late 70s new wave classic rock

Arlyn Gale. Kinda dumb song/video & maybe not classic rock enough, but look at this fuckin guy. Also Omar Hakim is on drums!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkVW-y1pbME

Gotta post some dB's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWN-adiDNtM

and the Mystery Dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTS09Wo1xhI

Random Hold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRFKRHa9ky0

Wait, "Never Been Any Reason" was number TWO FREAKING HUNDRED in the classic rock poll???

I think that song only got played on FM in the midwest. It was never on NY
radio. Too bad, because it's a masterpiece.

The Plugz would fit I think, although it's been a while since I heard any records.

Loved the Plugz I could find, but did they use keyboards? Mostly remember stomping beats and Tito's wail. For crate digging, try 15-60-75 The Numbers Band's Among The Wandering, in there between Graham Parker & The Roumour and a really butch Huey Lewis and The News, esp. on tracks like "High Heels Are Dangerous."
But not to forget the obvious, overlooked since this thread's original references: Blondie.
Parallel Lines and Eat To The Beat were the ones I've played the hell out of; s/t debut is good too, in a tres-garage-y way, though they're better w bigger production; Best of Blondie is handy car disc and has some remixes;Essential Blondie: Picture This Live has shows from their prime; No Exit is an unusually strong come-back album, though I've neglected it.

"Rumour," that is (jeez)

I don't think I knew "Never Been Any Reason" before I moved to Europe in the late 90s. (was east coast US before then).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMNU7yR1Gp8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRRqxJHQmA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pFdkkjGiEs

'The Yachts' fit right into the original descrip.

the Knack?

the Cars pwn this thread

is it just me or has every youtube link in this thread vanished into copious white space?

you can still access the links (though some of the videos have been deleted) if you view this thread with images turned off

i.e. if you go to Preferences and uncheck "show images"

donnie iris to the rescue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH5Arbm47IQ

^_^

seeing that video after having known the song from childhood was quite a shock
there was definitely a time when i thought this song was by the cars (i was a child, going by ears only bc radio)
for me it has that rock/new wave sound + fire/desire hilarious lyrics

wow, that is a good one - total sub-Cars and a hilariously shitty video too!

Donnie Iris was in the Jaggerz!

Canada represents pretty well in this category, The Kings, Aldo Nova, Max Webster/Kim Mitchell, Tom Cochrane ("Lunatic Fringe"), maybe even "Tom Sawyer"-era Rush.

remember seeing this in heavy rotation during very early MTV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMNU7yR1Gp8

(this is probably one of the white spaces upthread)

That Donnie Iris song is awesome.

My friend and I talk about this transition era a lot, when the fashions (musical and clothing alike) were sort of hovering between decades. He brings up "Freaks & Geeks" a lot, which he thinks nailed the era perfectly. He's a bit older than me so remembers that period pretty well, when Zeppelin and the Who were still around but people were also getting into new wave and stuff. I mean, Dave Edmunds hovered around in limbo for a long time because he was signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label! (fwiw Rockpile's "Seconds of Pleasure" was released just a couple of weeks after the death of John Bonham.)

Anyway, I want to say just pre-MTV these little subgenres hadn't quite been codified yet. Black music was totally cordoned off, most anything with a guitar was "rock" music, corporate rock ruled but metal and punk and whatnot were coming in from the margins ...

Greg Kihn "The Breakup Song" and others belong in here too? I loved "Jeopardy" when I was a super little kid. IDK which youtubes survived this thread and which don't but that song popped into my mind with Donnie Iris.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJNwPWVmNc

Still can't believe Jeopardy was a big enough hit for Weird Al to parody it!

i want to say some foreigner stuff might fall in appropriately here. maybe somebody who's a bit more knowledgeable can chime in?

been thinking about this song a lot too -- quarterflash "harden my heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNFSED77-GM

Lots of nice chords in that one, and a good vocal performance. Def. peak AOR.

the fixx

Red Rider?

i want to say some foreigner stuff might fall in appropriately here. maybe somebody who's a bit more knowledgeable can chime in?

― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, September 17, 2019 2:31 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah stuff like "double vision" totally fits imo.

and thomas dolby did play keys/synth on "waiting for a girl like you", but that's pure soft rock

what about The Outfield?

i guess they're more like sub-journey or something

also 80s. NEVERMIND

There's a ton of AOR butt rock that might fit, like Foreigner or Loverboy or Billy Squier, but not sure how well they fit the "new wave" criteria.

Billy Squier is so fucking awesome

I got obsessed with the first four Billy Squier albums earlier this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RwVJVjjNA4

He's the best ... for about six or seven songs in a row, at least. But that's better than most! "Lonely is the Night" is the best '80s Led Zep song they never got around to recording. "My Kind of Lover" sounds like a lost classic Phil Collins collaboration.

I used to fucking love this song when I was like 12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5efImBREpE

The Police seem to fit in here. Also I guess like Blondie and Talking Heads. They have songs that were played on classic rock radio.

About time Billy Squier got some love. Don't Say No is all-time.

I don't think anyone has mentioned "Escalator Of Life" by Robert Hazard and the Heroes, and that definitely for the bill here.

For a power pop band, the Shoes were very contemporary sounding, not retro.

Whatabout some of those mid-period Robert Palmer records?

Or maybe just the one with “Johnny & Mary” and the Gary Numan cover

Not sure this fits the remit precisely but wanted to post it anyway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8LnqUfzh-E

Donnie Iris, definitely. Search "Love Is Like A Rock". Loved to roller skate to that one.

More straight-up garage rock than new wave, but I had this record when I was a kid and played it to death. You'll love it, though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxkjvKBPQjo