The problem with punk is that it never became a big success commercially. Some punk bands were signed by record labels, toured, and sold records but attempts to get airplay on American radio were mainly futile.
Punk rock groups like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols were highly influential to popular music regardless of record sales or radio airplay. Nonetheless, punk acts still faced the challenge of not being embraced by the mainstream and thus finding little chart success. If punk was going to survive it needed to evolve into something more accessible and something more commercial.
Some record producers were looking for a way to usher these punk bands to the masses.
Some recording artists found a way to present their music in a way that was more palatable to radio and consequently to their audience. Bands like Blondie and the Talking Heads made the transition into the 1980s by changing their sound.
Seymour Stein, co-founder of Sire Records, is sometimes credited with creating the term new wave as an alternative to punk to describe these bands and their new sound. Thus, new wave became a marketing term used by the new wave bands of the 1980s to distance themselves from the punk bands of the 1970s.
New wave has always been an ambiguous term. It can mean pop music with punk influences and it's also been used as a broad catchall term for everything from the late 70s that didn't sound like everything else from the 70s.
One of the most interesting aspects of new wave was the fact that it was so open-ended in terms of style. This meant that a wide range of groups were able to contribute to the genre thanks to it lacking a certain musical homogeneity.
Some so-called new wave bands that had chart success and received radio airplay on rock stations were Blondie, the Talking Heads, the Police, and the Cars.
"My Sharona", a single by The Knack, hit number one in 1979 to the delight of many listeners and to the chagrin of some punk purists.
The song, written about a 17-year-old high school student who had caught the eye of the 26-year-old Mr. Fieger, replaced Chic's disco anthem "Good Times" on Billboard's singles chart and came to symbolize the commercial arrival of new wave, the poppier, snazzier-dressed cousin of punk rock.
Yes, Sharona was a real person and girlfriend for four years to Doug Fieger, lead vocalist of The Knack. She even posed for the single's picture sleeve.
The album Get the Knack was seen by some as the watered-down conclusion of the fading punk movement from a few years earlier, a safe and sanitized version of something that had recently revitalized rock.
Nonetheless, new wave established itself as the new trend in pop music.
This new wave music was interesting.
Devo was telling me to "whip it good" while the Vapors claimed to be "turning Japanese."
Just what the phrase "turning Japanese" means is still up for debate although it seems to be a metaphor for something.
Adam Ant was dancing around in pirate garb and war paint.
Sting from the Police kept singing "de do do do de da da da."
Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders kept telling us, "I'm special, so special."
Were the Clash punk, post-punk, or new wave? Or, all three? You tell me. Regardless, I'm sure you were singing along with "Should I Stay or Should I Go", "Train in Vain", and "Rock the Casbah".
Billy Idol looked how I imagined a punk rocker would look with his leather attire, spiky hair, and snarling lip. He had, in fact, began as a punk rocker in the band Generation X before embarking on a solo career. As a solo artist he managed to bridge the gap between punk and new wave to become a rock legend.
Billy Idol was a smash on MTV. He was amazing with his spiky blond hair and upraised, shaking fist. If I could only have looked as f*cking cool as Billy Idol.
Bill Idol's Rebel Yell album was released on November 10, 1983. If my memory serves me correctly and my research is correct, I believe I met my redheaded girlfriend a few days prior to that on Saturday November 5 at a church youth retreat. I know what you're thinking. You can't imagine I was ever a pious, well-behaved young Christian man. Touché'. Nonetheless, I did meet the red-haired beauty at a church retreat and had probably never even heard of Billy Idol yet.
Malcolm McLaren, former manager of the Sex Pistols, jumped on the new wave bandwagon as well. He created the new wave band Bow Wow Wow in 1980. A young man named George was one of the lead singers for a short period before he left and formed his own band called Culture Club, and went on to superstardom under the name Boy George.
Culture Club was one of the most successful new wave bands of the 1980s.
The Police had a variety of musical influences and fall under the new wave umbrella as well. They, like Culture Club, experienced global popularity. I had the Police album Synchronicity which went to number one and contained the hit single "Every Breath You Take". I think my older sister gave it to me as a gift.
Something else happened in 1979 in addition to "My Sharona" hitting number one.
Gary Numan released the song "Cars" which made heavy use of synthesizers.
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument, typically operated by a keyboard, producing a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies.
I think it may be Mrs. Drewes, my elementary school music teacher, who first introduced me to synthesizers. I think she was playing a record and pointed out the sound we were hearing was called a synthesizer.
Synth-pop (synthesizer pop) is a subgenre of new wave music and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. While the guitar was still in use, the instrument used by these new acts was the synthesizer, which was portable and gave the music a more modern sounding feel.
Gary Numan and a few others paved the way for synth-pop. Thanks in part to MTV, synth-pop soon became very popular. The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" hit number one in 1982. "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls were also popular.
"She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby and "Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo both reached number 5 in 1983. Both songs were amazing one hit wonders.
Eurythmics were a British music duo who embraced synthesizers after first being involved in punk rock. The duo brought a soul music twist to the electronic sound of synth-pop.
