New pop

For other uses, seeNew music (disambiguation).

New pop
Stylistic origins	Pop post-punk glam rock synth-pop progressive pop dance-punk
Cultural origins	Early 1980s, United Kingdom
Other topics
MTV New Romanticism new wave rockism Second British Invasion synth-pop

New popis a loosely defined British-centricpop musicmovement consisting of ambitious,DIY-minded artists who achieved commercial success in the early 1980s through sources such asMTV.Rooted in thepost-punkmovement of the late 1970s, the movement spanned a wide variety of styles and artists, including acts such asOrange Juice,the Human League,andABC.The term "rockist",apejorativeagainst people who shunned this type of music,coincided with and was associated with new pop.

"New music"is a roughly equivalent but slightly more expansiveumbrella termfor a pop music and cultural phenomenon in the US associated with theSecond British Invasion.The term was used by the music industry and by American music journalists during the 1980s to characterize then-new movements like new pop andNew Romanticism.

Characteristics

Many new pop artists created music that sweetened less commercial and experimental aspects with apopcoating.Entryismbecame a popular concept for groups at the time.New Music acts were danceable, had anandrogynouslook, emphasized thesynthesizeranddrum machines,wrote about the darker side of romance, and were British. They rediscoveredrockabilly,Motown,ska,reggaeand merged it with African rhythms to produce what was described as a "fertile, stylistic cross-pollination".AuthorSimon Reynoldsnoted that the new pop movement "involved a conscious and brave attempt to bridge the separation between'progressive' popand mass/chart pop – a divide which has existed since 1967, and is also, broadly, one between boys and girls, middle-class and working-class. "

The terms "new music" or "new pop" were used loosely to describesynth-popgroups such as theHuman League,soul-disco acts such asABC,new waveacts such asElvis Costelloand thePretenders,jangle popbands such asOrange Juice,and American MTV stars such asMichael Jackson.Stephen Holdenof theNew York Timeswrote at the time that New Music was more about its practitioners than their sound. Teenage girls and males that had grown tired of traditional "phallic" guitar driven rock embraced New Music.New Music was a singles oriented (both 7 inch and the then new 12 inch) phenomenon, reverting the 1970srock music album orientation.

Etymology

During the late 1970s, "New Musick" [sic] was one of the labels that was applied to certainpost-punkgroups.The term "post-punk" was also deployed interchangeably with "new wave".In theNewRolling StoneEncyclopedia of Rock(2001), "new wave" is described as a "virtually meaningless" term.By the early 1980s, British journalists had largely abandoned "new wave" in favor of other terms such as "synthpop",and in 1983, the term of choice for the US music industry had become "new music".

History

Producer andNew Musical ExpresswriterPaul Morley(left), a pivotal figure in new pop

In the wake of the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s, the new wave and post-punk genres emerged, informed by a desire for experimentation, creativity and forward movement. Music journalistPaul Morley,whose writing in British music magazine theNMEchampioned the post-punk movement in late 1970s, has been credited as an influential voice in the development of new pop following the dissipation of post-punk, advocating "overground brightness" over underground sensibilities.Around this time, the term "rockist"would gain popularity to disparagingly describe music that privileged traditionalist rock styles.According toPitchfork's Jess Harvel: "If new pop had an architect, it was [the writer]Paul Morley."

As the 1980s began, a number of musicians desired to broaden these movements to reach a more mainstream audience. In 1980, theNew Music Seminarmade its debut. It was designed to help young new wave artists gain entrance into the American music industry. The event grew rapidly in popularity and encouraged the shift away from the use of "new wave" to "New Music" in the United States.Unlike in Great Britain, attempts prior to 1982 to bring new wave and themusic videoto American audiences had brought mixed results. During 1982, New Music acts began to appear on the charts in the United States, and clubs there that played them were packed.

"I hated the phrase 'new wave'. It sounded too trendy and could be gone in a year"

—Dennis McNamara, program director who oversaw Long Island, New York radio stationWLIR's 1982 change to a New Music format.

In reaction to New Music,album-oriented rockradio stations doubled the amount of new acts they played and the format "Hot Hits" emerged.By 1983, in a year when half of the new artists came out of New Music,acts such asDuran Duran,Culture ClubandMen at Workwere dominating the charts and creating an alternate music and cultural mainstream.Annie LennoxandBoy Georgewere the two figures most associated with New Music.

In an interview withCBS Newsdiscussing theSecond British Invasionof New Pop acts in America in 1983, singerMartin Fryof ABC described it as "an explosion that came out after punk rock swung through Britain – a whole generation that was kind of interested in making music that was more polished. That obviously led to a golden age with Duran Duran,Spandau Ballet,the Human League,ABC,Depeche Mode,many bands like that. We were all a little bit flamboyant. "

Criticism and decline

Criticism of new pop emerged from both supporters of traditional rock and newer experimental rock. These critics looked at new pop as pro corporate at expense of rock music's anti-authoritarian tradition. Critics believed new pop's embrace of synths and videos were ways of covering in many cases lack of talent. Theheavy metalmagazineHit Paraderregularly used the homophobic slur "faggot"to describe New Music musicians. The 1985Dire Straitssong "Money for Nothing",which hit number 1 in the United States, contained the line" The little faggot with the earring and the make-up "and used the term" faggot "several other times.The lyrics were taken verbatim from the language of a New York appliance store worker whom lead singerMark Knopflerhad observed watching MTV. Assistant professor/author/musician Theo Cateforis stated these are examples of homophobia used in the defense of "real rock" against new music.

An American reaction against European synthpop and "haircut bands" has been seen as beginning in the mid-1980s with the rise ofheartland rockandroots rock.Richard Blade,a disc jockey at Los Angeles radio stationKROQ-FM,speaking of the late 1980s said, "You felt there was a winding-down of music.Thomas Dolby's album had bombed,Duran Duranhad gone through a series of breakups,the Smithshad broken up,Spandau Ballethad gone away, and people were just shaking their heads going, 'What happened to all this new music?' "Theo Cateforis contends that the New Music evolved intomodern rockthat while different, retained New Music's uptempo feel and still came from the rock disco/club scene.In the UK,indiebands adopted "the kind of jangling guitar work that had typifiedNew Wave music",with the arrival ofthe Smithscharacterised by themusic pressas a "reaction against the opulence/corpulence of nouveau rich New Pop" and a "return to a different vision of 'new pop', thePostcardideal. "

Bibliography

• Cateforis, Theo (2011).Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s.University of Michigan Press.ISBN978-0-472-03470-3.
• Reynolds, Simon(2005).Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984.Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-14-303672-2.
• Reynolds, Simon(2006), "New Pop and its Aftermath",On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word,Routledge,ISBN978-1-134-93951-0

Further reading

• Rimmer, Dave.Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop.Faber and Faber, 2011,ISBN978-0571280261.