http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&category=genre&genreId=241&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rssTop New Wave Artists on Rhapsody OnlineNew Waveen720Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:32:19 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&category=genre&genreId=241&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4269&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:51:09 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4269 art.4269 Depeche Mode art.4269 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4269&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4269&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Music for the Masses and on to the dark extravagance of albums like Violator and Exciter. But an abundance of alternate versions and remixes has produced a messy canon. For many fans, that's half the fun: Depeche Mode's B-sides make for a fascinating alternative history of these alt-rock heroes. - Philip Sherburne]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2643&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:21 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2643 art.2643 David Bowie art.2643 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2643&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2643&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Let's Dance (Number One, 1983), his entrée into the mainstream, was followed by attempts to keep up with current trends. In the '90s, this meant embracing grunge, industrial rock, rap and dance music. While these experiments were greeted with varying degrees of artistic and commercial success, Bowie remains one of the more restless and venturesome classic rock survivors.

Bowie — born David Jones on January 8th, 1947 in London — took up the saxophone at age 13, and when he left Bromley Technical High School (where a friend permanently paralyzed Jones' left pupil in a fight) to work as a commercial artist three years later, he had started playing in bands (the Konrads, the King Bees, David Jones and the Buzz). Three of Jones' early bands — the King Bees, the Manish Boys (featuring session guitarist Jimmy Page) and Davey Jones and the Lower Third — each recorded a single. In 1966, after changing his name to David Bowie (after the knife) to avoid confusion with the Monkees' Davy Jones, he recorded three singles for Pye Records, then signed in 1967 with Deram, issuing several singles and The World of David Bowie (most of the songs from that album, and others from that time, were also collected on Images 1966-67).



On these early records, Bowie appears in the singer-songwriter mold; rock star seemed to be just another role for him. In 1967 he spent a few weeks at a Buddhist monastery in Scotland, then apprenticed in Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe. He started his own troupe, Feathers, in 1968. American-born Angela Barnett met Bowie in London's Speakeasy and married him on March 20th, 1970. Son Zowie (now Joey) was born in June 1971; the couple divorced acrimoniously in 1980. After Feathers broke up, Bowie helped start the experimental Beckenham Arts Lab in 1969. To finance the project, he signed with Mercury. Man of Words, Man of Music included "Space Oddity," which it would later be re-titled after; the single's release was timed for the U.S. moon landing. It became a European hit that year but did not make the U.S. charts until its rerelease in 1973, when it reached Number 15.



Marc Bolan, an old friend, was beginning his rise as a glitter-rocker in T. Rex and introduced Bowie to his producer, Tony Visconti. Bowie mimed at some T. Rex concerts, and Bolan played guitar on Bowie's "Karma Man" and "The Prettiest Star." Bowie, Visconti, guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge toured briefly as Hype. Ronson eventually recruited drummer Michael "Woody" Woodmansey, and with Visconti on bass they recorded The Man Who Sold the World, which included "All the Madmen," inspired by Bowie's institutionalized brother, Terry. Hunky Dory (Number 93, 1972), Bowie's tribute to the New York City of Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan, included his ostensible theme song, "Changes" (Number 66, 1972, rereleased 1974, Number 41).



Bowie started changing his image in late 1971. He told Melody Maker he was gay in January 1972 and started work on a new theatrical production. Enter Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's projection of a doomed messianic rock star. Bowie became Ziggy; Ronson, Woodmansey and bassist Trevor Bolder became Ziggy's band, the Spiders From Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (Number 75, 1972) and the rerelease of Man of Words as Space Oddity (Number 16, 1972) made Bowie the star he was portraying. The live show, with Bowie wearing futuristic costumes, makeup and bright orange hair (at a time when the rock-star uniform was jeans), was a sensation in London and New York. It took Aladdin Sane (Number 17, 1973) to break Bowie in the U.S. Bolan and other British glitter-rock performers barely made the Atlantic crossing, but Bowie emerged a star. He produced albums for Lou Reed (Transformer and its hit "Walk on the Wild Side") and Iggy and the Stooges (Raw Power) and wrote and produced Mott the Hoople's glitter anthem "All the Young Dudes."



In 1973 Bowie announced his retirement from live performing, disbanded the Spiders and sailed to Paris to record Pin Ups (Number 23, 1973), a collection of covers of mid-'60s British rock. That same year, the 1980 Floor Show, an invitation-only concert with Bowie and guests Marianne Faithfull and the Troggs, was taped for broadcast on the TV program The Midnight Special. Meanwhile, Bowie worked on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 but was denied the rights by Orwell's widow. He rewrote the material as Diamond Dogs (Number Five, 1974) and returned to the stage with an extravagant American tour. Midway though the tour, Bowie entered Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios (then the capital of black music) and recorded the tracks that would become Young Americans (Number Nine, 1975). The session had a major effect on Bowie, as his sound and show were revised. Bowie scrapped the dancers, sets and costumes for a spare stage and baggy Oxford trousers; he cut his hair and colored it a more natural blond. His new band, led by former James Brown sideman Carlos Alomar, added soul standards (like Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood") to his repertoire. David Live (Number Eight, 1974), also recorded in Philadelphia, chronicles this incarnation.



"Fame," cowritten by Bowie, Almoar and John Lennon, was Bowie's first American Number One single (1975). Bowie moved to L.A. and became a fixture of American pop culture. He played the title role in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976; the same year, he released Station to Station (Number Three, 1976), another album of "plastic soul" recorded with the Young Americans band, portrayed Bowie as the Thin White Duke (also the title of his unpublished autobiography). His highest charting album, Station to Station contained his second Top 10 single, "Golden Years" (Number 10, 1975). Bowie complained life had become predictable and left L.A. He returned to the U.K. for the first time in three years before settling in Berlin, where he lived in semiseclusion, painting, studying art and recording with Brian Eno.

Bowie's work with Eno — Low (Number 11, 1977), "Heroes" (Number 35, 1977) and Lodger (Number 20, 1979) — was distinguished by its appropriation of avant-garde electronic music and the "cut-up" technique made famous by author William Burroughs. (Composer Philip Glass wrote a symphony incorporating music from Low in 1993.

) Bowie revitalized Iggy Pop's career by producing The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977) and toured Europe and America unannounced as Pop's pianist. He narrated Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra's recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and spent the rest of 1977 acting with Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak in Just a Gigolo. The next year, he embarked on a massive world tour. A second live album, Stage (Number 44, 1978), was recorded on the U.S. leg of the tour. Work on Lodger was begun in New York, continued in Switzerland and completed in Berlin.

Bowie settled in New York to record the paranoiac Scary Monsters (Number 12, 1980), updating "Space Oddity" in "Ashes to Ashes." One of the first stars to understand the potential of video, he produced some innovative clips for songs from Lodger and Scary Monsters. After Scary Monsters, Bowie turned his attention away from his recording career. In 1980 he played the title role in The Elephant Man, appearing in Denver, in Chicago and on Broadway. He collaborated with Queen on 1981's "Under Pressure" and provided lyrics and vocals for "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (Number 67, 1982), Giorgio Moroder's title tune for the soundtrack of Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. His music was used on the soundtrack of Christiane F (1982) (he also appeared in the film). Also that year, Bowie starred in the BBC-TV production of Brecht's Baal, and as a 150-year-old vampire in the movie The Hunger.