Eurythmic's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" holds a special place in my heart. I remember watching the song's video on Friday Night Videos with my redheaded girlfriend in her basement. Friday Night Videos was NBC's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularity of music videos as seen on MTV.
My girlfriend essentially had reign over the basement of her home. I don't recall ever seeing her parents down there even though I think it held the only television set. The basement was her sanctuary and we spent a lot of time down there. Did we ever "mess around" down there? How dare you suggest such a thing.
I can see it now. Annie Lennox of Eurythmics is walking around in a man's suit with her fiery orange buzzcut hair. I wasn't even familiar with the term androgyny back then but I wasn't sure if I really liked her gender bending look. She was attractive though and could certainly sing. It was odd seeing Annie with that hair just a tad brighter than the redhead on the couch next to me.
To this day I still associate "Sweet Dreams" and "Here Comes the Rain Again" with my redheaded girlfriend.
I recall one occasion when my girlfriend tried to use a synth-pop song entitled "People Are People" by Depeche Mode to convey her view that we needed to communicate better.
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
On another occasion she said I was a "hard habit to break" like in the Chicago song of the same name.
She also said she wished there was a drug that made her feel like she did when she was with me when we were listening to "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and the News.
She thought it was fun to introduce me to the sexy/racy song "Darling Nikki" by Prince. I'm not sure what that was all about. I guess she wanted to shock me.
My college girlfriend liked to sing the Poison song "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" to me implying I was a thorn and she was a rose I guess. Ha ha. Very funny.
But, she did say we had "a groovy kind of love" like in the Phil Collins song of the same name.
What is it with girls and music anyway?
Anyway, back to the synth.
"True" by Spandau Ballet and "Hold Me Now" by the Thompsons Twins are also great songs and probably remind me of my redheaded girlfriend too at times.
Howard Jones had some wonderful songs as well. He made synth-pop seem warm and optimistic as opposed to synth-pop's earlier eerie and sterile reputation.
And do you feel scared, I do
But I won't stop and falter
And if we threw it all away
Things can only get better
Another very successful British band was Duran Duran. Duran Duran have been credited with incorporating dance beats into synth-pop to produce a catchier and warmer sound, which provided them with a series of hit singles. Young women and men thought these guys (the Fab Five) were beautiful. Is there a band that is more synonymous with the golden age of MTV?
Pet Shop Boys also developed a sound that moved closer to dance music. Many of us enjoyed their hit song "West End Girls".
Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, and Duran Duran were all associated with a British pop culture movement dubbed the New Romantic movement. These New Romantics were known for their flamboyant fashion. Many of the bands associated with the movement adopted synthesizers and helped to develop synth-pop in the early 1980s.
Synthesizers were also used by artists one may not have expected. Foreigner, ZZ Top, and Bruce Springsteen all used synthesizers in certain songs. And, even the guitar-heavy rock group Van Halen had a massive hit with "Jump" with its catchy synth line.
You may still claim you hated new wave and synth-pop and never listened to it.
You were busy listening to Sheena Easton, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, and Cyndi Lauper.
Fine.
Or, perhaps you only listened to John Cougar Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, and Huey Lewis and the News.
Great.
Maybe you enjoyed Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, .38 Special, and the Stray Cats.
Wonderful.
Of course, I already mentioned that even the Boss (Bruce Springsteen) used some synthesizers. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were no strangers to synthesizers either. And, even though one might argue that Lauper wasn't truly a new wave artist, she certainly was eclectic and embraced different styles of music.
By the way, Lauper's "Time After Time" is another song that brings back memories of my redheaded girlfriend as we saw that video on Friday Night Videos as well. I think in that video Lauper has orange-red hair with a tic-tac-toe pattern shaved into one side.
So, Annie Lennox and Cyndi Lauper both had orange-red hair like my girlfriend at the time. Hmm. Was this some kind of message or just a coincidence?
My buddy Chris only owned one cassette - Falco 3 by Austrian singer Falco containing the hit "Rock Me Amadeus". I'm just kidding. I'm sure he owned other cassettes and I'm not really sure he even owned that one. I'm fairly certain he had one of Falco's cassettes though.
My buddy Brad would only listen to Kiss, Van Halen, Def Leppard, and Ratt. Just kidding again. We listened to other music like AC/DC and George Thorogood. I don't want to speak for Brad, but I'm guessing he never owned a Duran Duran cassette.
Brad had a cassette deck in his car which was nice. But, he was always fiddling with his stereo equalizer so every song would sound just right. Adjusting treble and bass wasn't good enough for him. Just kidding. I think he did have something called an audio equalizer though. I think he did mention once that some guys did, in fact, adjust their equalizer for every song.
So, there was a lot of different music going on in the 1980s besides new wave. I haven't even mentioned Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Prince. They were all huge artists and dominated the charts. Some would argue these artists alone overshadowed new wave and synth-pop.
Nonetheless, synth-pop especially by British groups was huge as was new wave as a whole. There were so many British acts scoring hits in America in the 1980s that some referred to it as the Second British Invasion. The original British Invasion occurred in the 1960s involving The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and others. Interestingly Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks still had a presence in the 1980s as well.
