86-535: Steve Betts , also known as Stephen F.X. Betts and L. Howard Hughes , is a British songwriter and session musician. He formed new wave band The Books, which released three singles and an album, Expertise on Logo Records in 1980·. Subsequently, he was the keyboardist for the band the Associates . He also co-wrote and co-produced Peter Murphy 's first solo album Should the World Fail to Fall Apart , and in
172-501: A heavy metal and rock-dominated format. In a December 1982 Gallup poll , 14% of teenagers rated new wave as their favorite type of music, making it the third-most-popular genre. New wave had its greatest popularity on the West Coast. Unlike other genres, race was not a factor in the popularity of new wave music, according to the poll. Urban contemporary radio stations were the first to play dance-oriented new wave bands such as
258-543: A Lifetime ", became a Top 20 hit in the UK, but initially failed to make an impression in the US. It grew into a popular standard over the next few years on the strength of its music video, which Time named one of the greatest of all time. After releasing four albums in barely four years, the group went on a recording hiatus, and nearly three years passed before their next release, although Frantz and Weymouth continued to record with
344-505: A band, the Artistics. Fellow student Tina Weymouth , Frantz's girlfriend, often provided transportation. The Artistics dissolved the following year, and the three moved to New York City, eventually sharing a communal loft. After they were unable to find a bassist, Weymouth took up the role. Frantz encouraged Weymouth to learn to play bass by listening to Suzi Quatro albums. Byrne asked Weymouth to audition three times before she joined
430-565: A commercially successful splinter group, Tom Tom Club , influenced by the foundational elements of hip hop , and Harrison released his first solo album, The Red and the Black . Byrne and Eno released My Life in the Bush of Ghosts , which incorporated world music, found sounds and a number of other prominent international and post-punk musicians. Remain in Light ' s lead single, " Once in
516-491: A cover of Al Green 's " Take Me to the River ". This took Talking Heads into the public consciousness and gave them their first Billboard Top 30 hit. The collaboration continued with Fear of Music (1979), with the darker stylings of post-punk rock, mixed with white funkadelia and subliminal references to the geopolitical instability of the late 1970s. Music journalist Simon Reynolds cited Fear of Music as representing
602-870: A distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. According to Simon Reynolds , new wave music had a twitchy, agitated feel. New wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos; keyboards, and stop-start song structures and melodies are common. Reynolds noted new-wave vocalists sound high-pitched, geeky, and suburban. As new wave originated in Britain, many of the first new wave artists were British. These bands became popular in America, in part, because of channels like MTV, which would play British new wave music videos because most American hit records did not have music videos to play. British videos, according to head of S-Curve Records and music producer Steve Greenberg , "were easy to come by since they'd been
688-474: A lamp. — David Byrne , interviewing himself in Stop Making Sense Three more albums followed: 1985's Little Creatures (which featured the hit singles " And She Was " and " Road to Nowhere "), 1986's True Stories (Talking Heads covering all the soundtrack songs of Byrne's musical comedy film , in which the band also appeared), and 1988's Naked . Little Creatures offered
774-564: A long-lasting impact. Along with other groups such as Devo , Ramones , and Blondie , they helped define the new wave genre in the United States. Meanwhile, their more cosmopolitan hits like 1980's Remain in Light helped bring African rock to the western world. Talking Heads have been cited as an influence by many artists, including Eddie Vedder , LCD Soundsystem , Foals , the Weeknd , Vampire Weekend , Primus , Bell X1 ,
860-642: A memoir about his relationship with Weymouth, Remain in Love , which covered the band's conflicts. In September 2023, Stop Making Sense was rereleased in IMAX with remastered sound and picture to coincide with the film's 40th anniversary. The band members reunited that month for a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival , following limited showings of the film in theaters, and gave subsequent interviews together to promote
946-459: A much more American pop-rock sound as opposed to previous efforts. Similar in genre, True Stories hatched one of the group's most successful hits, " Wild Wild Life ", and the accordion-driven track "Radio Head". Naked explored politics, sex, and death, and showed heavy African influence with polyrhythmic styles like those seen on Remain in Light . During that time, the group was falling increasingly under David Byrne's control and, after Naked ,
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#17327759506871032-413: A new pop group. That's all." According to Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, authors of Popular Music Genres: an Introduction , the "height of popularity for new wave" coincided with the election of Margaret Thatcher in spring 1979. In the early 1980s, new wave gradually lost its associations with punk in popular perception among some Americans. Writing in 1989, music critic Bill Flanagan said; "Bit by bit
