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The 100 Greatest “New Wave” songs 1. Everybody Wants to Rule the World-Tears for Fears (5 Viewers)

And OMD fit into what I mentioned upthread...although maybe its less cynically selling out or getting over-produced, and more a zeitgeist thing where that genre of music just got more watered down and pop.

I thought dazzleships was their death knell, with only one song I liked...romance of the telescope... Most of that album I actively disliked, along with most of what they did subsequently. And again- they were one of, if not my favorite band prior. 

 
And OMD fit into what I mentioned upthread...although maybe its less cynically selling out or getting over-produced, and more a zeitgeist thing where that genre of music just got more watered down and pop.

I thought dazzleships was their death knell, with only one song I liked...romance of the telescope... Most of that album I actively disliked, along with most of what they did subsequently. And again- they were one of, if not my favorite band prior. 
The follow up album to dazzleships had Tesla Girls and Talking Loud and Clear on it. Those (especially Tesla Girls) are great songs, imo.

 
40. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” U2 (1983, from War

https://youtu.be/EM4vblG6BVQ

Let me first note that only U2’s early material qualifies for this list- nothing that was recorded post 1984 or so is eligible. 

That being said, I’ve always believed this was one of their best songs anyhow. Edge’s killer opening guitar riff is probably the best he ever did. 
if there is a sound i associate with New Wave more than any other, it's Edge's sonic frikkin guitar. it is not rock guitar - it is a clarion call, the mission bell, an altar summon. like the great loves of my life, my first view of U2, - the video of them playing Gloria in the Dublin Basin, a sight i knew well from youth, singing Latin praises of God that i still dream from my altarboy days - will always be what i remember most. it wasnt the first New Wave i heard, but it announced what the New Wave was. challenge life with sound - not out of longing, but in triumph. we win - the call of the 80s, for good or ill.

 
The interesting thing about If You Leave is that it was essentially written in less than 24 hours. The ending for Pretty in Pink was supposed to be completely different (not the happy one depending on your point of view). OMD scrambled to get the song done before they went on tour 2 days later. The original song for the ending was Don’t You (Forget About Me) with a tempo of 120 bpm so McCluskey intentionally wrote If You Leave to match it so it synced up with the dancing, which it ultimately didn’t anyway.
 

My favorite OMD song to date is Souvenir. McCluskey does great vocals, but Humphreys just nails it and the song seems so fluid and effortless thus wonderful imo. Love Live and Die too.

 
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if there is a sound i associate with New Wave more than any other, it's Edge's sonic frikkin guitar. it is not rock guitar - it is a clarion call, the mission bell, an altar summon. like the great loves of my life, my first view of U2, - the video of them playing Gloria in the Dublin Basin, a sight i knew well from youth, singing Latin praises of God that i still dream from my altarboy days - will always be what i remember most. it wasnt the first New Wave i heard, but it announced what the New Wave was. challenge life with sound - not out of longing, but in triumph. we win - the call of the 80s, for good or ill.
Watching It Might Get Loud with all of Edge's effects compared to Jack White with his nail and wood and homemade pickup is some sort of contrast. Edge's sound is like nothing else and is exactly as you describe, a clarion call. I think watching Jack White hammer his nail into wood with that Coke bottle will forever shape how I hear guitar, but that's for another day. Even so, I'll provide that link.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnsQRpgYmaE

 
God, these songs. I know them, but they're just four-six years before my time as a real listener of anything.

You guys got this as the soundtrack to your teen years. I got hair metal.

So punk/thrash it was! 

 
I always liked 2nd Thought, although the whole first album(s..us and uk) was consistently good for me, including enola gay. Architecture and morality did a nice job bridging the darker electronics of the first with some more pop sensibilities that would come (less successfully for me) later. She's Leaving encapsulated that for me. Still like that album a lot...weird guitar driven almost garagey first track iirc.

