The best new wave song by an older musician doing new wave was...

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"Getting Closer" by Wings. That's an intense song!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 3 April 2005 00:41 (twenty years ago)

Burton Cummings "Fine State of Affairs"

― dave q (listerine), Sunday, 3 April 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

Alice Cooper "Clones"

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 3 April 2005 01:35 (twenty years ago)

"under pressure"

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

The Police, "Can't Stand Losing You"

― mike a, Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:19 (twenty years ago)

("Spin It On" is the punk hit from Back To The Egg. Almost hardcore!)

― mike A, Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

Ian Dury, "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"

― John Fredland (jfredland), Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:48 (twenty years ago)

it probably wasn't dave edmunds doing "Information".

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:51 (twenty years ago)

actually, i'm just gonna go with steve miller on this one. you can't go wrong with steve miller.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 3 April 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)

If you mean "Abracadabra", then, yeah, sure. That was a cute ditty.

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 3 April 2005 04:08 (twenty years ago)

Rod Stewart, "Infatuation"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Sunday, 3 April 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

The Police, "Can't Stand Losing You"

How exactly are the Police older than new wave?!

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 3 April 2005 05:21 (twenty years ago)

Hawkwind - "Quark, Strangeness, and Charm"

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 3 April 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

How exactly are the Police older than new wave?!

They were actually a few years older than most members of new wave groups, but not significantly older...

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Sunday, 3 April 2005 11:41 (twenty years ago)

"Walking on Thin Ice"

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 3 April 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

The Monkees, "That Was Then, This Is Now"

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

They were actually a few years older than most members of new wave groups, but not significantly older...

I read once that the Stones courted Andy Summers to join them after Brian Jones died. Anyone know if that's true?

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

"Walking on Thin Ice"

if that's new wave, yoko was doing new wave long before that!

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

"Young Turks"

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

(cuz I dunno if Robert Palmer counts)

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

honorable mention

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

Most of the Buckingham stuff from Tusk.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Sunday, 3 April 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember that stuff as being very new wave. Maybe I'm wrong.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 3 April 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

Also, "Walking on Thin Ice" is way more new wave than earlier Yoko, no?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 3 April 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

I tend to think of something like "Not That Funny" as very very new wave...most of his stuff reminds me of a lot of new wave in the rhythmic starkness, weirdo keys, and overcaffienated (although in his instance probaby over cocainated) nervous energy.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Sunday, 3 April 2005 21:46 (twenty years ago)

(cuz I dunno if Robert Palmer counts)

i'd say "johnny and mary" totally counts.

i'd also throw in a nomination for billy joel's "all for leyna" or "sleeping with the television on."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 4 April 2005 05:47 (twenty years ago)

"Jeopardy" Greg Kihn

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 4 April 2005 05:49 (twenty years ago)

I'd count "Clues" by Palmer as well as "Johnny and Mary".

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 4 April 2005 06:07 (twenty years ago)

"In my Box" Fairfield Parlour

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 4 April 2005 07:05 (twenty years ago)

King Crimson - Neil & Jack & Me

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

I'm with Miccio as far as this thread goes.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:35 (twenty years ago)

"I read once that the Stones courted Andy Summers to join them after Brian Jones died. Anyone know if that's true?"

I've certainly heard this before, but more as "briefly included on a long list of possible candidates" rather than "courted".

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 4 April 2005 08:51 (twenty years ago)

I like Andy Summers.

― The Silent Disco (Bimble...), Monday, 4 April 2005 09:05 (twenty years ago)

Another possibility is Sparks' "I Predict."

― John Fredland (jfredland), Monday, 4 April 2005 10:40 (twenty years ago)

Re. Andy Summers: I've got a cassette of a Kevin Ayers Radio 1 "In Concert" show from Summer 1976, and Summers is in the band.

My nomination: "Opium For The People" - Gong.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Monday, 4 April 2005 12:04 (twenty years ago)

Neil Young "Computer Age"

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 4 April 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

Alice Cooper "Clones"

This is clearly the fuckin' winner.

