A New Fan of New Wave Music

The older I get the more I have found myself going back to music I used to listen to, or flat out trying music that I never gave a chance in the past. During the pandemic I finally started listening to Talking Heads and now they're one of my favorite bands. I have recently gone back to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I forgot how much I love their album "Howl". I have listened to more Prince lately. I found that, since I like The Beatles, why not give The Zombies and The Kinks a shot, and they both rule.

With this newfound trait to give different music a try, I have found that I have been leaning a bit more on New Wave music. I almost always passed New Wave up because it seemed akin to disco to me, a genre that I'm not all that into. I would see my brothers listening to Depeche Mode and Joy Division and just pass it off as "their" music. I was too busy listening to bad hip hop at that time of my life. But, after seeing that some Talking Heads songs are considered, hell they must be, new wave, I decided to jump in. And I have loved what I have been hearing.

I went online and found a new wave playlist and streamed it. I am really digging the sound. I have heard songs from Blondie, Talking Heads, The Smiths and Depeche Mode. These are songs I already knew, but never really gave a real listen to before. I have really enjoyed what I have heard from these artists. I love the music in the background of "Heart Of Glass". It sounds like a precursor to a ton of music I listen to now. It has a cool blend of pop and hip hop. I adore the song "Just Can't Get Enough". It is groovy and fun to dance and sing along to in the car. The Smiths can be a little preachy, but I do like the guitar in most of their stuff. I have also been introduced to some bands that I had heard of before, but never listened to. I'm glad I'm giving these bands a real chance. I heard The Cars today. I had no idea they sang "Just What I Needed". That song rules and is fun as hell. I also finally listened to XTC today and they are rad. I love their sound. It is a great blend of rock and synth music. The The is another band I was introduced to today and they are cool as hell. They have more of that new wave feel, and I'm here for it. And The Psychedelic Furs seems like the members may be pretentious, but damn do they make some good music.

As I was sitting back and thinking about new wave music today, it dawned on me why I like it so much. New wave is just rock music, maybe a little pop, and then the bands added a synth player. And the synth does some fine work in the songs. It adds a whole new layer to the music. It makes it funkier and easier to dance to while bopping along in my car. I fully understand that new wave may be more of the look of the bands and their lifelong fans, but for me it is all about that synth. It is so cool and it is one of my newfound favorite instruments.

I'm going to go full bore into the world of new wave at this point, so if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know who to listen to. I greatly appreciate it. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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