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The 100 Greatest “New Wave” songs 1. Everybody Wants to Rule the World-Tears for Fears (2 Viewers)

I get that "On the Outside" might not be well know.  Hard to fathom someone not knowing "only a lad"
About 2/3 of KROQ's playlist was NEVER played on New Orleans-area terrestrial radio. Never heard an Oingo Bongo song until the film Back to School came out. No Elvis Costello until MTV debuted "Everyday I Write the Book". And so on.

Local hit radio playlists were either VERY close to Billboard's Hot 100 or were R&B-heavy. Tulane University had its own station, WTUL, that played "college rock" and "deep alternative" in the late 80s ... but I don't know what they were doing when new wave was new.

EDIT: forgot about “Weird Science”. That was my intro to Oingo Boingo.

 
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"Alexa, play New Wave music"

"Ok....the station, new wave on Amazon music"

.....

.....

Mmm num ba de
Dum bum ba be
Doo buh dum ba beh beh


Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets


.....

"..hmmm.. Not what I would have thought but ok"

Alexa skip

.....

🎼....🥁.....🎹

:startsdancinglikeaflamingfairy:

We're tallllking away

"that's what I'm talking about!"

 
84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 

 
"Alexa, play New Wave music"

"Ok....the station, new wave on Amazon music"

.....

.....

Mmm num ba de
Dum bum ba be
Doo buh dum ba beh beh


Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets


.....

"..hmmm.. Not what I would have thought but ok"

Alexa skip

.....

🎼....🥁.....🎹

:startsdancinglikeaflamingfairy:

We're tallllking away

"that's what I'm talking about!"
I did the same thing last night.  Got different tunes. One of them featured "dah" a lot. 

 
84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 
I probably like this song more for the memories of that era, and less so cause of the quality of the song. 

 
I probably like this song more for the memories of that era, and less so cause of the quality of the song. 
I think it was pretty fresh when it came out in ‘81 and still brings out nostalgic memories. Problem is, like so many other songs of the era, is that it has become so ridiculously overplayed to the point of auto skip when I hear that opening keyboard riff. 

 
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84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 
that much is true

 
84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 
Love it!  Not quibbling with the rankings anymore, great song .I consider Dare to be a pinnacle of early 80s synth pop. For an album that's so purely pop, it does still have that little bit of a "dark" sound, giving it the tiniest bit of anxiety. It tapped in perfectly to what people who were into that type of music wanted at the time. It sounded really fresh and there was nobody around doing quite what they were. Martin Rushent's production was innovative in 1981. 
 

Joanne Catherall :wub:  

 
84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 
You had to include it, so good on you for dumping it low.

Also agree on that damned "Fascination" song of theirs. There are very few records I actively hate and that's one of them - up there with "Sugar Shack" and "Seasons In The Sun" for vomit-inducing trash.

 
84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 
This is a good spot for this song and I agree with your analysis.

That is the first and last time you will get a compliment like that in this thread.

 
Meh. Certainly not my favorite Human League song by a lot, but it works for this list. Another band great live. Saw them in Vegas a couple of years ago and they were fantastic.

ETA: First time I saw them, they performed in between Howard Jones and Culture Club at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee in the late 90s. Boy George’s makeup was running bc it was hot and humid af and looked like a really sad clown. 

 
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There was also a girl in the J. Geils Band video for Centerfold that my friends and I thought looked like Martha Quinn.

Did I just spotlight?
No. I thought about it and decided against. 

Don’t ask me to explain why “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” is a New Wave song and “Centerfold” is not. I have no logical explanation. 

 
To me, they were just rock  :shrug:
Interestingly enough, they were a little like REO Speedwagon- two totally different bands with totally different sounds, but both of them had been playing for years, putting out albums for years, and then suddenly at the start of the video era they had massive hits. 

 
Speaking of J Geils, in recent years I have become a rather big fan of Peter Wolf’s solo output. I became exposed to it due to Apple Music and has put out a lot of songs I like very much. 

 
Just finished listening to Ned’s Atomic Dustbin’s Are You Normal album. I discovered a treasure trove of old 80s CD long boxes and some Joy Division postcards while cleaning out a back bedroom so it’s been a good day.

 
84. “Don’t You Want Me” The Human League (1981, from Dare

https://youtu.be/uPudE8nDog0

A lot of folks regard this as one of THE essential New Wave songs, so the only question will be why didn’t I rank it higher? Because I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, I don’t dislike it, or it wouldn’t be on this list, essential or not. It’s OK. It’s catchy at times and I don’t necessarily turn it off when it shows up. The same can not be said for the very annoying “Keep Feeling Fascination” which I detest and would be on my list of worst New Wave songs, if I bothered to make such a list. (I actually do really like a Human League song, “Mirror Man”.) 
Dang, I had forgotten about that song.  I just pulled it up on YT and remember it from the early MTV days. 

Don't You Want Me is one of those solid tunes I heard so much back in the day that it is ingrained in my head, but I can't say I ever seek it out.  Same goes for Keep Feeling Fascination, which I was very fond of back in '83.  Their hit a few years later, Human, was also nice. 

 
I also have to add that the Human League is not a band I've ever considered digging into at all past the hits.  In the last few years, I have done so with a bunch of 80's bands.  Some I have had great success with in getting into a lot more material (XTC, R.E.M.), some I had a little success and managed to add a few good deep cuts to my catalogue which previously only had mostly hits (INXS, The Fixx, Simple Minds, Talk Talk), and some were mostly total misses (The Cure). 

 
I started typing out the words to Rancid's "Radio" and decided that the reference would be lost and it would just make you angry.

So I just typed something else and kept it italicized. And Hoard is right. I was channeling Meat Loaf.
bad for your arteries.

speaking of meat (three of my favorite words), i've cited it before but, when Wolf DJd on Boston's classic underground station WBCN, he was known to say, "I feel so good today i wanna climb the Empire State Building and beat my meat right down to the street"

 
According to the list this was the top song of 1981.  :mellow:

TOP 80 SONGS OF 1981

1.      Mental Hopscotch -- Missing Persons
As I understood the list years ago, they were ranked by most plays. If that makes it top song to you and or kroq... maybe not to everyone. Even Kroq was subject to a little commercialism backinaday.

 
82. “The Metro” Berlin (1982, from Pleasure Victim)

https://youtu.be/cNVLRPSEVaE

That tremendous keyboard riff. The synthesized, simulated hand clapping that lets you know this is a classic early 80s New Wave song. And Teri Nunn. This was their best effort (though a special shout out has to go to “Sex...I’m A” from the same album.) Later in the decade they sold out for Top Gun. 

Berlin played at my high school graduation night party: 1983 at Disneyland. They performed at Tom Sawyer Island where the Fantasmic show now is. 

 

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