 
Watching It Might Get Loud with all of Edge's effects compared to Jack White with his nail and wood and homemade pickup is some sort of contrast. Edge's sound is like nothing else and is exactly as you describe, a clarion call. I think watching Jack White hammer his nail into wood with that Coke bottle will forever shape how I hear guitar, but that's for another day. Even so, I'll provide that link.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnsQRpgYmaE
the 10,000 hours, man - guitar players may be the best example of that. i am unschooled & unskilled in music, yet i've made old folks cry w renditions of Irish lullabies, even girls grab at me once after an episode of cocaine&cognac-fueled freestyling on Hendrix's Hey Joe. guitarists dont get that without the 10000, without countless flesh-ripping hours of work before they even get to really hear themselves amplified in a great hall. but once they get to the point where they can shape sound with their hands, man, look out, that's alchemy. then they pass the singers & songwriters & timekeepers and experience the craftsman's greatest joy - to bring argument to the gods with their bare hands. tho i have wasted forumspace before wishing Jack White would understand that he could move us as much as he moves himself with just a few adjustments, i do not begrudge him his choices. the magic is literally in his hands, for to do what he will

 
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Not familiar at all with OMD, but it sounds like Tim rolled a 20 with this pick.
You never heard "If You Leave" which is considered the band's signature song and huge hit here in the US? I have seen it on several top ten Best of New Wave lists. Somehow figures Tim won't list it because he doesn't like it (which didn't stop him on some other tracks here, but I digress).

Anyway since you missed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DhVdiCy58g

 
You never heard "If You Leave" which is considered the band's signature song and huge hit here in the US? I have seen it on several top ten Best of New Wave lists. Somehow figures Tim won't list it because he doesn't like it (which didn't stop him on some other tracks here, but I digress).

Anyway since you missed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DhVdiCy58g
I know that one, but I figured that song was more of an outlier in their catalog, and for some reason I never bothered delving into their material. :shrug:

 
I always liked 2nd Thought, although the whole first album(s..us and uk) was consistently good for me, including enola gay. Architecture and morality did a nice job bridging the darker electronics of the first with some more pop sensibilities that would come (less successfully for me) later. She's Leaving encapsulated that for me. Still like that album a lot...weird guitar driven almost garagey first track iirc.
New stone age

 
You never heard "If You Leave" which is considered the band's signature song and huge hit here in the US? I have seen it on several top ten Best of New Wave lists. Somehow figures Tim won't list it because he doesn't like it (which didn't stop him on some other tracks here, but I digress).

Anyway since you missed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DhVdiCy58g
There are no songs on this list that I dislike. There are bands that I dislike (and at least one that I hate coming up later) and some songs I think are a bit overrated but I at least kind of like every song on this list, and most of them I love. 

 
I don’t love OMD but definitely remember the great gig at Jones Beach, Long Island, (The Mecca for New Wave concerts in the 80s since WLIR was on Long Island) where it was a triple bill of Sugarcubes, OMD and Depeche Mode. Ok, Maybe the Sugarcubes were part of a different triple-header, but I definitely saw them at Jones Beach, as well as Depeche and OMD together. New Wave euphoria! Maybe it was for DM's 101 tour. 

 
38. “And She Was” Talking Heads (1985, from Little Creatures

https://youtu.be/cl3B_FTDKD0

Another one of the great videos of the era, this one heavily influenced by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. The song is about a woman on LSD imagining herself floating above a junkyard, but a lot of women over the years have seen it as a message of empowerment, and Byrne has said he’s fine with that interpretation. However one views it, it’s great music. 

 
I don’t love OMD but definitely remember the great gig at Jones Beach, Long Island, (The Mecca for New Wave concerts in the 80s since WLIR was on Long Island) where it was a triple bill of Sugarcubes, OMD and Depeche Mode. Ok, Maybe the Sugarcubes were part of a different triple-header, but I definitely saw them at Jones Beach, as well as Depeche and OMD together. New Wave euphoria! Maybe it was for DM's 101 tour. 
If it was Jones Beach, I believe it was 6/3 and 6/4 of 1988 with just DM and OMD. Those are the only dates they played together there. 

