Debunking Music Snobbery: What Even Is "New Wave"?
The term ‘New Wave’ gets thrown around a lot in relation to musicians of a certain era, but it can be tricky to label a song ‘New Wave’ just by listening to it. Why is this? Well, it can be challenging using an umbrella term to classify tangible sounds into one category or another.
Metal can mean vocal chords stretched to their limits, and folk can mean acoustic guitars and tambourines, across all decades, but ‘New Wave’ is so intrinsically wedged into a specific stretch of time that it becomes difficult to extract individual artists or albums and truly analyse defining characteristics. I think of ‘New Wave’ like a stretch of glittery, twinkly quicksand, in which Robert Smith and David Byrne are equally sunken, despite still writing very different songs beneath the sand as of today.
The concept of ‘New Wave’ is defined as: a new artistic movement or trend. In the music world, the term relates to music produced around the very late 1960s to the ‘80s, that derived from the punk of the ‘60s. It can be described as less angry punk music, dancier punk music, or more palatable punk music: basically, music that drew all of its influence from popular punk and polished it into something more appealing to the masses.
‘New Wave’ can also be defined by its new sound, using fresh, funky synths and drum machines. This is a good way to classify a lot of the New Wave that came out of the UK, as it’s easy to draw comparisons between the danceability of New Order (Blue Monday is a club class in my opinion), Tears For Fears, and Depeche Mode hits, to name a few, in comparison to the brash guitars of ‘60s/ ’70s punk music (e.g. Black Flag or Sex Pistols). Existential and political anger definitely remains in the work of these bands, but with the emergence of the synth-y New Wave sound, it becomes more shrouded in mystery and gothicism, often spooky enough to dance to (full circle moment?). Although, when you introduce the ‘New Wave’ music made in the US, things begin to get a bit blurry.
Talking Heads and The B-52’s are two bands that are classed New Wave Greats by many a music snob. To me, this is where the quicksand analogy comes into play. Both of these American bands made music that felt whimsical to no end, even silly at times, with any spookiness or anger cloaked in subtext and nestled inbetween surf rock riffs and quirky vocal styles. Karaoke classic ‘Love Shack’ by The B-52’s, with its beachy feel and ridiculous ad-libs, feels incomparable with Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘The Killing Moon’. One feels like a song from an off-beat Broadway musical, and the other could be (and has been) featured in an emotional scene from an award-winning film, but, according to ‘New Wave’ officials, they are of the same genre / movement / type of music.
Some have defined New Wave as directly relating to the new surge of British music making its way over to the US and directly influencing the bands working there. However, one thing remains: they are all great songs to dance to. ‘Once In A Lifetime’ by Talking Heads even has its own (loose) choreography. Most of them have also held up as karaoke classics, although I will say if you’re choosing ‘Love Shack’ remember that the song goes on for almost 6 minutes and the crowd will inevitably lose patience with how many ‘woos!’ you’ll have to do.
New Wave has been determined by many to be a movement that transformed into a genre, and I have to say this must be the best way to read it. Like many art styles (“contemporary”, for example), the essence of New Wave was evolution, so of course it would evolve rapidly even as it was occurring. The fact that it's hard to pin down is actually an accolade, a representative point in favour of its success. The term began to fade around the late ‘80s, because of this very thing - it became too hard to define. Similar to ‘indie’ or ‘alternative’, New Wave is a huge venn diagram that encloses so many timeless artists and records, and that’s without even mentioning the many sub-genres of New Wave: Feminist New Wave, New Romantic, Darkwave, and many more exist underneath the umbrella.
I love New Wave music, and actually love to spectate the ongoing debate around what IS and ISN’T allowed in the New Wave club. Many have argued that elements of Prince belong in the category, especially songs like ‘I Would Die 4 U’, whilst others vehemently deny entry to Madonna, Michael Jackson, even R.E.M. Trawling through Reddit to find a true definition of the term, I found nothing but debate. It’s a movement / genre / term that will never stop confusing minds with the sheer power of newness, despite being allegedly gone and done.
So what do you think? Is ‘New Wave’ just a moment in time, or does it encapsulate a specific sound that can be heard if you listen closely enough?
Find my full Intro to New Wave playlist here.
Written by Katie Coxall
Katie is an all-round creative, specialising in music journalism for Everyday. Coming from a background of opinion-pieces and cultural essays, she strives to weave contemporary context into all of her writing.
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