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

Cafe Society
41

Born in 1978, so I count as a 20-something. I grew up listening to Sousa marches and Lite Rock in the car, along with some NPR. At age 4, I was jumping up and down on the bed to Beach Boys and Motown 45s… played at 78rpm. Loved the Kingston Trio, Anne Murray, and dad’s Santana record that he accidentally inherited when his deadbeat roommate moved out in college. I listened to some Weird Al, some Prince, knew the words to some Beatles songs, but didn’t really own any albums. Appreciated Nirvana in 1991, Pearl Jam in 1992. Went away to boarding school, and was introduced to the following by my roommate:
AC/DC
Metallica
Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Rolling Stones
Brooks & Dunn

Spent a lot of time with a junior who was really into bands like the Jesus Lizard and the Screaming Trees. Gave him endless shit for abandoning any band that became popular. He introduced me to a bunch of bands, and gave me Flood by TMBG and Double Nickels on the Dime by the Minutemen, and a mix tape with Screeching Weasel, Green Day, and more. Junior year I was addicted to Dave Matthews Band and Phish. Great music. I still love it. Over the summer I met a girl who introduced me to Tori. More great music. I still love it. Senior year I heard a friend playing a tape that kicked ass. I said, “What on earth is that?” and he said “It’s Led Zeppelin IV. You’ve never heard this?”

In college, I joined an a capella group that did covers of Love Shack, Black, Ramble On, I Touch Myself, White Room, and more. I’d like to think I learned to appreciate a very wide variety of music.

New Wave? An interesting fad from the 80s to me. I love the synthesizers, the upbeat pop tempo, the way some of the songs are still more fresh and innovative than anything being made today. The whiney English vocals are a bit of a turn-off, but overall, good stuff. We had an all-80s station in Dayton while I lived there, and it remains one of my best memories of that town.

42

[yet another hijack]

You young’uns might find it interesting to listen to Hype, a concept album about the music industry by Robert Calvert. Those into proto-punk would also do well to check out everything that Calvert was involved in.

[/yah]

43

Sorry to tell you, but the fact is… “New Wave” was never actually popular. What was popular was the real “cheesy 80’s stuff”. Here is a list of some of the most popular songs of 1985 (according to Billboard), this is what you would have heard at the mall, blasting from people’s cars and being played over and over on the radio…