 
38. “And She Was” Talking Heads (1985, from Little Creatures

https://youtu.be/cl3B_FTDKD0

Another one of the great videos of the era, this one heavily influenced by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. The song is about a woman on LSD imagining herself floating above a junkyard, but a lot of women over the years have seen it as a message of empowerment, and Byrne has said he’s fine with that interpretation. However one views it, it’s great music. 
One of my favorite Talking Heads songs. When I first started playing drums (was a percussionist for 20+ years), this is the first basic, but cool, beat I learned to play. Big fan as I have mentioned previously. 

 
I don’t love OMD but definitely remember the great gig at Jones Beach, Long Island, (The Mecca for New Wave concerts in the 80s since WLIR was on Long Island) where it was a triple bill of Sugarcubes, OMD and Depeche Mode. Ok, Maybe the Sugarcubes were part of a different triple-header, but I definitely saw them at Jones Beach, as well as Depeche and OMD together. New Wave euphoria! Maybe it was for DM's 101 tour. 
I didn’t want to go to Chicago for the 101 Tour (was a junior in HS) and regretted it for a long time. Saw the Violator tour the next year and it was awesome. They put on a pretty good show. 

 
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One of my favorite Talking Heads songs. When I first started playing drums (was a percussionist for 20+ years), this is the first basic, but cool, beat I learned to play. Big fan as I have mentioned previously. 
In the opening part the drums start and stop again, right? (Not sure I’m saying that right.) 

 
Huh...talking heads have a huge catalog to pull from, another not my favorite song from an artist I like. I don't actively disliked it...but so many others I prefer- albums full of songs.

 
Huh...talking heads have a huge catalog to pull from, another not my favorite song from an artist I like. I don't actively disliked it...but so many others I prefer- albums full of songs.
I suspect Tim is (mostly) going for songs that were hits/played on the radio or MTV, rather than going for deep cuts, otherwise you could just dig deep into both Fear of Music and Remain in Light and then Talking Heads would dominate this thread. :cool:  

 
I suspect Tim is (mostly) going for songs that were hits/played on the radio or MTV, rather than going for deep cuts, otherwise you could just dig deep into both Fear of Music and Remain in Light and then Talking Heads would dominate this thread. :cool:  
They have plenty of non deep cuts that are better... IMO. But remain in light is one of the top albums of this or any era for me- agree it could fill a list almost on its own

 
They have plenty of non deep cuts that are better... IMO. But remain in light is one of the top albums of this or any era for me- agree it could fill a list almost on its own
I still find the first two Talking Heads albums very spotty (still a bit too punk for me), but The Big Country is one of their better deep cuts, if you ask me, and Cities from Fear of Music is way up there as well.  The bass lick in that song is impossible to not tap your foot to. 

 
This list reads like a historian trying to recreate an era, rather than a contemporaneous account

The Cure? The Smiths? Joy Division and New Order? I was an alternative rock fan (REM and Replacements) but even I know these were quintessential New Wave bands that seem to be absent 

If you include The Police, what about The Clash? If The Pretenders, then Tom Petty? 

Lots of great tunes on here but ....

 
This list reads like a historian trying to recreate an era, rather than a contemporaneous account

The Cure? The Smiths? Joy Division and New Order? I was an alternative rock fan (REM and Replacements) but even I know these were quintessential New Wave bands that seem to be absent 

If you include The Police, what about The Clash? If The Pretenders, then Tom Petty? 

Lots of great tunes on here but ....
I assume those four (or three) bands will feature prominently in the remaining 38 songs.

