Showing posts with label Pretenders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pretenders. Show all posts

Sunday, July 14, 2013

The Top 50 New Wave Albums of All Time

New Wave:

The Top 50 Albums

“New Wave” is one of the more difficult genres to define, because as AllMusic.com says, it was “a catch-all term for the music that directly followed punk rock” in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Even that is misleading, however, because punk and new wave co-existed in that era.

In general, punk was marked by simplistic three-chord music and a D.I.Y. attitude while new wave was artier in style and fashion and typically infused with a dose of electronics. According to Wikipedia, new wave was “first considered the same as punk rock before being identified as a genre of its own right, incorporating aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco, and 1960s pop music.” Wikipedia says the term “new wave” was first used in the early 1970s by critics like Nick Kent and Dave Marsh in defining groups like the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls. In 1976, the term began showing up in UK magazines as a way of defining “music by bands not exactly punk, but related to, and part of the same musical scene.”

As the list below shows, much of new wave falls in other categories, including goth (Joy Division, The Cure), punk (The Clash), new romanticism (Duran Duran, Culture Club), proto-punk (Television), synth-pop (Depeche Mode, Human League, Tears for Fears), and early Britpop (The Smiths). This list was created by aggregating 27 lists (see resources at bottom of page).

Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.

1. Joy Division Closer (1980)
2. Elvis Costello & The Attractions This Year’s Model (1978)
3. The Cars The Cars (1978)
4. Blondie Parallel Lines (1978)
5. Talking Heads More Songs about Buildings and Food (1978)
6. Pretenders Pretenders (1980)
7. Talking Heads Remain in Light (1980)
8. Devo Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978)
9. Gang of Four Entertainment! (1979)
10. Television Marquee Moon (1977)

11. The Police Outlandos D’Amour (1978)
12. Joy Division Unknown Pleasures (1979)
13. Elvis Costello & the Attractions Armed Forces (1979)
14. The Human League Dare! (1981)
15. New Order Power, Corruption, and Lies (1983)
16. Duran Duran Rio (1982)
17. Joe Jackson Look Sharp! (1979)
18. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
19. The Clash London Calling (1979)
20. Elvis Costello My Aim Is True (1977)

21. XTC Drums and Wires (1979)
22. Tears for Fears Songs from the Big Chair (1985)
23. The Pop Group Y (1979)
24. The Jam Sound Affects (1980)
25. Ultravox Vienna (1980)
26. Devo Freedom of Choice (1980)
27. Talking Heads Fear of Music (1979)
28. Public Image Ltd. Metal Box (aka “Second Edition”) (1979)
29. Pere Ubu The Modern Dance (1978)
30. Simple Minds New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84 (1982)

31. The B-52’s The B-52’s (1979)
32. The Police Synchronicity (1983)
33. Nick Lowe Jesus of Cool (1978)
34. New Order Substance (compilation: 1981-87, released 1987)
35. ABC Lexicon of Love (1982)
36. Squeeze Argybargy (1980)
37. The Cure Boys Don’t Cry (1980)
38. The Go-Go’s Beauty and the Beat (1981)
39. Duran Duran Duran Duran (1981)
40. The Cure Dinstinegration (1989)

41. Siouxsie & the Banshees The Scream (1978)
42. U2 Boy (1980)
43. The Slits Cut (1979)
44. Talking Heads :77 (1977)
45. The Police Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)
46. Depeche Mode Black Celebration (1986)
47. Tears for Fears The Hurting (1983)
48. Yazoo Upstair’s at Eric’s (1982)
49. Big Country The Crossing (1983)
50. Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues (1983)

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 7/14/2013.

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Saturday, August 1, 1981

On This Day in Music: The Launch of MTV

August 1, 1981

The Launch of MTV

MTV, or Music Television, launched on cable television on August 1, 1981 just after midnight. The first broadcast was only available to parts of New Jersey, but the network would revolutionize how people consumed music. Music videos became an essential part of how an act would promote its songs in the 1980s.

The initial format consisted of crude promotional videos and concert footage. Because of the need for around-the-clock content, the early years made for an opportunity for multiple artists to make names for themselves. Photogenic new wave bands from England such as Duran Duran were among the earliest to benefit.

The network was initially reluctant to veer from its album-rock-oriented format, but Michael Jackson broke into the largely white-dominated programming and became a superstar with his pop and R&B fare. Madonna also gained worldwide appeal thanks to her savvy command of the visual medium with her dance-pop.

In its first 24 hours on the air, MTV aired 116 unique videos. You can see a full list of those videos here. These were the first ten videos:

  1. The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star”
  2. Pat Benatar “You Better Run”
  3. Rod Stewart “She Won’t Dance with Me”
  4. The Who “You Better You Bet”
  5. Ph.D. “Little Suzi’s on the Up”
  6. Cliff Richard “We Don’t Talk Anymore”
  7. The Pretenders “Brass in Pocket”
  8. Todd Rundgren “Time Heals”
  9. REO Speedwagon “Take It on the Run”
  10. Styx “Rockin’ the Paradise”

Spotify Podcast:

Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast episode The Birth of MTV which celebrated the 40th anniversary of the cable network by showcasing some of the videos that were instrumental in establishing the format. It debuted August 3, 2021.

For more important days in music history, check out the Dave’s Music Database history page.

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 8/1/2012; updated 8/24/2023.

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Saturday, November 17, 1979

Pretenders “Brass in Pocket” charted

Brass in Pocket

Pretenders

Writer(s): Chrissie Hynde, James Honeyman-Scott (see lyrics here)

First Charted: November 17, 1979

Peak: 14 US, 13 CB, 15 HR, 10 RR, 1 CL, 1 CO, 12 UK, 5 CN, 2 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 8.7 video, 132.55 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“By the time Chrissie Hynde and her Pretenders released their seminal hit ‘Brass in Pocket,’ the band was already on its third lineup – and that’s before they had any chart success. Their third single, ‘Brass in Pocket’ was their first U.K. No. 1 and reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.” UCR She said, “The market was wide open for a band like ours with a girl vocalist and solid, simple, straight ahead rock songs. It sounds perfect on the radio, too.” TC

“The brass in the song’s titular pocket is meant to mean ‘money,’ picked up from a bit of Yorkshire slang Hynde heard from a member of another band. Hynde’s vocal imbues that brass with a far greater meaning: It’s an emblem of confidence, a symbol of the certainty the singer feels when she considers what she wants and how she will achieve it.” UCR

The song was significant for showing that “a central role in rock’s power and impact – the bandleader, the frontperson, the boss – could just as easily be filled by a woman as a man.” UCR It was also “one of many great singles to emerge from a musical era awkwardly known as ‘new wave.’” UCR The term “conjures images of synth-drenched pop and Flock of Seagulls haircuts” UCR but was really “about a level of artistic integrity that vanished in the rock indulgences of the ‘70s and was made possible by the deck-clearing ferocity of punk.” UCR

The Pretenders had “punk rock credibility but unlike most other punk groups they could play. Honeyman-Scott’s guitar parts bristled with ideas – sparkling melodic touches that complemented Hynde’s prickly lyrics. Chambers and Farndon put a soulful bedrock under Hynde whether she was bitter or wistful – as is the case with ‘Brass in Pocket.’” TC

Resources:

  • DMDB encyclopedia entry for Pretenders
  • TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 291-3.
  • UCR UltimateClassicRock.com (6/20/2013). “Top 100 Classic Rock Songs”

Related Links:

First posted 7/22/2022; last updated 11/12/2022.

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