I'd also suggest maybe "Comin' Up" (which I hated at the time) by Paul McCartney.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 12:19 (twenty years ago)

They were actually a few years older than most members of new wave groups, but not significantly older...

That doesn't make the band any less New Wave. Andy Summers played with a late incarnation of the Animals and Stew Copeland was in Curved Air, but the Police themselves as their own entity could easily be categorized as New Wave (though never quite Punk Rock).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 12:20 (twenty years ago)

If New Wave includes early 80s synthpop, then "Lay All Your Love On Me" by ABBA is my choice.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 4 April 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

What was Linda Ronstandt's "new wave" song?

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd700/d776/d77691d38w0.jpg

Ah yes..."How Do I Make You?"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 13:58 (twenty years ago)

Marianne Faithfull - Broken English

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 4 April 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

of course!!!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Grace Jones, "Warm Leatherette"

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 April 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

Rolling Stones, "Summer Romance."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 April 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

Billy Joel "It's Still Rock 'n' Roll To Me"

*ducks*

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 4 April 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

Rolling Stones, "Summer Romance."

See also "Shattered".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

Not sure if this is appropriate for this thread, but I'd nominate "Sheer Heart Attack" by Queen (the song, not the album), which was purportedly their answer back to Punk Rock ("see, we can do this too!")

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

Not exactly "old", but probably one of the weirdest choices for an entire new wave album: Shaun Cassidy's Wasp. After years as a teen heartthrob, he threw away his entire audience doing this album with Todd Rundgren producing, covering Talking Heads, Rundgren, Ian Hunter, and more. At the time, it was a bizarre choice, probably about the equivalent of Justin Timberlake doing an entire album's worth of Akufen-style covers of late 90s underground hits.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Lennon - Cleanup Time

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

His version of "Rebel Rebel" really has to be heard to be believed.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

I'm thinking "Twilight Zone," Golden Earring.

"Clones" is a fine choice, though.

But what about: "Tom Sawyer" or "Subdivisions" or "Spirit of the Radio"? "Owner of a Lonely Heart"? "Another One Bite the Dust"? "Mr. Roboto" or "Too Much Time on My Hands", or "Girls With Guns" by Tommy Shaw? (sounds like the second -- and only great -- Bad Religion album!) "Emotional Rescue"? (I remember somebody on some Detroit rock station comparing it to Flying Lizards at the time!) "Urgent" or "Dirty White Boy" or maybe "Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm? "Love Stinks" or "Flamethrower" or "Centerfold"?

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

And oops, forgot the obvious REAL winner: "Run Runaway" by Slade (which even quotes "Karma Chameleon)!!

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

Isn't "Run Runaway" just revved-up Celtic music, though? I have to admit that I don't hear too much new wave in that...or Culture Club, for that matter.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

(Sean in disagreeing with xhuxk again re: Slade shocker)

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

Celtic music as in "Safety Dance" or "Come On Eileen" (+ a Bow Wow Wow/Adam Ant burundi beat), duh!

I do agree with Sean that Shaun Cassidy's *Wasp* is great, though.

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

Having the word "chameleon" in one's lyrics isn't automatically a Culture Club reference, Chuck.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

Hall and Oates -- "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)"

― earlnash, Monday, 4 April 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

Yeah but Chuck, rock and pop musicians were including Celtic sounds in music before new wave rolled around. Dexy's probably owed much of that part of their sound to Van Morrison, not "new wave".

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

I'm still thinking "Clones" is the definitive answer.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 4 April 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

(Caveat: admitted, I define "new wave" a bit more narrowly than most. If you look at the artists listed as "new wave" under all music, they're basically using it as a synonym for pop/rock. Which seems pretty silly to me.)

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

The thing is, slade HOPPED UP the celt beat in ways that dexys and men w/o hats (and maybe big country, in their irish spring commercial mode?) did (and van m and the dubliners and the irish rovers and even thin lizzy hadn't.) They made it frantic and frivolous and fast and bouncy and bubblegum and chewy chewy. (Hell, new wave didn't actually invent synth-pop either obviously. It didn't invent anything, really!)

But okay if you insist my new nomination is "Remote Romance" by Camel.

