New Wave At Work

[gumby]

I was quite surprised to hear Kim Wilde's 1996 best of From Holland playing on a computer at Office Depot (The demon store I work at)today. A few months ago one of the younger computer salespeople at the store asked if I would make him a copy of Green Day's Greatest Hits. So I did and threw on the Kim Wilde and some Talking Heads. I guess it made an impression on him because there was the whole Kim Wilde album and a good sampling of Talking Heads on the computer. There is hope for younger people musically. I am thrilled to have spred some new wave to someone who might not have normally listened to it.

The sun never sets for those who ride into it.

[Frau_Blucher]

I was traveling with one of our Senior VPs and having lunch at Legal Seafood when somethign punk came on over the restaurant speakers - it may have been The Clash, I forget. The point though - this guy stops eating and wistfully declares "God, how I love punk." I'm like, whoa, really?! Understand that this dude is like 6'6", 300-lbs, 50+ yrs old, and a well-respected and even feared exec at a pretty big multi-national company!

So I say "Like what?" He starts waxing poetically about the bands of his youth and I chime in each time with one of my favorite songs by them - "Dead Boys"..."yeah, Sonic Reducer!", "Buzzcocks"..."yeah, Something's Gone Wrong Again!", "The Damned"..."yeah, Smash It Up!", and so on. He becomes more bemused and animated by the moment, and we start talking about Richard Hell, Stiff Little Fingers, The Jam, and Gang of Four..."who by the way are in concert soon" I say. "No f&*king way!!!" he responds. Next day he tells me he got tickets for their SF show and also begs for some mix CDs that he can jam to in his office. I send him my "Godfathers" disk among other things, and now he sends me occasional messages about people tripping out to stuff like Human Sexual Response's "Pound" (his new favorite song) blaring out of his computer.

Not bad to have a common bond with the head of a billion dollar division of your company, LOL.

PS...and my immediate director grew up in Jersey, a big fan of the Bongos and Ramones who he saw many times back in the day. But he hadn't even thought about those guys in 25 years...until I sent him an mp3 comp of the complete Ramones and Bongos. They both couldn't understand why they'd denied themselves this stuff all these years - I wonder how many other people are like this??

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~myirwin/Scroll.gif">

[Rokkr]

Lots of us.
I turned 54 this year, but in 1976, I was 24.
The math alone should tell you lots of old punks are in their late 40's and 50's now.
Except I suspect not a lot of us went the executive route. And those that did, I'm not surprised to find that they may have forgotten a lot of the music unless reminded.

[Panorama]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Rokkr[/i]
<br>Lots of us.
I turned 54 this year, but in 1976, I was 24.
The math alone should tell you lots of old punks are in their late 40's and 50's now.
Except I suspect not a lot of us went the executive route. And those that did, I'm not surprised to find that they may have forgotten a lot of the music unless reminded.
[/quote]
I'm 42 and listening to Depeche Mode's "New Life" right now. I run with my ipod shuffle 3-4x a week and it's mostly new wave/synthpop music. I'll be listening to Depeche Mode, U2, REM, The Cure, etc... when I'm 80+.

---------------------------
"Photography with a Vision"
http://www.cooganphoto.com

[Ollie Stench]

In the company I work for (there's only 20 of us) I'm the weirdo. I work in a room by myself, but almost everyone in the company walks thru at one point or another. They can't believe some of the stuff I listen to, Men Without Hats, Sex Pistols, Depeche Mode, Hank Williams... everyone else is into top 40 or Christian music. My boss, who comes from and still lives in the deep suburbs thought it was really radical that he was going to see Green Day. He's usually obsessed with Olivia Newton John.

[brock]

While not exactly at "work" - I was travelling for work two days ago and at the Burbank airport heard [i]The Walk[/i] by The Cure. BTW - lots of synth in that song.

[geoffolehane]

I've got all kinds of New Wave sitting in my work computer's Media Player library. About six hours of it. It practically gets me through the whole day.

So as not to annoy my co-workers too much I tend to play the mellower stuff like: M, Flock of Seagulls, the Bolshoi, Visage, Thomas Dolby, OMD, and Icehouse.

[SomebodySomewhere]

I figure I'm only 5 years away from being permanently classified as one of those "grandpas" who only listens to the music of their youth. I mean, The Clash and the Buzzcocks and The Jam compete with the likes of Natasha Bedingfield and The Fray and Shakira and All-American Rejects (and, yes, even Green Day) in my CD changer, but the former outnumbers the latter by 5 to 1. And even most of the next wave stuff that's highly regarded here doesn't do a whole lot for me. The day I start going out in public with bermuda shorts, plaid golf shirts and black socks pulled up to my knees -- that's how we'll know I'm there.

Never worked in an office in my life, so can't comment on what the officemates are listening to, but dayum, Blir's co-worker is big. You know he's big, 'cause he's bigger than me, and I'm 6'4" and 265. Wouldn't want to get into a mosh pit with that guy!

[birdmadgirl]

I sit all by my lonesome at work and listen to: http://www.djlex.com/ all day long. The others in the office listen to some lite radio station that plays all the Celine, Shania, and other vomitous (is that even a word) "music." It makes my ears bleed when I have to venture out of my little hole.

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[KYYX4ever]

birdmadgirl,
I believe the word you're looking for is "vomitrocious"[:p]

I can't really play my music at work--I teach--but I'm pretty sure that I'd be considered quite the oddball if I did. I know that I'm the only one who loves and listens to new wave constantly. Thank goodness my husband doesn't mind it at all--it would be a bummer if one has a spouse who dislikes the Wave.

I know there are bigger issues in the grand scheme of things than music, but darnit!--music IS life, to me!

In a similar vein, last year I actually burned a CD of late 70s/ early 80s new wave and punk for one of my favorite students with whom I talked about music often. He was the kind of kid who would appreciate it. And he did! It was nice to see the younger kids grrove on this stuff.

[DayGloJo]

I work for a small start up software company. We can listen to streaming broadcasts at work. I generally listen to radiohidebound.com We also have one server that is devoted to mp3s -- talk about a perk! I had no idea that these conservative Republicans were so into Berlin, Pet Shop Boys and New Order!

DayGloJo

NWO: way more fun than data modelling.

[Max Murdoc]

I'm 46 this year so I'm the "old" guy in the lab where I work. I play my internet radio station day in and day out and ocasionally get weird looks from all of the "kids" that work here.

They sometimes ask about a tune but not too often....I don't know what I would do if they made me stop. I have it down low so only I can hear so it's not disturbing anyone.

I can't listen to those vocal gymnastics that seem to be popular these days....that's not singing...it's a bunch of harmonic gargling if you ask me.

My son works in a deli at a large supermarket. I walk in there and hear "Train in Vain", "What's She Got?" and even "Why Me?". He likes it and tells everyone that his Dad listens to that stuff all the time.

Oh well.....I guess I will always look back at the 80's with fondness.

Max

The music you listen to is the soundtrack of your life.