What are the ten greatest 80s New Wave songs?

Blood and Roses

You’re Everywhere That I’m Not

Love My Way

Love is a Drug

Burning Flame (I know)

Sex (I’m a…)

R1, you consider the smithereens to be new wave?

OP, New Wave is a nebulous term. Could you be a little more specific? From the link: In the early 1980s, new wave gradually lost its associations with punk in popular perception among some Americans. Writing in 1989, music critic Bill Flanagan said; "Bit by bit the last traces of Punk were drained from New Wave, as New Wave went from meaning Talking Heads to meaning the Cars to Squeeze to Duran Duran to, finally, Wham!".[71] Among many critics, however, new wave remained tied to the punk/new wave period of the late 1970s. Writing in 1990, the "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau, who gave punk and new wave bands major coverage in his column for The Village Voice in the late 1970s, defined "new wave" as "a polite term devised to reassure people who were scared by punk, it enjoyed a two- or three-year run but was falling from favor as the '80s began."[72]

Hold Me Now West End Girls Lips Like Sugar Just Like Heaven

Agree with Mad World and Bizarre Love Triangle, which is my favorite song of all time.

Some great ones there r4

Actually no, r1. But it does remind of that time.

If they 'count', The Plimsouls Oldest Story in The World.

this top..

also begrudgingly..

recently rediscovered this - it's impossible, it's im-pos to not swallow the hook whole..

Good lists, don’t think I saw this one yet…

Yes, of course, Cyndi Lauper wasn't New Wave. I do consider Billy Idol and Duran Duran as New Wave though.

Never Say Never. Private Life Birds Fly

Love My Way.

The greatest Simple Minds song is "Up on the Catwalk".

They were burned out by the time they created that awful dirge "Don't You Forget About Me".

Real Life -Send Me Angel

Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

The Other Window - Wire

Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus

Christine - Siouxsie and the Banshees

Sex Beat - The Gun Club

Sixteen Days/Gathering Dust - This Mortal Coil

Persephone - Cocteau Twins

Room With a View - Let's Active

Never Say Never - Romeo Void

The Killing Moon - Echo & the Bunnymen

[quote] The greatest Simple Minds song is "Up on the Catwalk".

[quote]They were burned out by the time they created that awful dirge "Don't You Forget About Me".

Don’t resent the song just because it’s better and more popular than the one you prefer.

The sublime Ceremony by New Order

Better than The Beatles

Major Tom (Coming Home) by Peter Schilling

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves, after all

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves, after all

It's a competitive world

... Everything counts in large amounts

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Blondie - Rapture

Devo - Whip It

The Police - Message In A Bottle

Talk Talk - It's My Life

Men At Work - Land Down Under

The Cars - Moving In Stereo

Elvis Costello - Radio Radio

The Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away

Haircut 100 - Love Plus One

I tried to select "pure" new wave artists, not synthpop, punk, postpunk, blue-eyed soul, etc. I would have very different lists for those genres.

Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me

r23 No one's that invested to care about that level of specificity

r18 I resent "Don't You Forget About Me" because it was top 40 killing a great band.

[quote] No one's that invested to care about that level of specificity

Well, the OP seemed to be, demanding no Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, etc.

Grace Jones did some great New Wave, covering standards.

She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals

Devo!

[quote] No one's that invested to care about that level of specificity

[quote] Well, the OP seemed to be, demanding no Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, etc.

r27 Don't apologize. Some of us are very invested in our music.

Haircut 100. I remember that awful gay crossover band. lol.

Well said, R3. I generally avoid using "New Wave," when talking to friends or searching for playlists. That makes sense to me that "New Wave" referred to the punk-adjacent/post-punk acts- the generation that discovered The Velvet Underground & Kraftwerk in art school.