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

OK Thin Lizzy: Kinda borderline maybe? (I mean, they definitely had their new wave side themselves, esp on Lynott's Ure-happy solo joints)

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

I define "new wave" a bit more narrowly than most.

Likewise. Alot of the songs Chuck nominated I don't consider "new wave"-ish at all.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

I mean, to me it seems willfull the suggest that "Come on Eileen" and "Safety Dance" (and "Run Runaway") don't *feel* new wave. They all have as much Haysi Fantayzee as Fairport Convention in them. They're SILLY in a way Celtic Music tends not to allow itself to be. (And yeah, I know, Richard Thompson wasn't Irish; you get my point.)

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

What exactly makes, say, "Spirit of the Radio" new wave to you, Chuck?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

"Sweet Jane" riff, Pee Wee Herman "sayles-min!", overall Police-tribute sound (pretty much Rush's early '80s mode, except when they pretending to be Devo), comes off an album called *Permanent Waves*, pretty blatant, really...

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Funny nobody has mentioned Peter Gabriel yet! The excellent "Games Without Frontiers" would certainly qualify, if nothing else.

Also, I SWEAR there's some real good early' '80s Adrian Belew new wave semi-hit I liked a lot, but I haven't heard it in forever.

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

Does Adrian Belew count? His early solo records were completely new wave. I wouldn't call him "an older musician doing new wave."

Manfred Mann - Demolition Man. Oh, wait, the criterion is "best".

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

pretty blatant, really...

Ah, the signature C.Eddy condescension rears its head once again. Their Police-apeing didn't really rear its head until Signals, if you asked me. Circa Permanent Waves (a title which could be construed as a stance against New Wave, if you really wanted to dissect it), i don't think their overall sound had really advanced beyond their trademark pseudo-prog style.

And while Geddy was indeed a fan of Devo, please cite a track wherein Rush "pretended to be" Devo....in your opinion:

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

Actually, "Vital Signs" on Moving Pictures is admittedly mighty Police-esque.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Anthony More, "Judy Get Down"

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

if adrian belew counts, does elephant talk count? or did someone say that already. then again, it's not the best anything, really.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

No, Chuck is right. Circa "Moving Pictures" and "Signals" Alex Lifeson sounds more like Andy Summers than Andy Summers does. Even the way the drums and synths are mixed ID this era of Rush as nuevo ola.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

Chuck was citing Permanent Waves, though.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

(which, as we all know, pre-dated those albums).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

I'd have to dig out PW and find out.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

x-inject - if we're gonna talk about prog/King Crimson, Robert Fripp's "Exposure" comes to mind.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

What about Roxy Music? "Trash" and "Same Old Scene" certainly qualify.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

Never said any particular Rush track sounded like Devo per se'; I just hear Devo and the Police and new wave in general coursing through their whole early '80s catalog, and yeah, to me it starts with *Permanent Waves,* though our ears can quibble. Actually it amuses me (though it shouldn't suprise me) that people are, as usual, turning so frigging *literalist* about all this. It's just funny when that happens with new wave which -- is, like, the fakest music ever, and that's almost its whole point! It's like the Killers (who are admittedly better) whining about the Bravery not being a "real" new wave band. What the hell is Real New Wave?? It never existed, get it?

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

Roxy Music (and the Tubes and Sparks and ???) can't count, though, because they already sounded totally new wave *before* new wave!

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

Actually it amuses me (though it shouldn't suprise me) that people are, as usual, turning so frigging *literalist* about all this.

Well, personally speaking, it's a reaction against your penchant for presenting theory as fact (not that I don't do this myself, mind you).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

Didn't the Tubes actually have a track called "I Was a Punk before You Were a Punk"?

Frank Zappa must be applicable to this thread somewhere. I'm thinking Joe's Garage, but possibly there was something earlier?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

does "owner of a lonely heart" by Yes fit? maybe a little late for new wave proper, but pretty wicked.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

"Roxy Music (and the Tubes and Sparks and ???) can't count, though, because they already sounded totally new wave *before* new wave!"

