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(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / Mario Casciano / Robert Ellis)
They didn’t call it new wave for nothing.
While such a tag can often be nebulously applied to a vast cohort of wildly different artists, the fact was that punk had upended the rock world and kicked open a new hinterland of new groups across post-punk, synthpop, ska revival, industrial, heavy metal, and countless other satellite bands, all owing absolutely nothing to the Woodstock bunch still clogging the charts.
New wave was an apt term, if rankling the punk purists, loathing its corporate whiff and drag ‘n’ drop fashion template. But it was here to stay, largely dominating much of pop’s creative course across the 1980s. A handful of old timers were already well acquainted. David Bowie practically invented the new wave, finding himself a welcome guest in the famed Blitz Kids hangout and leading the path he paved with 1980’s Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), and Iggy Pop and Roxy Music had sufficient proto-punk pedigree to sail through pop’s new dawn unscathed.
For most, it was a tough ride, however. While not updating her sound, Cher decided to don wraparound shield shades for 1981’s neon I Paralyze album cover, albeit to no commercial success, while Rod Stewart didn’t lack for sales on the synthy Tonight I’m Yours, if spelling a dashing of his Faces glory days. Others, while facing a wobble, would borrow just a touch of the new wave to sharpen their sound, Queen and The Rolling Stones finding renewed success, and Rush embracing giant, phat keyboards to unlikely pop stardom.
A beguiling yet crucial chapter of popular music that no one was able to ignore, we select the five acts that had a storied grapple with punk’s smoking crater.
Five artists who went new wave:
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