"Take On Me" by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha became a huge hit during the fall of my senior year.
Though the synth-pop trend was essentially over when I went off to college, I still had more to learn. My classmate and buddy Mark, a part-time DJ, introduced me to New Order and Yaz.
Mark had a penchant for playing New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" which was fine because I really liked it.
Yaz were an English synth-pop duo consisting of former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke (keyboards) and Alison Moyet (vocals). I really enjoyed their song "Situation" that Mark liked to play sometimes. Vince Clarke would later form another synth-pop duo called Erasure with singer Andy Bell.
Mark also introduced me to a kind of electronic dance music called house music, a genre that had its beginnings in his hometown of Chicago. Some would consider house to be a derivative form of synth-pop.
During one school year, Mark and his buddy Curtis from Chicago shared an apartment. Curtis was really into house music as well. One day Curtis and I were listening to a house music song and he asked me if I knew what instrument was making a particular sound in the song.
"A synthesizer?" I ventured.
He just smiled and nodded his head. Thanks Mrs. Drewes.
Eventually new wave and synth-pop gave way to dance-pop, hip-hop, and hair metal. In the early 90s grunge became popular. Grunge was kind of a hybrid of heavy metal and punk rock. So, when grunge became popular it was kind of like punk rock got its revenge.
I never liked grunge. I still liked new wave and synth-pop and the dance-pop of the 80s. But, the music I'd enjoyed was gone.
I recall enjoying the film The Wedding Singer which was released in 1998 but had a story set in 1985.
The Wedding Singer and The Wedding Singer Volume 2 contain some great post-punk, new wave songs including some synth-pop songs. The albums feature songs by Culture Club, The Police, the Cars, the Thompson Twins, Billy Idol, New Order, and more.
One of the reasons I bought The Wedding Singer is because it contained the New Order track "Blue Monday". Even though Mark had introduced me to New Order back in college, I don't recall him ever playing "Blue Monday". So, when I noticed The Wedding Singer contained that song I had to buy it.
"Blue Monday" is kind of a special song. On March 7, 1983 New Order pioneered dance music with the release of the best selling 12-inch single of all time - "Blue Monday". It continues to stand as the best-selling 12" single of all time. In addition to being labeled a synth-pop classic, it has been described as a crucial link between seventies disco and the dance/house boom that took off at the end of the eighties.
I have a confession that I waited until now to make. I don't remember hearing the terms new wave or synth-pop or New Romantic when I was in high school or college. I didn't read music magazines like Rolling Stone or Billboard. I listened to the radio and watched music videos but I don't recall ever hearing those terms. My musical world was still divided simply into rock and country. And, rock was divided into soft and hard rock. That's about as complicated as it got. Yes, I'd heard of disco and soul and blue grass and when I was heading off to college there was this new thing called rap. Nonetheless, I didn't have knowledge of a myriad of genres and terms that the music industry used.
I didn't even necessarily notice the use of synthesizers in some of those synth-pop songs I enjoyed. I feel kind of stupid even mentioning that. But, there was a time I mainly just listened to the lyrics and the melody and some songs hooked me and I liked them and some didn't.
With the advent of the internet I was able to research genres like house music which led me to synth-pop and its origins with German bands like Kraftwerk and the disco songs of producer Giorgio Moroder.
Now, when I listen to songs carefully I hear all kinds of things going on. Wow! Listen to that synth line! Wow! Listen to that drum track!
But, basically I know whether I like a song or not regardless of the instrumentation. I enjoy synth-pop but I enjoy old rock and roll as well. I enjoy hard rock and soft rock. I enjoy country music. If I like a song I don't really care if there's a real drummer playing drums or a drum machine is being used. I can enjoy both.
Generally, I was a typical teenager of the 80s. Yes, I was one of those teenagers listening to new wave music including synth-pop, watching music videos, and watching John Hughes movies like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science and loving every minute of it.
My younger sister especially enjoyed Hughes's Pretty in Pink which prominently features the song "If You Leave" by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD).
Sure, it's a cliché to say that new wave music was the "soundtrack" of my teen years. Nonetheless, that music certainly was a big presence in my coming-of-age process.
Have you ever wondered why we have so many vivid memories of our teenage years? Our ability to recall so many of our adolescent experiences with such striking clarity is called the "reminiscence bump" by scientists.
As we all know, being a teenager is intense, and is often filled with soaring highs and abysmal lows. It is also a time of life when a lot of people navigate new milestones and situations for the first time. As a result, teenagers have a lot of powerful emotional experiences - be they happy, sad, scary, thrilling, or something else entirely - that imprint themselves heavily upon us. In other words, our brain does a good job of filing these vivid memories away on a more permanent level because they are highly significant at the time.
Music is often a key component of many of those memories.
I feel fortunate to have been a teen during such an interesting time in the evolution of popular music. I'm glad I had all of that music to excite me, inspire me, comfort me, and console me. And, I got to share it with family, friends, and girlfriends. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
By the way, Frankie says relax and Tommy Tutone is still trying to call Jenny at that same number. You know the one.