Yeah, but "Trash" is a blatant attempt to sound back-to-basics and garagey, complete with rinky organ and abbreviated song length. The band even wore skinny ties at that point.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 April 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

I nominate "I.G.Y." by Donald Fagen.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

does "owner of a lonely heart" by Yes fit? maybe a little late for new wave proper, but pretty wicked.

Chuck cited this, and I'd agree. The sound of Yes attempting to streamline their sound.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

only "fact" (as opposed to opinion) I present above:

>comes off an album called *Permanent Waves*<

I don't know of that Tubes song! A sequel to "White Punks on Dope," maybe? Brownsville Station had an album called *School Punks,* I think. And didn't Zappa do a version of "Hey Joe" called "Hey Punk" or something like that? I basically have no use for the guy, but I always thought "Dirty Love" and that song about slime from your video sounded pretty punk rock.

― xhuxk, Monday, 4 April 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

"Feet Don't Fail Me Now" by Utopia is a really good one. You could argue that Rundgren always had power pop stuff going on and was therefore new wave before the fact, too, but that one's probably more new wave sounding than his earlier power pop stuff.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

It was on this live record, that's all I remember....

http://www.thetubes.com/disco/live.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

"Broken English" and "Clones" still seem like the clearest winners here.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

I'll have to go with the Coop's "Clones (We're All)" for now, as I can still recall the entire song in my head.. and that synth line!

Sparks deserves mention here though for "Music That You Can Dance To".

And yeah, "Abracadabra" by Steve Miller was pretty great.

ROY AYERS! "HOT"! That song was a monster!

And we're forgetting the Bar-Kays' "Your Place Or Mine". Granted,
they were an older group appropriating the newer artists (then, Prince and Rick James)

And Yello have always been "old", kinda. But they have way too many great new wave songs. Where to start.

Otherwise, most "older musicians" -- specifically the ones who were big in the 60s and 70s -- are what ruined the 80s for the 80s people, IMHO.

― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

Also the Whispers had a GREAT string of songs in the early 80s!

― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

Is Olivia Newton-John's "Twist of Fate" new wave, or just plain pop? I've never had a good working definition of "new wave."

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 4 April 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

How about Paul Carrack? Had a big MOR hit in the early '70s with "How Long," then came back on two of Squeeze's biggest hits, "Tempted" and "Black Coffee In Bed."

Re Peter Gabriel: he had a song called "DIY" even before "Games W/o Frontiers."

(Who am I kidding? "Clones [We're All]" wins.)

― mike a, Monday, 4 April 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

does I'm Your Man count - with all its canned synths?

― Yngwie AlmsteenMay (sgertz), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

Another possibility is Sparks' "I Predict."

Good call, except "Number One Song In Heaven" is the one.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:33 (twenty years ago)

"I SWEAR there's some real good early' '80s Adrian Belew new wave semi-hit I liked a lot, but I haven't heard it in forever"

Chuck, are you thinking of "Big Electric Cat" from the Lone Rhino lp?

― Jon Hope (jarge), Thursday, 7 April 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

I don't know what the boundaries of "New Wave" are, but if a "60s" artist trying to sound like The Ramones counts, I nominate Genya Ravan's Urban Desire record.

― Vornado (Vornado), Thursday, 7 April 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

Funny nobody has mentioned Peter Gabriel yet! The excellent "Games Without Frontiers" would certainly qualify, if nothing else.

Seconded.

Does Boys of Summer by Don Henley count?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 April 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

Also..."Transformer Man" by Neil Young.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 April 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

>Chuck, are you thinking of "Big Electric Cat" from the Lone Rhino lp?<

I don't think so. I just looked up Adrian Belew (and Bears) song titles on AMG, and none of them rang a bell, but I'm almost positive he had some kind of poppish novelty hit in the early/mid '80s that I liked for a week. Maybe I'm getting him mixed up with somebody, though...The title "Oh Daddy" looks VAGUELY familiar, but it says his daughter sang on that one, so I don't think that's it. Unless it is.

Didn't Chris Rea (collaborating with Carla Bley, maybe?) have a pretty cool new wavey song called "Tennis" around 1979 or 1980?

