The Encyclopedia of New Wave

by Daniel Bukszpan, Gerald Casale (Foreword)

The Talking Heads, The Boomtown Rats, Blondie, Elvis this fun new addition to the successful Encyclopedia series celebrates the hugely influential New Wave musical movement of the late 1970s and 80s. Originating as a less-aggressive sister movement to punk, New Wave encompassed a wide range of styles, from Brit pub-rock to electronica, synth-pop, and even ska. The Encyclopedia of New Wave comprehensively captures this eclectic music, all of which enthralled the newly emergent MTV generation. With its tendency toward romantic minimalism, dark dance beats, and gender-bending antics, New Wave changed the course of popular musical history, as well as fashion and art.  

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Reference, History, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Dane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this immensely! The only downsides: he left out JoBoxers, Re-Flex, and Real Life, and the "New Wave movies" are just '80s teen movies. I was expecting something more like Susan Seidelman's '80s movies.

Those are nitpicks, though; this book was so much fun, and helped me iron out a lot of things I'd been confused by or conflated over the years through faulty memory. Furthermore, I went into this thinking I knew it all, but it was only 75% a trip down memory lane. There were plenty of bands for me to discover, and I found that if you read it while pulling up each band's music on YouTube to listen to while you read, the effect is even more fun.

Great fun, great music.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Total indulgence, this book. I mean that in the best way possible.

[Dave Rosenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, allow me to admit bias: I know the author, and I'm very proud that he got this book published and hope its enormously successful.

That being said, I love this book. For anyone who grew up a fan of this music, this book is indispensable. Written in irreverent style that doesn't take its subjects to terribly seriously, it never fails to provide context and great detail on the bands and their careers.

I pick up this book and turn to a page, then spend the rest of the day listening to Elvis Costello, The Specials, or Berlin. Great book.

[Shant · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Degrassi: The Next Generation fan and someone who has watched the 80's block on MTV Classic out of laziness more than I would like to admit, this book was entertaining but informative. It had a good combination of one-hit wonders, credible people, and crossover/borderline acts. I liked the side features they had, like Gender Benders, the one about the TV program Night Flight, styles of new wave, and gay/women's representation in music.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, but I was disappointed by some of the exclusions. Would have really liked to see Electronic, Crowded House, The Bangles and Morrissey included! I didn't agree with the lists at the end (New Order not included in the synthesizer list?) But otherwise, it was a fun and informative book on my favorite genre. I'm glad I found this book!

[Kim B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been the type to find 80s music all that interesting but this is a neat book to flip through to get a decent bit of info about the most fun and, often, most weird stuff of that era. I'll be honest and say I mostly only checked it out for a bit on Cocteau Twins, but I really enjoyed the rest; it got me to listen to some bands I otherwise might not have (Bauhaus, for one).

I still have no idea exactly what "new wave" is supposed to be, but I don't think it's one of those "concrete" musical terms where you can point to an example of it because so many bands are considered new wave, so I'm not going to fault the book for that. Apparently there are some factual errors, so keep that in mind and double-check everything you find in here if you plan on using it for research material; overall, though, it's really entertaining, which is pretty much all I asked for.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good listing of New Wave bands of the 80s. Gives some good insight (and some sarcasm) into what made each band good or not so good. I feel like it didn't go super deep because there weren't all that many artists that I hadn't heard of, but there were still a lot of artists and quite a few sidetracks that were kinda fun. Being from 2010 or so, it's a bit outdated on releases and deaths, but I can't imagine that there's much call for updating an encyclopedia that won't have any new entries.

Not bad and pretty fun, but there are probably websites that have more info about the New Wave movement.

[P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I did not actually read every word in this book, I did go through every single entry and look up a song or two on Youtube, and choose my favorites to make a really rad playlist. I learned about many new bands and I learned that what pings my brain as "new wave" is synthpop in particular. The captions for the pictures were very funny.

[Petty Lisbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay but I wish he just focused on writing about things he liked instead of snarking and trying too hard to get a joke in. He repeated the same joke about reunion shows at Six Flags a lot. And he was a little vague for genre stuff for post punk and ska.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was laid out like a colorful scrap book with the author's commentary on the acts and albums of this era. I seriously question the inclusion of Madonna in this book (she was no new wave by any stretch of the imagination).

[Cathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed: King, and A.P.B. I enjoyed this book mostly for jogging my memory of songs which I had forgotten. I was surprised that I had not heard of several of the bands covered.

[Mike Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty informative read with some things & bands I wasn't aware of although at times I wasn't under the impression that the author was a fan of New Wave music. Also, Maddona is NOT a New Wave act.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those nostalgic for the '80s will like this book. It's just what it says it is: an encyclopedia of groups with a few fashion commentaries thrown in. Pleasant but not enthralling. A good flip-through book for a coffee table. Kids will like seeing where their current fashion trends came from, while adults will quibble endlessly about placement and exclusion of what is new wave.

[Jenny T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2012, a comprehensive but snarky look at bands from A to Z who made up the New Wave movement. Great photos and full of trivia...bears another review to look up some of the lesser known singles/albums mentioned for each band. My negative critique is too much Madonna and U2 should have been included. (Dare to be Different!)

[Blane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of pretty full-color pictures & plenty of snarky comments on the bands/artists. Overall, a fun book, but just a tad too many irrelevant one-hit wonders (Taco? Really?) for my taste.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less encyclopedic and more synoptic; plus very American. Seems a bit too outside looking in. Over-stylized editing. Good though.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coffee table book about new wave whose snark gives it a bit more personality. If you like new wave, worth a shot; if you don’t, I doubt it’ll appeal to you.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fun. All the bands that I grew up listening to, and many that I'd forgotten. The element of sarcasm made it a lot of fun as well.

[Christa Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this was your era, you owe it to yourself to check out this book if only to see the pictures. Very fun.

[Harold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great photographs, decent info, less snark would have made for a better book

[David Wilbanks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Multiple errors but fun overall.