In 1983 Bowie signed one of the most lucrative contracts in history and moved from RCA to EMI. Let's Dance (Number Four, 1983), his first album in three years, returned him to the top of the charts. Produced by Nile Rodgers with Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, the album was a slick revision of Bowie's soul-man posture. It contained three Top 20 singles — "Let's Dance" (Number One, 1983), "China Girl" (Number 10, 1983) and "Modern Love" (Number 14, 1983) — which were supported with another set of innovative videos; the sold-out Serious Moonlight Tour followed. Bowie's career seemed to be revitalized.

But what first seemed like a return to form actually ushered in a period of mediocrity. Without Nile Rodgers' production savvy, Bowie's material sounded increasingly forced and hollow; his attention alternated between albums and film roles. Tonight (Number 11, 1984) had only one hit, "Blue Jean" (Number Eight, 1984). Bowie and Mick Jagger dueted on a lame cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" (Number Seven, 1985) for Live Aid. Although Never Let Me Down (Number 34, 1987), with Peter Frampton on guitar, was roundly criticized, it made the charts with "Day In, Day Out" (Number 21, 1987) and the title song (Number 27, 1987). Bowie hit the road with another stadium extravaganza, the Glass Spiders Tour; it was recorded for an ABC-TV special. Bowie had scarcely better luck in his acting career: Into the Night (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986) — a Julien Temple musical featuring some Bowie songs — Labyrinth (1986), The Linguini Incident (1992) and Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me (1992) were neither critical nor commercial successes.



Bowie set about reissuing his earlier albums on CD. Sound + Vision (Number 97, 1989), a box-set overview (ChangesBowie, from 1990, condensed his hits into a single disc), revived interest in Bowie's career; the set list for the accompanying tour was partially based on fan response to special phone lines requesting favorite Bowie songs. Bowie claimed it would be the last time he performed those songs live. Later reissues, with previously unreleased bonus tracks, brought the Ziggy-era Bowie back into popularity.

Bowie formed Tin Machine in 1989. The band included Bowie discovery Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Hunt and Tony Sales, who had worked with Bowie on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life album and tour in the '70s. Although Bowie claimed that the band was a democracy, Tin Machine was perceived as Bowie's next project. The group debuted with a series of club dates in New York and L.A. Tin Machine's eponymous album (Number 28, 1989) was a rougher, more guitar-oriented collection than any of Bowie's previous albums. Tin Machine II (Number 126, 1991), lacked the novelty of the debut and was quickly forgotten.



In 1992 Bowie married Somalian supermodel Iman. Black Tie White Noise (Number 39, 1993), which Bowie called his wedding present to his wife, received decent reviews but failed to excite the public. For a follow-up, Bowie reunited with Brian Eno to create Outside - The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle, a concept album of sorts that did not create much in the way of sales, although Bowie did tour the States with Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails opening. The Buddha in Suburbia is the music from the British television show of the same name; Lenny Kravitz appears on guitar. 

Bowie celebrated his 50th birthday in January 1997 with a sold-out gig at Madison Square Garden, where he was joined onstage by Lou Reed, the Cure's Robert Smith, Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Frank Black, the Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth.



In early 1997 Bowie was again on the cutting edge — this time in the financial world. In a complicated transaction that was definitely a first, something called Bowie Bonds were offered for sale. These asset-backed bonds (in this case the assets are the royalties on Bowie's songs recorded prior to 1990) allowed Bowie to collect $55 million. The sale of the bonds came on the eve of the release of Earthling, which incorporated drum-and-bass into a basically rock sound. By the end of the year a Reznor remix of the last song on the CD, "I'm Afraid of Americans," was receiving video and radio airplay. Into the edgy song (cowritten with Eno) Reznor inserted some keyboard and guitar textures and a rap by Ice Cube. Hours . . . (1999) was not a particularly well-received album but was notable for expanding Bowie's early and enthusiastic advocacy of the Internet. The entire album was available for download weeks before its official release and contained a song available only online. That year Bowie also appeared in, and contributed a soundtrack to, the videogame "Omikron: The Nomad Soul."

In 2002, Bowie reunited with Tony Visconti to record Heathen, featuring a cover of the Pixies' "Cactus." He also put together an annual edition of London's Meltdown Festival, at which Bowie performed 1977's Low in its entirety. A year later, he released Reality, and while touring behind it he had a minor heart attack onstage in Germany, brought on by heavy smoking; Bowie fully recuperated. His songs appeared on the soundtrack for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in 2004, both in his original versions and in new renditions by Seu Jorge, who translated the lyrics to Portuguese. Bowie also curried favor with the new generation of indie rockers by appearing onstage with the Arcade Fire and singing on TV on the Radio's Return to Cookie Mountain. ]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1179&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Goth Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:53 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1179 art.1179 The Cure art.1179 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1179&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1179&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss
Robert Smith grew up in working-class Crawley, Sussex, a suburb of London. He recalls his childhood years as difficult, a time of run-ins with his parents and the law. At 17 he formed the Easy Cure with childhood friends Laurence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey as a sort of catharsis for his feelings of frustration. The group's music has remained therapeutic for Smith.

The Cure made its initial splash in the U.K. with the 1979 single "Killing an Arab," which stirred controversy when it reappeared on the mid-'80s retrospective Standing on a Beach: The Singles. Some U.S. radio DJs used the song, which was inspired by Albert Camus' The Stranger, to advance anti-Arab sentiments; the group included a disclaimer with subsequent pressings stating that the song "decries the existence of all prejudice and consequent violence."

While the Cure toured in 1979 as the support act to Siouxsie and the Banshees, the headliner's guitarist quit the band. Smith was recruited to fill in on the tour, beginning an active collaboration with the Banshees. He ultimately devoted much of 1983–84 as a full-time member of the band, recording both the live Nocturne and a studio album, Hyaena. In 1983, he also joined Banshees bassist Steve Severin for a side project called the Glove, releasing one album, Blue Sunshine.

When Smith once again devoted himself to the Cure, the music evolved from the sparse punk pop of that song and other early singles ("Boys Don't Cry," "Jumping Someone Else's Train," "The Lovecats") to the dirgy, moody music of Faith and Seventeen Seconds, to the more focused hits on the later albums Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Disintegration, and Wish.

While the Cure had been a top hit-making indie band in the U.K. since the early-80s, it wasn't until the release of Standing on a Beach (and its CD-only counterpart, Staring at the Sea) (Number 48, 1986) that the band moved beyond its cult status in the U.S. The double-album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Number 35) debuted in June 1987, spawning the minor hits "Why Can't I Be You?" (Number 54, 1987), "Just Like Heaven" (Number 40, 1987), and "Hot Hot Hot!!!" (Number 65, 1988). In 1989, Disintegration reached Number 12 and included the group's biggest hit yet, "Love Song" (Number Two). Wish is the band's most successful album to date, reaching Number Two and including the surprisingly upbeat "Friday I'm in Love" (Number 18). The subsequent tour was documented on record and a film, both titled Show (an additional live collection, Paris, culled from the same tour was also released in 1993).

