Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxd!rlr From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: What does \"New Wave\" mean? Message-ID: <317@pyuxd.UUCP> Date: Sat, 8-Dec-84 00:58:20 EST Article-I.D.: pyuxd.317 Posted: Sat Dec 8 00:58:20 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 8-Dec-84 06:39:12 EST References: <6352@brl-tgr.ARPA> Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J. Lines: 30 > Hey, we're having a rather heated debate over here at Xerox about the > definition of "New Wave." > > Anybody care to join the fray? Simple. It's a stupid name invented by the "music industry" (mass production for mass consumption) to pigeonhole and categorize new music artists (including but not restricted to "punk" music, whatever that was/is) so that they could place them in special record bins in the stores and (they hoped) make money. Basically, the category consisted of anyone who didn't fit in to existing categories like Adult Contemporary (music to buy cuisinarts by), Rock (i.e., metal geeks and glitter stars), AOR (manufactured pre-fab so-called music specially tailored and designed---like the performers who played it---for maximum monetary potential and mininum creativity and intensity level), etc. Why, just listen to the obvious similarities between Talking Heads, Devo, Blondie, the Ramones, the B-52's, Gary Numan, the Clash, the Banshees, the Buzzcocks, Generation X, Lene Lovich, Elvis Costello, etc. Isn't it obvious that they all sounded alike and needed to be put in the same category so that unwitting zombified consumerized teenagers wouldn't accidentally buy something that wasn't well controlled in the marketplace? (Is a sarcasm indicator really necessary?) What they DID all have in common is that they were NOT a part of any of the stupid categories designed by marketing consultants on B-arks (and on coke). Bless 'em all. They blazed the new music trail so that the marketing gurus could make new wave what it is today: just another category. -- "Be seeing you..." Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr