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Best 80s New Wave

I haven't seen too many posts on here regarding the '80s new wave/new romantic music scene. A lot of folks (including myself) have original vinyl copies of these artists, then bought the CD when they came out and are now buying the re-releases on 180g vinyl. What are some of your favorites? 

My favs are:
1. Pet Shop Boys - (Please, Actually, Introspective, Behaviour and Very)--CD and vinyl
2. New Order - Low Life, is this on vinyl? Technique is great on vinyl
3. Depeche Mode - Violator
4. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
5. Propaganda - Secret Wish (Vinyl and CD)
bluorion

Showing 15 responses by bluorion

bluorion OP
483 posts
 
Totally agree with DM early albums---I love Music for the Masses. I saw that concert with OMD back in'88. DD's Rio is excellent as well.
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@pdreher Good List!! I love OMD's Sugar Tax from '91 even though Paul Humphries wasn't on that release.
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@folkfreak So true about the 12" singles (Blue Monday?) and Duel single. Do you have Propaganda's remix album Wishful Thinking? Soooo good! 
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@shadorne Great list!! The bass line in China Crisis' Fire and Steel is so good! How could I forget Yaz?! Upstairs at Erics is one of my fav albums. I have more 12" singles than albums but I'm getting a lot of reissues on vinyl.
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
One of my fave Cars song is 'Touch and go'. Visage 'Fade to grey' is one of the finest early new romantic songs from 1980. Midge Ure wrote it then went on to Ultravox. Vienna is one of their best songs. Architecture & Morality by OMD is a classic album, too.
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@folkfreak Yep, I have the NO 12" singles and a few Madonna 12" singles from the 80s. I was also into OMD, Blancmange and Trevor Horn's ZTT project back then: 
-FGTH
-Propaganda
-Grace Jones
-Art of Noise

Good stuff!!!
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@n80 @lowrider57  Another band that changed its colors was Ministry---remember the album With Sympathy? Very 'new wave' synth pop---then they went hard core industrial. 

The B-52's Whammy was very new wave---Legal Tender was a great song.

Sparks w/Jane Wiedlin--Cool Places
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@vespacraig1966 Absolutely---You & Me Both was also a good album. Early Bananarama and Dead or Alive were huge club acts. You can't turn on a radio in the summer and not hear 'Cruel summer' somewhere.
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@jplunkettj Blancmange is such an underrated 80s band. When I first heard 'Don't tell me' in a club back in the day, I immediately went out and bought the 12" single.

Let's not forget Nina Hagen! 
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@mitchagain  Great list!! I love M & M---Echo Beach and Black Stations/White Stations. I've got CDs or vinyl of just about every artist you listed. Honorable mentions:
REM (early)
Prefab Sprout
Icehouse
Romeo Void
Ocean Blue
The Beloved
Erasure
Pete Shelley
Art of Noise
The Pretenders
Camouflage
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@jplunkettj Kissing the Pink (KTP) was a cool band---I remember the club mix of Certain Things are Likely
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@gunners01 Great lists!! Several people have listed groups I totally forgot about. New wave was so much fun and so many young people are into the music. My cousin (in her early 20s) loves Joy Division, PSB and many others.

Here are a few I remembered:
Belouis Some
King
Go West 
Talk Talk
Communards/Bronski Beat
Bangles
PIL
XTC
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The English Beat
Billy Idol

First Wave (channel 33 on SiriusXM) plays a lot of this stuff. They have a good new wave dance show on Saturday nights. Thanks for joining the discussion! 
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@simao Roxy Music and The Cure? Of course they're new wave. The Fixx were really good too. 
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
I had tickets to see Pet Shop Boys/New Order on the Unity Tour in September in DC but of course it was rescheduled until 2021. I had a chance to see NO back around '87-88 on one of the first Lollapalooza tours. Siouxsie and the Banshees and Psychedelic Furs were also on the ticket I believe. But I got sick and never made it to the concert. So NO comes back to the states after 30+ years and they reschedule. I've never been able to see them on some of the smaller US tours. If I don't get to see them next year with PSB, I figure it wasn't meant to be. 
bluorion OP
483 posts
 
@audio2design You're correct about DM's Violator---it was released in 1990. My bad. :)
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