No wave, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Punk rock 1974
Three chords, two minutes and zero patience for solos. A full reset of rock, and the second major source of extreme metal.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Ramones - Ramones. Fourteen songs in twenty-nine minutes, not a wasted note.
Ramones, Ramones (1976) - 3 Then
Post-punk 1978
Punk asking what comes next: melodic bass up front, dry guitar, space and cold. Possibly the most fertile branch in all of rock.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures. Martin Hannett's production is half the record.
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures (1979) - 4 What you asked about
No wave 1978
A total refusal of melody and standard tuning. Short-lived, extreme and hugely influential on noise rock.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
- 5 Where to go next
Noise rock 1983
Alternate tunings, feedback as an instrument and rhythm sections that hit like machinery. The grandfather of sludge.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
The Jesus Lizard - Goat. The rhythm section sounds like heavy plant in operation.
The Jesus Lizard, Goat (1991)
Assembled from the tree: every genre No wave descends from, in order. No wave has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.