1118-415: A performance at Coachella . AllMusic stated that Talking Heads, one of the most celebrated bands of the 1970s and 1980s, by the time of their breakup "had recorded everything from art-funk to polyrhythmic worldbeat explorations and simple, melodic guitar pop". In Pitchfork , Andy Cush described the band as "New York art-punks" whose "blend of nervy postmodernism and undeniable groove made them one of
1204-488: A post-punk/new wave revival" while arguing it was "really more analogous to a continuum, one that could be traced back as early as the mid-'80s". Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band was composed of David Byrne (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass) and Jerry Harrison (keyboards, guitar). Described as "one of
1290-717: A record contract. However, they drew a following and signed to Sire Records in November 1976. They released their first single in February the following year, " Love → Building on Fire ". In March 1977, they added Jerry Harrison , formerly of Jonathan Richman 's band the Modern Lovers , on keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals. Gary Kurfirst started managing Talking Heads in 1977. The first Talking Heads album, Talking Heads: 77 , received acclaim and produced their first charting single, " Psycho Killer ". Many connected
1376-541: A revived flourish from both Tom Tom Club ( Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom and Dark Sneak Love Action ) and Harrison ( Casual Gods and Walk on Water ), who toured together in 1990. Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison toured without Byrne as Shrunken Heads in the early 1990s. In 1996, they released an album, No Talking, Just Head , under the name the Heads. The album featured a number of vocalists, including Gavin Friday of
1462-468: A staple of UK pop music TV programs like Top of the Pops since the mid-70s." This rise in technology made the visual style of new wave musicians important for their success. A nervous, nerdy persona was a common characteristic of new wave fans, and acts such as Talking Heads , Devo , and Elvis Costello . This took the forms of robotic dancing, jittery high-pitched vocals, and clothing fashions that hid
1548-721: A stigma—especially in the United States—that made the music virtually unmarketable. At the same time, a number of bands, such as the Cars , the Police and Elvis Costello and the Attractions , soon emerged who combined the energy and rebellious attitude of punk with a more accessible and sophisticated radio-friendly sound. These groups were lumped together and marketed exclusively under the label of new wave. As early as 1973, critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh were using
1634-530: A striking video was inescapable owing to its heavy rotation on MTV. The following tour was documented in Jonathan Demme 's Stop Making Sense , which generated another live album of the same name . The tour in support of Speaking in Tongues was their last. I try to write about small things. Paper, animals, a house… love is kind of big. I have written a love song, though. In this film, I sing it to
1720-571: The Los Angeles Times , and said: "As far as we're concerned, the band never really broke up. David just decided to leave." Their final release was "Sax and Violins", an original song that had appeared earlier that year on the soundtrack to Wim Wenders ' Until the End of the World . Byrne continued his solo career, releasing Rei Momo in 1989 and The Forest in 1991. This period also saw
1806-533: The New Romantic movement. In 1981, Rolling Stone contrasted the movement with the previous new wave era, writing that "the natty Anglo-dandies of Japan ", having been "reviled in the New Wave era", seemed "made to order for the age of the clothes-conscious New Romantic bands." MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by "post-New Wave pop" acts "with a British orientation" until 1987, when it changed to
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#17327759506871892-614: The music press as a "reaction against the opulence/corpulence of nouveau rich New Pop" and "part of the move back to guitar-driven music after the keyboard washes of the New Romantics". In the aftermath of grunge , the British music press launched a campaign to promote the new wave of new wave that involved overtly punk and new-wave-influenced acts such as Elastica , but it was eclipsed by Britpop , which took influences from both 1960s rock and 1970s punk and new wave. During
1978-545: The 1960s mod influences of the Jam . Paul Weller , who called new wave "the pop music of the Seventies", explained to Chas de Whalley in 1977: It's just pop music and that's why I like it. It's all about hooks and guitar riffs. That's what the new wave is all about. It's not heavy and negative like all that Iggy and New York stuff. The new wave is today's pop music for today's kids, it's as simple as that. And you can count
2064-466: The 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture ". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock . Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop , alternative dance and post-punk . The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into
2150-480: The 1980s, rejecting potentially more lucrative careers from signing to a major label. In the UK, new wave "survived through the post-punk years, but after the turn of the decade found itself overwhelmed by the more outrageous style of the New Romantics." In response, many British indie bands adopted "the kind of jangling guitar work that had typified New Wave music", with the arrival of the Smiths characterised by
