Best Ever Punk/New Wave Song?

[brass neck]

[
Good point.
Another case in point - The Jam.
Heard them variously described as mod/punk/new-wave.
IMO just a great band,but "pigeonholing"like this must piss Weller off big style.

Well when I was a nipper the Jam were linked to the mod revival, maybe because Weller so blatantly based his writting and guitar style on Pete Townsend.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

Blondie was def new wave around the time of there first album imaginatively titled Blondie!!!

Blondie - Blondie came out in '76.

"New Wave" was what the media called anything that remotely had balls after the initial wave of media friendly punk passed through the charts.

Different eras.

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh the age old debate, were they punk, were they a preempt of new wave? this is what one bloke on a forum said about the debate........." new wave & punk evolved out of the same musical cespool. blondie was around early on before the primordial ooze had clearly differentiated between the two, hence the confustion in terminology. traditionally genres were created by marketing people after the music had carved a nitche, not by bands trying to conform to a standard.".......... There has always been bands that nobody could pin down..the stranglers punk...I dont fucking think so!! was the Cure realy Punk just because Robert Smith had messy hair, they certainly didnt sound Punk for my taste. I think maybe some bands are sent down the road of linking themselves to a genre to gain acceptability, The Who initially linked them selves to the MODS but with in two years there music had gone avent guard and pretentious...surely that wasnt what the MODS were all about. The album Blondie had Punk undertones but for me was more new wave...the debate goes one!!!

Good point.
Another case in point - The Jam.
Heard them variously described as mod/punk/new-wave.
IMO just a great band,but "pigeonholing"like this must piss Weller off big style.

True but it's undeniable that The Jam rode the coat tails of The Clash to a certain degree until they blossomed into their own band, much like The Clash were a Pistols inspired band who eventually outgrew the whole scene and became a very good rock n roll band.

Labels are always up for debate as the lines are blurred.

Joy Division are a good example, they are viewed as both a new wave band, sometimes labelled post punk but it's essentially the same for this argument, and also labelled as a precursor to the whole gothic scene. So you could legitimately label them Punk, new wave, post punk, goth or indie (given that they were on the best indie ever).

I love Joy Division and I also like the genres I just listed but I never personally think of Joy Division as being any of the above.

Again,very valid point,TMQ.

And another lazy,meaningless term looms into view - "they sound like a Factory Records band" - something you used to read with monotonous regularity in the NME in the 80's,(usually by some clueless London-based "music journalist" who had never ventured north of Watford).
How any record label boasting such diverse acts as Joy Division,Durutti Column,Happy Mondays,A Certain Ratio,Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark,Cabaret Voltaire and Quando Quango can be said to have a trademark "sound" beggars belief.
You would never level this absurd generalisation at EMI,or even other large independants such as Creation.
Rant over.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

[quote="nijinsky's fetlocksband]
Again,very valid point,TMQ.

And another lazy,meaningless term looms into view - "they sound like a Factory Records band" - something you used to read with monotonous regularity in the NME in the 80's,(usually by some clueless London-based "music journalist" who had never ventured north of Watford).
How any record label boasting such diverse acts as Joy Division,Durutti Column,Happy Mondays,A Certain Ratio,Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark,Cabaret Voltaire and Quando Quango can be said to have a trademark "sound" beggars belief.

You would never level this absurd generalisation at EMI,or even other large independants such as Creation.
Rant over.[/quote]

You only need to look at JD/NO to see that their was no such thing as a 'Factory sound', you could argue the point concerning Martin Hannets productions but aside from that it's just lazy journalism.

Also it's inevitable that any young band emerging will wear their influences on their sleeve before developing their own thing, it's the nature of the beast.

It's also the record industry and the media that largely create these situations.

I spent my youth in various bands and met a lot of people in the industry and some of the tales just confirm what you always suspected. For instance, post Oasis (1994ish) you couldnt move for a&r men in Manchester signing up any old band they could find in an attempt to have their own Oasis, if the band didnt live up to this then they were dropped prior to being able to actually achieve anything of the sort.

Similar to how a few years back Yorkshire bands were en vogue due to the Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys.

My old band played with the Libertines very early on and we were told by numerous interested parties that in order for us to progress we'd have to change up our songs and clothes to be bit more like The Strokes/Libertines.

A few years on we played a few dates with Babyshambles and we were told by a&r men that we should try to sound more like them and the bands that were emerging at the time, one bloke actually said that our singer should 'wear a hat like Pete Doherty and sing in more of a southern accent'.

There's no artist development in the industry, if Bowie came out today he'd be dropped in 2 months due to poor sales, he wouldnt be given several albums grace to actually shift a few 'units' or develop a fan base.

It's a shame though it is being rectified in small does due to Myspace etc etc

 

[Dave H]

Blondie was def new wave around the time of there first album imaginatively titled Blondie!!!

Blondie - Blondie came out in '76.

"New Wave" was what the media called anything that remotely had balls after the initial wave of media friendly punk passed through the charts.

Different eras.

