Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist and critic. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines and was also a performing musician. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called him "America's greatest rock critic".
New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop, alternative dance and post-punk. The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into the early 1980s.
No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and atonality, as well as non-rock genres like free jazz, funk, and disco. The scene often reflected an abrasive, confrontational, and nihilistic world view.
Punk rock is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles with stripped-down instrumentation. Lyricism in punk typically revolves around anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian themes. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent labels.
Richard Lester Meyers, better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer.
Television was an American rock band from New York City, most notably active in the 1970s. The group's most prominent lineup consisted of Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd (guitar), Billy Ficca (drums), and Fred Smith (bass). An early fixture of CBGB and the 1970s New York rock scene, the band is considered influential in the development of punk and alternative rock.
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting, Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland, and remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.
Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.
James Dennis Carroll was an American author, poet, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which inspired a 1995 film of the same title that starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll, and his 1980 song "People Who Died" with the Jim Carroll Band.
Sounds was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper, published from 10 October 1970 to 6 April 1991. It was known for giving away posters in the centre of the paper and later for covering heavy metal and punk and Oi! music in its late 1970s–early 1980s heyday.
Eater are an early British punk rock band from North London who took their name from a Marc Bolan lyric.
No wave cinema was an underground filmmaking movement that flourished on the Lower East Side of New York City from about 1976 to 1985. Associated with the artists’ group Collaborative Projects, no wave cinema was a stripped-down style of guerrilla filmmaking that emphasized dark edgy mood and unrehearsed immediacy above many other artistic concerns – similar to the parallel no wave music movement in its raw and rapid style.
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York, United States, formed in 1976.
Crime was an early American punk band from San Francisco, California, United States. The band was formed in 1976 by Johnny Strike, Frankie Fix, Ron "The Ripper" Greco, and Ricky Tractor (drums). Their debut, the self-financed double A-side, "Hot Wire My Heart" and "Baby You're So Repulsive", appeared at the end of 1976, and is the first single released by a U.S. punk act from the West Coast.
Hit Parader was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to hard rock and heavy metal. By the early 1980s, Hit Parader focused exclusively on heavy metal and briefly produced a spinoff television program entitled Hit Parader's Heavy Metal Heroes. The magazine reached its circulation peak in the mid-to-late 1980s selling a half-million copies every month as heavy metal music achieved high levels of popularity and commercial success.
Andy Shernoff is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member of The Dictators, one of the original New York punk bands, in which he wrote nearly all of the songs, played bass guitar and keyboards, and sang backing vocals and occasional leads. He has been involved with a variety of other musical projects, most notably the heavily Dictators-populated Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and Joey Ramone's first studio album, Don't Worry About Me. He additionally co-wrote four Ramones songs with Joey.
The Cosmopolitans was a United States new wave band that was based in New York from 1979 until 1982. The band was best known for songs "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy" and "Wild Moose Party" released on Alan Betrock's Shake Records in 1980 (US), and Albion Records in 1981 (UK). Characterized by its quirky choreography and lyrics, songs were often based on tabloid news stories. Shows often included 1960s go-go dance lessons, Wild Moose-call contests, baton routines, and chartreuse fake furs worn over blue mini-skirts.
The Cyclones were a rock and roll band that helped pioneer the new wave music scene that erupted in the New York City area during the late 70s, early 80s. A female fronted trio, they began as a rockabilly cover band, became an original group in 78/79 which lasted until 1984. Original members included Dan Reich on drums and Walter Sczesny on bass. The group came into its own with addition of singer/guitarist/songwriter Donna Esposito. After a few transitions on bass guitar, the band's stable lineup was complete in late 79/ early 1980 with the addition of Marc Seligman.
The SoHo Weekly News was a weekly alternative newspaper founded by music publicist Michael Goldstein and published in New York City from 1973 to 1982. Positioned as a competitor to The Village Voice, it struggled financially. The paper was purchased by Associated Newspaper Group in 1979 and shut down three years later when AMG was unable to make it profitable. Many of the staff went on to have illustrious careers at other New York publications.
Alan Betrock was an American music critic, publisher, editor, author and record producer. Initially a music critic, Betrock founded the influential New York Rocker magazine in 1976 and the publishing house Shake Books in 1979. He has written and edited several books, including the critically acclaimed Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound. He produced Blondie's first demos in 1975 and launched the short-lived record label Shake Records. He has produced and/or released music by such artists as Marshall Crenshaw, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the dB's and the Smithereens.
