New Wave Music
80s New Wave Music was formed from the remnants of 70s punk rock. 80s New Wave took the aggressive nature of punk, added dance beats to give it a little disco feel, and then through in some keyboards to give it the distinctive 80s New Wave sound. The main years of 80s New Wave were 1980-1984. After 1984, Madonna, Michael, Prince, Bruce and others really took music away from New Wave and more towards a Pop Rock feel. Below we will look at some of the bands that brought 80s New Wave to the top of the charts in the early 80s.
1980
In the US, 70s bands like Blondie, The Cars, Talking Heads, and Devo were some of the early pioneers of 80s New Wave Music. In the UK, Joy Division, Joe Jackson, The Police, and The Boomtown Rats were some early adopters of the New Wave sound. The album that really defined New Wave's signature synth based sound and brought the movement to the forefront had to be Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle. And the signature song off that album was, of course, Cars. Other top 80s New Wave Songs from 1980 included:
1981
MTV's arrival in 1981 took 80s New Wave Music to new heights. MTV aggressively played 80s New Wave bands and their videos. New Wave was the primary genre played on MTV through the year 1984. The majority of the early New Wave bands played by MTV were from Great Britain. This caused journalists to label this period as the "Second British Invasion".
Top 80s New Wave Songs From 1981 included:
1982
By 1982, The term New Wave was used to describe just about any new band that was heavily into synthesizers. Some did not like this over generalization and coined the term "Synthpop" to describe these bands.
Top 80s New Wave Songs From 1982 included:
- She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
- Down Under - Men At Work
- I Ran - Flock of Seagulls
- Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
- Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
- Poison Arrow - ABC
- Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Culture Club
- Love My Way - Psychedelic Furs
- Love Plus One - Haircut 100
- Destination Unknown - Missing Persons
- Joe Jackson - Steppin Out
- Melt With You - Modern English
- Don't Go - Yaz (Yazoo)
1983
The Eurythmics burst on the scene in 1983 with their Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) album. The title track shot straight to #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Top 80s New Wave Songs From 1983 included:
1984
The Thompson Twins were very popular in 1984. Their hits Hold Me Now and Doctor! Doctor! were top twenty hits on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard US Dance charts.
Other Top 80s New Wave Songs From 1984 included:
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