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh the age old debate, were they punk, were they a preempt of new wave? this is what one bloke on a forum said about the debate........." new wave & punk evolved out of the same musical cespool. blondie was around early on before the primordial ooze had clearly differentiated between the two, hence the confustion in terminology. traditionally genres were created by marketing people after the music had carved a nitche, not by bands trying to conform to a standard.".......... There has always been bands that nobody could pin down..the stranglers punk...I dont fucking think so!! was the Cure realy Punk just because Robert Smith had messy hair, they certainly didnt sound Punk for my taste. I think maybe some bands are sent down the road of linking themselves to a genre to gain acceptability, The Who initially linked them selves to the MODS but with in two years there music had gone avent guard and pretentious...surely that wasnt what the MODS were all about. The album Blondie had Punk undertones but for me was more new wave...the debate goes one!!!

I agree in the main, and try not to pigeon-hole bands.

When you think about the expression "New Wave", it's a bit of a cop out anyway..... a new wave of music style? Hmmm.... those music journos didn't exactly give that much thought eh.

A lot of it, was simply just good music, that was bourne from, and heavily influenced by punkish stuff that went before..... there's nothing wrong with that, but why try and "label" it all the time? Why not just enjoy music for what it is... why do we need to catagorise every band?

 

[fortunate son]

Dr. Feelgood - Riot In Cell Block No 9
a certain ratio - choir
a certain ratio - shack up
Mission Of Burma Academy Fight Song
The Human League Almost Medieval
Scritti Politti-doubt beat
ultravox - Mr X
U2 - another day
Qunado Quango - love tempo

could go on for years, so so many gd tunes from that area of music

 

[NICKS BACK]

The Best?


The majority of it really sounds stale now, and I still read avidly any book that is written on that era. I still collect original vinyl, even though I don't listen anymore to it.

However, what has stood the test of time? What still sends a tingle?

1/ Grip The Stranglers

2/ Bodies The Pistols ( The ultimate Punk song)

3/ 1977 The Clash (Summed up the era and what was felt)

4/ Feel Alright The Damned (Stooges Cover sadly)

5/ Right to Work Chelsea

6/ Babylon's Burning The Ruts

7/ Spellbound Souixsie and the Banshees

8/ Sonic Reducer Dead Boys

9/ Born to Lose Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers

10/ Leave me Alone Johnny Thunders with Jones Cook and Phil Lynott

 

[jay66uk]

Blondie was def new wave around the time of there first album imaginatively titled Blondie!!!

Blondie - Blondie came out in '76.

"New Wave" was what the media called anything that remotely had balls after the initial wave of media friendly punk passed through the charts.

Different eras.

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh the age old debate, were they punk, were they a preempt of new wave? this is what one bloke on a forum said about the debate........." new wave & punk evolved out of the same musical cespool. blondie was around early on before the primordial ooze had clearly differentiated between the two, hence the confustion in terminology. traditionally genres were created by marketing people after the music had carved a nitche, not by bands trying to conform to a standard.".......... There has always been bands that nobody could pin down..the stranglers punk...I dont fucking think so!! was the Cure realy Punk just because Robert Smith had messy hair, they certainly didnt sound Punk for my taste. I think maybe some bands are sent down the road of linking themselves to a genre to gain acceptability, The Who initially linked them selves to the MODS but with in two years there music had gone avent guard and pretentious...surely that wasnt what the MODS were all about. The album Blondie had Punk undertones but for me was more new wave...the debate goes one!!!

Blondie were at the heart of the CBGBs scene and were very definately a New York punk band.

The albums Blondie and Plastic Letters were right in the punk zone.

Then they got signed up by Chrysalis (who thought they could market la Harry) and they got Mike Chapman to produce Parallel Lines. A fantastic album, but definately not a punk one. And it was the start of the collapse of the band because it wasn't the music they were "from".

(Chrysalis bought the rights to the old albums and reissued them. On vinyl Blondie you can see the cover art work where the old record label details were blacked out...)

Then they went poppy-disco (Eat to the Beat) and a bit wierd (Autoamerican) and then dire (The Hunter). And now they are coming back (The Curse of Blondie and No Exit).

So the reason for the debate about whether they are a punk band is flawed. The question is whether they ever were a punk band (because they changed). And they were.

 

[MCFCTrick]

So many American bands in those days, were classed as 'New Wave' by the media. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Cars, and my beloved, Cheap Trick, all got tagged with it. Were they then? Possibly. Certainly they all soon outgrew the tag, as did Blondie. T'was strange times.

 

[tonea2003]

So many American bands in those days, were classed as 'New Wave' by the media. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Cars, and my beloved, Cheap Trick, all got tagged with it. Were they then? Possibly. Certainly they all soon outgrew the tag, as did Blondie. T'was strange times.

its amazing how different people see things
i would never say they were anything like new wave
more aor in my book

 

[tonea2003]

[
Good point.
Another case in point - The Jam.
Heard them variously described as mod/punk/new-wave.
IMO just a great band,but "pigeonholing"like this must piss Weller off big style.

Well when I was a nipper the Jam were linked to the mod revival, maybe because Weller so blatantly based his writting and guitar style on Pete Townsend.

the jam were put at the head of the mod revival by the media at the time
but i'm not sure they were in with the likes of secret affair, the chords,purple hearts etc who certainly were part of the mod revival