New Wave Outpost Forum

So grunge killed hair metal of the 80's, what killed New Wave? Was it college alternative, the novelty of MTV wearing off???

"You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music." ~ Sid Vicious

John Hughes movies.

Grunge and "Nu Metal/Rap" had a lot to do with it. In Cali, KROQ seemingly jettisoned much of their playlist overnight and started playing Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Korn, System Of A Down and Limp Bizkit in place of The Cure, Depeche, Duran Duran, New Order, etc.

Looking back, the stupidity of this decision becomes ever more clear. Especially when the Next Wave movement took hold and The Roq reversed course and went back to playing music that sounded more like The Cure, Depeche, Duran Duran and New Order (Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Strokes, Ladytron, Arcade Fire, Interpol, etc.).

Much of the early 90s stuff seems so disposable if not completely un-listenable now. If you lived through the early 80s you experienced a musical golden moment that may never be repeated.



<a href="http://www.djcraig.net/los_angeles_dj">DJ Craig</a>

Excellent question! Here is my 2 cents.

In my opinion new wave proper died out around 85 or 86, although NW bands kept making records through the 80s and beyond. People stopped using the term "new wave" for new music in the mid-80s. I would say NW was in some cases killed and in others subsumed by five musical movements between 86-91:

1. Indie and college rock (REM, Smiths, Replacements, Concrete Blonde, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, etc)
2. Rap
3. Hair metal
4. Bland, wretched top 40 pop (Genesis)
5. House music

The energy of new wave lived on in much of indie rock, although in American indie synths were mostly a banned instrument. The tradition was more punk.

In 1988 we had the UK summer of love and the renaissance of dance music on the one hand, and then a little later Britpop. Without question the spirit of new wave continued in this era, and continues in the groups influenced by bands of this era.

In 1991 in America grunge recycled punk, mixed in healthy portions of indie, and pretended it was new. "Alternative" had been born. I would also say heavy new wave bands like Killing Joke and Comsat Angels definitely had an influence on grunge. Compare Nirvana's "Come as You Are" to Killing Joke's "Living in the 80s."

DJcraig is right about KROQ ... I remember that period in the early to mid 90s.

that's my biased take. I'm open to disagreement.

Greed and commercialism and the resulting lack of innovation and experimentalism.

I see its still fashionable to blame everything on Phil Collins.

[b]"Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight In Suburbia"[/b]

Filipinos

Grunge did not kill New Wave. New Wave was already dead (or at least a dated term) by 1991. In my opinion, the bands that got the big push in the early 80's made gargantuan crap records by around 85-86, enjoyed some chart success and then got pushed aside for younger fresher faces. Plus...how long can anything be "new"?

Grunge did indeed finish off hair metal (to my great satisfaction...that was a hilarious time to live in NJ).

The college/Alternative scene of the mid to late 80's was a golden period as far as I'm concerned. Just on the radar enough to make a career or two. My friends and I are were careful not to call it New Wave even though at least half of the big acts on 120 Minutes at that time were once called New Wave.

And I'll argue this 'till the cows come home. WLIR/WDRE really screwed the pooch in the 90's by playing the softer side of Alternative (Hootie and The Blowfish, Jewel, Crash Test Dummies). They should have aggressively played Brit-Pop which had much more in common with what they played in their 80's heyday. Whoever made that decision put the first nail in the coffin.

[quote][i]Originally posted by Frau_Blucher[/i]
<br>Filipinos
[/quote]

+ 1

grunge and seattle

To me, some of the biggest factors in the demise of NW are:

1. The bandwagon effect. Dinosaur acts such as Steve Miller, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, etc. had all put out NW-inspired albums by 83 or so.

2. Genuine NW stalwarts had run out of ideas/dropping turds.

3. MTV had stopped being about breaking new artists. Instead, they were all about showing World Premiere Videos

Rap and also Stock Aitken-Waterman started killing real music in the mid 80's (for me anyway).

As far as specifically new wave goes.. did anything really kill it, or was it just a natural progression of evolution of music over time?

[quote][i]Originally posted by ghosty[/i]
<br>Grunge did not kill New Wave. New Wave was already dead (or at least a dated term) by 1991. In my opinion, the bands that got the big push in the early 80's made gargantuan crap records by around 85-86, enjoyed some chart success and then got pushed aside for younger fresher faces. Plus...how long can anything be "new"?
[/quote]
agree, but wonder if the NW movement as a whole was dead as early as 86, even though NW stalwarts kept cranking out records. I lump most of the rock music between 86 and 91 into "indie" (including Chameleons, Concrete Blonde, and Stone Roses).

[quote]
Grunge did indeed finish off hair metal (to my great satisfaction...that was a hilarious time to live in NJ).
[/quote]
how sweet it was ...

[quote]
The college/Alternative scene of the mid to late 80's was a golden period as far as I'm concerned. Just on the radar enough to make a career or two. My friends and I are were careful not to call it New Wave even though at least half of the big acts on 120 Minutes at that time were once called New Wave.
[/quote]
agree about the golden age, and about the terminology. Nobody called the replacements, meatpuppets, pixies, etc new wave.

[quote][i]Originally posted by i_like_lectric_motors[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by Frau_Blucher[/i]
<br>Filipinos
[/quote]

+ 1
[/quote]


what? vanilla ice killed new wave in our country

but here its georgie rockwood

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r72/din1081/?action=view¤t=215613201067hitmedawg.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r72/din1081/215613201067hitmedawg.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[quote][i]Originally posted by TragicMagic[/i]
<br>
As far as specifically new wave goes.. did anything really kill it, or was it just a natural progression of evolution of music over time?
[/quote]

Yes, that. "natural evolution".