New Wave’s Rise in the U.S.

Abstract

New wave developed somewhat differently in America, producing a somewhat different flavor of music and lyrics. Reeling from punk’s brief explosion, and defining itself against Thatcher’s new economic policies, early British new wave could sometimes be as pointed in its messages as punk, or at a minimum conflicted about its own success. American new wave, on the other hand, developed in an atmosphere much more receptive to the image as image. By the early 1970s, a century of film, television, and consumerism had created a culture that not only relied on images, but reveled in them. America was a land of fast food, muscle cars and superstardom: it swam in a sea of signs. As a result American new wave artists convey much less angst towards the postmodern world they inhabit, almost embracing that world.