 
Jack White would understand that he could move us as much as he moves himself with just a few adjustments, i do not begrudge him his choices. the magic is literally in his hands, for to do what he will
At the risk of hijacking the thread, the last half of their eponymous (White Stripes) gives me chills. From the primal antagonism of Screwdriver, to the beauty/loss of St. James Infirmary Blues,  then concluding with the isolationism of I Fought Piranhas -- it is one of the finest examples of a modern traditional blues song one will find. Maybe if only you'd had him after the first so that he didn't immolate as you seem to imply. I'm not deep enough of schooled enough to make that assessment. But my bones tell me that back half of that record from 1999 hasn't been matched for decades. 

 
At the risk of hijacking the thread, the last half of their eponymous (White Stripes) gives me chills. From the primal antagonism of Screwdriver, to the beauty/loss of St. James Infirmary Blues,  then concluding with the isolationism of I Fought Piranhas -- it is one of the finest examples of a modern traditional blues song one will find. Maybe if only you'd had him after the first so that he didn't immolate as you seem to imply. I'm not deep enough of schooled enough to make that assessment. But my bones tell me that back half of that record from 1999 hasn't been matched for decades. 
Well, you know that's going to bring me back to my old saw about Artist & Repertoire representatives getting the artist to see that, at a point, his talent is not entirely his. Just  as it is A&R's job to help bandmembers find common purpose, it is to them to be strong enough to enrich a solo client with as much challenge as comfort. As i said to you before, it would be my job to convince Jack White to be the Robert Johnson or Hank Williams or Jimi Hendrix for the gen which proceeded him by helping him bring his brilliant fragments & fugitive pieces and genius-level musicology to a symphonic fore.

 
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How do you differentiate between post punk and new wave? I assuming something like Fad Gadget is purely post punk, but it feels like many bands are overlapping, like they would be new wave if they just played their songs 20% faster. I always see Roxy Music classified as New Wave, but they seem further away than bands that are classified as not new wave. Is The The new wave? Early Ministry? I feel like each person could make a convincing list of new wave that someone else could argue that not a single song on the list is new wave.

 
Well, you know that's going to bring me back to my old saw about Artist & Repertoire representatives getting the artist to see that, at a point, his talent is not entirely his. Just  as it is A&R's job to help bandmembers find common purpose, it is to them to be strong enough to enrich a solo client with as much challenge as comfort. As i said to you before, it would be my job to convince Jack White to be the Robert Johnson or Hank Williams or Jimi Hendrix for the gen which proceeded him by helping him bring his brilliant fragments & fugitive pieces and genius-level musicology to a symphonic fore.
Sometimes I lose you through the pyrotechnics of your writing. That's about as succinct an answer as I've understood you on that front. Generalized, but particular. Inductive. Thanks. 

 
How do you differentiate between post punk and new wave? I assuming something like Fad Gadget is purely post punk, but it feels like many bands are overlapping, like they would be new wave if they just played their songs 20% faster. I always see Roxy Music classified as New Wave, but they seem further away than bands that are classified as not new wave. Is The The new wave? Early Ministry? I feel like each person could make a convincing list of new wave that someone else could argue that not a single song on the list is new wave.
I long ago gave up on genre labels, other than as a reference point to start a conversation. It's a futile endeavor to try and pigeon-hole music into record store aisles (Tower Records is dead and gone, friends). There are more exceptions than rules. Yet, half the posts in this thread are trying to micro-slot records and artists as if there should be some kind of consensus.

That said, I'll also be an idiot and say that Prince not having any records on this list is a travesty.

 
I long ago gave up on genre labels, other than as a reference point to start a conversation. It's a futile endeavor to try and pigeon-hole music into record store aisles (Tower Records is dead and gone, friends). There are more exceptions than rules
It really is the problem here. Time separations make some sense, but beyond that it's all music.