Here are ten that come to mind that I love:

1. "Temptation" - New Order

2. "Pictures of You" - The Cure

3. "Atmosphere" -Joy Division

4. "Smalltown Boy" -Bronski Beat

5. "Janitor" - Suburban Lawns

6. "Souvenir" -OMD

7. "Mind Your Own Business" -Delta 5

8. "Space Age Love Song" -Flock of Seagulls

9. "This Must Be the Place" -Talking Heads

10. "Vienna" -Ultravox

I disqualified Sparks and Violent Femmes, both bands I love but it doesn't feel right to label either of them New Wave. Sparks preceded and anticipated those bands and Violent Femmes '83 album feels like it was anticipating "College Rock" or whatever.

Space Age Love Song is fantastic, r32.

Are those really New Wave songs? Most are more New Romantic. If we're talking New Romantic you can't get better than this. In my Top 3 of 80s songs:

Is Depeche Mode not New Wave?!? I don't know why no one has mentioned them?!?

What about The Promise - When in Rome?

God I love this thread. I feel like I am musical friends with half of you. I LOVED Let's Active R17 and all your others too. Echo and the Bunnymen and Siouxsie. I was into XTC too. R23 Every damn song I love. Haircut 100 and the Plimsouls! This music brings back so much excitement and happiness. Damn I feel old. Gotta get some of that back somehow.

Pop Muzik Video Killed the Radio Star Cars Whip It Don’t You Want Me Sweet Dreams I Ran Safety Dance Relax Obsession

Oops.

[quote] Janitor" - Suburban Lawns

I wonder what ever happened to Su Tissue?

God I fucking miss the 80's. So much new music - new technology, trying new things with videos. Fashion.

I didn't realize what a special decade I was living in at the time. By comparison, the 2000's have been boring as fuck.

Tainted Love

r39 Su Tissue purposely vanished. True to character always.

Very few female singers it seems.

Well, there were a lot of fun female-led songs...Bananarama, the Go-Gos, Nena, and so on. You could throw the B-52s in there as well. But Blondie's stuff holds up the best, in my opinion. Eurythmics perhaps. I don't consider Siouxsie new wave.

A bit obscure, but I would also nominate Anne Clark's "Sleeper In Metropolis" or "Our Darkness." Maybe "O Superman" by Laurie Anderson?

I Melt With You (Modern English)

R45 I would add the entirety of Kate Bush's The Hounds of love too.

[QUOTE]The greatest Simple Minds song is "Up on the Catwalk".

I think you'll find it's I Travel or Changeling.

My Spine (Is The Bassline) - Shriekback

Everything's Gone Green - New Order

Speed Racer - Devo

Do You Dream In Colour? - Bill Nelson

Dirty Back Road - The B-52's

15 Storey Halo - ABC

After A Fashion - Midge Ure & Mick Karn

Taking Islands In Africa - Japan

The Other Side Of Heaven - Kissing The Pink

WXJL Tonight - The Human League

another lost banger

a new wave synth epic..

but if we are using the term 'new wave', THIS is what I think of.

Technically New Wave went out in like 1981. It had the Talking Heads, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Joy Division, Devo, among others. Then we got New Romantics...Dura Duran, The Depeche Mode, Soft cell, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths.

Not all 80s indie pop was New Wave.

I forgot to add Television to the actual New Age list. Man they were fire as the kids say nowadays.

*New Wave lol

R1 Those songs you listed are all boring 80s pop songs that get overplayed on "classic" radio. I don't even consider them to be new wave. R7 is a must better list.

I always too New Wave to be more listener friendly form of punk.

sorry, I meant R17 's list

I Melt with You

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

Sweet Dreams

Whip It

Hungry Like the Wolf

Don't You Want Me

Tainted Love

West End Girls

Take On Me

I Ran

I Eat Cannibals

Walking in L.A.

Sex Dwarf

Warm Leatherette

Moving in Stereo

Kids in America

Mexican Radio

R16 I always think of RAD when I head that song.

I ran

Here Comes the Rain Again

r44 Is Bananarama considered New Wave? I always considered them pop.

Back in the day we considered all sorts of bands that emerged 1977-1982 to be New Wave including Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Blondie, the Cars, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Pretenders, the Clash, the Police, Gang of Four I had a poster for something called the New Wave Festival that featured many of those bands

I would not call any of them New Wave today. I think of them as rock bands that emerged at a particular time.