  1. “Careless Whisper”…Wham!
  2. “Say You, Say Me”…Lionel Richie
  3. “Separate Lives”…Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin
  4. “I Want To Know What Love Is”…Foreigner
  5. “Money For Nothing”…Dire Straits
  6. “We Are The World”…USA for Africa
  7. “Broken Wings”…Mr. Mister
  8. “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”…Tears for Fears
  9. “The Power Of Love”…Huey Lewis & The News
  10. “We Built This City”…Starship
  11. “St. Elmo’s Fire”…John Parr
  12. “Can’t Fight This Feeling”…REO Speedwagon
  13. “Crazy For You”…Madonna
  14. “Easy Lover”…Phillip Bailey & Phil Collins
  15. “Everytime You Go Away”…Paul Young
  16. "Don’t You (Forget About Me):…Simple Minds
  17. “Take On Me”…a-ha
  18. “Party All The Time”…Eddie Murphy
  19. “Everything She Wants”…Wham!
  20. “Shout”…Tears for Fears
  21. “Alive and Kicking”…Simple Minds
  22. “I Miss You”…Klymaxx
  23. “Sea Of Love”…Honeydrippers
  24. “Cool It Now”…New Edition
  25. “Part-Time Lover”…Stevie Wonder
  26. “Saving All My Love For You”…Whitney Houston
  27. “Sussudio”…Phil Collins
  28. “Oh Sheila”…Ready for the World"
  29. “A View To A Kill”…Duran Duran
  30. “One More Night”…Phil Collins
  31. “Cherish”…Kool & The Gang
  32. “Heaven”…Bryan Adams
  33. “The Heat Is On”…Glenn Frey
  34. “Raspberry Beret”…Prince & The Revolution
  35. “You’re The Inspiration”…Chicago
  36. “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”…Sting
  37. “Miami Vice Theme”…Jan Hammer
  38. “Freeway Of Love”…Aretha Franklin
  39. “Don’t Lose My Number”…Phil Collins
  40. “Never”…Heart
  41. “Things Can Only Get Better”…Howard Jones
  42. “The Boys Of Summer”…Don Henley
  43. “Rhythm Of The Night”…DeBarge
  44. “We Don’t Need Another Hero”…Tina Turner
  45. “We Belong”…Pat Benatar
  46. “Loverboy”…Billy Ocean
  47. “All I Need”…Jack Wagner
  48. “One Night In Bangkok”…Murray Head
  49. “Never Surrender”…Corey Hart
  50. “Lovergirl”…Teena Marie
  51. “Nightshift”…Commodores
  52. “Head Over Heels”…The Go-Gos
  53. “Neutron Dance”…Pointer Sisters
  54. “Axel F”…Harold Faltermeyer
  55. “You Give Good Love”…Whitney Houston
  56. “The Search Is Over”…Survivor
  57. “Small Town”…John Cougar Mellencamp
  58. “Smooth Operator”…Sade
  59. “Glory Days”…Bruce Springsteen
  60. “Suddenly”…Billy Ocean
  61. “Run To You”…Bryan Adams
  62. “Obsession”…Animotion
  63. “Lonely Ol’ Night”…John Cougar Mellencamp
  64. “Some Like It Hot”…Power Station
  65. “Valotte”…Julian Lennon
  66. “You Belong To The City”…Glenn Frey
  67. “Material Girl”…Madonna
  68. “Perfect Way”…Scritti Politti
  69. “Election Day”…Arcadia
  70. “Too Late For Goodbyes”…Julian Lennon
  71. “Freedom”…Wham!
  72. “In My House”…Mary Jane Girls
  73. “Summer Of '69”…Bryan Adams
  74. “Sleeping Bag”…ZZ Top
  75. “Angel”…Madonna
  76. “Lay Your Hands On Me”…Thompson Twins
  77. “I’m On Fire”…Bruce Springsteen
  78. “Would I Lie To You?”…Eurythmics
  79. “Who’s Zoomin’ Who”…Aretha Franklin
  80. “Fortress Around Your Heart”…Sting
  81. “Born In The U.S.A.”…Bruce Springsteen
  82. “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”…Don Henley
  83. “Voices Carry”…'Til Tuesday
  84. “Be Near Me”…ABC
  85. “Private Dancer”…Tina Turner
  86. “Fresh”…Kool & The Gang
  87. “Sentimental Street”…Night Ranger
  88. “California Girls”…David Lee Roth
  89. “Do What You Do”…Jermaine Jackson
  90. “Method Of Modern Love”…Hall & Oates
  91. “Walking On Sunshine”…Katrina & The Waves
  92. “Pop Life”…Prince & The Revolution
  93. “You’re Only Human”…Billy Joel
  94. “Invincible”…Pat Benatar
  95. “Lovin’ Every Minute Of It”…Loverboy
  96. “Get It On (Bang A Gong)”…Power Station
  97. “Dare Me”…Pointer Sisters
  98. “What About Love”…Heart
  99. “You Are My Lady”…Freddie Jackson
  100. “Dress You Up”…Madonna
44

I’m 23. I definitely like “new wave” and especially what I think of as Power Pop, stuff like the 'db’s, Big Star, and everything they engendered. But I like traditional new wave stuff too like the Elvis Costello, Duran Duran, and less well known, but my greatest love of the genre, Split Enz. I have three older sisters who are 42, 37, and 29, that’s the only thing I can think to explain it. My music tastes were very definitely influenced by them.
-Lil

45

It’s possible, since they released a new album this week.

46

You are correct, sir! Don’t be fooled by selective nostalgia about the late 70’s and 80’s. For many of us who came of age during that time, this was a truly fallow period for popular music. Granted, there were some great acts like (just to name a few) Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The Replacements, and The Clash, but they weren’t that prominent on either the charts or on the radio unless you were able to tune in a low-wattage college station. If you didn’t have access to this music, you were pretty much stuck with mainstream tripe the record companies and radio stations served you.

Since I hated most of the crap that was “new”, I listened to a lot of 60’s stuff like the Beatles, Stones, The Who, Hendrix, Doors, and Traffic (i.e., what later came to be known as Classic Rock) along with Motown and Memphis soul. I realize I was probably betraying my generation by preferring this music over what was contemporary but I really liked this music a lot more and, to me, it was new since I was too young to listen to it when it first came out.

