New Wave

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New Wave

Poster designed by Barney Bubbles, used to promote the American release of Armed Forces, Elvis Costello’s third LP (Columbia Records, 1979). From Reversing Into the Future: New Wave Graphics 1977–1990, page 271. Courtesy Pavilion.

Decade of origin

Late 1970s–1980s

Location of origin

United Kingdom & United States

Key motifs

Synthesizers, geometric patterns, skinny ties, quirky music videos, angular guitars, irony, artistic experimentation

Key colours

Bright, bold primary and neon colors, often contrasted with black and white

Key values

Artistic experimentation, irony, rejection of "corporate" rock, pop sensibility, modernity

Related aesthetics

Electroclash
Glam Rock
Goth
Italo Disco
Memphis Design
Minimal Wave
Mod
New Romantic
No Wave

Primary platform

MTV

Iconic figures

Talking Heads, Blondie, The Cars, Devo, Duran Duran, The B-52's, Elvis Costello

Timeline

Preceded by

Punk
Glam Rock

Succeeded by

Alternative Rock
Hair Metal
Dance-Pop

Overlaps with

Post-Punk

New Wave is a broad "catch-all" term for the pop-oriented music and fashion that emerged from the Punk movement in the late 1970s and flourished throughout the 1980s. While it shared punk's DIY ethos and rejection of mainstream "corporate" rock, New Wave consciously moved away from Punk's raw aggression, replacing it with irony, artistic experimentation, and a greater pop sensibility.

The sound was characterized by jittery, agitated rhythms, quirky vocals, and a prominent use of electronic instruments, particularly synthesizers, which gave it a modern and futuristic feel. Visually, New Wave was defined by its angular, often androgynous fashion, geometric patterns, skinny ties, and bright colors, all of which were famously showcased in the artistic and often bizarre music videos that became staples of early MTV. As a less abrasive and more stylistically diverse counterpart to the darker, more experimental Post-Punk movement, New Wave brought the energy of the underground to the pop charts with influential bands like Talking Heads, Blondie, and The Cars.

Terminology and History[]

Much confusion has arisen over the term's usage in the United Kingdom versus the United States. In the UK, New Wave referred to primarily guitar-based acts of the late 1970s such as The Jam, The Stranglers, XTC, The Police, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, who created music in a punk-inflected pop style.^[1]^[2] Similarly, U.S. acts like Blondie, The Cars, Devo, Talking Heads, and The B-52's were also noted as having a punk-influenced pop style termed "New Wave".

In the early 1980s, colourful pop groups like Duran Duran, ABC, and Spandau Ballet were referred to in the UK as New Romantic, New Pop, or synthpop, seen as following the original New Wave. They were often derided by some listeners as 'chartpop' or 'Thatcherite pop', inciting attacks from Paul Weller himself on the 'New Pop Aristocracy'.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] However, the American general public (such as on the MTV music channel) continued referring to British New Pop acts as 'New Wave', despite the term being out of favor in the UK.^[8]^[9]^[10]

By the mid-late 1980s, New Wave declined in popularity as other music genres gained commercial success, such as Hair Metal (Bon Jovi, Poison, Guns n Roses), Alternative Rock (R.E.M., The Pixies, Jane's Addiction), and more general Dance-Pop (Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, Paula Abdul). Later decades saw various revivals of New Wave, such as the New Wave of New Wave in the 1990s, and Electroclash and Bloghouse in the 2000s.

Subgenres and regional variants[]

Terms such as Coldwave and Darkwave have been used retrospectively to describe various goth-adjacent developments in post-punk/new wave, particularly in continental Europe, during the 1970s and 80s. NDW (Neue Deutsche Welle) was a contemporary term used in West Germany, typically applied to quirkier, more avant-garde German new wave acts like Trio.

Coldwave[]

Coldwave is a loosely defined music genre that emerged in Europe in the late 1970s, characterized by its detached lyrical tone, use of early electronic music instruments, and a minimalist approach and style. It emerged from punk rock bands who, influenced by early electronic groups such as Kraftwerk, made use of affordable portable synthesizers. The term can also refer to music otherwise described as "darkwave", "goth", "deathrock", "minimalwave" or "minimal synth".

Darkwave[]

Darkwave is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Darkwave compositions are often dark, romantic, and bleak, with an undertone of sorrow. The genre embraces a range of styles including coldwave, etherealwave, gothic rock, neoclassical darkwave, and neofolk.

Neue Deutsche Welle[]

Neue Deutsche Welle (meaning literally "New German Wave") like New Wave was more a genre linked by a common aesthetic than any particular sound, although the intentionally simplistic and quirky lyrics (in German) and hyper-minimalism were certainly key characteristics of the German sound. Musically, the early Neue Deutsche Welle underground began with Punk roots but featured styles of electronic, post-punk, early dance-punk, and the earliest EBM. Neue Deutsche Welle began to find commercial and Pop music success by the beginning of 1982 with a batch of new artists and by the mid 80's was used to describe many other German pop acts with tenuous connections to the genre's original underground nature. A few artists in neighboring countries were included in the grouping (such as Switzerland and Austria) and a handful of NDW had international success in America with most songs still in their native tongue.

Fashion[]

70s-80s new wave fashion was highly individualized, but specific trends included:

Skinny ties
Mod suits
Big suits
Thick glasses
Sunglasses
Bright colors
Vests and jackets
Pins and badges
Teased hair
Band tees
Drainpipe jeans
Leather jeans
Baggy trousers
Trainers or sneakers
Plimsolls
Pencil skirts
Thick belts
Skinny belts
Dramatic eye makeup
Eye-catching patterns
Chunky jewelry
Unconventional layering
Polka dots

Visuals[]

New Wave had a distinct visual aesthetic characterized by a playful and eclectic postmodern mix that reacted against the rigid corporate modernism of the 1970s. Its graphic designers, like Peter Saville and Malcolm Garrett, repurposed elements from earlier avant-garde movements such as the Bauhaus and Constructivism, but subverted them with irony. The style is defined by a fascination with typography, often mixing clean sans-serifs with classic serifs and script fonts. It rejected the strict grids of Swiss Style in favor of skewed angles and layered textures, often using tools like photocopiers and Chartpak films to create a distinct, low fidelity aesthetic. This was combined with a quirky color palette that favored tertiary tones like orange and purple, a heavy use of pink, and a retrofuturistic appropriation of 1950s American design, creating a look that was self-consciously "arty," clever, and unmistakably modern.^[11]^[12]

Music[]

Guides and Lists[]

Artists[]

*As explained in the Terminology section, many UK artists were only referred to as 'New Wave' in the United States. At home, most were simply regarded as mainstream pop of the synthpop, New Romantic, or New Pop variety. British/Irish artists considered part of 'the New Wave in Britain' are in bold.