2236-513: The 1980s, said in a 2011 interview that by the time of British new pop acts' popularity on MTV, "New Wave had already been over by then. New wave was not synth music; it wasn't even this sort of funny-haircut music. It was the guy in the Boomtown Rats wearing pajamas." Similarly in Britain, journalists and music critics largely abandoned the term "new wave" with the rise of synth-pop. According to authors Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, "After
2322-422: The 2000s, a number of acts that exploited a diversity of new wave and post-punk influences emerged. These acts were sometimes labeled "New New Wave". According to British music journalist Chris Nickson , Scottish band Franz Ferdinand revived both Britpop and the music of the late 1970s "with their New Wave influenced sound". AllMusic notes the emergence of these acts "led journalists and music fans to talk about
2408-623: The Artistics. The trio moved to New York City in 1975, adopted the name Talking Heads, joined the New York punk scene , and recruited Harrison to round out the band. Their debut album, Talking Heads: 77 , was released in 1977 to positive reviews. They collaborated with the British producer Brian Eno on the acclaimed albums More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978), Fear of Music (1979), and Remain in Light (1980), which blended their art school sensibilities with influence from artists such as Parliament-Funkadelic and Fela Kuti . From
2494-616: The B-52's , Culture Club , Duran Duran, and ABC . New wave soundtracks were used in mainstream Brat Pack films such as Sixteen Candles , Pretty in Pink , and The Breakfast Club , as well as in the low-budget hit Valley Girl . John Hughes , the director of several of these films, was enthralled with British new wave music, and placed songs from acts such as the Psychedelic Furs , Simple Minds , Orchestral Manoeuvres in
2580-635: The Dark , and Echo and the Bunnymen in his films, helping to keep new wave in the mainstream. Several of these songs remain standards of the era. Critics described the MTV acts of the period as shallow or vapid. Homophobic slurs were used to describe some of the new wave musicians. Despite the criticism, the danceable quality of the music and the quirky fashion sense associated with new wave musicians appealed to audiences. Peter Ivers , who started his career in
2666-605: The Eno-Talking Heads collaboration "at its most mutually fruitful and equitable". The single " Life During Wartime " produced the catchphrase "This ain't no party, this ain't no disco". The song refers to the Mudd Club and CBGB , two popular New York nightclubs of the time. Remain in Light (1980) was heavily influenced by the afrobeat of the Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti , whose music Eno had introduced to
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2752-574: The House" on March 18, 2002, at the ceremony of their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , joined on stage by the former touring members Bernie Worrell and Steve Scales. Byrne said further work together was unlikely, due to "bad blood" and being musically "miles apart". Weymouth has been critical of Byrne, describing him as "a man incapable of returning friendship" and saying that he did not "love" her, Frantz and Harrison. In 2020, Frantz published
2838-448: The Jam as "British New Wave at its most quintessential and successful", remarked that the band broke up "just as British pop was being overrun by the preposterous leisurewear and over-budgeted videos of Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC, all of which were anathema to the puritanical Weller ." Scholar Russ Bestley noted that while punk, new wave, and post-punk songs had featured on the Top of
2924-548: The Modern Lovers debuted even earlier. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal , referring to the first show by Television at his club in March 1974, said; "I think of that as the beginning of new wave". Many musicians who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed new wave. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name ( New Wave ) includes American bands Dead Boys , Ramones , Talking Heads , and
3010-533: The Police, and the Cars charted during this period. " My Sharona ", a single from the Knack , was Billboard magazine's number-one single of 1979; its success, combined with new wave albums being much cheaper to produce during the music industry's worst slump in decades, prompted record companies to sign new wave groups. At the end of 1979, Dave Marsh wrote in Time that the Knack's success confirmed rather than began
3096-448: The Pops album series between mid-1977 and early 1982, by the time of the first Now That's What I Call Music! compilation in 1983 punk and new wave was "largely dead and buried as a commercial force". New wave was closely tied to punk, and came and went more quickly in the UK and Western Europe than in the US. At the time punk began, it was a major phenomenon in the UK and a minor one in the US. When new wave acts started being noticed in
3182-470: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll . Talking Heads were also ranked number 64 on VH1 's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In the 2011 update of Rolling Stone ' s list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ", they were ranked number 100. In 1973, Rhode Island School of Design students David Byrne (guitar and vocals) and Chris Frantz (drums) formed
