Gang of Four releases a new album in 2011

The new album by Gang of Four is excellent!

   

A few favorite New Wave bands...

Remember the late 70's and early 80's? That was a time of big musical change. It was the dawning of a new decade and the youth of the world was craving upbeat new sounds in music. That new sound is what ended up being called New Wave. It was a hybrid of punk, pop, dance, fun and fashion all wrapped up in an electronic rhythm.

The following are some of our early New Wave favorites from the late 70's.
(Our next blog will take a look at some of the New Wave favorites which came about in the 80's.)

Click Here for Gary Numan's "Pleasure Principle"

Gary Numan - Cars (1979): Gary Numan hit the scene big with his worldwide hit "Cars". Prior to this he had received critical acclaim and a #1 hit in Britain with "Are Friends Electric" which also hit the Top 20 in several other countries worldwide. But it was "Cars" a few months later which hit huge all around the world including Top 10 in the U.S. and #1 in Canada. Gary Numan finally hit it big in the U.S. But his chart success in North America did not last long as "Cars" ended up being his only hit in the U.S. and Canada. Although his hits continued in the UK all the way through 2003. He managed to rack up an impressive 16 Top 20 hits in the UK.

"Cars" is included on his 1979 classic album titled "The Pleasure Principle" and includes other great tunes such as; "Airplane", "Films" and "M.E." "The Pleasure Principle" made it to #1 in the UK as well as #16 in the U.S.

Click Here to see "Stateless" by Lene Lovich

Lene Lovich - "Lucky Number" (1979): "Lucky Number" was all the buzz in the underground throughout 1979 and for the most part it remained a cult favorite. The song did reach #3 in the UK and #18 in Austria but did not chart anyplace else in the world. Regardless that did not stop this mysterious tune from becoming a huge dance club hit in the U.S. where to this day you can still hear this song on a retro night. The song also became a favorite on L.A.'s popular KROQ radio station.

After "Lucky Number" Lene's successes on the charts were few, although she did reach #1 in Austria with 1982's "Blue Hotel".

Click Here to see Talking Heads 77

"Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads (1977): "Psycho Killer" made a huge splash in 1977 and garnered much attention for Talking Heads but was a chart failure. The song reached only #13 in Holland and #92 in the U.S. but failed to chart anywhere else in the world. The song written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth contains an insistent rhythm, and one of the most memorable, driving bass lines in rock & roll.

David Byrne has said of the song: "When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies."

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Well there you have it my friends a few of our favorite early New Wave tunes from the late 70's. There were so many more and with in the next few weeks and months we will dig into many more tunes and bands.

Please feel free to add your thoughts on these songs and artists and let us know others you'd like to hear about in this blog.