New Wave fan?

Oh yeah. Even with being such a Prog Guy (which I was back then & obviously still am), the best thing about working in a record store from 1979-82 was that it Xpanded my horizons even more -- I learned there was even more great music out there by people I might normally have never heard or mighta turned my nose up at. (I was that kinda guy, & sometimes still am.)
The 1st coupla years of Punk Rock, I had absolutely No Use 4 the stuff. Ramones? They can't play! (In 1979 I hadda chance 2 C the Ramones LIVE in a small club in Garden City, Idaho, 4 FREE, & I passed on the chance, took the free tickets 2 Blue Oyster Cult instead; what was I THINKING?) Sex Pistols? Aren't they all just spitting & safety pins stuck thru yer cheek & bondage clothes? Who the hell needs that?
Instead, I stuck my nose up at all that punk stuff & was suprised when the stuff I seemedta prefer got blander & blander -- Genesis's AND THEN THERE WERE THREE and DUKE, Supertramp's BREAKFAST IN AMERICA, which I thot was pretty dull at the time & hasn't really aged very well....
Well, I was an idiot. My new co-workers at the record store (especially a cashier named David who trained me) gently persuaded me that there was a LOT of really good New Wave/pop music out there that I was never gonna hear on the radio. & I knew that, but.... I'd always been a sucker 4 '60s-style pop bands like the Raspberries & Badfinger, so in a way this turn toward New Wave pop was kinda a return 2 my musical roots of 9 years earlier, when I 1st started listening 2 the radio....
The 1st New Wave album I remember buying was The Records' 1st, & that was after grabbing their 1st 2 singles, "Starry Eyes" & "Teenarama." With their funny lyrics & punchy guitar riffs & great group vocals, this all seemed like pretty innocent stuff, with just a twist of modernism & cynicism. The 1st side of their album was so good I don't think I ever got 2 Side 2....
This musical punchiness perhaps led me 2 the Headboys' 1st album -- a cross Btween sweet pop lovesongs & deranged late-nite trash-culture lunacy, with great songs like "The Shape of Things to Come" & "Changing with the Times," endless piano ballads like "Silver Lining," screaming weirdness like "Experiments" & "Kickin' Over the Cans," bouncy Farfisa-organ-fuelled oddness like "My Favorite DJ," & horrors like "The Ripper." All of this set 2 lite, upbeat bouncy off-kilter pop. Kinda a clash, but pretty neat.
Headboys' producer Peter Ker was also responsible 4 the (Bay City) Rollers' best album, ELEVATOR (1979), which mixed gorgeous pop lovesongs like "Hello and Welcome Home" with majestic keyboard rock like "Stoned Houses #2" & nostalgia pieces like "I Was Eleven" & what-is-it's like "Washington's Birthday." Not really a New Wave album, but pretty close, & it shoulda sold millions.
I also got intrested in early Gary Numan, especially his #1 British hit "Are Friends Electric?" -- sorta Bowie-style trance music -- & a later # called "I Die, You Die." Thot he had potential, but then he got Too Popular....
1 that REALLY got my attn was the Jam's brilliant SETTING SONS (1979), an angry, bitter, disillusioned snapshot of life in Thatcher-era Britain -- practically a concept album about high unemployment, working 2 hard, getting fired, sleeping in the streets, joining the Army cos you've got no other choice, etc. All the original songs were great, especially "Private Hell," "Little Toy Soldiers," "Thick as Thieves," "Strange Town," "Wasteland," "Eton Rifles" -- an angry punk album you could scream along with. Oh, & also the worst cover version of "Heat Wave" ever recorded. & a record pressed so thin you could see thru the black vinyl....
Even this brilliance was overshadowed by 1 of my fave albums ever, the Pretenders' 1st (1980). I was prepared 2 hate those folks after the silly "Brass in Pocket," but the album was a much deeper, darker thing. THE PRETENDERS got me thru 1980 alive, cos I knew no matter how bad a day I had, no matter how angry or frustrated I sometimes got, that was nothing compared 2 the crap Chrissie Hynde went thru -- & just knowing that cheered me up. Loved all of it, from the doomy gtr meltdown in "Lovers of Today" 2 the personal putdowns of "Private Life," the creative struggle outlined in the great "Mystery Achievement," 2 the sweeter lovesongs like the gorgeous "Kid" & Ray Davies' "Stop Your Sobbing," 2 Chrissie's apparent recounting of being a biker chick (or something) in "Tattooed Love Boys" & "Up the Neck" -- jeez, I even loved "Space Invaders," a sorta "Peter Gunn Theme" 4 those days of video-game arcades on every streetcorner. 4 me, it was the best album of its year.