To the extent the label New Wave has any current meaning it is the electronic music featured in this thread, but at the time such music was something that emerged after it parallel to the New Wave .

^ after, or parallel to,

I can’t believe I forgot the Ramones.

And Devo.

New Wave was Rock music.

Huh, I wouldn't consider Tears for Fears New Wave, but my understanding of New Wave at the time was what everyone is calling synthpop now.... like Gary Numan.

Temptation by New Order is my all time favorite. Should be on any every list.

At the time, if a band was New Wave, I was pretty sure to at least appreciate it, if not be a fan. Today a lot of what Sirius plays on its 1st Wave channel is music that I did not really listen to. Depeche Mode and Duran Duran come to mind.

Here’s how Wikipedia describes the 1st Wave playlist: New wave, late 1970s–1980s alternative rock and Deep Classic Alternative; post-punk, first wave punk, late 70s–80s punk rock (non-hardcore); "New Pop/New Music" and 1980s synthpop; 1980s college rock

I consider the Ramones out of the realm of New Wave, they were Punk, sometimes with varying degrees of 'Wall of Sound' influence, along with other 60s influences.

Love the Ramones, Rock and Roll High School (thanks Roger Corman) is definitely in my top 5 favorite movies, but their scene was more Punk Rock, more dangerous, less experimental.

Yet Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones were all emerging at the same time and place.

New Wave to me was basically any indie rock/pop that had punk influences. Duran Duran and other New Romantics had none.

Motels, Only the Lonely.

I do consider Bananarama part of New Wave. I liked "He Was Really Saying Something."

Japan, Talk Talk, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Depeche Mode, and Gang Of Four to me are the supreme new wave or rather new wave adjacent acts.

Talk Talk was SO GOOD. I love this one from them.

I Ran

Oh, yeah. Man in a Uniform was a good song (Gang of Four).

[quote] New Wave to me was basically any indie rock/pop that had punk influences

I think that’s right, albeit nebulous .

So for me, New Order is in; Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark is out; Tears for Fears in; A Flock of Seagulls out

(I realize that’s arbitrary.)

No love for the Waitresses?

(Honestly I don’t care for them either, but surprised not to see them)

I Know What Boys Like is fun.

R41 I bought Non Stop Erotic Cabaret when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I remember pouring over the album art and liner notes. I would listen to "Sex Dwarf" with my headphones on so my mom didn't hear the lyrics. Music, magazine and videos were the things that helped me as a little gayling understand there was a great big world out there for me to explore.

So would the GoGos be considered New Wave, as they came from a punk background?

Slow Children, President Am I

Yes.

Slow Children, Vanessa Vacillating

Lene Lovich, New Toy

Nina Hagen Born in Xixax

Kate Bush - Babooshka

The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women

Soooo hip.

I liked r72’s definition, but where does that leave U2 and R.E.M ?

Early U2 was New Wave, e.g., "I Will Follow."

I’m a U2 fan, but somehow I was always uncomfortable calling them New Wave even though the timing was right. They just seemed destined to be a traditional arena rock band even in their early stuff.

R93 U2 was definitely New wave at first, then sort of New Romantic then I guess they just became standard rock, or stadium rock, especially with The Joshua Tree. Most bands/music artists have varied in their genres.

B-52's Devil in My Car!

r94 New Romantic is a subgenre of New Wave.

Check out the New Romantic band Visage. They definitely qualify as New Wave.

Erasure was a continuation of New Wave and The Smiths were, as well.

I had a neighbor (apartment building) who would blast Erasure. I like Erasure, but that was ridiculous.

I saw Erasure is Salt Lake City!

Don't You Want Me.....Human League

Envy. By the Motels.

I don't know how ya'll would categorize this one....but I fucking LOVED this song when I was in 8th grade (1981)! The ONLY place I ever heard it played was on LA's "new wave" station, K-ROQ 106.7. It ranked #40 on their 1981 end-of-year countdown, and then faded into obscurity. (popped up occasionally, during KROQ's "80s Flashback" weekends).

