New Wave Story in America

[Ant707]

Hey guys great to be here and talk to fellow new wave fans. I would like to run this by you guys and get your thoughts on it. This is the info i've heard over the years and i just want to make sure it sounds correct. Or if theres anything missing that should be added. Thanks:

The New Wave Story

The New Wave story is a interesting one. It starts in the 70's. Punk Rock had come into being. Much like its grandfather rock 'n' roll in the 50's. They were the spliting image of each other. A Simple, energized, driving beat. It got the kids on their feet. It was basic. You heard it, you got a guitar, and with very little learning time you were playing it to your friends. Rock had changed in the 60's. Artist like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Hendricks had come along. Rock got complicated. Rock became something just to listen to, not to play yourself. When Punk Rock came out in the 70's it was on again. You heard, you got your guitar, you were playing it. A whole movement started. In England it was the season of punk.

But somehow it had gotten a bad reputation and labeled "'Punk' Rock". With the "Punk" part being derogatory at the time. The Punk Rock promoters were at a loss how to get this music listened to. So they tried to change the title. When it came out Pete Townsend remarked that it was like a new wave of rock. So they decided to call it "New Wave". "Hey folks its just a new wave of rock" they said. It didnt work. But the title New Wave stayed, floating about in the air. When the initial Punk scene had died down and the Post Punk bands had made themselves heard, people thought "oh that must be New Wave". Many of the bands that had started out as Punk Rock bands became Post Punk bands or embarked on the new sound.

The New Sound

The new sound started showing up in the venues and clubs of Britian. It was hard to describe. Electronic yet had feeling, cold yet dramatic, arty but accessible. Psychedelic but not psychedelic. It was fresh and exciting. Alien and foriegn. Futuristic but had real world substance. It was Sublime. Coming out of the earthly 70's it was no suprise that many of the new bands were inspired by it. Looking back on the interviews I read from those bands they were always asked where they had aquired that sound. What possibly could have been their infuences? They always mentioned the same five: The Velvet Underground, David Bowie's Berlin albums, Kraftwerk, Roxy Music and Joy Division. Now it begins to make a little more sense. These people were not your typical rockers. As a matter of fact some of them were not rockers at all.

When these bands started to be heard they too were mistaken as New Wave. To many of the listeners hearing New Wave for the first time it was a familiar term. It was also a term used in Cinema. The french New Wave Cinema was a arty movement. New Wave architecture was similarly arty, also futuristic. Perhaps these things were in the back of their minds when they heard it. Perhaps they thought "What do you call this? This must be what New Wave is". Ironic that a term coined to sell Rock turned out to be used to describe this music. A form of music that was in many ways a antithesis of rock.

It didn't stop with Post Punk and the new sound. Soon New Wave became a catch phrase for all kinds of music coming out of Britian in America. Ska Revival, Mod Revival, Industrial, Goth, and many other types of music were thrown into it. How did we get to hear it here? At its height in America in the 80's they were calling it the 2nd British invasion. How did it start?

KROQ and Rodney Bingenheimer

It all started with Rodney Bingenheimer. A groupie, record company intern and eventually publicist was said to be a real life Rock'n'Roll Zelig. Befriended by numerous rock artists for his good taste Rodney got tired of the music scene in Los Angeles and responded to a invite by David Bowie to come to England. While there he explored the music scene there and came back to America with many albums and demo's of new bands. He was offered his own radio show on KROQ in L.A. and was soon playing those albums. It was a hit. Rick Carroll came along and soon became KROQ's program director. He gave the DJ's the opportunity to play one song of their chosing per hour on the station. He also gave the listeners that same offer. Rodney, Rick Carroll the DJ's and the listeners began to build a fantastic playlist. This was the alternative music of the 80's and with the state of commercial music at the time, soon people took notice of that playist.

MTV

MTV debuted on cable in 1981 with almost nothing to show. American artists at the time did not like to do music video's. But New Wave artists were making some of the most visually interesting video's. Maybe it was the unique sound of the music, but it seemed to attract the type of directors who made the most of this music visually. Mtv profited from these video's in attracing viewers and the bands profited by the exposure. With KROQ and Mtv behind them many New Wave artists became successful in America getting their music on top 40 radio. The most notible among them was Duran Duran, U2, Simple Minds, Tear for Fears, Talk Talk, INXS and many others.

John Hughes with his teen movies in the 80's, most notible Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the Breakfast Club also did much to popularize this music. Micheal Mann too with his Miami Vice TV show. Before long the New Wave artists became part of the musical landscape of the 80's.

New Wave has been a major infuence on many kinds of music today. From hip hop to the new New Wave bands of the day it has not been forgotten. The legacy that New Wave has left has been a lasting one. And time has told its value.

[sindy]

Good to read your story,thanks for sharing so much words here.
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[rewind]

It's spelled Jimi Hendrix.

[profpike]

Don't forget the role college radio played. Many of these sounds would never have been heard in places like Central Wisconsin without it.

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[deevo0]

You might like Simon Reynolds's "Rip It Up And Start Again" (get the UK edition, which has about 30% more content than the US edition). Guess that's the standard text on new wave/postpunk. He covers mostly Brits, but he gets into no wave, mutant disco, art bands like Devo and Talking Heads, Pere Ubu, SF scene, etc.