Your way in
New wave 1978
Post-punk's commercial face: synthesizers, hooks and jerky rhythms. Punk without the rage, but with the same ideas.
- Heaviness
- 2
- Speed
- 5
- Melody
- 10
- Where from
- UK / USA
- Tempo
- 120-160 bpm
- Song length
- 2.5-4 min
- Written about
- Modern life, Anxiety, delivered cheerfully, Technology, Romance, obliquely
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | New wave | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light How much weight do you want behind it? | 2 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| A steady walk What pace? | 5 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| The nineties Does it matter when it was made? | 1978 | 52% | ×1 |
| Being young and out late What should the words be about? | Modern life, Anxiety, delivered cheerfully, Technology, Romance, obliquely | 50% | ×1 |
| Yes. A proper melody. Do you want a tune you could hum afterwards? | 10 out of 10 | 100% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 86% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, melody 1 out of 7. New wave leads the next by 2 points. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures 1979
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures. Martin Hannett's production is half the record.
- 2The one to put on first
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Post-punk, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come New wave's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Dream pop 84%
The same reverb haze, but with the melody left on the surface and the tempo slower.
6 steps from New wave, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Dream pop -
Glam metal 83%
Hard rock with hairspray, a radio chorus and a mandatory power ballad. It ruled MTV until 1991.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 6 steps from New wave.
The way into Glam metal
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 7.
- The nineties put 23 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Blues rock, Progressive rock, Rock and roll. Worth 1 of 7.
- Being young and out late put 115 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 7.
- Yes. A proper melody. put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Grindcore, Brutal death metal, Cybergrind. Worth 1 of 7.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.