NEW WAVE

noun and adjective (Music) (Youth Culture) noun: A style of rock music which grew out of punk rock, but later developed a more restrained character of its own and proved more enduring than punk. adjective: Belonging to this style of rock. Etymology: There had already been a New Wave in jazz and a similar movement in French cinema (also known as nouvelle vague); the punk rockers simply adopted the term and applied it in a new context. History and Usage: New Wave developed in the late seventies as a toning-down of some of the more shocking features of punk rock, especially in the US. The angry, socially conscious lyrics of punk remained, but more tunefully and in a more sophisticated minimalist rock framework than before. In practice, nearly all new rock groups of the late seventies and early eighties were described as New Wave except those which clearly belonged to heavy metal. A performer of New Wave music was sometimes called a New Waver. [Laurie] Anderson is a borderline New Waver who looks as though she has been out in the rain upside down. Washington Post 10 June 1982, section D, p. 10 They refused to conform to the prevailing fashions of the San Francisco new wave/punk scene. Guitar Player Mar. 1989, p. 41