In 1996 the Cure released Wild Mood Swings (Number 12), which attempted to broaden the band's sound to include a track of Latin-flavored pop, earning mostly negative reviews, and with "The 13th" (Number 44) its highest-charting single. Another best-of, Galore (Number 32), followed in 1997. Three years later, Smith unveiled the Cure's best-reviewed album in years, Bloodflowers (Number 16, 2000), the third part of a trilogy they began with Pornography and Disintegration. That same year, the Cure launched a world tour by announcing it would be the band's last. But Smith soon began to hedge on that promise, saying all the subsequent attention and sudden acclaim made him strangely...happy.

In 2001, the band released a greatest hits album and DVD on Polydor and toured extensively, doing a series of performances of Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers for a set of DVDs, The Cure: Trilogy, released in 2003. The following year, the band released a four-disc, seventy-song boxed set, Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years) (Number 106, 2004). Meanwhile, the Cure signed with Geffen Records and began its new life on the label with an album titled simply The Cure (Number 7, 2004). That year, MTV honored the band with its Icon award. In 2005, the Cure recorded a version of John Lennon's "Love" for an Amnesty International charity album. In October 2008, the Cure released their thirteenth studio album, 4:13 Dream. ]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.14098590&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Electropop Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:02 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.14098590 art.14098590 MGMT art.14098590 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.14098590&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.14098590&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Oracular Spectacular, a collection of sweeping, electronic Flaming Lips-style noise-pop songs, was released in 2007. Critical and popular accolades for the band reached a high at the CMJ Music Marathon a few weeks after the album's release. A tour alongside Of Montreal and a remix from Justice helped the band continue to merge its twin tendencies towards psychedelic pop and electro. - Philip Sherburne]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1087&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:55 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1087 art.1087 The Police art.1087 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1087&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1087&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4049&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:54 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4049 art.4049 Talking Heads art.4049 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4049&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4049&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Fear Of Music (1979), the band began to radiate a kind of somber power, as they beefed up their previously lean sound with African rhythms. Remain In Light followed in 1980, and remains one of the more striking albums of that decade or any other. The rhythms were meticulous and yet completely driving, while the production was highly experimental with enough conventional flourishes to make "Once In A Lifetime" a radio success. Their blueprint now set, the group became hugely successful over the course of the 1980s, and their 1984 concert film is widely considered one of the best ever made. Their music was so immediate that their world beat-inspired songs still sound unique in whatever context they're heard. The group gave official notice that it was disbanding in 1991, bringing an inevitable close to one of the most creative and experimental commercially successful acts in rock 'n' roll. - Jon Pruett]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3614&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Romantic Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:41 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3614 art.3614 Duran Duran art.3614 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3614&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3614&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Barbarella, Duran Duran personified the 1980s by utilizing an exciting new concept called the music video. Anyone watching MTV back then was introduced to five English dandies from Birmingham who were jet-setting all over the globe. Duran Duran's signature style of seductive pop music is rooted in Funk rhythms, crafty Pop arrangements, and Glam rock melodies. The band first broke with the serpentine hit "Is There Something I Should Know." Shortly before the video for the glamorous, Eno-influnced "Girls On Film" was released, Duran Duran became a front page phenomenon; but it was sexy hits such as "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "The Reflex" from Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983) that made Duran Duran a household word -- especially in the homes where teenage girls resided.]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1123&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Pub Rock Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:42 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1123 art.1123 Elvis Costello art.1123 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1123&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1123&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss
Elvis Costello's (b. Declan Patrick MacManus, August 25th, 1954, Paddington, London) father was a successful big-band singer and trumpet player. While attending Catholic school in working-class London, Costello tried playing violin and several other instruments before discovering the guitar at 15, at which point he was already interested in songwriting. Soon after, he moved to Liverpool to live with his mother, who had divorced his father. In the early 1970s, he and his high school sweetheart married and had a son, settling in London. There, Costello continued to write, record demos, and perform (sometimes under the name D.C. Costello, his mother's maiden name), while supporting his family as a computer operator. In 1975 he quit his job, became a roadie for Brinsley Schwarz, and became friendly with their bass player, Nick Lowe. Stiff Records signed Costello in 1976 on the advice of staff producer Lowe; one of the label's owners, Jake Riviera, became his manager and rechristened him Elvis Costello.

Costello's first single, "Less Than Zero," was released in April 1977 and later included on his phenomenal Lowe-produced debut My Aim Is True. Soon Top 20 in England, Aim (Number 32 U.S.) made Costello a major British cult star and attracted critical kudos in the U.S. The now-classic album, which included one of popular music's best-ever heartbreak songs in "Alison," as well as the haunting "Watching the Detectives, and the melodically-addictive "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" was recorded with the Northern California band Clover — a group that would form the basis of Huey Lewis and the News — and made in six sessions for under $2,000.

Costello then assembled the Attractions: keyboardist Steve "Nieve" Nason, drummer Pete Thomas, and bassist Bruce Thomas. Bolstered by his new cohorts on This Year's Model (Number 30, 1978), he rocked harder, while maintaining his distinctively wounded, clipped vocal delivery. Meanwhile, his "angry young man" image was amplified by punk-friendly habits like onstage rudeness, brief sets, and an aversion to the press. His next release, the Top 10 Armed Forces (originally titled Emotional Facism), repeatedly equated love affairs with military maneuvers ("Oliver's Army"). By then Costello's style encompassed lush, Beatlesque arrangements and more diverse influences.

While he toured the U.S. to promote Armed Forces in 1979, Costello's onstage contrariness and dark moods — sometimes induced by drinking — reached alarming proportions. In Columbus, Ohio, that March, a minor but much-publicized conflict with American singers Bonnie Bramlett and Stephen Stills occurred in a hotel bar after an inebriated Costello reportedly disparaged Ray Charles with a racial epithet. Besides tainting his work with the Rock Against Racism organization, this outburst brought the wrath of the previously supportive press — though he subsequently issued a formal apology. Costello lay low for a while, producing the Specials' 1979 debut and appearing at the Concert for Kampuchea.

Trust (Number 28, 1981) brought Costello back to frontline duty with a more piano-based songs and an accompanying American tour that revealed an uncharacteristically polite and reserved stage manner, as if experience had mellowed the performer, who was still in his mid-20s. His touring partners were Squeeze, a critically acclaimed pop band whose 1981 LP East Side Story Costello co-produced. Later that same year Costello released Almost Blue (Number 50), an album of country & western covers recorded in Nashville that got mixed reviews. (A C&W aficionado, Costello later re-covered a version of his "Stranger in the House" with George Jones, while Costello's songs have been covered by Dave Edmunds and Linda Ronstadt.)

Imperial Bedroom (Number 30, 1982), in contrast, earned raves. Full of wry, elegant, haunted ballads, the extraordinary album marked Costello's most sophisticated pop craftsmanship yet, garnering comparisons to such pre-rock bards as Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. With 1983's Punch the Clock (Number 24), Costello continued to move beyond the punk minimalism of his early work, serving up soulful, accessible pop ("Everyday I Write the Book," a Top 40 U.S hit and "Everyday I Write the Book with Daryl Hall.) and serious balladry (the politically astute "Shipbuilding"). While less consistent, 1984's Goodbye Cruel World (Number 35) also found him diversifying in this vein.