47

I’m 20, and I really love Devo, if they indeed count as New Wave. I don’t really see music as a generational thing, since I listen to lots of traditional ethnic music and modern music going back probably to Stravinsky. If a piece of music is just a shibboleth for membership in a group of similarly-dressed people, then maybe its lifespan is limited, but if it’s a genuinely good composition/rendition, then why shouldn’t people listen to it forever?

48

Actually, I wouldn’t criticize this too harshly. They’re 17 and consider anything before 1995 to be an “oldie”, so, basically anything before they were 8 years old.

8 years old
I’d say that music before this mark is music I had to investigate/study as my musical tastes matured. Music after this mark is music I feel like I was aware of along the way, my music that I grew up with. I was born in 1975, so I was 8 in 1983. Although my high school years were 89 to 93, I definitely have always considered myself a product of the 80’s (on a pop culture scale, anyway), because it was starting in 1983 that I began to have my own “favorites” that I was passionate about. Anything before 1983 I had to educate myself on, and had to mature a bit before I was open to such an education.

17 years old
O.K., so I cut your young friends a little slack because I share their “birth of consciousness at age 8” perspective. HOWEVER, they are not 8 anymore. By the time I entered high school, I (and just about all of my friends) was very familiar with the Beatles, the Doors, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, the Grateful Dead, etc, etc, etc. (It was in college that I began to learn Jazz.)

Did you know Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings?
There is the famous Rock n’ Roll story, that I’m sure many of you know, that tells of and overheard conversation between two young girls in a record store in the early seventies: “Did you know Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings?” This is an oft told story that may have happened, may just be a legend, but I swear to god a few years ago I did overhear a conversation between two 14 year olds that went like this:
“Wasn’t Dave Grohl in another band before Foo Fighters?”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t the singer.”
:smack:

Easier now, or easier then?
It does seem to me like a lot of young people have no clue about older music, but at the same time there are many who seem much more familiar with my music than I was with the previous generation’s music when I was their age. I went to see Patti Smith a few years ago and there were scores of teenaged girls in the audience, which I thought was really cool.
I think this has a lot to do with the fact that, at this point, there are many acts that have been steadily active over a thirty year career. Because these groups never really had a significant dormant period, never had to make a “comeback”, they don’t seem like “oldies”. Kids today know U2 because when U2 releases a new album the songs place on the charts. So, the kids don’t even think of the fact that U2’s first album came out twenty-four years ago.
The earliest Rockers were so screwed over on the business side of things that it made it difficult for them to sustain a long career. Also, it’s worth noting that 50 is a lot younger now than it used to be- people stay active and healthy. In the 80’s how many acts had an unbroken 20 or 30 year stretch of a career? When Roy Orbison released Mystery Girl in 1989 he seemed ancient because A) there had been a huge gap in his career and B) he was in horrible shape.
Also, it really helps that the current “old guys” came about in the age of the music video, whereas the previous “old guys” did not have the prime of their careers documented in such a lasting fashion.
Really, who was to 1984 what Elvis Costello or the Cure is to 2004? Nobody.

ZebraShaSha
Does anyone else think that ZebraShaSha writes exceptionally well for a 16 year old? :slight_smile: (Reply #38 in particular.) Insightful, intelligent, and cohesive. Perhaps we need more 16 year olds on this Board. I hope if any Dopers out there happen to hold a position in college Admissions you will do what you can to see that ZebraShaSha misses no opportunities. This one’s gonna turn out good.

49

Well, I think most 20-somethings did experience New Wave to some extent. It might have been filtered through MTV and radio, and certainly we weren’t old enough to wear skinny ties or snort cocaine (or at least, I hope none of us were snorting cocaine back then), but the music was around. Anyone who had cool older siblings or unlimited MTV access got a little taste of it. Also, some of the bands stuck around. The Cure are still with us, still recording, still touring. I think Depeche Mode is still around as well. Duran Duran had that brief revival in the mid-nineties - remember “Ordinary World?”

The beginnings of punk were, of course, before my time. But before the mall punks came around, we did have Green Day, Operation Ivy, Rancid, NOFX, and quite a few others. Listening to that could lead you to listening to the Clash, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols…

Anyway, there’s been a lot of carryover from those days, and it isn’t impossible for some of us to have grown up listening to punk and new wave and still be listening to it now. And I think a lot of the twenty-somethings who don’t like that music now probably would never have liked it in the first place.

50

I like New Wave, though what you may perceive as New Wave may not be what I perceive as New Wave. More on that later.

