New Wave

New Wave was often referred to as the “thinking person’s Rock.” Despite that lame and somewhat dubious description, New Wave expanded Rock’s reach without the ’70’s arty pretensions. The earlier Punk movement railed against the establishment, a stagnant music scene and a lack of opportunity for young people. Admittedly, New Wave took the angst and rage and toned it down, adding a more thoughtful approach. It varied from the highly theatrical Talking Heads to the literary references found in Police lyrics. That’s not surprising since Sting had been a school teacher. In the end, thanks in a large part to MTV, New Wave had an enormous impact, re-establishing musical and lyrical creativity that had been missing through most of the ’70s.