Costello's personal life was also undergoing changes. Estranged from his wife, he struck up a relationship with the Pogues' bassist Caitlin O'Riordan while the Irish band toured with him in the fall of 1984. (Costello also produced the Pogues' 1985 album, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash.) Costello divorced his wife in 1985 and married O'Riordan in 1986. Also in 1986, Costello temporarily traded in the Attractions for a pickup band he called the Confederates — former Elvis Presley musicians guitarist James Burton, drummer Ronnie Tutt, and bassist Jerry Scheff — who appeared with him on all but one cut (on which the Attractions appeared) on the lushly melodic King of America (Number 39). Later that same year, Costello reenlisted the Attractions for the more raucous Blood and Chocolate (Number 84). The tour to promote both these albums alternated between sets featuring the Attractions, the Confederates, and Costello performing solo, acoustically. In addition, Costello designed the Spinning Songbook, a device through which audience members could "choose," by luck of the draw, songs from his vast repertoire.

In 1987 Costello co-wrote a bunch of songs with Paul McCartney, several of which materialized two years later on Spike (Number 32). Costello's 1989 album — which also included support from Roger McGuinn, Chrissie Hynde, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band — produced a Top 20 hit in the McCartney-Costello collaboration "Veronica" (Number 19, 1989) and went gold. Some critics found Spike inconsistent, though, preferring the subsequent collection Girls Girls Girls, on which Costello chronicled his career thus far with his own favorite material.

Much like Spike, 1991's Mighty Like a Rose (Number 55) was made without the Attractions, and was perceived as lacking focus. In 1993, though, Costello found a new sense of direction in perhaps his most ambitious project yet: The Juliet Letters (Number 125), a song cycle he wrote and performed with the string players in England's Brodsky Quartet, inspired by an article about letters sent to Shakespeare's character Juliet Capulet, received by a Veronese academic. The album and subsequent tour drew wild praise from some, while baffling or putting off others. Meanwhile, in the 1990s, Rykodisc began releasing the early Costello albums on compact disc, with extra tracks consisting of live and previously unreleased recordings.

In 1994 Costello reunited with the Attractions for Brutal Youth (which also featured Nick Lowe); the maturely rocking results garnered almost unanimous acclaim, and the album climbed to Number 34. That summer, Costello began touring with the Attractions, marking a reconciliation between Costello and bassist Bruce Thomas, whose published memoirs had enraged the singer. In 1995 Costello was back on his own (with some help from Attractions drummer Pete Thomas and a handful of studio musicians) with Kojak Variety (Number 102), a cover album featuring songs by Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Bob Dylan, among others.

The following year Costello covered himself on All This Useless Beauty (Number 53), which highlighted several original Costello songs that had been recorded by other artists. Also in 1996 the cynical Costello surprised critics and fans by collaborating with '60s love-song composer Burt Bacharach for the soundtrack to the film Grace of My Heart. Their co-written effort, "God Give Me Strength," was featured in the movie, nominated for a Grammy, and paved the way for the duo to write enough songs to record their own album, Painted From Memory (1998). A track from that album, "I Still Have That Other Girl," won the pair a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Costello and Bacharach became so well known as artistic partners that they appeared together in a cameo as themselves in the comedy Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999. Costello lightened up enough to appear as himself in the Spice Girls movie Spice World (1997) and the 1980s nostalgia flick 200 Cigarettes (1999).

Costello continues to tour, sometimes as a duo with Attractions keyboardist Nieve. He has recorded with his son Matthew and Supergrass drummer Danny Goffrey. In the late 1990s and 2000, he contributed original songs to movie soundtracks and returned to dabbling in classical music: He played on classical saxophonist John Harle's 1997 album Terror & Magnificence and in 2000 produced songs for Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.

In 2001, Rhino Records began an ambitious overhaul of the singer's catalog up to 1996, reissuing all of his albums with each set containing extensive liner notes written by Costello and an extra disc of rare tracks. That same year, he got a residency to teach music at the University of California in Los Angeles. He also teamed up with old pals Thomas and Nieve on a new album, When I Was Cruel, released in 2002 on Island Records. The following year, Costello released an album of pop ballads, North. In 2004, he was extremely prolific, collaborating with his new wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, on her album The Girl in the Other Room, and releasing two discs of his own: Il Sogno, an orchestral work based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a more straight-ahead roots-rock album, The Delivery Man. The latter featured his new group the Imposters – the Attractions with a different bass player, Davey Faragher, formerly of Cracker.

In 2005, Costello was commissioned to write a chamber opera for the Danish Royal Opera. In 2006, Costello released a live album with a jazz orchestra and collaborated with New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint on an R&B album inspired by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In late 2007, Costello reunited with Clover, the backing band on his debut album My Aim is True, for a benefit show at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. It was their first live performance.

In 2008 Costello began taping episodes for a forthcoming talk and music show entitled Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...! for the Sundance Channel featuring diverse music guests such as Smokey Robinson, Rufus Wainwright, Kristofferson, Herbie Hancock, and Jenny Lewis.]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1435&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:41 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1435 art.1435 The Cars art.1435 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1435&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1435&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4056&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Punk Pioneers Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:28 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4056 art.4056 Blondie art.4056 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4056&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4056&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Parallel Lines, Eat to the Beat, and Autoamerican). In bleached-blond lead singer Deborah Harry, new wave's answer to Marilyn Monroe, the group had an international icon. The group's repertoire, written by Harry and boyfriend Chris Stein, inhabited the melodic side of punk and grew increasingly eclectic while Harry's deadpan delivery remained consistent.

Born in Miami, Harry was adopted at age three months by Richard and Catherine Harry. She grew up in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and after graduating from high school moved to Manhattan. Harry joined a folk-rock band, the Wind in the Willows, which released one album for Capitol in 1968; she worked as a beautician, a Playboy bunny, and a barmaid at Max's Kansas City. In the mid-1970s she became the third lead singer of a glitter-rock band, the Stilettoes, which also included future Television bassist Fred Smith. Stein, a graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts, joined the band in October 1973, and he and Harry reshaped it, first as Angel and the Snakes, then as Blondie.

By 1975 the band was appearing regularly at CBGB, home of the burgeoning punk underground. Its first single, "X Offender," was independently produced by Richard Gottehrer and Marty Thau, who sold it to Private Stock. The label released Blondie's debut, also produced by Gottehrer, in December 1976. The group expanded its cult following to the West Coast with shows at L.A.'s Whisky-a-Go-Go in February 1977 and opened for Iggy Pop on a national tour. A few months later, they made their British concert debut. In July Gary Valentine (who wrote "[I'm Always Touched by Your] Presence Dear," a 1978 U.K. Top 10 hit) left the band to form his own trio, Gary Valentine and the Know, which broke up in spring 1980. In early 1978 Blondie's "Denis" hit Number Two in the U.K.

After one album for Private Stock and some legal wrangling, Blondie signed with Chrysalis in October 1977. Mike Chapman, a veteran of glitter pop, produced Parallel Lines, which slowly made its way into the Top Ten, breaking first in markets outside the U.S. The disco-style "Heart of Glass" hit Number One in April 1979 and established the group with a platinum album. Blondie maintained its popularity and dabbled in black-originated styles, collaborating with Eurodisco producer Giorgio Moroder for the American Gigolo Soundtrack ("Call Me," Number One, 1980), covering the reggae tune "The Tide Is High" (Number One, 1980), and writing a rap song, "Rapture" (Number One, 1981), on Autoamerican (Number Seven, 1980). Harry also did the rounds as a celebrity, including an endorsement of Gloria Vanderbilt designer jeans in 1980.

As the group's success continued, there were reports that Stein and Harry were asserting more control; by 1981 some Blondie backing tracks were played by session musicians under Stein's direction. Burke produced the New York band Colors, and Destri released a solo album, Heart on a Wall, in 1982. In 1981 Harry released her solo KooKoo (Number 25). Produced under the direction of Chic's Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, KooKoo went gold.

Harry also began acting, appearing off-Broadway in Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap (1983), in the films Union City (1979), Videodrome (1982), and John Waters' Hairspray (1988), in the television series Wiseguy, and in Showtime's Body Bags.

Early in 1982 Infante brought suit against the group, claiming they were out to destroy his career by excluding him from group meetings, rehearsals, and recording sessions. The suit was settled out of court and Infante remained in the band. However, by late 1982, following a disastrous tour (Blondie was never known as a great live act), the group quietly disbanded.

Harry and Stein's planned vacation from the music business stretched to a couple of years after he was felled by a rare genetic illness called pemphigus. By 1987, their romantic relationship had ended. Harry's comeback momentum was again stalled in the mid-1980s by legal problems with the group's label, Chrysalis. Rockbird (Number 97, 1986) drew critical raves, but neither it nor her subsequent releases have approached Blondie's in sales or acclaim, although she has had major hits in the U.K. ("French Kissin' in the U.S.A.," Number Eight, 1986, and "I Want That Man," Number 13, 1989). She sang a duet with Iggy Pop, "Well, Did You Evah!," on the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Blue. Harry collaborated with New York underground group the Jazz Passengers and appeared on their 1996 album Individually Twisted (32 Records).

Harrison and Burke joined a group called Checquered Past, which included ex–Sex Pistol Steve Jones. Later Harrison supervised the music for several feature films, including Repo Man, before becoming an A&R man for Capitol and Interscope. In the early 1990s Burke became one of the Romantics and worked as a session musician with the Plimsouls, Dramarama, and Mark Owen. Stein continued producing acts for his Animal Records label, and Destri began producing.

In 1998 Blondie had something of a resurgence as Harry, Burke, Stein, and Destri reunited for No Exit (Number 18, 1999), Blondie's seventh studio album. No Exit, which contains an appearance by rapper Coolio on the title cut and yielded the poppy "Maria" (Number 82) engendering a new generation of Blondie fans. In early 1999 the band launched a U.S. tour — its first in over 15 years — and recorded a live album. Meanwhile, ex-members Infante and Harrison filed a lawsuit in the summer of 1998 over the use of the Blondie name and royalties. In a separate legal case, Blondie sued former-label EMI for breach of contract, claiming EMI refused to pay the group proper royalties for albums recorded from 1977 to 1982 — a payment plan was agreed upon in 1996.

The group's catalog was reissued in 2001; each disc was expanded with demos, live tracks and covers. In 2003, the group released The Curse of Blondie (Number 160), its eighth studio album, and continued to tour, but relations between past and present Blondie remain tense: When Infante and Harrison appeared at the band's 2006 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Harry dismissed them onstage, saying "Can't you see my real band is up there?"

Harry remains the most active member of Blondie, releasing another solo album, Necessary Evil, and appearing in a number of independent films. She also traveled with the True Colors tour in 2007. ]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.66640&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:47:58 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.66640 art.66640 Tears for Fears art.66640 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.66640&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.66640&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Songs From The Big Chair, the group entered the big leagues thanks to hits such as "Shout," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Head Over Heels." Each one was an intricately arranged tune that deservedly rose to the top of the charts on a blend of soul, technology and smarts. The follow-up came four years later, and they began to get a bit too smart, throwing in elements of jazz and a somewhat overwhelming Beatles fetish. Curt Smith left the band in 1992, leaving Orzabel with the group's name. Records followed, including the unforgivably titled Raoul & the Kings of Spain, but none captured the public's attention in quite the same way. Despite the duo's strong differences, they were able to patch things up in 2004 for Everyone Loves a Happy Ending, a strong, tuneful record that put them back in critical favor. - Jon Pruett]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39651&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Post-Punk Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:20 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.39651 art.39651 New Order art.39651 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39651&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39651&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Blade soundtrack pits raw electro sounds against bitter, fluid bass kicks. They have also maintained impeccable integrity keeping one foot in the mainstream and the other underground, generating colossal worldwide hits as well as disturbing, alienated tracks with depressive guitar echoes and sad synth melodies. Even their most elevated, ethereal moments are grounded in melancholy, but provide a vaulting spirit that gives solace to any wilted flower. - Marc Kate]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69112&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:03 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.69112 art.69112 Pretenders art.69112 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69112&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69112&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss
A single gig with an Akron band, Sat. Sun. Mat. (which included Mark Mothersbaugh, later of Devo), was Hynde's sole performing experience when, after three years of studying art at Kent State University, she left (with money earned as a waitress) for the rocker's life in London in 1974. She began writing savagely satiric reviews for New Musical Express; but after playing cover girl for a story on Brian Eno, she moved to France to form a band. When nothing materialized, she returned to Akron, where she joined Jack Rabbit; it broke up, and Hynde returned to France and then to England by 1976, as punk rock was burgeoning. She tried to enlist a young guitarist, Mick Jones, into her would-be group, but Jones committed himself to another new group, the Clash.

She was then hired by punk fashion entrepreneur and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren (in whose boutique, Sex, Hynde had worked when she'd first come to London) to play guitar in Masters of the Backside. After months of rehearsal, she was dismissed; the group turned into the Damned. Hynde played guitar or sang backup behind Johnny Moped, Chris Spedding, Johnny Thunders (the New York Dolls, the Heartbreakers), and Nick Lowe. With these contacts and a growing repertoire of original songs, she recorded a demo tape. Dave Hill, founder of Real Records, became her manager and advanced her the money to audition and hire a band.

Bassist Pete Farndon had recently returned to England from Australia, where he had played for two years with a popular Aussie group, the Bushwackers. He called James Honeyman-Scott, who had toured with several bands, notably Cheeks, a group led by ex–Mott the Hoople keyboardist Verdon Allen. Honeyman-Scott joined Hynde, Farndon, and drummer Gerry Mackleduff to record two Hynde compositions — "Precious" and "The Wait" — and a 1964 number penned by Ray Davies of the Kinks, "Stop Your Sobbing." Nick Lowe pegged "Stop Your Sobbing" b/w "The Wait" for a hit and offered to produce a single, which he did in one day in the fall of 1978. The next day, the Pretenders left for Paris for its debut gig and a weeklong club engagement.

Mackleduff was replaced by Cheeks' former drummer, Martin Chambers, then working as a drummer and driving instructor in London. In January 1979 "Stop Your Sobbing" was released in Britain. Soon it was in the Top 30. The followup, "Kid," written by Hynde and produced by Chris Thomas, did well, too. By spring, the Pretenders were selling out performances all over the U.K. In May the band began work on an album, with Thomas producing. The Pretenders, released worldwide in January 1980, was universally lauded. "Brass in Pocket" hit Number One in the U.K. and Australia and reached Number 14 in the U.S. After whipping off another single, "Talk of the Town," for the British market, Hynde brought her band stateside, where its album was rising to Number Nine.

