How is "New Wave" perceived by 20-somethings?

Cafe Society
1

Music from “my generation” includes Punk, Ska and New Wave. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Men At Work, Men Without Hats, Nena, Duran Duran, The Ramones, Social Distortion, Eurhytmics, Peter Gabriel, Berlin, Madness, Talking Heads, The Bangles, The B-52s, The Deat Kennedys, The Damned, Sham 69, Stray Cats, Circle Jerks, The Dickies, D.I., Toy Dolls …

“Back in the day” these bands and others were who I listened to. I liked some of the music from 20 years before, but 1960s rock’n’roll seemed rather dated. How could anyone subsist on a diet of only '60s music? My friends and I saw them as a bunch of aging hippies. And 1950s music? Please! :rolleyes: How could people listen to that? (Never mind that The Stray Cats had a '50s sound. They were being “ironic” :wink: )

When New Wave died and was replace by Grunge, I listened to Grunge. Then I listened to the corporate “Alternative” rock. (To me, “Alternative” was what they played on the college station KXLU, and which unfortunately I could not hear at my office.) In the late-1990s I had a roommate who would only listen to early-'80s New Wave. When I asked him why, he said, “It’s music for our generation!” I told him that it’s the '90s and that, while oldies from the '80s were good from time to time, there’s plenty of new stuff to listen to.

Now I’m about 1,400 miles out of range for even the Corporate Alternative of KROQ, to say nothing about KXLU! Anyway, commercial radio tends to have a very limited playlist. (It seems they were more inclined to play new stuff back in the early-'80s.) So I’ve been thinking about New Wave.

20-somethings and teens did not experience the “skinny ties and cocaine” era, any more than I experienced “hippy music”. I daresay that the late-1970s/early-1980s are as distant to some younger listeners as the 1950s and early-1960s are to me.

So how do you “youngsters” perceive Punk and New Wave oldies and the people who listen to them? Is the music “quaint”? Are we a bunch of boring old farts? Are Punk and New Wave more accessible, or less accessible to younger listeners than “Classic Rock” is to me?

2

Not quite 20-somethings but I took a long car trip last year with a second cousin of mine and his best friend, both of whom were 17. Most of the bands they are into I have never heard of…I guess you might call them “Post-Alternative Hard Rock”. The spiritual offspring of bands like Rancid, Green Day (and Offspring, come to think of it!).

To them any music that came out before 1995 is an oldie. No joke. They make no distinction between, say, The Replacements and The Beatles.

When I played a little bit of London Calling for them they looked at me like I was trying to get them into Handel. :rolleyes:

3

Can’t speak for the 20-somethings, but my daughter, 14, considers herself to be quite the expert on contemporary music (excuse me one second while I stifle guffaws) and she listens to what LL pretty accurately describes as Post-Alternative Hard Rock - although SHE says it’s punk. Some of the music is very derivative (well, most of it is, but that’s neither here nor there) and on occasion she’s played a song that puts me in mind of the Cure or Bauhaus or whatever. Since I have a pretty extensive music collection, I’ve played that for her to compare, and she thinks I’m off my trolley. She does like some of it, but she claims it bears no resemblence to “her” music, which is of course cutting-edge and hip and (sorry, more guffaws) “cool.”

On the other hand, she’s also a big Queen fan, so all hope is not lost.

4

Earlier this year, Green Day did a remake of “I Fought the Law”. I found several references online about how this version was MUCH better than the original.

You know, the ORIGINAL.

By the Clash.

I got a small chuckle out of that.

5

Good bands, all.

Mr. Blue Sky: I went to a Pogues concert when Joe Strummer made a “guest appearance”. They did I Fought the Law.

LifeOnWry: Have you told her that you said exactly the same thing to your parents? :smiley:

6

I go to a club night here that specializes in early 80’s postpunk and new wave and relevant modern revival/inspired-by-same stuff. Plenty of 20-somethings show up for it. In fact I’d say 90% of the patrons are early to mid 20s.

7

Actually, I was a much more open-minded kid than my daughter is - and there’s a number of professional musicians in my family, so they were more in tune (no pun intended) with contemporary music, too. I learned very early on to spot classical influence in heavy metal, jazz and blues in rock, folk in country, be-bop and rockabilly in new wave.

And I turned my Mom on to Pink Floyd.

8

Since this thread centers on music it’d be better suited to Cafe Society. I’ll move it on over.

TVeblen
IMHO mod

9

I’m 26, and a complete snob when it comes to the music of today, especially the awful cookie-cutter hip-hop and “mall-punk” (my catch-all term for all the “Post-Alternative Hard Rock” groups that I consider boy bands in Hot Topic clothing.)

I really love classic jazz, swing, rockabilly, surf, ska, trip-hop, old-school rap, alt-country, and true “indie rock” (not grunge or alternative, but stuff like Belle and Sebastian, the Shins, and the New Pornographers), but I have a lot of love for the music of the late '70s and early '80s. I think that was a magical era for music, where a lot of terrific bands were coming out from diverse scenes in America and the UK.