3268-631: The Runaways . Between 1976 and 1977, the terms "new wave" and "punk" were used somewhat interchangeably. Music historian Vernon Joynson said new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk. That year, the term gained currency when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue , and music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express . In November 1976, Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLaren's term "new wave" to designate music by bands that were not exactly punk but were related to
3354-1080: The Talking Heads name". The band briefly reunited in 1999 to promote the 15th anniversary re-release of Stop Making Sense , but did not perform together. Harrison produced records including the Violent Femmes ' The Blind Leading the Naked , the Fine Young Cannibals ' The Raw and the Cooked , General Public 's Rub It Better , Crash Test Dummies ' God Shuffled His Feet , Live 's Mental Jewelry , Throwing Copper and The Distance to Here , and No Doubt 's song "New" from Return of Saturn . Frantz and Weymouth have produced several artists, including Happy Mondays and Ziggy Marley . The Tom Tom Club continue to record and tour intermittently. Talking Heads reunited to play "Life During Wartime", "Psycho Killer", and "Burning Down
3440-474: The Tom Tom Club. In the meantime, Talking Heads released a live album The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads , toured the United States and Europe as an eight-piece group, and parted ways with Eno, who went on to produce albums with U2 . 1983 saw the release of Speaking in Tongues , a commercial breakthrough that produced the band's only American Top 10 hit, " Burning Down the House ". Once again,
3526-405: The UK. In early 1978, XTC released the single " This Is Pop " as a direct response to tags such as "new wave". Songwriter Andy Partridge later stated of bands such as themselves who were given those labels; "Let's be honest about this. This is pop, what we're playing ... don't try to give it any fancy new names, or any words that you've made up, because it's blatantly just pop music. We were
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3612-454: The US, the term "punk" meant little to mainstream audiences, and it was common for rock clubs and discos to play British dance mixes and videos between live sets by American guitar acts. Illustrating the varied meanings of "new wave" in the UK and the US, Collins recalled how growing up in the 1970s he considered the Photos , who released one album in 1980 before splitting up a year later, as
3698-532: The Virgin Prunes , Debbie Harry of Blondie , Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde , Andy Partridge of XTC , Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes , Michael Hutchence of INXS , Ed Kowalczyk of Live , Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays , Richard Hell , and Maria McKee . It was accompanied by a tour with Napolitano as the vocalist. Byrne took legal action to prevent the band using the name The Heads, which he saw as "a pretty obvious attempt to cash in on
3784-403: The acts on which reflected a wide variety of stylistic influences. New wave's legacy remained in the large influx of acts from the UK, and acts that were popular in rock discos, as well as the chart's name, which reflects the way new wave was marketed as "modern". According to Steve Graves, new wave's indie spirit was crucial to the development of college rock and grunge / alternative rock in
3870-540: The band went on "hiatus". In 1987 Talking Heads released a book by David Byrne called What the Songs Look Like: Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs with HarperCollins that contained artwork by some of the top New York visual artists of the decade. In December 1991, Talking Heads announced that they had disbanded. Frantz said that he learned that Byrne had left from an article in
3956-536: The band. The band played their first gig as Talking Heads, opening for the Ramones at the CBGB club on June 5, 1975. According to Weymouth, the name Talking Heads came from an issue of TV Guide , which "explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as 'all content, no action'. It fit." Later that year, the band recorded a series of demos for CBS , but did not receive
4042-628: The band. It explored West African polyrhythms , weaving these together with Arabic music from North Africa, disco funk, and "found" voices. These combinations foreshadowed Byrne's later interest in world music . In order to perform these more complex arrangements, the band toured with an expanded group, including Adrian Belew and Bernie Worrell , among others, first at the Heatwave festival in August, and later in their concert film Stop Making Sense . During this period, Weymouth and Frantz formed
4128-428: The bands that do it well and are going to last on one hand. The Pistols , The Damned , The Clash , The Ramones – and The Jam. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself artistic philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by the light strains of 1960s pop while opposed to mainstream "corporate" rock , which they considered creatively stagnant, and the generally abrasive and political bents of punk rock. In