It took the band over a year and a half to produce a followup, although a five-song EP was issued in the interim. Finally, in August 1981 Pretenders II (Number Ten) was released to mixed reviews. It included another tune by Ray Davies, "I Go to Sleep," and Hynde showed up so frequently on the Kinks tour that summer that her relationship with Ray Davies soon became public knowledge. (The two never married but had a daughter, Natalie, in 1983.) A 1981 tour of the U.S. was postponed when, in October, Chambers badly injured his hand; the eventual tour was the last time the original Pretenders played together.

Farndon was booted from the group on June 14, 1982; two days later Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose. Farndon himself would die of a drug overdose the following April. Surviving members Hynde and Chambers recorded the gorgeous, wistful "Back on the Chain Gang" (dedicated to Honeyman-Scott) with ex-Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner and Big Country bassist Tony Butler; it hit Number Five in 1983. The intro to its flip side, "My City Was Gone" (also featuring Bremner), later became the theme song of Rush Limbaugh's radio program.

Another year passed, however, before the release of the aptly titled Learning to Crawl, which introduced new members Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Foster. The album (Number Five, 1984) went platinum and spawned hits in "Middle of the Road" (Number 19, 1984) and "Show Me" (Number 28, 1984). In May 1984 Hynde married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds; the two had a daughter but soon split up. Hynde got married again in 1997, to Colombian sculptor Lucho Brieva.

Since 1986's Get Close, the Pretenders have consisted mostly of Hynde and a succession of musicians, with spotty results. "Don't Get Me Wrong" (Number Ten, 1986) was the group's last Top Ten hit. McIntosh went on to play and record with Paul McCartney; former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr stepped in for the band's remaining tour dates. For Last of the Independents (Number 41, 1994), the band's first album in four years, Chambers came back on board, joined by Adam Seymour, formerly of the Katydids, and ex-Primitives bassist Andy Hobson. The album spawned a Top 40 single in the ballad "I'll Stand by You," and the lineup remained intact for the acoustic live album, The Isle of View (Number 100, 1995) and 1999's ¡Viva El Amor! (which also featured Hynde's hero Jeff Beck on the track "Legalize Me"). ¡Viva El Amor!'s cover photo, featuring Hynde holding her fist in the air in the fashion of a classic Colombian propaganda poster, was taken by Linda McCartney a month before her death.

Although the long waits between LPs have dulled her group's once shining commercial career, Hynde remains an influential performer and songwriter. Her performances with the Pretenders on the 1999 Lilith Fair were regarded by many critics as the highlight of the woman-centric festival tour. Hynde is also an outspoken crusader for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In March 2000 she was arrested on felony charges of third-degree criminal mischief in New York for destroying an estimated $1,000 worth of merchandise during a protest of what she termed "black-market" leather from India at a Gap clothing store (a charge the Gap disputes). Manhattan Criminal Court adjourned the case "in contemplation of dismissal," contingent upon Hynde's staying out of trouble for six months.]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2785&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Pop Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:50 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2785 art.2785 Cyndi Lauper art.2785 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2785&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2785&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss She's So Unusual, became one of the defining albums of the "leg warmer and shoulder pads" era with such hits as "Time After Time," "She Bop" and the irrepressible "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." If anyone else had sung "She Bop"'s "proud to practice self-abuse" lyrics during the early-'80s it would have caused major controversy, but Lauper's emphasis on good cheer instead of overt sexuality defused any potential public outcry. Her cartoon pop take on new wave may have hurt her career as times changed, but most of her subsequent recordings sound better and have sold more than most people would guess. Lauper also has a parallel acting career, and she's starred in movies with two of cinema's greatest eccentric talents, Christopher Walken and Jeff Goldblum. She's also won an Emmy for her recurring role on the '90s sitcom, Mad About You. - Nick Dedina]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4939&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:05 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4939 art.4939 Billy Idol art.4939 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4939&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4939&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Cyberpunk was an unfortunate occurrence, but Idol's previous successes have proven strong enough to survive any hardship. - Charles Hodgkins]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7071039&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Electropop Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:07:33 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.7071039 art.7071039 Shiny Toy Guns art.7071039 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7071039&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7071039&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss We Are Pilots, initially released on Stormwest International. Perhaps the landing gear wasn't working, because later that year Shiny Toy Guns re-recorded the album, this time for SideCho Records. But listeners along for the ride didn't unbuckle their seatbelts until 2006, when the band once again redid the album for its major-label debut on Universal. Though it only climbed to No. 90 on the Billboard 200, the album earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album and landed three songs -- including "Le Disko," a sassy blast of punk-spirited electro -- in the upper quarter of Billboard's Modern Rock charts. They followed up with Season of Poison in 2008 and Girls Le Disko, a remix collection, the year after. - Philip Sherburne]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2974&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:51 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2974 art.2974 INXS art.2974 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2974&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2974&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss The Swing appeared in 1984, INXS were one of the biggest acts in the world. You couldn't turn on your car radio without Michael Hutchence slithering up to you and panting in your ear. The synth-heavy Pop of their earliest records mutated into a pounding dance-rock with sleazoid Stones-iness and unstoppable, Disco-fied grooves. With the dawning of the Grunge era however, the ersatz funk of INXS became utterly obsolete, and the band sank into relative obscurity until Hutchence's tragic death in 1997. Almost a decade after the loss of Hutchence, INXS became involved in a bizarre reality show in which a replacement singer was chosen during a competition shown on TV. Rock Star: INXS amounted to a cross between the shows Survivor, The Surreal World and American Idol. Also in 2005, the band released an album of new material, Switch. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68457&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:36 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.68457 art.68457 Pet Shop Boys art.68457 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68457&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68457&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Behavior (1990) got them as far away from the dancefloor as they are ever likely to go, Nightlife sounds unimaginatively like the modern disco their critics believe them to hack out. - Nick Dedina]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1600&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:12 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1600 art.1600 The B-52's art.1600 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1600&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1600&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Cosmic Thing in 1989, they had become a slickly-produced, yet still very odd pop act who achieved enormous success with tracks such as "Roam" and the wedding party staple, "Love Shack." Inactive since the mid-'90s, the group remain popular on commercial radio -- a remarkable feat considering the individual nature of their manic pop music. - Jon Pruett]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.57021&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:04 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.57021 art.57021 Eurythmics art.57021 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.57021&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.57021&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss
Lennox grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland, the only daughter of a bagpipe-playing shipyard worker. Her piano- and flute-playing skills won her a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London, but she quit on the eve of finals, disgusted with the school's pretensions. She spent three years working odd jobs in London and playing with a folk-rock band, a jazz-rock group, and a cabaret duo. A friend introduced her to Dave Stewart.

Stewart came from an upper-middle-class family in Northern England. By the early '70s his band Longdancer was signed to Elton John's Rocket Records but never accomplished anything. He then played in a variety of groups, which ranged from soul to medieval music. When he met Lennox he was writing music with a recluse named Peet Coombes.

