New Wave Outpost Forum

I don't want to pollute the conversation by sticking it into the Propaganda thread, so here goes. It's been discussed before - what was the best (or your favorite) NW year? If I pull from a current NW-ish favorites playlist and run a count, it says '1982' for me, and I'd agree with that just by feel. Pretty damned normal distribution too!

<img src="http://blir.smugmug.com/photos/1183538919_wobGS-X3.jpg">

Interesting notion.

Unscientifically I'm claiming 1983 as mine, followed by 1984, 1985 and 1982. I'd rock an Excel chart based on iPod plays, but it'd be queered by the fact so much of my new wave's on vinyl and cassette. I play a new wave tape per day, basically.

I imagine some of the group remember Toronto's great NW radio statio, CFNY (102.1 FM). Its year-end lists, helpfully archived by some enterprising souls, are useful for determining favourite years. It's quite a rush to go through someone else's lists, realizing you own 90-95% of the content.

CFNY's [i]very[/i] NW-friendly year-end shopping lists, here:

http://www.spiritofradio.ca/Charts.asp




------------------------------------

http://thegoldenyear.wordpress.com/

good topic guys!
I have to agree that my faves were 81-84 but I also have some special fondness for 85-87 after 88, for me, the music and the scene was never the same
the problem I have for the years in general for 85-87 was alot of the bands tried to be commercial and lost their originality and spark

1981 in the U.K.....for obvious reasons...here's the year's hits over there
http://www.severing.nu/music/1981UK.html

Good topic Fonzie. I had never really looked at this. What I have on the computer at the moment:

My highest count is from '81 followed very closely by '87(darn that EBM/Industrial), '84, '86, '83, '80, '85, '82(?), '89 and '88. I'm sure that would change once I reload the songs I purged to an external for tagging.

you have 81 in there twice; it's the first year you mention,but then it's in the list later on...
so nice you had to mention it twice!

[quote][i]Originally posted by toyah[/i]
<br>you have 81 in there twice; it's the first year you mention,but then it's in the list later on...
so nice you had to mention it twice!
[/quote]


Amazingly, not one Toyah song in there either.

[quote][i]Originally posted by oldnewwaver[/i]
<br>
the problem I have for the years in general for 85-87 was alot of the bands tried to be commercial and lost their originality and spark
[/quote]

I used to call it The Curse Of John Hughes. (Sorry, John. RIP.)

------------------------------------

http://thegoldenyear.wordpress.com/

Sadly all of you are wrong. 1979 was by far the best year for new wave.

London Calling
Entertainment
B52's debut
Specials and English Beat debut

Factory Records and Rough Trade in all their splendor.

I could go on and on, and so could all of you.

Only two to three years from the punk rock pinnacle and already eons beyond it.

I love the early 80's as much as anyone ('80 to '82 especially) but I feel they only added to the amazing base established in 1979. Compare '78 to '79. It's like twenty years of progress in ONE AMAZING YEAR.

Even using Frau's impressive data, look at the jump in quality from '78 to '79 compared to any other period. Huge.

Perhaps it's true that '82 produced more places to find musical pleasure (so many genres jumping out at you constantly) but only because '79 built the foundation for all this crap to build upon in the first place.

Nice thread!

Hard to argue bpdp3. I'd likely slant it a bit earlier too based on quality essentials that the genre absolutely couldn't do without, even though quantity perhaps came right after.

My favorites. Not the best quality-wise, but memories have a lot to do with rankings.

1. 1985
2. 1983
3. 1984
4. 1982
5. 1987
6. 1986
7. 1987
8. 1988
9. 1981
10. 1980

"Words like conviction can turn into a sentence"

1982, when I was 19. Friend of mine turned me on to WLIR in the fall of that year. Between that and the club scene I lived and breathed NW, best time of my life.

1981 for me... here are some reasons why just off the top of my head (and that's just albums/EPs!)

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts | Living Ornaments 79 and 80 | Flowers of Romance | Author! Author! | Anywhere | Solid Gold | Duran Duran | Faith | LC | What's THIS For? | Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam | From The Hell-Holes of Uranus... | Computer World | Nightclubbing | Talk Talk Talk | Fourth Wall | JuJu | Four Movements | Dance | Mask | Wilder | Document and Eyewitness | Still | Sons and Fascination | Sister Feelings Call | La Folie | Architecture and Morality | Rage In Eden | Exit | The Garden | Dare | Thirty Thousand Feet Over China| Red Mecca | Ghost In The Machine | Songs From The Catherine Wheel | Discipline | Penthouse and Pavement | October | Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret | Tin Drum | Movement | Fourth Drawer Down

Amazingly, not one Toyah song in there either.
-----------------------------------------------
who cares about your 'statistics"...my original post includes UK Top 20 hits of 1981, and a quick click indicates 4 Toyah entries...
http://www.severing.nu/music/1981UK.html

I'd have to say 1978 to 1983. I think as anything from 1985 onwards as "Alternative" or "Post-Modern" (at least that's what we called it in high school).