4214-464: The body such as suits and big glasses. This seemed radical to audiences accustomed to post-counterculture genres such as disco dancing and macho " cock rock " that emphasized a "hang loose" philosophy, open sexuality, and sexual bravado. New wave may be seen as an attempt to reconcile "the energy and rebellious attitude of punk" with traditional forms of pop songwriting, as seen in the rockabilly riffs and classic craftsmanship of Elvis Costello and
4300-529: The contrast between "the American audience's lack of interest in New Wave music" compared to critics, with a "stunning two-thirds of the Top 30 acts" in the 1978 Pazz & Jop poll falling into the "New Wave-to-rock 'n' roll revivalist spectrum". A month later, the same columnist called Elvis Costello the "Best Shot of the New Wave" in America, speculating that "If New Wave is to take hold here, it will be through
4386-486: The defining rock bands of the late 1970s and ’80s." Media theorist Dick Hebdige said the group "draw eclectically on a wide range of visual and aural sources to create a distinctive pastiche or hybrid 'house style' which they have used since their formation in the mid-1970s deliberately to stretch received (industrial) definitions of what rock/pop/video/Art/ performance/audience are", calling them "a properly postmodernist band." Talking Heads' art pop innovations have had
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#17327759506874472-583: The early 1980s, particularly in the United States, notable new wave acts embraced a crossover of pop and rock music with African and African-American styles. Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow , both acts with ties to former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren , used Burundi -style drumming. Talking Heads' album Remain in Light was marketed and positively reviewed as a breakthrough melding of new wave and African styles, although drummer Chris Frantz said he found out about this supposed African influence after
4558-500: The early 1980s, they included additional musicians in their recording sessions and shows, including guitarist Adrian Belew , keyboardist Bernie Worrell , singer Nona Hendryx , and bassist Busta Jones . Talking Heads reached their commercial peak in 1983 with the U.S. Top 10 hit " Burning Down the House " from the album Speaking in Tongues . In 1984, they released the concert film Stop Making Sense , directed by Jonathan Demme . For these performances, they were joined by Worrell,
4644-436: The early 1980s. The common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, angular guitar riffs, jerky rhythms, the use of electronics, and a distinctive visual style in fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop and rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave" in the United States. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy,
4730-403: The efforts of those furthest from the punk center" due to "inevitable" American middle class resistance to the "jarring rawness of New Wave and its working-class angst." Starting in late 1978 and continuing into 1979, acts associated with punk and acts that mixed punk with other genres began to make chart appearances and receive airplay on rock stations and rock discos. Blondie , Talking Heads,
4816-513: The entire New Wave." Lee Ferguson, a consultant to KWST , said in an interview Los Angeles radio stations were banning disc jockeys from using the term and noted; "Most of the people who call music new wave are the ones looking for a way not to play it". Second albums by new wave musicians who had successful debut albums, along with newly signed musicians, failed to sell and stations pulled most new wave programming, such as Devo's socially critical but widely misunderstood song " Whip It ". In 1981,
4902-469: The fact. As the decade continued, new wave elements would be adopted by African-American musicians such as Grace Jones , Janet Jackson , and Prince , who in particular used new wave influences to lay the groundwork for the Minneapolis sound . The Velvet Underground have also been heralded for their influence on new wave, post-punk and alternative rock . Roxy Music were also influential to
4988-513: The genre as well as the works of David Bowie , Iggy Pop and Brian Eno . The term "new wave" is regarded as so loose and wide-ranging as to be "virtually meaningless", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock . It originated as a catch-all for the music that emerged after punk rock , including punk itself, in Britain. Scholar Theo Cateforis said that the term was used to commercialize punk groups in
5074-420: The growing nostalgia for several new-wave-influenced musicians. New wave music encompassed a wide variety of styles that shared a quirky, lighthearted, and humorous tone that were popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. New wave includes several pop -oriented styles from this time period. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and
5160-418: The guitarist Alex Weir , the percussionist Steve Scales and the singers Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt. In 1985, Talking Heads released their best-selling album, Little Creatures . They produced a soundtrack album for Byrne's film True Stories (1986), and released their final album, the worldbeat -influenced Naked (1988), before disbanding in 1991. Without Byrne, the other band members performed under
5246-432: The last traces of Punk were drained from New Wave, as New Wave went from meaning Talking Heads to meaning the Cars to Squeeze to Duran Duran to, finally, Wham! ". Among many critics, however, new wave remained tied to the punk/new wave period of the late 1970s. Writing in 1990, the "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau , who gave punk and new wave bands major coverage in his column for The Village Voice in
