New wave music

New wave is a music genre encompassing pop-oriented styles that emerged in the United States and United Kingdom in the mid- to late 1970s. The term was initially synonymous with punk rock but soon branched off into its own distinct style: a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture", in contrast to the more atmospheric sounds of post-punk. Over time, new wave became a catch-all for several musical styles that emerged after the initial popularity of punk rock, such as synth-pop, power pop, and two-tone ska.

New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s to mid-1980s with an abundance of one-hit wonders. In 1981, the MTV channel was launched, which heavily promoted and popularized new wave acts in the United States. Regional new wave scenes developed across Europe, particularly the Netherlands' ultra; Germany's Neue Deutsche Welle; Spain's La Movida Madrileña; France, Poland, and Belgium's coldwave; and Yugoslav new wave. Additionally, the movement inspired subgenres such as minimal wave and darkwave.

By the early 1980s, the original new wave movement was considered over in the UK, being succeeded by the new pop and New Romantic movements. Despite this, the US continued using "new wave" as an umbrella term for these new pop and New Romantic acts, such as on MTV. By the late 1980s, new wave's US popularity declined as other genres gained commercial success, such as glam metal, dance-pop, and alternative rock. In the 1990s and 2000s, new wave experienced brief revivals, labelled the "new wave of new wave" and "new new wave" by the press. The genre influenced later internet microgenres such as bloghouse, new rave, chillwave, synthwave, vaporwave, and devocore.