As for whether New Wave is cool, that’s a difficult question, because today’s teens/twentysomethings (I’m 19) are not so uniform to allow one thing to be seen as cool. To some people, 50 Cent and Eminem are cool. To some Hoobastank (shudder) and Audioslave are. To some, Franz Ferdinand and The Shins.

I think music that came out before 1991 is old. But not necessarily bad. For instance, vl_mungo’s 1985 Billboard list consists mostly of songs that I know (Who are Nightranger and Harold Faltermeyer?)

The only songs I like from the list are these three:

"Don’t You (Forget About Me):…Simple Minds
“Raspberry Beret”…Prince & The Revolution
“Pop Life”…Prince & The Revolution

I haven’t heard the 'Til Tuesday one, but weren’t they Aimee Mann’s old group? I didn’t know they were big.

I wouldn’t consider all the music from Johnny L.A.'s list to be New Wave. When I think New wave, I basically think of the bands following late '70s punk, using keyboards and pop structures, but carrying on the punk feel. Like Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, etc. Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran were just '80s pop and I don’t think either are particularly good. More John Hughes than Johnny Rotten.

Dude! The song from Bowling For Columbine! By Pavement! :smiley:

51

This didn’t say what i meant it to say.

Elvis and Talking Heads are new wave and good.

Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran are cheesy pop and bad.

52

Night Ranger had one big hit, “Sister Christian,” an overblown, melodramatic big-hair power ballad. You’d know it if you heard it–it was featured in the movie Boogie Nights, during the tense scene at Alfred Molina’s house with the kid setting off firecrackers in the house. The chorus goes something like:

MOTORIN’!
What’s your price for flight?
And meeting Mister Right?

And Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F Theme” was the instrumental theme music of Beverly Hills Cop, a great action-comedy starring Eddie Murphy as wisecracking Detroit detective Axel Foley. Yes, Eddie Murphy was hilarious in the '80s, as hard as that is to believe now.

53

This is a point that bears emphasis. None of what many of us might consider the great bands/artists of that era were wildly successful at the time. They were the “alternative” music of their day. (At least in the US.) And this was back when “alternative music” really meant “alternative music.”

The Clash? Had what…two hits?

The Ramones? Did they ever break into the top 40?

The Cure? Rarely heard from on mainstream radio. Had to listen to college radio stations to hear them.

Elvis Costello? Two very minor hits. Otherwise, heard only on college radio.

The Smiths? Exactly zero hits in the US. College radio was their only outlet here.

Etc., etc.

All of these bands were popular on college radio, but seldom seen in the top 40.

Only when R.E.M. managed to break into the top 40, and then grunge broke a couple of years later, did you start to hear any of these bands on commercial radio. Then “alternative music” go coopted by THE MAN, and we’re back to where we were - the airwaves are dominated by crap.

Things haven’t changed that much. If you want to hear good new music today, your best bet is still college radio. Here in Atlanta, Album 88 (88.5 on your FM dial) plays a lot of good new stuff. Stuff you won’t hear on commercial radio. I’m sure it’s the same in other cities.

54

Depeche Mode is currently working on a new album, I believe. I’m not sure if they are quite into recording yet (those solo projects in 2003 took a lot of time away from the main project), but they are planning about it. Looking at the way they discussed the project in the last year, I wouldn’t be surprised if this next album is their last.

Duran Duran just reunited as their original line-up and sold out a tour earlier this year. The girl next to me at work at the time (boy band fanatic, and when I say that, I’m not embellishing) was absolutely freaking out about a Duran Duran tour. I mentioned the fact that they’ve never really stopped touring since 1993 and that they have regularly played shows with the exact same songs on this new tour to half-empty clubs, but she didn’t care. It was the original line-up. Let’s ignore that she could name no names.

55

I saw Duran Duran on their last tour (forget the name), I saw The Cure on their last tour (Bloodflowers) and I saw Depeche Mode on their last tour (Exciter). Looks like I’ll be able to see them all again, soon :smiley:

Oh, and Duran Duran…cheeesy pop??? Maybe, but have you ever listened to Hungry Like the Wolf turned up LOUD and danced to it?? Even better, heard them perform it in concert? If only all pop was this “cheesy”… :stuck_out_tongue:
Dude, there are girls my age here that are into new wave…where are you all in real life??? The SDMB is like a bastion of fantasies that never come true :smack:

56

For the most part I think that there are a few gems hidden in New Wave/80s music that are fantastic- Talking Heads comes to mind. Return to Light is just brilliant. Besides that, 80s music is pretty mediocre (and often just awful).