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#17327759506875332-411: The late 1960s, went on to become the host for the television program New Wave Theatre that showcased rising acts in the underground new wave scene. He has been described by NTS Radio as "a virtuosic songwriter and musician whose antics bridged not just 60s counterculture and New Wave music but also film, theater, and music television." In September 1988, Billboard launched its Modern Rock chart,
5418-408: The late 1970s, defined "new wave" as "a polite term devised to reassure people who were scared by punk, it enjoyed a two- or three-year run but was falling from favor as the '80s began." Lester Bangs , another critical promoter of punk and new wave in the 1970s, when asked if new wave was "still going on" in 1982, stated that "The only trouble with New Wave is that nobody followed up on it ... But it
5504-462: The latter half of the 1980s and onward. Conversely, according to Robert Christgau , "in America, the original New Wave was a blip commercially, barely touching the nascent alt-rock counterculture of the '80s." In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic , new pop , and new music genres. Some new wave acts, particularly R.E.M. , maintained new wave's indie label orientation through most of
5590-499: The media: Punk rock or new wave bands overwhelmingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the prevailing rock trends of the day. They viewed bombastic progressive rock groups like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd with disdain, and instead channeled their energies into a more stripped back sound… The media, however, portrayed punk groups like the Sex Pistols and their fans as violent and unruly, and eventually punk acquired
5676-529: The mid-1980s he formed Howard Hughes and the Western Approaches, releasing four singles on the Abstract and EG record labels. His works have been selected for the 60x60 project in 2004, 2005, and 2006. This article on a keyboardist is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . New wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop -oriented styles from
5762-401: The monochrome blacks and greys of punk/new wave, synth-pop was promoted by a youth media interested in people who wanted to be pop stars, such as Boy George and Adam Ant ". In 2005, Andrew Collins of The Guardian offered the breakup of the Jam , and the formation of Duran Duran, as two possible dates marking the "death" of new wave. British rock critic Adam Sweeting , who described
5848-500: The most "truly definitive new wave band". In the same article, reviewing the American book This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers , Collins noted that the book's inclusion of such artists as Big Country , Roxy Music, Wham!, and Bronski Beat "strikes an Englishman as patently ridiculous", but that the term means "all things to all cultural commentators." By the 2000s, critical consensus favored "new wave" to be an umbrella term that encompasses power pop , synth-pop, ska revival , and
5934-474: The most critically acclaimed groups of the '80s," Talking Heads helped to pioneer new wave music by combining elements of punk , art rock , funk , and world music with "an anxious yet clean-cut image"; they have been called "a properly postmodernist band." Byrne, Frantz, and Weymouth met as freshmen at the Rhode Island School of Design , where Byrne and Frantz were part of a band called
6020-411: The musicians were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter strains of 1960s pop and were opposed to the generally abrasive, political bents of punk rock, as well as what was considered to be creatively stagnant " corporate rock ". New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s into the early 1980s with numerous major musicians and an abundance of one-hit wonders . MTV , which
6106-409: The name Shrunken Heads , and released an album, No Talking, Just Head , as the Heads in 1996. In 2002, Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Four of their albums appeared on Rolling Stone ' s 2003 list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ", and three of their songs (" Psycho Killer ", " Life During Wartime ", and " Once in a Lifetime ") were included among
6192-608: The new wave circuit acts happening very big [in the US]. As a movement, we don't expect it to have much influence." A year earlier, Bart Mills of The Washington Post asked "Is England's New Wave All Washed Up?", writing that "The New Wave joined the Establishment, buying a few hits at the price of its anarchism. Not a single punk band broke through big in America, and in Britain John Travolta sold more albums than
6278-442: The new wave movement's commercial rise, which had been signaled in 1978 by hits for the Cars and Talking Heads. In 1980, there were brief forays into new wave-style music by non-new wave artists Billy Joel ( Glass Houses ), Donna Summer ( The Wanderer ), and Linda Ronstadt ( Mad Love ). Early in 1980, influential radio consultant Lee Abrams wrote a memo saying with a few exceptions, "we're not going to be seeing many of
6364-558: The punk-music scene. The mid-1970s British pub rock scene was the source of many of the most-commercially-successful new wave acts, such as Ian Dury , Nick Lowe , Eddie and the Hot Rods , and Dr. Feelgood . In the US, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein , believing the term "punk" would mean poor sales for Sire's acts who had frequently played the New York club CBGB , launched a "Don't Call It Punk" campaign designed to replace