I remember the first time I found it on Napster (or Morpheus?), I was bouncing off-the-walls, I was so happy!

Ah youth... it ended so many decades ago! But thanks for the meories...

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description “80s New Wave,” and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I hear it.”

For fun: K-ROQ's most played/requested songs, by year.

It's interesting to see the change between their first year,1980, to just even 1982.

The New Wave manifesto:

"Get around town, get around town / Where the people look good, where the music is loud"

R3 I know you are not Bill Flanagan (at least I hope you're not) but why would you quote soneone who alleges that the phrase "new wave" eventually came to refer to groups like Wham!

Maybe 11 year old girls thought Wham! was edgy new wave music, but no one with even a modicum of musical awareness called Wham! anything other than teeny bopper music.

That being said, Wham! was and is a guilty pleasure of mine, but it sure ain't new wave in any way shape or form.

This is why we can't have nice things. 🤣

Epically beautiful.

The charts in the UK in autumn 1981 were majestic.

Unfairly dismissed as novelty hit, but it was, and is, a goddamn banger!

This was number 1 on my 12th birthday - Fuck that Judy

I don't know how new wave all of this is, but these are some of my '80s favorites:

Roam – the B-52s

Our Lips Are Sealed – the Go-Gos

Don’t You Want Me Baby – Human League

Fairytale of New York – the Pogues

Uh Oh. Love Comes to Town – Talking Heads

Tarzan Boy – Baltimora

Marquee Moon – Television

Just What I Needed – the Cars

Girls Talk – Linda Ronstadt (yeah, I know)

Don’t Stand So Close to Me – the Police

That looks like Thomas Dolby in r109 screencap.

All these years I thought I was New Waver, when I really was a Synthpopper.

Don't Go- Yaz

Look of Love- ABC

Tempted- Squeeze

Blinded Me With Science- Thomas Dolby

Let Me Go- Heaven 17

Sweet Dreams Are Made of These- Eurythmics

Cities in Dust- Siouxsie and the Banshees

Blue Monday- New Order

Lies- Thompson Twins

West End Girls- Pet Shop Boys

Honorary Mention: Two Tribes- Frankie Goes to Hollywood

"Johnny and Mary" - Robert Palmer "Video Killed the Radio Star" - The Buggles "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" - Talking Heads "A Woman's Got the Power" - The A's "Goodbye to You" - Scandal "Back of My Hand" - The Jags "Only You" - Yaz "What Do All the People Know" - The Monroes "Switchin' to Glide" - The Kings "In Between Days" - The Cure

R109 It is! He played 'Johnny' to Barbara's - in a blonde wig - 'Judy'.

Pretty sure there are other personalities from the music scene in the party crowd section of the video.

Sorry - meant R111 - see post above!

I haven't listened to it in YEARS, but once upon a time, Web radio on, a station called Radio Nigel played great music that was predominantly in this genre.

Martha and the Muffins need to be on the list!

The Human League were lightening in a bottle.

R106, I wasn't giving that quote any validity. I was just using it as an example of how widely the net is cast for what's considered to be New Wave in hopes (alas) that OP would get a little more specific. Otherwise these threads turn into "music that I like from back in the day", which seems pretty much inevitable anyway. Still good to revisit some of these.

Obsession by Animotion. The video was fucking everything too.

Too Shy Kajagoogoo

One of my favorites.

No one sang ennui like The Human League.

Message of Love - The Pretenders

Beat Surrender - The Jam

Don't Change - INXS

Save it for later - The Beat

I want candy - Bow Wow Wow

Hazy shade of winter - Bangles

R122, one of my friends flew from SF to London just to see ABC perform with a full orchestra recently and got to meet Martin (he put it out on SM that he was doing that, and ABC saw it) - Martin was gracious, signed all his albums and took photos with him. Classy guy. Oh and Friend said that they sounded great.

Some honorable mentions:

Visage - Fade to Grey

Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes

Mexican Radio - Wall of Voodoo

Birdhouse in Your Soul, Istanbul (Not Constantipole) - They Might Be Giants

Little Girls, Dead Man's Party, etc. - Oingo Boingo

Love Cats, Boys Don't Cry, etc. - The Cure

Johnny, Are You Queer? - Josie Cotton

Kids in America - Kim Wilde

Cars. Gary Numan.

