top 80s new wave albums

[polymoog]

Welcome back!

Good to see you again!

thank you and thank you.

 

[polymoog]

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Hurt

this album belongs in the top 20, anchored by 'the politics of dancing', which has one of the best new wave song intros (in my opinion, of course). even the lesser songs on the album have some value.

the singer has a good voice, slightly gary numan-ish, but hes got more of a range.
the keyboardist is great, and no one overplays.

moog says, "check it out!"

 

[Lizard King]

ive narrowed this down to 1980- 1989, even though theres plenty to choose from during the late 70s.
ive also included only one album per band, although a few couldve had more than one on the list.

bands/albums classified as under the genre new wave/new romantic only.


roughly from 1 to 10:

1 duran duran rio (self-entitled album is very good.)
2 billy idol rebel yell (self-entitled album is also great)
3 pretenders pretenders (hard to pick their best-- get close #2)
4 gary numan telekon (pleasure principle is a close second. this is far darker.)
5 a flock of seagulls a flock of seagulls (listen is also very good)
6 the human league travelogue (dare is very good, but a bit too commerical. this is actually better.)
7 joe jackson night and day
8 tears for fears songs from the big chair
9 zz top eliminator
10 depeche mode construction time again

Z Z Top Eliminator is a new wave album? Lol. Billy Idol was better in Generation X.

 

[polymoog]

Z Z Top Eliminator is a new wave album? Lol. Billy Idol was better in Generation X.

lurker asked me that in the second post. its listed as such.





From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Studio albumby ZZ Top
Eliminator
Released	March 23, 1983
Recorded	1982
Studio	Frank Beard's home studio, Quail Valley Ardent Studios, Memphis Terry Manning's home studio, Memphis
Genre	Hard rock[1] blues rock[2] new wave[1] synth-rock[3]
Length	45:00
Label	Warner Bros.

 

[polymoog]

Z Z Top Eliminator is a new wave album? Lol. Billy Idol was better in Generation X.

with what would you replace that album?

 

[EatZeBug]

OK! If we're talking strictly 80s...
Nobody said live albums don't count so:
1. Stop Making Sense (Live) by Talking Heads (Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues are certified classics and even Little Creatures has a few gems)
2. Discipline by King Crimson (Three of a Perfect Pair is also good, Beat is alright)
3. Everything else (Synchronicity by The Police is pretty good, 'Mother' is a weird song)
I also recommend Nightfly by Donald Fagen and literally anything by Tatsuro Yamashita, but I don't think it counts as 'New Wave'.

 

[polymoog]

OK! If we're talking strictly 80s...

we are talking new wave. not that either of them are bad, of course, but fagens album and yamashita do not qualify.

are there enough quality songs on the talking heads albums to justify a position in the top 10?

 

[EatZeBug]

we are talking new wave. not that either of them are bad, of course, but fagens album and yamashita do not qualify.

are there enough quality songs on the talking heads albums to justify a position in the top 10?

Yeah nah those aren't New Wave, just good music from the 80s.

I'd say so, I mean Talking Heads I guess is really the quintessential New Wave band, seeing their record manager Seymour Stein took the term 'New Wave' from French Cinema in an attempt to categorise Talking Heads (and other CBGB bands such as Blondie) as something 'other than punk' seeing a. 'Punk' had a stigma and b. They sound very different tbh to what people imagine if you ask them to name a 'Punk' artist (eg. Ramones, Sex Pistols etc.) At the end of the day, it's a marketing term. The genre existed before in the UK but Sire records kind of popularised ithe name of the genre I think.

 

[Lizard King]

with what would you replace that album?

Devo: Freedom of Choice. ZZ Top actually started out as a band called The Moving Sidewalks which were a kind of psychedelic garage band in the sixties. Then they became a blues band and released their best stuff in the early seventies. Regardless of what wikipedia says there is no way they could be considered a new wave band.