6450-412: The punk/new wave movement. Acts associated with the movement received little or no radio airplay, or music industry support. Small scenes developed in major cities. Continuing into the next year, public support remained limited to select elements of the artistic, bohemian, and intellectual population as arena rock and disco dominated the charts. In early 1979, Eve Zibart of The Washington Post noted
6536-486: The rerelease. With regard to the possibility of a reunion tour, Harrison told the Los Angeles Times : "Right now, we're concentrating on Stop Making Sense and how much fun we're having revisiting the film. We're living in the moment, so that's all we're thinking about." In January 2024, Billboard reported that Talking Heads had turned down an $ 80 million offer for a reunion tour, which would have included
6622-523: The soft strains of punk rock. In the UK, some post-punk music developments became mainstream. According to music critic David Smay writing in 2001: Current critical thought discredits new wave as a genre, deriding it as a marketing ploy to soft-sell punk, a meaningless umbrella term covering bands too diverse to be considered alike. Powerpop, synth-pop, ska revival, art school novelties and rebranded pub rockers were all sold as "New Wave". In mid-1977, Time and Newsweek wrote favorable lead stories on
6708-468: The song to the serial killer known as the Son of Sam , who had been terrorizing New York City months earlier; however, Byrne said he had written the song years prior. Weymouth and Frantz married in 1977. More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) was Talking Heads' first collaboration with the producer Brian Eno , who had previously worked with Roxy Music , David Bowie , John Cale and Robert Fripp ;
6794-407: The start of MTV began new wave's most successful era in the US. British musicians, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on. Several British acts on independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American musicians on major labels, a phenomenon journalists labeled the " Second British Invasion " of "new music" , which included many artists of
6880-665: The term "new wave" to classify New York–based groups such as the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls . In the US, many of the first new wave groups were the not-so-punk acts associated with CBGB (e.g. Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie ), as well as the proto-punk scene in Ohio, which included Devo , the Electric Eels , Rocket from the Tombs , and Pere Ubu . Some important bands, such as Suicide and
6966-598: The term with "new wave". Because radio consultants in the US had advised their clients punk rock was a fad, they settled on the new term. Like the filmmakers of the French New Wave movement , after whom the genre was named, new wave bands such as Ramones and Talking Heads were anti-corporate and experimental. At first, most American writers used the term "new wave" exclusively in reference to British punk acts. Starting in December 1976, The New York Rocker , which
7052-549: The title of Eno's 1977 song "King's Lead Hat" is an anagram of the band's name. Eno's unusual style meshed with the group's artistic sensibilities, and they began to explore an increasingly diverse range of musical directions, from psychedelic funk to African music , influenced prominently by Fela Kuti and Parliament-Funkadelic . This recording also established the band's relationship with Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas . More Songs About Buildings and Food included
7138-434: Was coined to describe groups who were initially considered part of new wave but were more ambitious, serious, challenging, darker, and less pop-oriented. Some of these groups later adopted synthesizers. While punk rock wielded a major influence on the popular music scene in the UK, in the US it remained a fixture of the underground. By the end of 1977, "new wave" had replaced "punk" as the term for new underground music in
7224-469: Was launched in 1981, heavily promoted new-wave acts, boosting the genre's popularity in the United States. In the UK, new wave faded at the beginning of the 1980s with the emergence of the New Romantic movement. In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic, new pop , and new music genres. Since the 1990s, new wave resurged several times with
7310-487: Was really an exciting burst there for like a year, year and a half." Starting around 1983, the US music industry preferred the more generic term " new music ", which it used to categorize new movements like new pop and New Romanticism . In 1983, music journalist Parke Puterbaugh wrote that new music "does not so much describe a single style as it draws a line in time, distinguishing what came before from what has come after." Chuck Eddy , who wrote for The Village Voice in
7396-522: Was suspicious of the term "punk", became the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term, at first for British acts and later for acts associated with the CBGB scene. The music's stripped-back style and upbeat tempos, which Stein and others viewed as a much-needed return to the energetic rush of rock and roll and 1960s rock that had dwindled in the 1970s with progressive rock and stadium spectacles, attracted them to new wave. The term "post-punk"
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