Love this

Argh let’s try again

Bauhaus are more goth but I feel this ride the new wave cusp.

R122 r125 I saw the ABC concert with full orchestra - it was absolutely fantastic. Martin was in great voice, looked amazing and was really charming with the audience. The great Anne Dudley (Art of Noise, Propaganda, Pet Shop Boys etc) was conducting. A pan unforgettable experience.

This is one of my favourite ABC tracks post wave:

Speaking of Propaganda, R131. 'A Secret Wish' was one of my favourite albums of the 80s. 'ABBA from Hell' as the NME described them.

133 replies, and no mention of The Vapors/Turning Japanese?!?!

[quote]The Human League were lightening in a bottle.

[quote]No one sang ennui like The Human League.

T118 & R123: This is by far my favorite Human League song. And one of my favorite songs of the early '80s, period.

it is Thomas Dolby in R109s screencap. He played Johnny. I fell in love with that record when I was 15. It should have been huge here, but no, AOR and Adult Contemporary voices sucked up all the pop airplay and it only got to #72

and THIS is late period New Wave

Don’t Change - INXS Life During Wartime - Talking Heads Peek-A-Boo - Siouxsie and the Banshees Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys Voices Carry - Til Tuesday The Metro - Berlin So In Love - OMD The Ghost In You - Psychedelic Furs Walk Out To Winter - Aztec Camera Push - The Cure

wow's are few and frustration more common..

if Simon Lebon and Nick Heyward both stirred my adolescent loins, this one was the big swoon, and they are categorized as New Wave but really weren't.

Josie Cotton - License To Dance

The Cars - - - Candy O

Say what you will about them now (they're essentally a Vegas act now) but early U2 was magnificent.

Don’t think I can say greatest, but this was a fun new sound way back in the early 80s.

Fun Boy Three doing The Go-Go's!!!

No one's mentioned The Go-Go's? Girls rock?

This song became #1 or close to it a couple of years ago, 30 something years after it was 1st released after showing up on show (I want to say Stranger Things?) and people, understandibly, went wild over it. Good to know the youngins have managed to hang on to at least some good taste

Bow Wow Wow - "Chihuahua"

Hail Satan!!!

Adam & the Ants - Fall In

Like, this is still totally a "banger":

New Order - 1963

Depeche Mode- Never Let Me Down Again

Talk Talk - Talk Talk

The Cure - The Forest

Gary Newman - Down By the Park

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound

INXS - Johnson's Aeroplane

Ultravox - Vienna

New Order - Sub-culture

Judy Collins. Send in the Clowns.

r151 Showtune queen say what? 🤣

Gorgeous Billy Mackenzie,

A second helping of Blancmange

Talk Talk

From what I remember, Joy Division, early U2, and bands like The Fall, Killing Joke, Chameleons, etc. were generally labeled as "post-punk," which for me was a slightly different category than new wave, but maybe there is no real difference. Same with synthpop...maybe it was all new wave, but not all new wave was synthpop. In any case, the late 70s/early 80s were probably the greatest epoch for music, and a lot more exciting than anything today.

R156 splitting hairs about subgenres is boring and myopic. Where’s the autism troll? I’d compare it to being really excited about sorting legos or something.

OP, I thought Duran Duran was new wave?

^ That would be New Romantic

New Wave was basically ANYTHING that came after punk that wasnt the traditional "hair rock" or classic rock from the 60/70's. That genre was divided mainly by 2 styles, post punk, with more early punk influences like The Ramones, The Clash, The Stooges, and New Romantics , which came a little later, with a more pop influence but also avant garde elements (influenced more by the "art rock" from the 70s like Bowie, Genesis, Roxy Music).

So most of the examples here ARE new wave. My question is when did it stop being New Wave and when did it just become indie pop/rock?

To me there is a distinct shift in styles after the mid 80s.

