Finally I am able to post videos and this thread is my total no 1 genre.

So let me walk through four of the most influential New wave bands on me....and you may notice a pattern.

The band I have loved for many years and I simply cannot dislike any song of theirs, So I actually got into Devo with a mix of someone I knew made Devo in-jokes and I barley understood what they meant let alone what Devo was...until I researched it and found this which blew my mind from the start on the noises being made to my ears.


This happened after years of listening to this band which I found the tv show Adam and Jo go Tokyo.


Polysics is heavily influence by Devo as well as a Japanese band call P-Model, which is like a Japanese Kraftwerk, I think is the best way I can explain it.

Of which Polysics has opened for Devo many times over the last 10 years (something I wish I could see. Polysics THEN Devo!?)

http://devo-obsesso.com/images/lates..._poly-hiro.jpg

In college....I actually had a new wave jacket. I had D.E.V.O badges along one side of my chest, I others like Blondie, random stuff I liked. I was THAT guy at college with his long hair.......in 2007! awww yeah.

At the same time as this I found a little indie band that...well...... just look at them and you will see why I liked them. Also their Italian?!



They were not at all famous and have gone dark, however I still remember them. Oh no Its POK is a play on the "oh no its Devo" Album, which is a fanatic album.

So in my college days I was wearing Devo T shirts and badges while just going on about Devo to my punk friends, so much so they knew to look for Devo gear for me cos they knew Id just snatch it up. I snagged the uncommon Devo Anthology "Pioneers who were scalped." has a sort of holographic CD case.

So basically everyone knew I liked Devo so much so people would shout out in the street (these are streets of Scotland in 2007) "ARE WE NOT MEN!" which of course I had to shout back "WE ARE DEVO!" or even get an occasional "SPUD BOY!" which friends took as an offence until I explained and said "Their just a fellow spud."

One time on a date with my girlfriend at a local cafe/bar we enjoyed going to a dude I half knew from college stopped by our table and noticed my Devo T shirt (oh which I just realised I have not seen in 5 years) and said the weirdest...yet maybe the worst thing. "Oh Devo? uhh...yeah...did they not like cover Rage Against the Machine "Beautiful world?"
...." nooooo....Rage Against the Machine covered Devo.

Anyway I have ranted enough let me leave you with this.

Polysics sounded really good. im not that into Devo but Polysics intrigues me.

Yeah Polysics in the grand scheme is vastly different from Devo despite being a huge influence on them. However I am sure I can interest you in a Devo Energy domed Robot breaking free from his tv filming to play pranks on people in Polysics cover of Styx Domo Arigato Mr Robot.

Which much like their homage to Devo....they reeeealy go beyond just a cover with this.


Also I am digging your song, I need to dig into lost sound, has some nice female scream singing much like Jessika from Jack off Jill.

You sure can, that was great. :yeah:

I'll definitely look for more stuff from Polysics meanwhile keep the good music coming! If you liked the lost sounds i recommend their album Rat's Brains & Microchips it's their best album imo.

In another year or so times Polysics is going to have been around for 20 years! That is hard to consider as I was following from 2000 onwards.

Polysics is another band I just listen to all of their stuff and not any of it is bad to me at least. In some cases their music is hard to define like this one, which has a Devo homage at the start before opening you up to their hard rock electro synth new wave sound.



Which that songs name reminds me of the similar named new wave band of great works.


Then there is another phenomenal band that do some great new wave work still needs to make a peak in this thread.

I was in an art gallery with a girl enjoying everything and walked into a sort of little art area that all the stuff was for sale at decent prices. What I was on the wall was old 45s record made into functional clocks, each one was punny. The one I wanted the most but did not have £20 was one made out of the 45 of this song.

Early Simple Minds - a song from Empires and Dance







For some reason, I listen to Beauty Stab more than Lexicon, but that's me...

A great lack of Thomas Dolby, let me change that.

I am going to avoid the two known hits of Dolby's and go for the great back catalogue of his work.






And of course who could EVER EVER forget this great tune of Thomas Dolby.

I seriously like The Flat Earth



Sorry about the original poster's signature on this video's first few seconds, but this is the video to an under-rated single.

I do believe I do not really know those two Thomas Dolby tracks and now I do. THANK YOU!

...........something old and something new......and its both DEVO.....

Something I found pretty true when I was making friends in college and listening to this...OK it was walking home drunk after a college friends house party.......FINE it was after 14 hours of getting drunk at one friends house since classes finished at 10am......


Oh man it is actually a harder task deciding ONE track on the last two Devo albums to showcase. Their newer two albums are more likely to tantalise the ears of people who do not enjoy their older stuff. It is so much like their old stuff yet completely different.

Ok so I figured that Devo had already found which track it was the first and most fresh song of their on the first new album.

I present Devo - Fresh


and now I shall indulge in the era of Something for everybody as I want to share my time all this.

So I came into Devo 15 years into no new albums (1990 smooth noodle maps hurt them hard as it was a flop, I like it....) so I was sure no new devo albums or even songs. BOOM Dell XPS laptops burst my ears with a new sound a new sound I was on my computer with my dad watching tv behind me and I went "Is that Devo?! sounds like Devo....that HAS to be DEVO!!!" so we got a new single.


