Can someone help me recall a type of music from the '80s that some claimed would replace disco? I could be dead-wrong, but IIRC, I think the style which escapes me referred to the heavy influence of keyboards esp from European bands.
I want to say it was ‘fusion’, but that’s a style of jazz. Maybe some SDoper will help jog my memory!
Techno-pop? Also electro-pop.
Italo!
House?
New wave?
Synth pop?
a) Yeah…it’s New Wave! After a major mental block, it hit me.
b) Now, what bands epitomize the New Wave sound?
You might enjoy the wikipedia article on New Wave music. It’s not very in-depth, but it isn’t inaccurate either.
And it directly addresses the OP:
Some of the more synthesizer-oriented acts included Devo, The B-52’s, Flock of Seagulls, Eurythmics, Split Enz, Thompson Twins.
That’s a tough one, as New Wave actually encompasses a whole wide range of music. I think when the average person thinks of “New Wave,” they think of bands like Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, Devo, New Order, Culture Club, the Eurythmics – bands like that. But the terms is quite broad and can include bands like the Pretenders, the Police, Madness, etc. Basically, it originally (as I understand it), was a catch-all term for the music growing out of punk. Later, New Wave and Post-Punk were differentiated with New Wave being the poppier offspring of punk, and Post-Punk being more experimental, edgy, and arty.
Edited to add links to representative synth-heavy clips.
Also, The Cars, Soft Cell, The Human League, Talk Talk.
As pulykamell says, the term “New Wave” was used as a catch-all for pretty much all post-punk stuff (or really almost anything that wasn’t disco or arena rock), but I think in the public mind it was most closely associated with the sort of synth-oriented bands linked above.
I worked in a record store during the 80s. A couple acts who are perhaps lesser known, but that perfectly embody the essence of New Wave (Synth Pop division):
Q-Feel: “Dancing in Heaven (Orbital Bebop)”
Freur: “Doot Doot”
A couple of songs in the more guitar/drum style of New Wave:
Bongos: “Barbarella” (only available at lala.com, but registration is quick and free, and it’s possibly my single favorite song from that era, so I urge you. :D)
Total Coelo: “I Eat Cannibal” (And probably the best chicks-in-hefty-bag-dresses video ever)
Belfegore: “All That I Wanted” (Another very favorite song of the era, and a very cool video)
Maybe more later if I get to reminiscing . . .
Some random favorites from the era:
Grace Jones: “Pull Up to the Bumper”
Belouis Some: “Imagination”
Lene Lovich: “New Toy”
Lene Lovich: “Bird Song”
Kate Bush: “Sat in Your Lap”
Adrian Belew: “Big Electric Cat” <==another top, top favorite
XTC: “Senses Working Overtime”
The Creatures: “Right Now”
My favorite Thompson Twins song: “We Are Detective”
My other favorite Thompson Twins song: “Love on Our Side”
My *other *other favorite Thompson Twins song: “In the Name of Love”
Gang of Four: “I Love a Man in Uniform”
Shriekback: “Nemesis” another awesome video
Blancmange: “That’s Love That It Is”
Other New Wave acts I remember from the 80’s: