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80s Home > 80s Music > 80s New Wave Music
80s New Wave Music
It's about as easy to pin down what truly
constitutes 80s new wave music as it is to say Kajagoogoo five times fast.
The rebellious lovechild of 70s punk and powerpop, the new wave hits of
the 80s evolved from bands like the Ramones and Blondie into synthpop
bliss, postpunk, rockabilly, and more. Yes, the definition of "new wave"
is as nebulous as a Flock of Seagulls haircut. But one thing's for sure,
the music scene was forever changed thanks to these anticorporate,
experimental, and revolutionary rock icons.
While there's no one best new wave song that defines the era, one of the
most memorable was Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. It was the
first video MTV broadcast back in 1981, setting the stage for new wave
hits of the 80s to take over television like spandex took over Bananarama.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg-shaped hairstyles. While there
were the highly commercialized, oft-televised 80s new wave songs like
"Take On Me" by A-ha or "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran, there was
also an underbelly.
This underbelly rose from the ashes so dark, so mysterious, and so
tortured that women dress up in corsets and wave their arms through the
air to celebrate it to this day. Of the new wave hits of the 80s, goth
gave birth to a subculture that's still enveloping its followers in
blankets of sorrow. From the macabre to the mopey, bands like The Cure,
Depeche Mode, and Siouxsie and the Banshees opened the floodgates of
expressing oneself through multiple piercings, ghoulish hairstyles, and
tortured despair.
Whether you think the quintessential 80s new wave band was The Cure or
Echo and the Bunnymen, I know this much is true: The new wave hits of the 80s didn't
just rock this town. They rocked it inside out.
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