I followed the Pretenders 4 quite awhile, bought their 1/2-disappointing 1/2-great II ("Message of Love," "Birds of Paradise," "Talk of the Town," "Pack It Up"), their comeback LEARNING TO CRAWL ("Back on the Chain Gang," "Time the Avenger," "2000 Miles"), even GET CLOSER ("Hymn to Her," "Don't Get Me Wrong"). It was good just 2 know Chrissie was out there still blasting away.
There were lots of others that didn't sell as well, like the Shoes' great PRESENT TENSE (1979), full of gorgeous, breathy lovesongs like "Too Late," "Now and Then," "Every Girl" & "In My Arms Again," + plenty of great gtr work. But by the time the band's videos actually got played on MTV a year or 2 later, the album had already been deleted....
Or there was Holly and the Italians' THE RIGHT TO BE ITALIAN (1981), which 2 me sounded like the Ramones led by a woman singer/songwriter/gtrist -- lotsa great cheerleading EZ-2-remember riff-songs like "I Wanna Go Home" & "Youth Coup," & 1 absolute killer brokenhearted rocker, "Miles Away."
I was pretty infatuated with Blondie 4 awhile, sorta against my will, sucked in by the great hooks & Debbie Harry's smooth vocals on "Heart of Glass," & then locked-in by the great 2nd side of PARALLEL LINES ("11:59," "Will Anything Happen?," "Sunday Girl," "Just Go Away"). EAT TO THE BEAT was in some ways even stronger & farther out, with the screaming of "Victor" 2 offset gorgeous pieces like "Union City Blue." But they couldn't hold the quality, following-up with the mostly-wretched AUTOAMERICAN, which I keep 4 1 song, the marvelous ghost story "Angels on the Balcony." Oh, & "Rapture"'s still pretty funny....
Something about matching a woman's smooth voice 2 these simple, bouncy rhythms & tunes really worked 4 me. I even mostly liked Linda Ronstadt's fake-new-wave album MAD LOVE, especially 4 the Elvis Costello tunes (the brilliant "Party Girl," "Talking in the Dark"), & "I Can't Let Go," 1 of Linda's best songs ever & it didn't sell diddly. Took me a few more years 2 B able 2 hear Elvis the C Himself, & was knocked out by his rolling "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding," which shoulda sold millions.
Dave Edmunds was pretty great when he was on -- I was 1 of the only people I know who bought his "Girls Talk"/"Creature from the Black Lagoon" single -- can you believe that got radio airplay in Idaho? Maybe Bcos it was 2 good 2 ignore.... But I couldn't hear Dave's REPEAT WHEN NECESSARY, it seemed 2 same-y 4 me. I might feel diffrent 2day. Also loved his later singles "Information" & "Slippin' Away" with Jeff Lynne's high-tech production. But the stuff Lynne didn't produce....
There were lots of others. Loved the Police's REGGATTA DE BLANC & couldn't understand why it didn't sell millions, even if just 4 the laffs on trax like "Does Everyone Stare?" & "On Any Other Day." Followed them thru the disappointing ZENYATTA MONDATTA & the better GHOST IN THE MACHINE -- still love that closing trio, the brilliant screaming "Omegaman," "Secret Journey" & "Darkness." & later bought SYNCHRONICITY, which I thot was REALLY uneven, some brilliant ("Synchronicity II," "King of Pain"), some just kinda pointless....
We urged people in Boise 2 buy U2's BOY, certain we were gonna hear a LOT more of those guys -- but outside of the folks who worked at the record store who bought it, I don't think we ever sold more than 4 copies of the album. Couldn't people HEAR? Who could resist that brilliant 1st side ("I Will Follow," "Twilight," "An Chat Dubh," "Into the Heart," "Out of Control")? Followed U2 thru OCTOBER (which sold even less) & later bought WAR, which I wasn't that thrilled with, then lost touch with them as they Bcame the biggest band in the world -- the hits on JOSHUA TREE were amazing, but I don't think I ever got any farther in2 that album. Only started hearing them again a few years back when they did "Beautiful Day" & "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own."
My old record store buddy Loren Clements hadta play the 1st Cars album over&over&OVER B4 I grudgingly agreed they might have some talent. I loved "Just What I Needed," but it took me 4 YEARS 2 hear "Bye Bye Love" & "All Mixed Up" & the rest. Still bought their 2nd album CANDY-O just 4 "It's All I Can Do" & "Dangerous Type." Played the heck outta HEARTBEAT CITY a few years later, & even went 4 their COMPLETE GREATEST HITS awhile back....
Back 2 women singers -- I was a sucker 4 the Go-Go's early, playing their BEAUTY AND THE BEAT 2 death, overplaying the rather soft & weak VACATION, & going thru sevral copies of TALK SHOW, 4 me their best & punchiest album -- the best songwriting, the most drama, great singing, songwriting, great gtrs & terrific drumming by Gina Schock.