Lennox and Stewart immediately began a musical and romantic partnership. With Coombes they formed a band called Catch, which shortly became the Tourists. The Tourists' three albums (The Tourists, 1979; Reality Effect, 1979; Luminous Basement, 1980) mixed folk, psychedelia, and new wave. A cover of the Dusty Springfield hit "I Only Want to Be With You" was a big hit in England (Number Four U.K., 1979), but barely made it into the U.S. Hot 100 (Number 83, 1980).

When the band disintegrated in late 1980, so did Lennox and Stewart's romance. They continued to work together, however, and named their partnership after Eurythmics, a system of music instruction developed in the 1890s that emphasizes physical response. Their debut was recorded in Germany and featured Blondie drummer Clem Burke, members of Can and DAF, and Marcus Stockhausen, son of the avant-garde composer. Despite good reviews, it was weakly supported by their label.

Lennox and Stewart were committed to making the Eurythmics a solid business and artistic venture, however. In a makeshift studio that Stewart set up, they recorded Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Number 15, 1983), using an 8-track recorder and synthesizers. Though the first British single, "Love Is a Stranger," attracted some attention in clubs, it was the title track (Number One) that propelled the band to stardom.

As the singer for the Tourists, Lennox was a platinum blonde often called the British Blondie. Sick of that dolly image, Lennox wore an orange crewcut and a man's suit in the Eurythmics' early work. When the band performed at the 1984 Grammys, she dressed like Elvis. In the video for "Who's That Girl?" she plays a chanteuse who leaves a club with her butch alter-ego; at the end, she-Annie kisses he-Annie.

Touch (Number Seven, 1983) yielded "Here Comes the Rain Again" (Number Four, 1984), but Eurythmics' next release, the soundtrack for 1984 (the film based on George Orwell's novel), was a disappointment. The film's director complained on a televised awards show that he had been forced to use the band's music, and the single "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-four)" was widely misinterpreted. Lennox suffered another public humiliation when she married a Hare Krishna and divorced him a year later. But Be Yourself Tonight (Number Nine, 1985) returned the band to the public grace, showcasing Lennox's soulful vocals in a duet with Aretha Franklin, "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" (Number 18, 1985). The album also yielded the hit single "Would I Lie to You" (Number Five, 1985). On Revenge (Number 12, 1986), the Eurythmics went for an arena-rock sound and produced their last Top 20 single, "Missionary Man" (Number 14, 1986).

In 1987 Stewart married singer Siobhan Fahey, formerly of Bananarama and later half of the duo Shakespear's Sister. Many critics considered the Eurythmics to have run out of steam on We Too Are One (Number 34, 1989), so it was not surprising when Lennox announced that she was taking a couple years off from music to work for a homeless charity. She had delivered a stillborn baby in 1988 and wanted to devote time to her family (she is married to filmmaker Uri Fruchtmann, with whom she's since had two children). In 1992 she released Diva (Number 23, 1992), a platinum-selling solo album that received three Grammy nominations. Stewart, meanwhile, had already released one soundtrack album, Lily Was Here, and put together the band Spiritual Cowboys, which included drummer Martin Chambers (Pretenders). He has also produced records for Daryl Hall, Tom Petty, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan. In 1995 Stewart released his first real solo album, Greetings From the Gutter>, a modern Ziggy Stardust–like opus with a funky backing band (Bootsy Collins is on bass). A pop-rock followup, Sly-Fi, appeared in 1998.

Lennox and Stewart hadn't spoken with each other for four years when she called in 1997 to inform him of the death of their former Tourists bandmate, Peet Coombes. The conversation got the duo talking again; later, while rehearsing for an acoustic performance at a party for a mutual friend, they began writing new material together. Peace (1999), the album that grew out of those sessions, was the first new Eurythmics LP in 10 years and found Lennox's supple, powerful alto fully intact. It also eschewed the catchy, electro-pop of the duo's '80s heyday in favor of lushly orchestrated ballads focusing on the pair's musical and prior romantic partnership. After the record's release, Stewart and Lennox played a series of dates, most of them in Europe, the proceeds of which went to Amnesty International and Greenpeace.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001) ]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4067&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Post-Punk Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:22 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4067 art.4067 Echo and the Bunnymen art.4067 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4067&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4067&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss the) finest of the British post-punk exponents of the late '70s and one of the bright, shining lights of '80s music, Echo and the Bunnymen delivered a series of records that ranged from gloomy, muted blasts of dark guitars and moaning vocals to unabashed pop songs with glorious orchestral arrangements. At times frightening, at times beautiful, the band conjured up sullen images of mystery with their cloudy, swirling, psychedelic tapestries. Frontman Ian McCullough flaunted his permanently tousled and nicotine-addled persona through most of the English press of the '80s while his band backed him up with Doors-fueled dramatic dirges that grew into giant, arena-ready anthems for the darkly clad, pale art kids. This angular, epileptic pop could draw you into the glorious dregs of the underground as McCullough muttered post-Syd Barrett lyrical spirals on records like Heaven Up Here or sent you sailing across the deep blue orchestral seas of Ocean Rain. As the '80s closed, they achieved their biggest successes, filtering their original essence down to some catchy, at times brilliant, poetic alt-pop. Despite an ill-fated record sans McCullough in 1990, the band has kept their dignity in the time since. Most successfully, their 1999 release What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? showed the band were still capable of evoking their patented gloomy grandeur without falling victim to the dreaded "modern update." - Jon Pruett]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2191&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:30:57 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2191 art.2191 Roxy Music art.2191 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2191&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2191&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Siren (1975), culminating in the lush, gorgeous music of Avalon (1982). They ended their career revealing just how intoxicating romance can be. - Will Lerner]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2059&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:30:59 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2059 art.2059 Men at Work art.2059 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2059&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2059&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5724&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:55:58 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5724 art.5724 Simple Minds art.5724 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5724&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5724&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.65900&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Indie/Alternative Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:19:32 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.65900 art.65900 The Sounds art.65900 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.65900&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.65900&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Living in America, was released not long after the band members finished up with high school, rocketing up to the very top of the charts in Sweden and earning them a Swedish Grammy award (not to mention heaps of "best newcomer" accolades). In America, they were introduced to U.S. audiences when they toured with the Strokes and the Foo Fighters. Their second disc, Dying to Say This to You, was partly produced by Jeff Saltzman (credited for all the fuss surrounding the Killers' debut, and former Green Day co-manager) and recorded in Oakland, Calif., and in studios in New York and Boston. Despite their rather sneering, seditious attitude, when combined with a retro synthesizer sound and guitar hooks, the result is far from threatening: it's simply upbeat rock 'n' roll fun. - Michele K-Tel]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2327&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:51 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2327 art.2327 Joe Jackson art.2327 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2327&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2327&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Night & Day (1982) was a sophisticated combination of caustic observations and gentle music. His biggest hit, it helped jumpstart Adult Alternative along with Roxy Music's Avalon. After that, each worthy mainstream experiment -- a jazzier work, a guitar-driven tour of modern life, film soundtracks -- resulted in a number of great songs, but drove Jackson further down the charts until he opted out of the pop game altogether in 1994. Albums like the jazz and rock-influenced orchestral song suite Heaven and Hell are intriguing, but rather pointless. Jackson's real talents lie in matching a multitude of musical interests and personal observations with mainstream song craft. - Nick Dedina]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1424&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:31:01 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1424 art.1424 Squeeze art.1424 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1424&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1424&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss East Side Story (1981), produced by Elvis Costello, found the lads stretching out into country, Rockabilly, orchestrated pop, and Brit-soul -- the last of which led to their signature tune "Tempted," sung by then-keyboardist Paul Carrack. Things turned a bit sour from there, with the darkly experimental Sweets from a Stranger receiving mixed reviews and leading the group to temporarily disband. Since reforming in 1985, they've continued to crank out new albums which, despite having their moments, have lacked both the bite and the shelf life of their earlier work. - Will York]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.63717&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:56:24 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.63717 art.63717 Culture Club art.63717 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.63717&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.63717&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69203&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Dance Pop Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:48:00 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.69203 art.69203 Paul Hardcastle art.69203 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69203&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69203&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1091&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Post-Punk Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:53 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1091 art.1091 The Psychedelic Furs art.1091 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1091&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1091&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss sturm und drone with their own aplomb. Along the way, they became one of the most emblematic bands of '80s English rock.

