Saturday, September 04, 2004

New Wave Doesn't Mean Shit

"I have excellent news for the world. There's no such thing as New Wave. It does not exist. It's a figment of lame kinds of imagination. There was never any such thing as New Wave. It was the polite thing to say when you were trying to explain you were not into the boring old rock 'n roll but you didn't dare to say punk because you were afraid to get kicked out of the party and they wouldn't give you coke any more. There's New Music, there's New Underground Sound, there's Noise, there's Punk, there's Power Pop, there's Ska, there's Rockabilly, but New Wave doesn't mean shit."

Claude Bessey, from the film The Decline of Western Civilization

Sadly, Claude Bessey died of lung cancer in 1999.

Hear the quote

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hear more of Claude on the CATHOLIC DISCIPLINE
Underground Babylon (1979-1980) CD:

http://www.artifixrecords.com/catholic.htm

4:27 PM  
Blogger Me said...

I remember listening to a Devo interview back in maybe 79 or 80 on a rock station here in L.A. I think it was on KMET. Anyway, I remember them answering a question about punk rock and one of them said something to the effect, I don't know why people call us a punk rock band, we're just a rock band. Amen brother!
Brooks Blog

10:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi, the link seems to be dead can post another link so i can hear it thanks! great site by the way :)
katydid

12:00 PM  
Blogger jonbecker03 said...

actually, i think the term "new wave" DOES have a legitimate application. (albeit a narrow one.) what is being described is essentially "early alternative pop rock." in the late seventies the term "alternative rock" wasn't really in use. at the time, the term "new wave" was applied to these early alt bands. that's the term that was used then, when these groups were in their heyday, so why not use it now? (especially in light of the fact that "early alternative pop rock" is a cumbersome "handle.") there really is no other label for groups such as "the cars," and "ian dury and the blockheads," acts that influenced the later alt scene but were too early to be called "alt" themselves.........

6:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got into Punk in 78, too late for the initial push by The Dolls, The Runaways, The Stooges and just before HardCore. There were so many Bands and so many original styles that I concur with Bessey's quote. I saw shows in Clubs, Basements, Lofts, Galleries...the one thing that Post Punk promoted was non conformity to a AM/FM blueprint. Like anything else it did later breakdown into that very pattern, though there are still countless Bands Worldwide that defy easy catagories...Thank Goodness!!

5:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yup, LAME CUNT'S imagination....

5:24 PM  

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