Wire's gorgeous "Outdoor Miner," complete with extended piano solo, should surely be on any post-punk playlist for that era, along with Gang of Four's "Return the Gift," Vivien Goldman's "Launderette," and Pere Ubu's "The Modern Dance."

Erasure - Chains of Love

An ABSOLUTE sugar rush of a tune

Scritti Politti's Perfect Way is still one of my all time favorite songs.

The Fixx had a few bangers.

Billy Idol

r168 Thank you. The OP started this whole thread by claiming Idol and Duran Duran were not New Wave. Way to fuck up your OP and show you're clueless.

This thread has nver come up with a good definition of "New Wave" and I get it... it's nebulous. I always think of New Wave as a period of time when the Brits kept creating interesting, indie bands who had a certain "look", played some good music that relied heavily on a lot of synth, the guys seemed to have high fragile voices (later good for "emo").

American bands always seemed to be playing catch-up to what was coming at us from across the pond. All hail college radio for digging the sounds and playing so much of it that some commercial stations had to add tunes to their playlists. And with video? The sky was the limit for a short time.

The music was definitely NOT punk, not rock 'n roll, danceable without the disco, and it quickly dissolved into other categories or sub-scategories.

So, throwing caution to the wind, how about some Squeeze?

r164 I prefer "Wood Beez""

Living On Video

r170 I've always seen New Wave as synthesized punk. But it's a broad movement.

Interesting that an 80's band like X is never classified as New Wave. X is real punk.

Blondie began as punk but became New Wave.

The Pretenders are a bit more difficult. They began as New Wave but became Mainstream.

It's funny, I've always considered the Cars and Pretenders (and U2) as rock.

t174 Well New Wave is rock. What else could it be?

New Wave is as much pop as it is rock.

If we are discussing Squeeze, I’m partial to this one.

Oy let me try this again

I think r174 means conventional rock, and I agree tbh.

Love that song, R178!! And also, of course:

R173, going to politely disagree with you about The Pretenders. I think they were punk, but after the death of two band members, by the time Chryssie re-grouped, everyone had grown up enough to tone it down.

Here's example #1 of the punkier side of the band... Tattoed Love Boys!

and then there's Bad Boys Get Spanked. Chrissie Hynde was always a tough broad.

and yes, I've already "oh deared" myself for the incorrect spelling above.

And get this, The Pretenders are playing Tanglewood in Lenox, MA this summer! The world is whack.

Angst in My Pants - Sparks

R181/R182 Agree they were definitely more punk when the two boys were alive.

Is She Really Going Out With Him & On The Radio — Joe Jackson

r185, I also like, "Steppin' Out" and "Breaking Us in Two".

The Human Leauge....Fascination. This thread has reminded me how much I loved them. Haven't thought of them in years though. This song is a jam. I could never decide if the male lead was hot or not.

R186, I like both of those too.

Taco Puttin' on the Ritz

R185 and R186... those examples of Jackson's music show how he went from the pop/punk/New Wave scene to a sophisticated arranger of music, writing lyrics that were much more emotional and adult.

Joe went from Instant Mash on the Look Sharp! album

to Breaking us in Two on the Night And day album. Night and Day for me, contains the Jackson of angry young guy who's beecoming a more mature guy trying to find his place as an adult.

Joe Jackson's Body and Soul is one of my favorite '80s albums.

R17 checked all the boxes

R192 My favorite of his - Throw It Away

Sex Dwarf!!!

Where does the jury stand on "Ah, Leah" by Donnie Iris (1980)? Is this a new wave song? I like the comment at the link below: "He's Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello and Eugene Levy all rolled together into one incredible package."

R196, if it WERE to be considered New Wave, it would probably be my #1. (Had it on repeat just a few weeks ago.) But it's lacking the synth and/or post-punk that define New Wave FOR ME. (But if this thread has proven anything, it's that the definition of New Wave is up for grabs.)

R197, I guess Billy Joel was right??

[quote]Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk It's still rock and roll to me

[quote]It's the next phase, new wave Dance craze, anyways It's still rock and roll to me