The Pogues, the Clash, the Ramones, Social Distortion, the Stray Cats, the Smiths, the Cure, Violent Femmes, and the Specials are among my all-time favorite bands, and I also love the poppier stuff like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. I’ve loved U2 from the early '80s through to the present, and I think Sting did his best work in the Police. Elvis Costello, Prince, even George Michael… all tremendous talents from the early '80s. Most of my friends who appreciate music really like New Wave and '80s music, and consider punk bands from this era the “real deal.”

10

I’m 27 and I love this music when I hear it, but I don’t own any albums. I mostly hear the overplayed stuff on oldies and adult contemporary stations. (You know what I mean–Come On Eileen, Stop the World and Melt With Me, Take On You, etc.) I don’t listen to those stations–I’m pretty strictly NPR–but my friends do. One friend hates New Wave and changes the station whenever one of those songs comes on. The rest of us all think she’s nuts. It’s just fun music. Hard to imagine making it a steady diet, but it’s great on occasion. In fact, I’ve been meaning to expand my CD collection again, and this is just the stuff I need to add. Thanks for the suggestions!

11

“I Melt With You” (by Modern English) and “Take On Me” (by A-Ha).

Why yes, my iTunes 80s playlist (which I’m listening to as I type this, “Earthquake Song” by Little Girls) does have 165 songs on it, which is about 20% of my total 80s collection, why do you ask?

12

[inevitable hijack]
Have you tried listening to KEXP online?
[/inevitable hijack]

13

Funny, I’ve been having a wondering of a different (but very related) sort lately:

I’m also of the punk/new wave generation, and I’ve been seeing a lot of kids lately who seem to primarily like music of my generation. My 14 year old nephew and 16 year old neice stayed with me for a few days last week, and all of their collection was 80s stuff. My neice could only talk about the Cure, and even wore an “I love Robert Smith” tee-shirt that she made her self. (Side-joke, told to me 15 years ago by Country Dick Montana if you can believe it: “Robert Smith is not a pussy; pussy is a good thing.”)

Anyway, I’ve seen this in a bunch of kids recently and wondered why it was. There was an occasional Led Zeppelin worn by kids of my generation, but it was pretty rare.

14

Bill H,

I agree with you. When I was young (I am 32 now), we didn’t want anything to do with the former generation’s (music, fashion, etc). When we borrowed, from say the 50’s, it was a way over the top interpretation. What I really enjoyed about the 80’s is that it was a decade that was really ‘ours’. Yes, there were some kids that listed to The Doors, etc, but I am talking about the over all feel of the decade.

I see teens/twenties now that desperately (it seems) want to cling on to the 80’s in regards to our fashions and music (and toys it seems). I really, really don’t get it. One part of me, the crab, wants to say, “Get your OWN style and quit leeching on to ours! You’re ruining it for ME!” and the other part of me is kind of sad because it seems like a wasted opportunity to define a generation. I look back at the 90’s and it just seems dull in comparison.

Then you get the people that are above the whole new wave thing. Yes, we had fun stuff, pop stuff. We also had some really good stuff, too. One thing I liked about the 80’s is the diversity. It wasn’t uncommon to find a cassette by Gabriel next to a cassette by Depeche Mode next to a cassette of say, Loverboy. There were so many different types of music floating around, whereas now it sounds so… so the same.
um. I need to stop writing. I need to go take my geritol and check my depends…
:wink:

15

Yep, Johnny L.A., we’re both officially “Old Wave”. Sigh. Nowadays if you hear “London Calling”, it’s someone on the phone bitching about why something’s late.

16

IMO, a lot of it can be traced back to the entertainment media. VH1 has enjoyed a tremendous success with “I Love the 80s”, and many commercial stations have at least one 80s show; kids listen to this and discover the music and styles.

Kids also pick up on the music of their parents; I became a huge fan of 60s music because that’s when my parents grew up. Lots of kids now listen to 80s music for that reason.

Robin

17

I just wanted to clarify: they would make no distinction between these two bands with respect to genre or era. They might be able to tell the music apart, I didn’t test them in that regard.

What was really odd to me is that both my cousin and his friend are semi-serious amateur musicians who can both play their favorite bands passably on electric guitar or bass. You would think they would be more curious about the roots and origins of their favorite music. Maybe in time they will.

18

I’m a 20-something (I’ll be 27 next month) and I feel like I have an older mindset than many people my age - I attribute this to having two older brothers (10 years and 7 years old than me) who were completely into this sort of thing in the early to mid 80’s. I still listen to the Cure and the Smiths quite a bit, Depeche Mode is my all-time favorite, etc. I do run into a lot of people my age who are into this same thing, but as you get younger than me, the fewer people you’ll find.

19

Well, I’m 20, and I like Tears For Fears. And despite my best efforts to the contrary, they’re often lumped in with the bands you mention in the OP, so I guess that makes me a “New Wave fan”. I’m not too big on the rest of the 80s music-wise, but I’ll give it this: I’d take Duran Duran or The Cure over current pop radio any day.

20

What’s sad is I’m 34 and I can only look backwards. I simply cannot stomach today’s radio, but I can listen to a classic rock station and be pretty happy. I can listen to local radio show that devotes itself to 80s Hair Bands and be tickled pink. I’ll gladly listen to New Wave any place, any time.

But goddamn, you put that Hoobastank disc in my stereo, and I will THROW you out of the car.