Who was the first new wave band?
The phrase ‘new wave’ can conjure up all sorts of conflicting ideas as to what it might mean, but generally speaking, it refers to something that is ultimately a marker of a new and exciting group of innovators emerging from a pre-existing artform and creating something with a fresh perspective. Within music, many transfigurations have taken place and seen alternate forms of genres emerge, but when we use the term ‘new wave’ in music, we’re largely referring to a school of ideas that was generated as a logical progression of punk rock.
New wave music was decidedly still in keeping with punk culture but focused more on melodicism than its parent genre and incorporated elements that might have been considered more typical of pop music, such as synthesisers and higher-register vocals. It’s also worth noting that new wave is still regarded as a distinct genre from post-punk, despite both deriving from roots in punk and attempting to establish an alternative take on the brashness of the genre.
Punk wasn’t necessarily on its deathbed when new wave began to emerge from the US in the mid-1970s and had barely even reached the UK, where acts like the Damned and Sex Pistols would go on to help define the genre on this side of the Atlantic. Clubs such as CBGBs in New York were promoting bands such as Television, who were considered to have been the early originators of the style in the US, while the Ramones in Queens were also pushing the snottier edge of the genre.
In an attempt to draw some distance between the brashness of punk rock while still maintaining the same DIY ethic and rejection of the mainstream, new wave began to emerge from the same scene as an alternative movement. However, due to the vagueness of its definition, it’s hard to establish where new wave began and who its originators were.
One could argue that acts operating in the art rock and glam sphere in the UK helped birth the new wave, with David Bowie and Roxy Music being some of the first to fit the bill. At the same time, in the US, some acts like The Velvet Underground and Television, who are often cited as punk bands, also get handed the new wave tag.
However, the bands that emerged from this scene towards the back half of the ‘70s are the most closely aligned with new wave acts, with Talking Heads emerging from New York, Devo from Akron, Ohio, and The Cars from Boston being some of the earliest examples coming from the States. In the UK, acts such as Elvis Costello and the Attractions, XTC, and The Clash were among the earliest adopters of the new wave style. But who were the first?
So, who were the first ever new wave band?
If we’re to dismiss all bands that were labelled as having been punk before they were given the new wave tag, then we lose a decent portion of acts that were considered to have crossed over into the new style. Journalists were referring to the happenings in New York clubs as having given birth to ‘new wave’ as early as 1973, but the likes of the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls weren’t exactly all making music that had the same radio-friendly style that is most commonly associated with the genre.
CBGB owner Hilly Kristal believed that Television’s earliest performances at the club in 1974 were the beginning of new wave, although once again, they were still too closely aligned with the punk movement and weren’t making accessible music with commercial viability. Punk was confrontational, and new wave was its more palatable offspring.
Given that, the first band to emerge who adhered to the punk aesthetic and ethos while establishing a new sound were Blondie, and their debut single ‘X Offender’ was arguably the first true new wave track. With its cheerful melodies being played on a high-pitched synthesiser and the melodic vocals of singer Debbie Harry, the song is made to sound reminiscent of ‘60s girl groups, but at the same time, there’s a charged and uptempo rhythm holding the song in place that is more akin to the rest of the punk sound.
Having also been regulars at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City in New York, Blondie were one of the acts considered to have been more experimental than the rest of their punk peers, and with the label beginning to lose steam in the public eye due to negative connotations surrounding the violent and anti-establishment nature of punk, people began to latch onto using the phrase ‘new wave’ as a means of redressing punk music in a way that would be more appealing to the consumer.
The irony of this is that new wave was still just as staunchly anti-corporate as punk was, and the fact that its name was created as a way to increase record sales is something that a number of acts chose to reject rather than embrace. However, from a cultural point of view, there’s something to be said that the general tone of new wave was a more warm and inviting option to replace punk rock, and with the emergence of Blondie, it was thrust into the spotlight.