 
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Sometimes I lose you through the pyrotechnics of your writing. That's about as succinct an answer as I've understood you on that front. Generalized, but particular. Inductive. Thanks. 
I learned all the rules i could in order to break as many as possible. The pyrotechnics give me cover to do so. Thank you for noticing -

 
How do you differentiate between post punk and new wave? I assuming something like Fad Gadget is purely post punk, but it feels like many bands are overlapping, like they would be new wave if they just played their songs 20% faster. I always see Roxy Music classified as New Wave, but they seem further away than bands that are classified as not new wave. Is The The new wave? Early Ministry? I feel like each person could make a convincing list of new wave that someone else could argue that not a single song on the list is new wave.
:thumbup:

 
Agree completely, but understand mr timmy's plight. Prince is his own genre. 
I hear ya and agree. But.....

"Controversy", "Little Red Corvette", "1999", "When Doves Cry". I want someone to define "New Wave" and tell me why those records/videos/styles don't fit. Yet a brain-dead outfit like Human League does? 

 
I hear ya and agree. But.....

"Controversy", "Little Red Corvette", "1999", "When Doves Cry". I want someone to define "New Wave" and tell me why those records/videos/styles don't fit. Yet a brain-dead outfit like Human League does? 
Simple, I think. They transcend the genre. They're really too good for winnowing.

I Would Die 4 U (my personal fave hit) and others just never got new wave play not because they weren't great or hits, but because Prince seems like a genre unto himself.

The ultimate compliment, really. 

eta* I mean, they were still hits, too. My point is that Prince was too good to pigeonhole as a genre. But same as Bowie, I guess. 

 
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Simple, I think. They transcend the genre. They're really too good for winnowing.

I Would Die 4 U (my personal fave hit) and others just never got new wave play not because they weren't great or hits, but because Prince seems like a genre unto himself.

The ultimate compliment, really. 
I thought this thread was about songs and not careers. Elvis Presley had some of the best rockabilly hits, too.

Prince was getting airplay on the same "rock" channels as The Cars in my area when "Little Red Corvette" came out. It was that, or play the latest Billy Joel bag of vomit yet again. 

 
I hear ya and agree. But.....

"Controversy", "Little Red Corvette", "1999", "When Doves Cry". I want someone to define "New Wave" and tell me why those records/videos/styles don't fit. Yet a brain-dead outfit like Human League does? 
i threw together my own top 20 to put up when tim was done and only had 1999 from prince in it cuz i tried not to dupe any artists, though i ended up w 2 of one for a specific reason

 
I thought this thread was about songs and not careers. Elvis Presley had some of the best rockabilly hits, too.

Prince was getting airplay on the same "rock" channels as The Cars in my area when "Little Red Corvette" came out. It was that, or play the latest Billy Joel bag of vomit yet again. 
Yeah, it's why I backtracked my edit when it came to Bowie. I'm not sure the non-inclusion of Prince is an oversight. Prince was indeed played on rock radio like The Cars, who I never saw as new wave, either. I've tried to avoid inclusion/non-inclusion debates in this thread as others seem to be more well-versed than I.

Just speculating. When I hear "Prince" I don't think anything as reductive as "new wave" or "power pop" or anything. It's just a feeling is all. 

 
I long ago gave up on genre labels, other than as a reference point to start a conversation. It's a futile endeavor to try and pigeon-hole music into record store aisles (Tower Records is dead and gone, friends). There are more exceptions than rules. Yet, half the posts in this thread are trying to micro-slot records and artists as if there should be some kind of consensus.

That said, I'll also be an idiot and say that Prince not having any records on this list is a travesty.
Fielding Mellish: I object, Your Honor! This trial is a travesty! It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham!

 
Yeah, it's why I backtracked my edit when it came to Bowie. I'm not sure the non-inclusion of Prince is an oversight. Prince was indeed played on rock radio like The Cars, who I never saw as new wave, either. I've tried to avoid inclusion/non-inclusion debates in this thread as others seem to be more well-versed than I.

Just speculating. When I hear "Prince" I don't think anything as reductive as "new wave" or "power pop" or anything. It's just a feeling is all. 
Oh, I'm sure it's not. Which makes the Bowie inclusion all the more mystifying. 

 

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