Then three years later Fresh exploded as a new live song and I was watching ****ty youtube recordings of their new song it was FRESH!! Followed with another set of ****ty youtube recordings of their next song.


I was on-board and now just salivating at a new album. They even had that video playing behind them on stage, so I knew they just had to have some investments going.

THEN! as the announced THEIR WHOLE NEW ALBUM! They dropped WHAT WE DO!


I was in heaven! and when I got my hands on that album on my lunch at my job...working in a charity shop. I PUT THAT SUCKER ON AND IT WAS ON AAAAALLL DAY! Tuesday June 15 2010 was an amazing day for me.

Talking Heads is easily my favorite New Wave band. Devo, Blondie, The Police. Even though Devo isn't really New Wave.

"Devo isn't really New Wave?" Granted I am the most DEVOted Devo fan in this thread, I am going to be biased and the term/genre New Wave can be stretched to fit a wide group of people as its not so easily defined.

However that statement sounds very wrong to me. You can argue there is post punk moments with them or even synthpop.

While I myself will say that Devo is thee most New Wave band it may just be a personal view, yet I think its is factually inaccurate to say that Devo is not really a new wave band.

Devo being New wave.


Devo being punk/post punk.


Devo being synthpop/disco


Besides......The Police have a larger discography of white guys doing Reggae Rock than New wave tracks which they have done.

Finally the MOST New wave track you will ever get is of course from the wonderful Gary with his question.

The media called every new band in the 80's "New Wave". If Devo was European they would have been called progressive. Whip It & Beautiful World are the only full new wave songs I've heard from them.

New Wave is a vague term, but tons of european bands were labeled that way. Why would the band's location matter?
You mean progressive rock? Devo are nothing like that and I doubt anyone would categorize them as such.

New Wave didn't become "vague" term into the mid 80's. Before that it was a actual sound, you could hear in the music; somewhere down the line it become pop rock. I listen to a lot of music, so I hear things different from others, even things not intended by the artist.

If we are only talking about a certain period in time then their can be a discussion on what is and is not New wave during the period of 1971 to 1981.

There is even a discussion on what is New wave through the 80s before as you say mid 80s is becomes an easier term to throw around and call synth pop such.

So how about we do that?

You throw down some videos on what you consider New wave and more so your absolute best showcase of what is New wave as well as what you do not consider and see if you can make us come around, you have over 15 posts this is possible for you.

So if your citing Whip it and Beautiful world as thee most New wave songs of Devo that you at least know of. Then maybe the two albums that featured them might contain more.

Which both these albums are very early 80s.

Freedom of Choice album from 1980 featuring Whip It.


New Traditionalists album from 1981 featuring Beautiful world.



Which when looking for an example of thee most New wave Devo tracks I found myself sifting through these two albums the most, which also houses the punky Gates of Steel.

Bravo. :clap:

Ive never heard a statement that arrogant before. For your sake i hope you're right but i gotta tell you, you haven't said anything so far that would back such a claim.

Devo can totally be considered new wave or synth pop or even art punk. they've been labeled that by tons of ppl including fans and even casual listeners, you can go ahead and claim your comprehension of music surpasses all of them but at some point you're gonna have to prove it with more than vague generalizations on how the mainstream media perceives what is new wave.

Strange that you quoted me & still tried to distort my words. Not once did I say my music comprehension surpassed anyone's; what I said was I heard things differently. & I was talking about how some artist were labeled new wave (Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Wham!). I was off when I said it because vague in the mid 80's; it started earlier than that.

What did you mean when you said you hear things different from others even things not intended by the artist.?

that was the part that set me off cause i read it as you saying that you know what genre an artist should be labeled as even if he doesn't know it himself.

Geez. As individuals we comprehend things differently; that is what I mean by "hear things different from others".

I get that, but given the context and your stand on the argument you were having with Akyho, it seemed you basically were saying "I listen to alot of of music so i know what is what even if other ppl don't get it" and given that all your references to new wave artist have been mainstream ones that any casual listener knows im inclined to think you actually don't know much about new wave much less what is or isn't new wave..

You can prove me wrong though, post some new wave songs, let's see what you got.

I don't have anything to prove, but I like talking about music; so I'll play along.

First New Wave song I ever heard was Talking Heads- Once in A Lifetime.
I remember seeing the video for the first time in 1987. Something about David Byrne's spastic dancing use drove me crazy lol.

Saying Talking Heads is my favorite New Wave band is a understatement.
here's some of my favorite songs by them.

Psycho Killer- Talking Heads: 77

Stay Up Late- Little Creatures

Take Me Up The River- More Songs About Buildings & Food

Once in A Life Time- Remain in Light

Burning Down The House- Speaking in Tongues

Stay Hungry- More Songs About Buildings & Food

Lady Don't Mind- Little Creatures

Other New Waves songs I like.

