The Crest Of the New Wave
Although definitions of New Wave differ and some include almost anything from 1979 through 1985 or so that had a synthesizer and a beat, for our purposes New Wave is identified as the Pop-oriented music played by individuals and groups using synthesizers and intrigued by the influence of art and left-of-center politics on popular music. New Wave began to emerge after the downfall of Punk in the late 70's and, buoyed by MTV and college radio, peaked around 1983. Many New Wave artists had close connections to the Post-Punk movement as well, but their music tends more toward straightforward Pop than abrasive Rock textures. The proliferation of Rock-oriented dance clubs gave an opening for New Wave to invade the Dance music world as well. Among the New Wave performers whose music flourished in dance clubs were Culture Club, the Eurythmics, Thomas Dolby, and the Human League.
Boy George, lead vocalist of Culture Club, grew up attracted to the style and music of David Bowie and T. Rex. Well-known in London circles for his sense of style, George was asked by Malcolm McLaren to join the group Bow Wow Wow. His membership in the group did not last long, and by 1981, at the age of 20, he had put together Culture Club with Mikey Craig, Roy Hay, and Jon Moss. Culture Club's Pop style was influenced by both Reggae and classic American Soul. They were signed to Virgin Records in early 1982, and, after their first two singles failed to make the charts, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me soared to the top of the British charts in the fall of 1982. The slow reggae shuffle beat of Do You Really Want To Hurt Me was too slow to make a dent in American clubs, but I'll Tumble 4 Ya, released in the summer of 1983, conquered the Dance charts. Culture Club and Boy George solo would continue to generate Dance hits through the rest of the 1980's.
The Eurythmics originated as the Post-Punk band the Tourists in the U.K. in the late 70's. They released three albums and had 2 top ten hit singles in the U.K. After the private romantic relationship between the leaders Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart fell apart, the band did as well. However, Lennox and Stewart decided to continue recording together under the name the Eurythmics. The music of the Eurythmics moved in a more Pop direction dominated by electronic instruments. Their debut album In the Garden failed to sell well, but the second album Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), released in 1983, took off. The title song topped American Pop and Dance charts. Unlike many New Wave bands, the Eurythmics survived well past the general demise of New Wave. Annie Lennox, as a solo artist, is continuing to have signficant hits on the Dance chart.
Thomas Dolby (born Thomas Robertson), who earned the 'Dolby' due to his facility with sound engineering, got his musical start working on sound for a number of Post-Punk groups. In 1979 he formed a group called the Camera Club that counted Trevor Horn among its members. Within a year, Dolby had left the group and joined Lene Lovich's backing band as a keyboardist. He wrote her major Dance hit New Toy. In 1982 Dolby made appearances playing keyboards with a wide variety of artists including Joan Armatrading and Foreigner. His first solo album, the British version of The Golden Age Of Wireless was released but virtually ignored in the U.S. A followup EP Blinded By Science came out in early 1983, and the song She Blinded Me With Science took off in clubs and on MTV. The Golden Age Of Wireless was re-released including She Blinded Me With Science and landed in the top 20 of the Pop album chart. Thomas Dolby's quirky scientist became one of the most memorable images from New Wave music videos.
The success of Human League's Don't You Want Me is often credited with opening the floodgates for New Wave performers. It topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1982 and was on club playlists for months during the year. Human League was originally formed in 1977 near the peak of Punk in the U.K. Their first releases were dark in tone and heavily influenced by the machine music of Kraftwerk. In 1980 founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left the group and eventually formed Heaven 17. The remaining group members began working with producer Martin Rushent and moved in a more Pop-oriented direction while maintaining the dominance of electronic keyboards in their instrumentation. The album Dare, featuring Don't You Want Me, was released to acclaim in 1982. The followup EP Fascination! released in 1983 consolidated their claim as the top group in New Wave Synth-Pop.
New Wave brought a rush of catchy Pop melodies to dance clubs around the world in the early 80's. Along with the music, a wide range of clothing styles influenced club audiences from Annie Lennox' smart androgynous suits in the Eurythmics to Boy George's baggy cross-dressing to the cross-gender facial makeup of Human League. Within a few years, the dominance of New Wave would fade, but the music created by New Wave bands and solo artists is among the most fondly remembered of all of the Dance music recorded in the 1980's.