― xhuxk, Thursday, 7 April 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Adrian Belew's daughter only sings some of the refrain on "Oh Daddy," not the whole song. It's a goofy novelty about "daddy's gonna buy you this-and-that when he hits it big," only notable for the clever line "don't you hold your breath / it'll only make you blue." I'm sure that's the one you're thinking of.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 7 April 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I think you're probably right, Joe! 1990 -- So, technically, too late to be new wave, I guess. Or maybe I just liked it because it sounded new wave when nothing else did. Plus my daughter turned one years old then, which no doubt had something to do with it as well.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 7 April 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

too tired to read the whole thing, but Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" is a fucking badass track. i think that wins

― Miss JaXoN if You're Nasty (JasonD), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

How are "Stand Back" and "Boys of Summer" New Wave???

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

Tom Petty is more New Wave than "Boys of Summer".

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:26 (twenty years ago)

So is "Bette Davis Eyes" (actually, maybe THAT wins).

― xhuxk, Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

You Got Lucky is New Wave

Alex, yr right...Boys of Summer isn't new wave...I think the Ataris had my mind messed up for a minute there....it's something, though, innit?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Hey, if everything that "goes for a Cars drum and guitar sound" counts as new wave, then you might as well count the entire 1984 Top 40! (I just realized the true answer might be "Missing You" by John Waite, which sounds like "Every Breath You Take" by the Police except better. Unless you determine the Babys were a new wave band, that is.)

― xhuxk, Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

I'm not saying "Boys of Summer" (Henley's version) isn't great -- it is, even coming from the loathesome likes of Don Henley -- but I just don't hear any "New Wave" in it.

The Ataris' version is dumb and those responsible should be smitten with their instruments.

Odd coinkydink: "Boys of Summer" was co-written by Mike Campbell, Tom Petty's guitarist. He also played on it, I believe.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Missing You" by John Waite, which sounds like "Every Breath You Take" by the Police except better.

Doesn't "Missing You" pre-date "Every Breath..."?

If i had to categorize'em, I'd call the Babys power-pop.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)

Doesn't "Missing You" pre-date "Every Breath..."?

Close call. But I think "Every Breath" was a hit before "Missing You" was, barely... "Missing You" was a hit in 1984, I'm pretty sure. I don't know who wrote each song first, though. You'd have to track down Sting, Summers, Copeland, and Waite and pin them against each other in a locked cage battle to find out.

― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

You'd have to track down Sting, Summers, Copeland, and Waite and pin them against each other in a locked cage battle to find out.

A battle to see who has lost the most hair.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

"every breath you take" = #1 for 8 weeks; hit chart 6-4-83
"missing you" = # 1 for 1 week; hit chart 7-21-84

that's over a year difference, but yeah, who knows, the great john waite may've written his superior version earlier. it doesn't MATTER though -- if he sounded like the police, he sounded like the police whether he sounded like them before they did or after they did, right?

as for babys being powerpop, i agree. but thing is, not all powerpop (think rick springfield, .38 special) was new wave; the two subsets overlapped greatly, by neither completely encompassed the other.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

"Jessie's Girl" wasn't new wave?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

I think the synth line in You Got Lucky feels explicitly new wave to me. It's all depeche mode sounding...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

http://hhgproject.org/media/Marvin_The_Paranoid_Android_-_Marvin_I_Love_You.mp3

― marvinno1fan, Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

A battle to see who has lost the most hair.

hahahaha

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

Despite being ulitmately no punkier than Billy Joel circa Glass Houses, I remember Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers being sorta marketed as a Punk/New Wave band (circa "Refugee").

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

"Pressure" by Billy Joel is kinda new wave.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 April 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

"Allentown" is, of course, industrial.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 April 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Actually, it's folkdustrial.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

A bastard sibling to this thread.....

Sour Grapes from Old Fogeys

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 April 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

Marianne Faithfull - Broken English

Why didn't I think of that? That song's amazing...

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Thursday, 7 April 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Tom Petty may have been marketed as new wave, but he did a stupid and reactionary song about punk rockers called "Spike".

