my neck of the woods with only Rolling Stone to guide me and then MTV came on cable and I realized I was NOT alone - then so many great years of seeing these bands on TV. Actually SEEING your favorite artists perform was nearly impossible unless you saw them live, before MTV. New Wave was in some ways so mature and Avante Garde with its somewhat non-conformist themes but seems so sweet and innocent now - such a lovely view of the world and it filled me with hope as a young man.
@ 43:10 In 1983, just after I finished college, I backpacked around Europe. I had a Walkman strapped to may belt which usually contained the Police album Synchronicity. I wore that cassette tape out.
Can’t think of a better companion album than Synchronicity. Thanks for watching!
To Depeche Mode myself I just can't get enough of new wave music in all its forms. To save up enough scratch to buy a copy of Dare back in the day was a defining moment for me.
I couldn’t imagine hearing Dare for the first time when it dropped. Thank you for sharing!
I just discovered this video and it's amazing!! I'm 34 (1990 baby) and my whole life I've gravitated toward a category of music that pre-dates my birth, and I only recently realised it's an actual genre - 'new wave'! I grew up listening to Duran Duran, The Smiths, Tears for Fears, Sting & The Police - all thanks to my mum who shaped my musical upbringing. In my 20's I went on a deep dive of my own and fell in love with the discography of The Human League, The Cure, Gary Numan, INXS to name just a few. I've recently been learning all about the history of this genre and I found your video. You have given me a bunch of artists that I'm only vaguely familiar with to explore further, and I'm excited to have some 'newness' (heh, oldness) in my ears!
Thank you so much
I lived through this era...
Well-Done: it really was all about Prog Rock, Funk, and Punk in-Fusion; and Roxy Music was even referenced by Trent Reznor as his earliest influence for Nine Inch Nails (Alternative Metal) duting NiN's Induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Reznor really pulled a lot from the Post Punk and New Wave scenes during the 90’s (and after) so it doesn’t surprise me that he has a love for Roxy Music. Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!
This is excellent. The most researched documentary I have seen on New Wave (and I have seen a lot). Excellent work.🤟
Thomas Dolby was a fave New Wave act, although not enough people have listened to his material beyond "She Blinded Me w/ Science" and "Hyperactive." Truly distinctive sound --- and a proponent of a unique retro-futuristic sensibility. He releaased more albums in the 90s nd the 2010s as well.
Dolby went on to work with computer generated sounds. If you heard early 90's cell phone ring tones.....thank Thomas Dolby.
Dissidents is my fav track of his!
Saw The Talking Heads live (been to TONS of shows from TONS of styles/genres) and hand down, it was the best show I've ever seen (didn't expect such a great show)..
That’s killer. They def seem like a band that thrives live. David Byrne seemed awkward in interviews in the 80’s but flourished on stage
Another great video! The music nerd in me loved your new wave family tree chart!
Ps. Do you know the New Zealand band Split Enz? They were also around in that golden age of Post Punk/New Wave, I think you would like them. ‘One Step Ahead’, ‘My Mistake’ and ‘Dirty Creature’ are my fave tracks, cool goofy film clips too ☺️
I don’t think I’ve heard of them 🤔 I’ll have to give them a spin! Thanks for watching!
@@JukeboxHistory 🫶🏻
hell yeah, one step ahead is a favourite of mine. definitely worth checking out
@@md244-w6vYes indeedy. I particularly love the bass guitar on that track. Less is more
split enz are fantastic!! I'm been recently getting into them
You made an absolutely excellent documentary about 1980s pop and electronic music!! As a 80s kid, I learned quite a bit (you did your homework, sir!) and it brought back a lot of great memories. Thank you!! Loved this!!
ABCs The lexicon of love has aged so well because there is no compression on the album. Which is mind blowing.
One of the best albums ever imho!
effing tremendous content. thank you!
Thanks. Great work. I lived through the period during my formative years and you covered the key players well. Still think I lived in a golden age of popular music. I saw Adam Ant, who was not respected like some of those others, BUT he was great live, and the songs were not far off XTC style/quality. Really good. I also saw New Order at the peak of their powers in 87 - they forged a few different kinds of "Sound" (indie guitar, goth, electropop) which were imitated by U2, Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche. Killing Joke were great live. I saw Gary Numan play with The Church, great. This is an unhumble-brag. A gen x clinging to this life raft. Regrets? I wish I had seen XTC (who stopped doing gigs early) and The Pixies.
Those are some amazing artists to have seen live in their hey day! Yea I think most people would have to be lucky to have caught XTC before they quit touring 😂 thanks for watching!
Great job! Brought back a lot of memories I think U2 deserves a mention in Rockin New Wave also loved The Style Council and Squeeze
"There would be no Punk Rock if it wasn't for Brainstorm released in 1972 by Hawkwind" John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten. Brian Eno worked with Robert Calvert, former member of Hawkwind. 😊
good job, bro. Duran and Depeche are my top bands from that era. Loved Bananarambo, no wait...Bananarama/bangles/GoGos\Bjork as well.
