Tuesday Top Ten: Favorite New Wave Songs

Friday night, I was at a bar celebrating a friend's recent U.S. citizenship, and "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds came on the jukebox.  Another friend made what seemed like an innocuous comment that it "has to be a top five new wave song, right?"  Well that opened up a can of '80s worms, as we then began discussing our top five new wave songs.  I couldn't even begin to narrow my list down, so I didn't even try, drunkenly promising that I would "need a couple weeks to think about this."

The first big question we had was "what's considered new wave?"  It's a pretty amorphous genre, complete with various subgenres.  It started out as tied to punk, but then morphed into synth pop, and sometimes I feel like it can be a label applied to pretty much any '80s pop song with synthesizers -- which is to say, pretty much every '80s pop song -- but I think it encompasses much more than that.  Some artists were pretty much all new wave, while some dabbled in new wave while primarily dealing in other genres (whether harder or softer).  It's kind of like Justice Potter Stewart's famous quote about obscenity:  I know it when I see it.  But I also know what's not new wave.

Trying to narrow the list down to ten is damn near impossible.  New wave is basically the music of my childhood from toddler to near teenager.  I'm going to have to have some limits on this, so I'll say that the song has to have been released between January 1, 1978 and December 31, 1989.

I was able to narrow it down to 31.  Within that, I couldn't narrow it to ten, so I'm giving you my eleven favorite new wave songs, followed by my second team, with the rest in honorable mention.  Everything is just going to be by alphabetical order.  I'm limiting it to one song per artist.

Top Eleven
1.  "Take On Me" by a-ha
Not only is this one of the greatest music videos ever made, but the song itself is an '80s pop masterpiece.


2.  "Just What I Needed" by The Cars

The Cars were one of the stalwarts of new wave, and this is my favorite Cars song, although there are many that could have made this list. One night in 1999 I was in a British punk band, and we covered this before going into our very graphic originals.


3.  "Rio" by Duran Duran

It would be hard to have a list of new wave favorites without including some Duran Duran.  I could have easily gone with "Hungry Like The Wolf," "Girls On Film," "The Reflex," or various other songs, but I like "Rio" the best, so there you go.


4.  "Don't You Want Me" by Human League

To me, this is one of the quintessential new wave/synth pop songs.  I love the back-and-forth storytelling between the guy and the gal. "Like, yeah, I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, but the rest of what you just said is bullshit. Also, why do we both call it a cocktail bar? Why not just a bar?"


5.  "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol

This is my favorite Billy Idol song.  It's fun, it always puts me in a good mood, and apparently it's about flogging yourself.


6.  "So Alive" by Love and Rockets
I have liked this song since it was released.  It also brings back good memories of former Chicago late-night bar Deja Vu (not a strip club), which had a framed photo of Love and Rockets above one of the urinals in the men's room.


7.  "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats
Never before had I considered the possibility that there are people out there who would refuse to be friends with someone because they didn't dance.  Also, great video.


8.  "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order

This is one of those songs that instantly transports me back to the '80s. What a great song.


9.  "So Lonely" by The Police

On the early end of new wave, this is my favorite song by The Police, off of their debut album, Outlandos d'Amour. My favorite band in college, King Konga, used to cover this. Jumping was involved.


10.  "Never Say Never" by Romeo Void

This is a tawdry, underrated gem.  Listen.  Enjoy.  Listen again.

11.  "Once In a Lifetime" by Talking Heads
My favorite Talking Heads song.  It's weird, mesmerizing, and awesome, which I suppose describes the band as well.

Second Team:  "Modern Love" by David Bowie; "Radio Radio" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions; "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure; "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners; "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" by Joe Jackson; "Melt With You" by Modern English; "Middle of the Road" by The Pretenders

Honorable Mention:  "In a Big Country" by Big Country; "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock of Seagulls; "Vacation" by The GoGo's; "Down Under" by Men At Work; "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Naked Eyes; "If You Leave" by OMD; "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" by Pet Shop Boys; "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds; "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell; "It's My Life" by Talk Talk; "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung; "The Promise" by When In Rome; "Kids In America" by Kim Wilde