This is coming from a 17 year old who listens to stuff like Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, and all sorts of Jazz music.

57

I’m 27 (going on 45 it feels sometimes :wink: ) and I also find the distinction between New Wave and what was actually popular in the 80’s is an important one.

I adore the Talking Heads and the Ramones. My husband is a Cure fanatic and also enjoys the Ramones, the Clash, et. al. I’ve been known to jam out to Duran Duran when I feel in a poppy mood.

However, I was never into any of these bands when they first came out - I was clutching my Wham! album too hard. Of course, I was 8, so whaddayagonnado.
I enjoy music from almost every era. I still like Runaround Sue and other '50s gems, I started worshipping at the altar of Led Zep and the Doors when I was 14, I sing righteously along to the '60s & '70s anti-war and hippie anthems, I’ve discovered New Wave as previously mentioned, and closely identified with the Nirvana/Soundgarden grunge movement in the '90s. Since the early '90s I’ve gotten into rap/hip-hop, jam bands, and classical music.

I’m also enjoying the posts by ZebraShaSha and Alison Ashley, two younger Dopers (or potential Dopers) whose intellegence has surpassed their age demographic. Stick around, and give us insight into those crazy Kids These Days. :smiley: Lord knows I’m starting to need it.

58

Such unfitting congeniality for someone such as myself! Your compliment is welcoming because I have been worried about the quality of my posts. Up until this point, I have felt that I have contributed negativly to this board: eating the bandwith and contributing nill to the triumphing of human ignorance. Atleast I now know of something positive I have done for one poster! Also, if you in anyway are advantageous to my higher education I have candy with your name on it!

I NEVER KNEW THIS. Now, I am confused. Did the radio not feature Zeppelin, the Who, Beatles (period from Rubber Soul to Abby Road ['65-'69?]), Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane, and other bands of the same spirit during the '60s and '70s? I was always under the impression that during those time periods you could turn on your radio and surf from “Ina Gada Da Vida” to “Sympathy for the Devil”. I thought “Stairway to Heaven” hogged a bunch of airplay from 1971 on, making it pop music. Was the “undergound” of the day bands like Moby Grape and Hot Tuna? I only ask because it would be a lot easier for people who experienced New Wave and Punk to be able to look into the past and see what was popular. Less digging was needed, less work involved. For us youngsters today we can look back to what was popular in the '80s but it will not lead us to New Wave and Punk. We have to look a lot harder than the equivalent of our youth in your day to find nostalgic music.

To summarize: what bands were popular during the '60s/early '70s?

59

I’m aware that New Wave was not in the mainstream during its era. However, I was always under the impression that this was true only in the US. Ie, it was a lot more popular here in Canada and was in fact mainstream in Britain/Europe.

60

I’m 21 and I’m asking the same question.

As someone else said, good music is timeless. I think part of what has happened is that it’s been long enough for most of the crap from the 50s to the 80s to have mostly been filtered out and the good, lesser-known bands of the time to have come to the forefront. It’s too early for most of the 90s to have been filtered, and especially the newest stuff. I can’t stand Spears or the like (although my brother once pointed out that J-Pop, which I don’t really listen to, it’s just that I have a few soundtracks that have some J-Pop, is the same damn thing, to which I say that it doesn’t count because I can’t understand the lyrics.)

Also, a lot of music has been collected into “greatest hits”, which makes it even easier to pick up the classic singles, even if doing so means missing out on what the band might actually have been trying to do. Take The Who, for example. There is a pretty good two-disc collection of their stuff. I actually have it. However, I also have Tommy and The Who Sell Out (and some others), because in both cases these albums meant to be an album, not one or two hit songs and a bunch of filler.

I know once or twice I started a “give me a complete collection” thread. I’ve got a fairly eclectic collection, including:

AC/DC, Aerosmith, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Beatles, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, David Bowie, CCR, Crystal Method, The Cure, Grateful Dead, Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin (lots and lots of Zeppelin), Iron Butterfly, Jefferson Airplane and followers…

Well, I guess that gives a good idea, and that’s just a start. I think part of what is helping, as well as stuff like “I Love the 80s”, is the Internet. Ethical considerations of P2P and the like aside, the Internet has made it much easier to learn about new (or in this case, old, bands), hear their music, and find their music. Heck, you can do a lot of that legitimately thanks to programs like iTunes and music streaming.