When the Bangles came along later they sounded 2 me like the Go-Go's with even fewer rough edges. But I played DIFFERENT LIGHT 2 death, & later worked my way back 2 the underrated ALL OVER THE PLACE. EVERYTHING was mostly a disaster but there's a few good things on it NEway ("I'll Set You Free," "Glitter Years," "Be With You").
I was even a sucker 4 Cyndi Lauper, who's SHE'S SO UNUSUAL was 1a the great pop albums of the '80s, pretty adventurous 2. I'm sure you know the titles: "Money Changes Everything," Prince's "When You Were Mine," etc. Katrina and the Waves came later, & tho they were closer 2 mainstream, they hadda few great songs like "Walking on Sunshine," "Game of Love" "Que Ti Quiero," "Mexico," "Red Wine and Whiskey" & a few others. & Katrina Leskanich's enthusiasm was amazing. Or how 'bout Missing Persons, with refugees from my fave band Group 87, fronted by the loopy vocals of Dale Bozzio. Their SPRING SESSION M included the great fame-bio "The Noticeable Ones," "It Ain't None of Your Business," "Destination Unknown," "Walking in L.A."....
We useta play the heck outta Side 1 of Patti Smith's WAVE album in the store, but I was never able 2 get in2 much of the rest of her stuff (other than "Because the Night"). But WAVE was worth it 4 the shoulda-bn-hit "Frederick," the mysterious "Dancing Barefoot," & the intense "Revenge."
I was also a sucker 4 REALLY silly stuff -- Split Enz's WAIATA was practically lighter-than-air, with some wonderful shoulda-bn-hits like "Hard Act to Follow" & "History Never Repeats," silly stuff like "Clumsy" & "I Don't Wanna Dance," ravers like "Wail," & even soundtrack music like "Albert of India." Every song was a winner. But I arrived 2 late on the scene 2 hear the earlier TRUE COLOURS & it took me until their HISTORY NEVER REPEATS best-of a few years later 2 hear what I'd missed....
Squeeze was big with the record-store team, especially ARGYBARGY & EAST SIDE STORY, worth it for great songs like "Pulling Mussels from the Shell" & "In Quintessence."
I was also a sucker 4 a lotta Men at Work's stuff, thot their 1st album was pretty charming, especially "Be Good, Johnny" & "Down by the Sea." But their 2nd album CARGO was almost TOO lite, Xcept 4 the brilliant "No Sign of Yesterday."
Some later stuff grabbed me 2. Modern English's AFTER THE SNOW helped get me thru journalism school in 1 piece, especially the great 2nd side, which featured the classic "I Melt With You" (which you can now hear in candy commercials), the spooky "Carry Me Down," the moody title track & the rockin' "Tables Turning." After the 1st side's opener "Someone's Calling," the record sorta disappeared in2 arty mood music. But still, intresting....
Lotsa New Wave-ish stuff in the early-2-mid '80s grabbed me: 'Til Tuesday's VOICES CARRY (with the overlooked drama of "Maybe Monday" & "Don't Watch Me Bleed"); Tears for Fears' mostly-great SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR ("The Working Hour," "Head Over Heels," "Broken"); A Flock of Seagulls' gorgeous "Wishing" & their other hits (also the worst live band I've ever heard, opening 4 the Go-Go's in San Antonio around '85); The Church's Kevin Ayers-ish "Under the Milky Way" & sorta-David Bowie-ish "Reptile"; & New Order's "True Faith," which I 1st heard coming outta the car radio in Cheyenne, Wyoming of all places....
There was other stuff I liked by bands I never Bcame devoted 2. I liked the Clash's "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)" & "This is Radio Clash," but I never have heard NE of their earlier angry, rabble-rousing stuff. I thot the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays" was pretty brilliant, but no suprise it wasn't a hit in America & I don't think I ever heard NE of their albums. & there's probly bunches of other good stuff I'm 4getting....
I even found great songs by the Ramones & the Sex Pistols, eventually. The Ramones hit the mark when I saw their movie ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL & heard "I Just Wanna Have Something to Do." Brilliant!
& when I was finally able 2 hear the Pistols' "God Save the Queen" I had 2 admit it was pretty freakin' great -- & the sound of it still echoes 2day in songs like Green Day's marvelous "Holiday" (which I somehow left outta my "Best of the '00s" post awhile back). I even found a song that worked 4 me by Public Image Ltd. -- "Rise," which I also 1st heard on the car radio in Cheyenne. Wish I could remember what open-eared local station was playing that stuff....
Your views on Punk Rock, New Wave, etc?