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.
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band was composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass), and Jerry Harrison. Described as "one of the most critically acclaimed groups of the '80s," Talking Heads helped to pioneer new wave music by combining elements of punk, art rock, funk, and world music with "an anxious yet clean-cut image"; they have been called "a properly postmodernist band."
The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. The band are credited as progenitors of the psychobilly subgenre, fusing elements of punk rock with rockabilly. The addition of guitarist Bryan Gregory and drummer Pam Balam resulted in the first complete lineup in April 1976. They released their debut album Songs the Lord Taught Us in 1980. The band split after the death of lead singer Interior in 2009.
Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of other genres like funk, heavy metal, hip hop, and soul. Rolling Stone magazine called them "the mother of all black hard-rock bands", and they have been cited as a seminal influence to numerous other subgenres in addition to hardcore punk, including various subgenres of heavy metal, such as thrash/speed metal, alternative metal, and funk metal. Bad Brains are followers of the Rastafari movement.
CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters CBGB were for Country, Bluegrass, Blues, Kristal's original vision for the club. But CBGB soon emerged as a famed and iconic venue for punk rock and new wave bands, including Ramones, Dead Boys, Television, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, Madonna and Talking Heads.
Embrace was a short-lived American hardcore band from Washington, D.C., active from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986. Along with Rites of Spring, and Beefeater, it was one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement, and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as emotional hardcore, though the members had rejected the term since its creation. The band included lead vocalist Ian MacKaye of the defunct hardcore punk act Minor Threat and three former members of his brother Alec's band, the Faith: guitarist Michael Hampton, drummer Ivor Hanson, and bassist Chris Bald.
Talking Heads: 77 is the debut studio album by the American rock band Talking Heads. It was released September 16, 1977 through Sire Records. The recording took place in April 1977 at New York's Sundragon Studios. The single "Psycho Killer" reached number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The 9:30 Club, originally named Nightclub 9:30 and also known simply as the 9:30, is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. In 2018, Rolling Stone named the 9:30 Club one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States.
Man from Atlantis is an American superhero television series that ran on the NBC network from 1977–78. It initially began as four TV movies that had aired in Spring 1977. The movies achieved high ratings which led to the commissioning of a weekly series for the 1977–78 season, but it was cancelled after 13 episodes due to a declining audience and high production costs.
Washington, D.C., hardcore, commonly referred to as D.C. hardcore, sometimes styled in writing as harDCore, is the hardcore punk scene of Washington, D.C. Emerging in late 1979, it is considered one of the first and most influential punk scenes in the United States.
Genya Ravan, also known as Goldie, is an American rock singer and music producer. She was lead singer of the Escorts, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive.
The Slickee Boys were a Washington, D.C.-area punk-psychedelic-garage rock band whose most-remembered lineup consisted of guitarist Marshall Keith, guitarist Kim Kane, singer Mark Noone and drummer Dan Palenski. The group was named after a GI slang term for the rockabilly-inspired Korean street toughs who sold black market goods to American soldiers.
"Psycho Killer" is a song by American rock band Talking Heads, released on their debut studio album Talking Heads: 77 (1977). The group first performed it as the Artistics in 1974.
Ronald Edward Holloway is an American tenor saxophonist. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "Hard bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm, blue feeling."
Robert Gordon was an American rockabilly singer.
Urban Blight was a New York City band. The seven-member group played a distinctive style of music with various influences, including ska, reggae, rock, funk, R&B and pop.
Tru Fax & the Insaniacs (TFI) are a punk/new wave band in the Washington, D.C., area. The voice of the band's lead vocalist, Diana Quinn, has been described as evoking "early Deborah Harry -- sort of Blondie meets The Stooges or New York Dolls." TFI was part of DC's infant punk scene in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
Bob B Boilen is an American musician and media personality. He was the host and creator of NPR's online music show All Songs Considered and the co-creator of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, a series originally conceived of by NPR's Stephen Thompson. He retired from NPR in October 2023 after 35 years.
Youth Brigade was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1980 and disbanded in 1981. They released the Possible EP and appeared on the Flex Your Head compilation, both on Dischord Records. Although active for less than a year, they were nevertheless contributors to the development of D.C. hardcore punk and have influenced many other bands. Several members briefly reunited for performances in 2012 and 2013.
The Atlantis is a music venue in Washington, D.C., that opened on May 30, 2023. The venue was designed to evoke the original 9:30 Club at 930 F Street NW, which itself was first called The Atlantis. The new venue opened exactly 43 years after the original 9:30 Club. The venue, adjacent to the current 9:30 Club on V Street NW, has a relatively small capacity of 450 people. The Atlantis is owned by Seth Hurwitz and is a part of I.M.P. a Maryland-based live music promotional group that includes the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, the Lincoln Theater, and Merriweather Post Pavilion.
