The New Wave is a movement in American and British popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City musical scene centred around the club CBGB.
The term itself is a source of much confusion. Originally, the term "new wave" was interchangeable with punk rock though they quickly diverged into two different, though related forms. The term was then applied indiscriminately to any of the bands that followed in punks wake without relying on punks faster, harder & louder ethos; throwing together many different musical styles and attitudes. Eventually, New Wave came to imply a less noisy, poppier sound, while the term Post punk was coined to describe the artier, less pop influenced groups. Although distinct, punk, new wave and post punk all shared common ground, as a energetic reaction to slick, uninspired popular music of the 1970s; and many groups fit easily into two or all three of the categories over their lifespan.
New Wave bands and artists:
- ABC
- Adam Ant
- A Flock of Seagulls
- A-ha
- Altered Images
- Alphaville
- Anne Clark
- Aztec Camera
- The B-52's
- Bananarama
- The Bangles
- Berlin
- Big Country
- Black Tape for a Blue Girl
- Blancmange
- Blondie
- Bow Wow Wow
- Bronski Beat
- The Buggles
- Camper Van Beethoven
- The Cars
- Cheap Trick
- Communards
- Crüxshadows
- Culture Club
- The Cure
- Cyndi Lauper
- Dave Edmunds
- David Arkenstone
- Dead or Alive
- Depeche Mode
- Dexy's Midnight Runners
- Devo
- Duran Duran
- The English Beat
- Elvis Costello
- Erasure
- Eurythmics
- Falco
- Fine Young Cannibals
- The Fixx
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- Gang of Four
- Gary Numan
- General Public
- The Go-Gos
- Graham Parker
- Haircut 100
- Hall & Oates
- Heaven 17
- Human League
- Human Sexual Response
- Ian Dury
- INXS
- The Jam
- Joe Jackson
- Joy Division
- Kajagoogoo
- Kate Bush
- King Bees
- The Knack
- Kraftwerk
- Lene Lovich
- Level 42
- Madness
- Marc Almond
- Marshall Crenshaw
- Men at Work
- Men Without Hats
- Missing Persons
- The Modern Lovers
- Nick Lowe
- Nik Kershaw
- New Order
- Oingo Boingo
- The Only Ones
- Orange Juice
- Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
- Pet Shop Boys
- The Plimsouls
- The Police
- The Pretenders
- The Psychedelic Furs
- Real Life
- Rockpile
- R.E.M
- Shriekback
- Sigue Sigue Sputnik
- Simple Minds
- Soft Cell
- Spandau Ballet
- The Specials
- Split Enz
- Squeeze
- The Stranglers
- The Stray Cats
- Talking Heads
- Talk Talk
- Tears for Fears
- Television
- The The
- Thomas Dolby
- Thompson Twins
- Til Tuesday
- Tom Tom Club
- Tony Basil
- Ultravox
- Violent Femmes
- White Town
- XTC
- Yazoo
- Yello
- New Romantic
- Synth pop
- Two-Tone ska
- power pop
- Mod Revival
- 1980's Electronic music