― Jon Hope (jarge), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

nine months pass...

David Bowie - "Ashes To Ashes"!!!

― LeRooLeRoo (Seb), Thursday, 2 February 2006 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

But Bowie was new wave right from the start.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 2 February 2006 00:49 (nineteen years ago)

Jefferson Starship-Out of Control

― Arthur (Arthur), Thursday, 2 February 2006 05:28 (nineteen years ago)

Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Thursday, 2 February 2006 05:47 (nineteen years ago)

Do the '80s Ramones albums count? "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg"?
What about Kraftwerk? Was "Pocket Calculator" 'New Wave' or are they Bowie-disqualified?

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 2 February 2006 07:22 (nineteen years ago)

The Ramones don't belong here, since they were one of the first punk bands and paved the way for new wave. It's not like they were Cat Stevens or anything.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Thursday, 2 February 2006 08:05 (nineteen years ago)

Just out of interest, can someone give me a current definition of the term "New Wave"?

The only definition I've got here unfortunately doesn't seem to have been updated 1978 and clearly belongs in a museum, and this is:

New Wave
Pronunciation: 'nü 'wAv
Function: adjective
Etymology: reported to have been first applied in this context by Seymour Stein as an alternative to the expression "Punk Rock", in order to trick DJ's and promoters into playing records by, and booking, bands and musicians, when they would otherwise have refused to do so if that band or musician had been described as "Punk Rock".
Definition: What punk bands / musicians call other bands / musicians whom they believe: to be climbing onto the punk bandwagon in pursuit of commercial success; to have jumped off the punk bandwagon in pursuit of commercial success; to be too technically competent at playing their instruments; to be too old ("too old" having been defined in this context as being over 30 or, in the case of a band, containing at least one musician who was over 30); to have been in a band before the official punk watershed; to have been associated with the inappropriate use of a piano, organ, keyboard, synthesiser or any brass, woodwind or any stringed instrument other than a guitar or bass; to just not to be adequately punk for some other unspecified or undefined reason.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 2 February 2006 09:33 (nineteen years ago)

i love the fact that the definition only comes after 130 posts in this thread

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 2 February 2006 12:42 (nineteen years ago)

i love the fact that the definition only comes after 130 posts in this thread

that's what i call "rigueur intellectuelle" !

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Thursday, 2 February 2006 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

Manhattan Transfer - Coo Coo U

From the 'Extensions' album, released in 1979, truly batshit Devo/Kraftwerk style track, I tried unsuccessfully to find it on SS last night so I could do a YSI because it needs to be heard to be believed, really.

The album cover:

http://www.tmtfanclub.com/extens.gif

― mzui (mzui), Thursday, 2 February 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

does "Freeze Frame" by J Geils Band count? it has zoomy synth efx.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 2 February 2006 15:42 (nineteen years ago)

Regarding the J. Geils Band, "Love Stinks" is a classic example. Great record, and the synth line fits the song perfectly without sounding like a clueless bid at a piece of the new wave pie.

― James, Thursday, 2 February 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

Oh baby this is a doozy....

Rock and Roll Time: Roger McGuinn

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 2 February 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

You wanna talk J Geils new wave, you're bester be talkin' Flamethrower.

― Dave will do (dave225.3), Thursday, 2 February 2006 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

Not the best one, but he gave it a try: Robin Gibbs, "Boys Do Fall In Love".

― LeRooLeRoo (Seb), Thursday, 2 February 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.queenmustgoon.net/download/sfondi/sfondo-rgg.jpg

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 2 February 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 2 February 2006 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

Queen own this thread...

allthough there's was more an illadvised disco single...( as Id say steve miller band was)

― dannyboy, Friday, 3 February 2006 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

My main reason for bringing up Queen was the brilliant synthpop of "Radio Ga Ga". Their disco singles were not at all good in my opinion, plus they were not "new wave" in any way anyway.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 3 February 2006 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

The Monkees, "That Was Then, This Is Now"
-- Joseph McCombs (jmccomb...), April 3rd, 2005.
anything from "pool it".
phil oakey - good times / bad times.

