New Wave Outpost Forum

The clothes, the hair, the posturing. Synthpop in the eighties was really no different than heavy metal when it came to image excess. MTV was responsible (in part) for that and it got increasingly harder to take these bands seriously when they started taking themselves too seriously. Depeche Mode with their patent-leather fetishes, Duran Duran pouting & preening about like male models, A Flock Of Seagulls with that legendary mousse habit...

ugh.

Surely there were those who were able to push substance over style, with a more pedestrian, no-frills look. Those who managed to buck the trends and refuse to become an object of parody & derision. Who best fits that bill?

That's actually a pretty interesting question. Oddly enough, the first that comes to mind is Bronski Beat. Some people find Jimmy Somerville's sometimes histrionic voice annoying. As over the top as that might sometimes be (I actually think it's pretty sincere and emotive), their look was actually pretty mundane. You could put a white paper envelope hat on each and place them behind the counter of a 1950s malt shop, and they'd look perfectly in place.

I find Alphaville quite unpretentious. Camouflage too, & those guys from Kraftwerk LOL

Heaven 17 (Just look at the album cover of "The Luxury Gap")[:D]

Book Of Love maybe?? I don't recall them laying it on thick image-wise in the few videos I'd seen in the past.

"No telling what keeps me awake."

[b]<h1>O. M. D.



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Yeah, OMD didn't seem to go the route of made-up New Romantics.

Neither did Tears For Fears, I don't think.

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[quote][i]Originally posted by glokstadt[/i]
<br>[b]<h1>O. M. D.
[/quote]
Oh yeah. Duh! Great one.

Well... don't forget Talk Talk. I do think they are really unpretentious.
Same for Tears For Fears and OMD.

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http://thesesensations.blogspot.com
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Is being unpretentious rejecting synthpop completely? If so, then you have to say Ministry. Synthpop to industrial to speed metal.
What if Ministry and Depeche Mode switched places in NW history, I wonder what that would've sounded like?

Well, since I'm listening to "New Hero" right now, Dear Enemy had no image to speak of. Probably didn't help them too much in the American market. Not that Capitol U.S. did too much to help them in the American market...

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The Blue Nile

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Naked Eyes is another one.

They were pretty straight forward.

<p align="justify">The Pet Shop Boys? They weren't really over-the-top made-up the way D2, Culture Club, and the rest were. Their sound is something else altogether - you'd THINK their image would reflect that[8D]

[quote][i]Originally posted by SomebodySomewhere[/i]
<br>Well, since I'm listening to "New Hero" right now, Dear Enemy had no image to speak of. Probably didn't help them too much in the American market. Not that Capitol U.S. did too much to help them in the American market...

--
<u>[b]YouTube Video of the Week[/b]</u>

Bone Symphony - "It's a Jungle Out There"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjL4Pm7Cr6o
(This was going to be XL Capris - "What Do They Do in Igloos?," but the bastards suspended RStrathfield and yanked all his clips. Thanks, YouTube.)
[/quote]

Capital didn't do shit to promote them, Had a college friend who worked there and confirmed it, a greatly underated band/group, I remember reviewing the LP for the college student newspaper, and giving it a great review... I love "Computer One." I can listen to that one song alone over and over again in repeat mode!!!



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