#SaturdayNewWave: Altered Images, "Don't Talk to Me About Love" (1983). "Happy Birthday" or "I Could Be Happy" may be better known, but this is my fave by Clare Grogan & Co. DJ Dave Roberts made it a staple at his Planet Earth new wave nights—it was always a fun time on the dance floor. #NewWavers
🧵 #SaturdayNewWave: "Head Screwed On" (1983) by Chicago's homegrown #NewWavers, Phil 'n' the Blanks. Their energy was right on the line between punk & new wave, reminiscent of bands like Devo, The B-52's, and Romeo Void. I bet their budget for this video was about 50 bucks—but the song is fantastic.
![Men Without Hats - I ❤️ The '80s [Official Video]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7ugjdtjguhfydz5vpeucrkqn/bafkreiajy7wcmlhp6bifwngc3sxw6fceglczl43k7vzzhiqskqzt63jhze)
#SaturdayNewWave: Men Without Hats are back with a new song! This is a lot of fun with just the right degree of self-aware tongue-in-cheekiness, I think. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Aztec Camera, "Good Morning Britain." In 1990, Roddy Frame teamed up with Mick Jones of Big Audio Dynamite and The Clash for this absolute scorcher—with lyrics that feel as relevant today as they did then. "The past is steeped in shame/but tomorrow's fair game ... " #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: The Korgis, "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" (1980). This has had some high-profile covers (I especially love the Dream Academy's version from 1987)—but none quite equal the magic of the original. Apex video moment: the violinist serenading a clowder of moonlit cats. 🐈⬛ #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Pete Shelley, "Homosapien" (1981). His first single as a solo artist, post-Buzzcocks. I still remember seeing this video on MTV as a high school kid, circa 1982, and thinking: how is he getting away with this? How is something this joyfully queer on television? Sublime. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Icehouse (aka Flowers), "We Can Get Together" (1980). One of my all-time favorite videos. Not only a fantastic song with just the right blend of edgy synths, jagged guitars, and catchy hooks—but they scooped a-ha on the animated-sketch visual style by several years. #NewWavers
So sorry to learn of the passing of the phenomenal Clem Burke. It was pure synchronicity that I chose a song by @blondieband.bsky.social for my #SaturdayNewWave post this week. Feels like a Blondie binge is in order.
#SaturdayNewWave: Blondie, "Atomic" (1980). Fourth single from their 1979 album Eat to the Beat. "Joyfully apocalyptic" is a difficult mood to pull off, but I think Ms. Harry & Co. achieve it here. Plus I'm a sucker for that trash-bag wearing, robot-dancing era of punk & new wave. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: "The corporation's boiling over / everybody's taking over ... " Wall of Voodoo's best song, IMO: "Back in Flesh," from their standout appearance in Urgh! A Music War (1981). Originally from their debut album Dark Continent. "Well, you can't tell me what to do!" #NewWavers
Also current mood:
One rule for us, for you another
Do unto yourself as you see fit for your brother
Is that not within your realm of understanding?
A fifty-second capacity of mind, too demanding?
Your shame is never ... ending
Just one psychological drama after another ...
#SaturdayNewWave
#SaturdayNewWave: Erasure, "Love to Hate You" (1991), from their flawless fifth album Chorus. There are so many great Erasure videos to choose from, but I feel like they really outdid themselves with this one for sheer spectacle. Also the mood of it feels ... timely. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Grace Jones, "Pull Up to the Bumper" (1981). Third single from her legendary album Nightclubbing—and as I once wrote elsewhere*, perhaps the bubbliest little ode to rear entry ever recorded. This always packed the floor at DJ Dave Roberts's Planet Earth new wave nights. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: OK, I can't resist adding one more, because I think this was the first OMD song I ever heard—in the film Urgh! A Music War. "Enola Gay" (1980), from OMD's second album Organisation. It has a particular tension that feels timely all over again. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: ... and for part 2, something moodier and slightly medieval: "Joan of Arc" (1981), the second single from their brilliant third album Architecture & Morality. Not to be confused with OMD's other excellent song about Joan of Arc from the same album, "Maid of Orleans." #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: A double scoop of OMD because I can't decide. First off, a burst of energy: "Electricity" (1979), the sublime first single from their self-titled debut and a prescient paean to the need for solar power. I had this on my answering machine in the early 90s, just because. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: In honor of Yoko Ono's birthday earlier this week, here's the Pet Shop Boys' fantastic synthpop-style remix of her signature New Wave dance track, "Walking on Thin Ice." Its angst and sense of danger feel apropos at the moment. (Original released 1981; PSB remix 2003.) #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Blancmange, "Don't Tell Me" (1984). The joyous third single from their album Mange Tout, with a video filmed in Valencia. This one managed to cheer me up on a grey day, watching Neil Arthur alternately cracking himself up and cracking up the people around him. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Tracey Ullman, "Breakaway" (1983). The first single from You Broke My Heart in 17 Places, her Stiff Records debut album—and a top 10 hit in the UK. This whole video is such a blast, with a camp energy and a wig game that's worthy of the B-52's. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: The Psychedelic Furs, "Run and Run"—released in 1983 as the third single from Forever Now (1982). Fabulous song from a perfect album, and a fun video with a touch of Hard Day's Night to it. The shot with the Keith Haring mural toward the end always makes me smile. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: 2/2 ... and as a second scoop, here's "Through the Years" (1983) from Tim Finn's wonderful first solo album, Escapade. (Note that the first 15 seconds of the video are silent, so don't panic before the song kicks in.) #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: 🧵 1/2 I'm in a Finn brothers mood tonight (actually, every night) so here's Split Enz with Neil Finn's "One Step Ahead" (1980), the first single from their album Waiata (aka Corroboree in Australia). I love the visual style of this video and it suits the song perfectly. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Elvis Costello, "New Lace Sleeves" (1981). Not a single, yet somehow got this A+ video. Seeing it on MTV in high school was when I first noticed EC's way with an epigram: "Good manners and bad breath get you nowhere." Which is of course like noticing that water is wet. #NewWavers
Now with more hashtag ... #SaturdayNewWave
#SaturdayNewWave: Bronski Beat, "It Ain't Necessarily So" (1984). Second scoop tonight as a companion to last week's Communards post: a beautiful spin on a standard. I love the savoir-faire with which Jimmy & co. pulled this off, and that the clarinet had a brief heyday in 80s pop music. #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: Echo & The Bunnymen, "Seven Seas" (1984). The sparkling third single from my favorite Bunnymen album, Ocean Rain, with a thoroughly entertaining video. I wonder if they fought over who would get to wear the penguin costume? #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: The Communards, "Disenchanted" (1986). A timely anthem about solidarity, activism & mutual support. I think of this song as "Smalltown Boy" part 2: surviving & finding community once you make it to the gayborhood. "I'll be your friend, I'll be around..." #NewWavers #queer #synthpop
Now with hashtag. #SaturdayNewWave
#SaturdayNewWave: The inimitable Lene Lovich performing her single "New Toy" from 1981—complete with Thomas Dolby, who wrote the song for her, on keyboards.
This one, with its sly critique of overconsumption, seems appropriate for the holiday season. "What do you want?! You must want!" #NewWavers
#SaturdayNewWave: The B-52's Private Idaho-ing with all settings on max — and the best music video set ever. The wigs, the dancing, the outfits, Fred's manic line interp. Double points for Ricky's blue pants and red shoes. #NewWavers