― retrokid, Friday, 3 February 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

The Monkees, "That Was Then, This Is Now"
-- Joseph McCombs (jmccomb...), April 3rd, 2005.
anything from "pool it".
phil oakey - good times / bad times.

― retrokid, Friday, 3 February 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

Celtic music as in "Safety Dance" or "Come On Eileen" (+ a Bow Wow Wow/Adam Ant burundi beat), duh!
I do agree with Sean that Shaun Cassidy's *Wasp* is great, though.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), April 4th, 2005.
is there a ted nugent cover - can we trade mp3s because i need WASP

― retrokid, Friday, 3 February 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

four years pass...

canuck boogie king hits the 80's running! and gets dropped by his label...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOMXjsmtJXk

― scott seward, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:29 (fourteen years ago)

i like this album too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DmdbUy1XX0&feature=related

― scott seward, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:31 (fourteen years ago)

really enjoying steve hillage's for to next album this morning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDcTc4v7C_s

― scott seward, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:33 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zzxSCYgzvk

― scott seward, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:36 (fourteen years ago)

whatever that song was by the ex-eagles drummer. great

― The previous message has been brought to you by (kelpolaris), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:56 (fourteen years ago)

Charlie Harper was knockin on a bit weren't he?

Also, Vi Subversa, and Alan Vega, of course.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:15 (fourteen years ago)

old ppl were really good at new wave, maybe better than actual new wave ppl

― smang a goon (get it on) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 18:11 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG5e1oaen-M

― last night a Drugs A. Money saved my life (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 19:22 (fourteen years ago)

The Monkees, "That Was Then, This Is Now"

This wasn't new wave: it was a crap attempt to ape the sounds of contemporary hits radio. The synths are appalling.

― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 20:01 (fourteen years ago)

ZZ Top - I'm Bad I'm Nationwide

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:07 (fourteen years ago)

I was just going to say ZZ Top "Manic Mechanic" (way more new wave than "I'm Bad"!), actually

Very related thread:

1981 = year of 70s dino rockers w modren/wavo comeback LPs

― xhuxk, Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:15 (fourteen years ago)

the aforementioned Manhattan Transfer track (and indeed the parent album) is on Spotify fyi. it is pretty bats it has to be said.

― piscesx, Thursday, 27 January 2011 17:21 (fourteen years ago)

Peter Hammill in his K Group phase in the early 80s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B66g-yrp8oU

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 27 January 2011 21:35 (fourteen years ago)

I found some of that Manhattan Transfer stuff a few months ago, I had no idea they "went there", so to speak! Not bad at all!

― university of, drunk off your butt, etc. (u s steel), Thursday, 27 January 2011 21:39 (fourteen years ago)

Ian Dury, "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"

― John Fredland (jfredland), Saturday, April 2, 2005 9:48 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is that kinda like a disco stick?

― peacocks, Thursday, 27 January 2011 21:45 (fourteen years ago)

Here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ8Mp_08rwk&playnext=1&list=PLC0E3510922E5ED84

To be fair, there was all kinds of "robot" stuff on black radio back in the day.

― university of, drunk off your butt, etc. (u s steel), Thursday, 27 January 2011 21:57 (fourteen years ago)

The Village People - Food Fight

― MarkoP, Friday, 28 January 2011 06:49 (fourteen years ago)

Temporary Secretary can never get enough love.

― Nate Carson, Friday, 28 January 2011 10:36 (fourteen years ago)

Bah, came in here to mention Robert Palmer's 'Pride' and 'Clues' albums, been beat out by 6 years worth of posts.

Still, 'Pride' is my favorite Palmer album.

― Rotating & Blunders (MintIce), Friday, 28 January 2011 12:06 (fourteen years ago)

http://tony.buzznet.com/user/video/22387/bob-dylan-david-letterman/

― sometimes all it takes is a healthy dose of continental indiepop (tomofthenest), Friday, 28 January 2011 12:54 (fourteen years ago)

http://unvlog.com/ruben/2009/5/29/neil-young-devo

― Mangrove Earthshoe (herb albert), Friday, 28 January 2011 13:02 (fourteen years ago)

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