The Police- Roxanne, Don't Stand So Close To Me

Devo- Whip It, It's a Beautiful World, Fresh

The B52's- Rock Lobster

The Icicle Works- Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)

Blondie- Heart Of Glass, rapture

Men At Work- Down Under, Who Can it Be Now

The Human League- Human, Don't you want me

Men without Hats- Safety Dance

Power Station- Some Like It Hot

Tubeway Army/Gary Numan- Are Friends Electric?, Cars

I don't really listen to Duran Duran, Culture Club, The Bangles, Bananarama. I'm sure there are others, I'd have to look at my music again later.

I do not particularly dispute your claims of new wave on the other songs as they are new wave in some fashion...

However I feel the most opposed to putting The Police with those two tracks as new wave and those two examples are Reggae Rock since The Police are actually a super weirdly successfully group who did Reggae rock, YOU DON'T HEAR MUCH REGGAE ROCK! LET ALONE FROM WHITE GUYS!

There are some of The Police songs that can be called New wave (Largely due to how vague New wave is to define.) but Roxanne and Don't Stand So close to Me, are not those.

Can they be called a New wave band? sorta kinda? Easier to say "They had a New wave period." like with alot of bands of the period.


However the thing that actually gives me a crisis of new wave....what?...YES I have coined the term "crisis of new wave" which makes me question. What IS New Wave? Is THIS New Wave?

Haysi Fantayzee - John Wayne is a Big Leggy (someone posted them in the post a worse song than the one before thread....and I have fascinated by them since.....oh and the crisis of New wave thing....and I kind of like them....and hate them.)



Officially they are labelled New Wave....its official cos Wikipedia told me..... However in my mind I go "Are they New Wave?...they sort of are?...yet not...sort of sounds a little new wavy.....but not."

Haysi Fantayzee is my Schroedinger's cat....

Toyah sings it best.

As well as being pretty uber New wave in doing so.

Which youtube then just tells me to play Hazel O'Connor and makes my New Wave Fizz box explode in pleasure.


KNOW WHAT!? TOMORROW I WATCH THE NEW WAVE MOVIE BROKEN GLASS! It must be New Wave cos Vernon Kay off the telly said it on this show thing he did with Hazel performing.


New Wave overdose! WOOOOO!

Nobody outside of Jamaica makes Reggae. Because they stole the sound doesn't mean that's what it was. Men At Work also used that reggae sound, but it was still New Wave.

Is this an elitist opinion or is reggae the music genre equivalent of the champagne/sparkling wine thing?

Men at Work do use a reggae beat in the song "It's a Mistake." yet they do dilute with it with a synth reggae beat, which is a pretty New Wave thing to do. The police JUST do a reggae beat.


Men at works- Catch a Star is bare bones track which is largely the reggae beat.


However the vast majority of their songs are not at all reggae in any fashion with those two being well...flat out reggae one with an synth twist and one that is just reggae.

The Police, Message in a Bottle, Roxanne, Dont Stand So close to me, Can't Stand Losing you, The Beds Too Big with You and the most reggae track is Walking on the Moon Sting is mother fing Skanking away in all of the music videos as-well.

I could go on, while the Police did not always do Reggae.....they did ALOT of flat out 100% reggae tracks. None of this "Stole the sound" when you "steal the sound." you take it and call it something else and say its yours, which is often the argument with Elvis Presley.

I am still strongly calling The Police Reggae Rock or at least had a strong long Reggae Rock period as the only way to define those songs is Ska...that aint Ska despite Ska being a cousin of Reggae with the same base beat and more so 2 tone Ska which is mainly UK Whites and other races mixing to make it.

Oh also I can flat out tell you wrong.

Is growing up poor Jamaica elitist? That sucks if it is.

Oh also I can flat out tell you wrong.


A white guy from Kent England. I loath to post none New Wave/Post punk in this thread.

and pssstt..... Tide is High by Blondie is a Reggaa track and also a cover.




Pssst.... Rapture was a hip hop rap song.


I loath to post none New Wave/Post punk in this thread.
So to balance it out.... New New Wave The Attery Squash will play me out.

I suppose it depends on what context that phenomena is referenced in. Let's start with yo: what the hell are you talking about?

I'm not talking about sub genre's.

Judge Dread....the English Reggae performer who is the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica you are saying is a sub genre..... nope am out.

The cousin to the band mate of my radio lecturer in college will stare at you intently and angrily for me.


No seriously... Momus a Scottish artist who is a big fave of mine who is Nick Currie who is the cousin to Justin Currie front man and lead singer of the Scottish band Delamatri and his accordionist/keyboardist is Andy....my radio lecturer and most miserable boring man I have ever met...which I had tobe locked in hot sound and air proof radio studios with him.

Phenomenon.

No.....the right raction is "Dooo dollooo doooo dlloo dolo do do DO DO DO!!"

Reggae Rock stole the sound of reggae, but has none of the substance.
Music thieves get no love from me.

Funny. :laughing:
Also kinda sexy.

Oh thank god you too, god damn you Sandra Bullock with that little smile saying phenomena.

I can't get behind that band's name.
Then again Girls Names bothers me too.
Fucking grammar.