No results

1
Vienna - 2008 Remaster
Ultravox
04:56
2
Look Back in Anger - 2017 Remaster
David Bowie
03:08
3
Mind Of A Toy
Visage
04:28
4
The Chauffeur - 2009 Remaster
Duran Duran
05:21
5
Ghosts - 2003 Digital Remaster
Japan
04:36
6
I Ran (So Far Away)
A Flock Of Seagulls
05:06
7
To Cut a Long Story Short - 2010 Remaster
Spandau Ballet
03:19
8
Is It a Dream
Classix Nouveaux
04:16
9
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
Kate Bush
04:58
10
What I Want
Dead Or Alive
05:23
11
Europa And The Pirate Twins - 2009 Remastered Version
Thomas Dolby
03:19
12
Living by Numbers
New Musik
03:28
13
She's Leaving - 2003 Digital Remaster
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
03:28
14
The Politics of Dancing
Re-Flex
06:38
15
The First Picture of You
The Lotus Eaters
03:38
16
Wishful Thinking
China Crisis
04:41
17
The Look Of Love, Pt.1
ABC
03:29
18
The Sweetest Girl - 2001 Digital Remaster
Scritti Politti
06:16
19
I Melt With You - Rerecorded
Modern English
03:55
20
Mad World
Tears For Fears
03:35
21
Love Hangover
The Associates
06:11
22
Same Old Scene
Roxy Music
03:57
23
Who's That Girl? - Remastered Version
Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart
04:46
24
What is Love? - 2008 Remastered Version
Howard Jones
06:32
25
Blasphemous Rumours
Depeche Mode
06:21
26
Talk Talk - 1997 Remaster
Talk Talk
03:23

New Romantic

In London and all over the UK at the beginning of the ‘80s, ex-punks with eccentric looks were getting the party started again, inventing synthetic pop inspired by glam rock and cabaret.
 

How do you survive the punk explosion of 1977 when it proclaimed, as its nihilistic watchword, “No Future”? Amongst the currents that emerged in its wake such as new wave and post-punk, for a few years neo-romanticism offered something delicious and carefree, drawing as much from classicism within literature as from evolutions in British pop, especially with the use of synths and drum machines.

Between 1979 and 1981, ex-punks Steve Strange and Rusty Egan ran Blitz, a London club where wild decadent cabaret parties took place. The two formed the band Visage with Midge Ure, a singer who had been a member of punk band Rich Kids, and who would later join Ultravox, as well as three members of the excellent band Magazine. Visage became the figurehead of a movement that brought fashion back into the spotlight at a time when grey and black dominated. Some of the regulars at Blitz would go on to form their own groups, such as Boy George and Culture Club. In terms of looks, the tribe was distinguished by extravagant outfits that mixed fin de siècle costume balls and science fiction with outrageous make-up. This glamorous family invented the party for tormented souls, reviving the glam-rock craze of which two figures – David Bowie and Roxy Music – were again on the rise. The image of a clown in Bowie's make-up and the charming outfits sported by dandy Bryan Ferry spoke to the hearts of their cultural offspring.

Beyond London, from where Spandau Ballet and Classix Nouveaux emerged, the neo-romantic tide was sweeping over the country, part of a wider synthetic wave such as the sounds found in Liverpool's A Flock of Seagulls. New romanticism was able to encompass a fragility that had become impossible in the era of punk and post-punk. Just listen to singer Kate Bush, an unclassifiable icon, and the only artist to be inspired by Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” as early as 1978. Many of the most universal groups like Talk Talk, Japan, OMD, China Crisis, Lotus Eaters, Tears for Fears, The Associates, Scritti Politti, and Depeche Mode, clearly tug at your heart strings. Although the movement often remains classified as a sub-genre (read mawkish and ridiculous) and is mocked for its haircuts, it is nothing to be ashamed of. The movement benefited Midge Ure, whose group Ultravox took on a sleeker tone when he got involved. And as for Duran Duran, the Birmingham-based group used the new-romantic wave as a launching pad to charm the crowds and establish themselves amongst the heavyweights of pop.
 

Share