10 Music Genres That Died

First surfacing in the late 70s, new wave took influence predominantly from the punk and electronic music of the time. Often dominated by synthesisers and hectic guitar melodies, the genre acquired great success in the early 80s. New wave pioneers New Order put out the single greatest selling single on vinyl, Blue Monday, in 1983. In that time, various key figures in the new genre such as The Cure, Duran Duran, Devo and The Cars broke out and impressed new listeners.

Especially popular throughout Europe, new wave inspired various scenes and subgenres such as Neue Deutsche Welle in Germany and La Movida Madrileña in Spain.

The new wave genre enjoyed a great deal of promotion from the newly launched MTV. The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star was released as the first of many music videos to advertise the channel’s arrival. By the mid 80s, new wave had started to blend with various other styles popular to the time and by the start of the 90s, new wave had faded away.

Highly influential, many groups in the decades since have incorporated aspects of new wave into their work. New wave also left a permanent mark on rock music which, up until that point, had been dominated by more blues-oriented sounds.