Love seeing 70s Roxy Music acknowledgement
One of the greats. Went out and bought their first album for this video
I'd say not enough acknowledgement. The Chic literally formed after seeing Roxy Music live. They arguably invented New Wave with mid-late 70s albums and then invented sophisti-pop with Avalon LP
@@LuDux Their first 5 records are very underrated in their influence. They're often cast off historically as "just glam rock in the vein of Bowie/T Rex" and Eno being their main influential component. The genre-bending/twisting and dramatic song structures throughout was remarkable
This video is so beautifully well made and in depth , I love it to bits and 100% will find myself coming back to it again and again. New wave and post punk music is one of my biggest special interests, and it warms my heart so incredibly much to see others just as passionate about it!!❤❤
DEVO MENTIONED
🫡❤️
A fellow beautiful mutant here!
Devo, the b52's,and sousie and the banshees should be in the hof,
Duty now for the future!
They were so good. They sounded like nothing else on top 20 radio at the time, which is what attracted us "New Wavers"!
Talk Talk!!! R.I.P. Mark Hollis, the greatest and most unique NW vocalist
These vids go too hard to have this amount of views. keep going.
Thank you!
This is my fist video of yours and I’m definitely subscribing! New Wave is my favorite music genre and it was really great to learn more about this history of the genre and these bands that I’d only known bits and pieces about before. Great work!
My favorite is Depeche Mode. Close second is New Order.
Two great picks! Do you have a favorite Depeche Mode album?
Speak and Spell.. Black Celebration...
Cassette given to me when I was 10 years old.. by my friends Sister..
Listen to this and you'll be cool forever.. haha.. that was 1984..
@@JukeboxHistorySome Great Reward
This is very well done, especially for someone so young (I saw the Police before they broke up 😅). The artists here make up a large portion of my Spotify playlists. While I agree with much of the content, I never really considered groups like Duran Duran, Culture Club, Banarama, Billy Idol, or the Go Go’s as New Wave.
Glad you emphasized the Cars as they seem to be mostly forgotten, but were huge for a short period of time. Even as an American, I knew the importance of Soft Cell outside of Tainted Love. Non Stop Erotic Cabaret was genius.
You are forgiven for leaving out my main man Joe Jackson (Elvis equivalent), but his music is very diverse. Excellent work.
Where’s the Australian artists like INXS, Midnight Oil,Men at Work, Spit Enz and the Divinals that are totally ignored in this video because they are not American or British
INXS brought up at the end of the video
Split Enz were mostly from New Zealand.
Machinations, the models, dynamic hepnotics. Dugites , the Agents, the sunnyboys, the divynals, the Reels etc
And Mi-Sex (also from NZ)
Australians literally make up that Olivia Newton-John, AC/DC and the Bee Gees are Australian when in fact they are British! Even the singer of Men At Work is British!
Glad to find someone like you who shows such competence, extensive research and passion about the music i grew up with back then
Matching your headgear to a phaser pedal in the background is goated
Technically orange and red but close enough 🧡
Great video!
Thank you!
The 80's will never be matched for variety , and quality of the music produced in that decade .
A bit about Elvis Costello's Radio, Radio, while in the US it was taken as a satire of the commercialization of radio that was taking place at the time. From what I understand it's was actually targeting the BBC's conservative practices and stance against punk and punk adjacent music at the time.
Hence lines like "Radio is a sound salvation Radio is cleaning up the nation"
Either way though, great video and glad that you mentioned The Cars they are one of my favorite bands and feel like they get passed over a lot in conversations/videos about New Wave. Also Stand and Deliver by Adam Ant is one of my favorite songs of all time. :P
Top of the Pops in the UK, artists would often record in a studio earlier in the day the track they would mime to. To appear on it meant you were in the living rooms of at least a 1/3rd of the country! In the 70's, 80's and 90's for a band to consider itself to have "made it" in the UK, a band/artist needed to score the trilogy, a TotP appearance, a John Peel Session (John Peel was a big deal for indie and alternative music, his radio show broke dozens of bands, record 3-5 songs in a studio for special broadcast), front cover of one of the big 3 music press weeklies. That now all 3 are gone, no band can truly make it in the UK.
Yea it seems that a lot of huge bands out of the UK hit the trifecta. A lot of those John Peel performances hold up so well too. Thanks for watching!
I think you may be confusing TOTP with en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Grey_Whistle_Test? But maybe both shows used "record in the morning, mime in the evening" method
@@LuDux Yes they did, it was rare for a live performance to be used on TOTP, straight mime to the record or Record in the Morning, Mime in the evening. New Order famously played live and were rubbish.
@@jon-paulfilkins7820 Let's agree that though 45 years of TOTP eveything possible happened
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and Ministry and lets not mention Oingo Boingo, Erasure, Missing Persons, The Sparks, Yaz, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby, Missing Persons, Greg Khen Band, Bow Wow Wow, so many from the 80's.
Such a great time to from growing up with KROQ in LA, Socal.
Thanks for your video.
Favorite New Wave artist: Simple Minds.