By the time "Love My Way" achieved saturation play on the relatively new MTV in early 1983, the band was a firm critical favorite. After forming in punk-drenched London in 1977, they signed with CBS (Columbia in the U.S.) and shortly concocted a self-titled debut that matched single-length rockers ("We Love You") with epic-minded explorations ("India"). But it was 1981's Talk Talk Talk that really earned a buzz; the album's "Pretty in Pink" was a Blonde on Blonde-esque examination of a lonely girl's romantic stumbles.

"Love My Way" (from Forever Now, which saw Todd Rundgren taking over as producer from a young Steve Lillywhite), "Heartbreak Beat" and a remake of "Pretty in Pink" for its namesake John Hughes film all helped move the Furs toward the American mainstream. Personnel changes had begun much earlier, but the core of brothers Richard and Tim Butler (bass) and guitarist John Ashton remained steady. The albums Mirror Moves (1984) and Midnight to Midnight (1987) were must-haves for suburban hipsters of the era, and the band continually toured to great success.

After two more discs, Book of Days and World Outside, which didn't do nearly as well, the act split up. Richard Butler went on to Love Spit Love's moderate popularity before re-teaming with brother Tim and Ashton in 2000. The Psychedelic Furs have since been a fixture on the nostalgia circuit, with the live Beautiful Chaos getting a 2001 release. - Jaan Uhelszki]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4019&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:41:05 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4019 art.4019 The Bangles art.4019 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4019&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4019&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss All Over the Place, saw them asserting rapidly evolving songwriting chops that gave voice to a vulnerable yet unyielding feminism. Though they were a scorching live act, the Bangles' guitar-based sound wasn't enough to push them through to success outside the college-radio ghetto. Enter Prince. Impressed by singer Susanna Hoffs, he passed "Manic Monday" on to the band, which found itself with a No. 2 hit on its hands in the spring of 1986. It was only the first of four major single releases from the softer-edged Different Light, whose success culminated in a month-long run at No. 1 for "Egyptian." The Bangles' approach was built in part on their vocal blend, which gave everyone in the group a chance at lead vocals. Growing media focus on Hoffs led to resentment in the ranks, even as the act scored another smash with a return to paisley roots: a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" from the Less Than Zero soundtrack. One more album, Everything, yielded the massive ballad "Eternal Flame," but the Bangles were history by 1990. However, they reunited for a strong album in 2003's Doll Revolution. - Jaan Uhelszki]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3923&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:18 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3923 art.3923 Thompson Twins art.3923 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3923&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3923&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3826&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:33:47 -0700 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3826 art.3826 a-ha art.3826 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3826&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3826&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.35500&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss AOR Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:57:02 -0700 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.35500 art.35500 The Outfield art.35500 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.35500&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.35500&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3337&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:20 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3337 art.3337 Erasure art.3337 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3337&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3337&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3209&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Romantic Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:54 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3209 art.3209 The Human League art.3209 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3209&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3209&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.890&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:17 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.890 art.890 The Fixx art.890 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.890&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.890&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.37208&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:20:20 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.37208 art.37208 The Go-Go's art.37208 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.37208&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.37208&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.625&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Americana Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:13:24 -0700 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.625 art.625 John Hiatt art.625 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.625&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.625&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Bring the Family, on which he was backed up by Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder and ace session drummer Jim Keltner. The record was a critical smash as well as a commercial hit. Since then Hiatt has become a major concert attraction. He remains revered by songwriters, and his material is covered often, most recently on the Eric Clapton/B.B. King collaboration on Hiatt's "Riding With the King." - Eric Shea]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4350&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Wed, 2 Dec 2009 11:07:08 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4350 art.4350 Berlin art.4350 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4350&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4350&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Pleasure Victim in the synth-crazed '80s. They call it "electronica" now and Berlin are still making it. - Nick Dedina]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4052&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:13:51 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4052 art.4052 Oingo Boingo art.4052 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4052&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4052&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69241&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:55:51 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.69241 art.69241 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) art.69241 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69241&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.69241&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3184&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:54:08 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3184 art.3184 Howard Jones art.3184 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3184&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3184&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss People is not only one of his most mature, but also his most eclectic. The album incorporates strong jazz elements and dabbles in exotic world music rhythms. - Chad Driscoll]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59639&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Indie/Alternative Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:13:29 -0700 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.59639 art.59639 Magnetic Fields art.59639 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59639&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59639&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Distant Plastic Trees -- are an intuitive pop experiment rife with disarmingly well-crafted melody. Creating not only syrupy synth pop that draws textural comparisons to Brian Eno and Gary Numan, but also organic, acoustic-bred Indie pop complete with cello, flute, tuba, and his haunting baritone, Merritt is a stylistic and sonic archivist bent on bending others' aural signatures to compliment his own production talents and shadowy lyrical pretense. The results are often stunning, lending credence to Merritt's status as one of indie rock's most influential and appreciated talents. - Kelly Bauman]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.241&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:08 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.241 art.241 A Flock of Seagulls art.241 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.241&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.241&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2575&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Synth Pop Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:04 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2575 art.2575 Gary Numan art.2575 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2575&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2575&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1175&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:19 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1175 art.1175 Devo art.1175 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1175&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1175&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss The Jetsons and Barbarella; their lyrics are told from the point of view of hyper-logical Vulcans attempting to explain the ways of "those crazy Earthlings." At times this collection of oddments works compellingly, but never as well as it did on their 1982 tour de force Freedom of Choice. Devo's music still possesses a special ability to make the world you take for granted seem interesting and odd. In which case, if you aren't a Devo fan, maybe you should be. - Chad Driscoll]]> http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4059&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Rockabilly Revival Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:28 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4059 art.4059 Stray Cats art.4059 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4059&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4059&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5200&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:12 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5200 art.5200 Big Country art.5200 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5200&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5200&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.378&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss New Wave Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:48:13 -0800 Top New Wave Artists on Rhapsody Online art.378 art.378 Adam Ant art.378 http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.378&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.378&variant=data&rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fnew-wave%2Fartist-chart.rss Dirk Wears White Socks. A radical makeover and a new band ushered Ant into the 1980s with a series of successful singles, including "Ant Music," "Prince Charming" and "Stand And Deliver." He went solo in 1982, and immediately hit pay dirt with "Goody Two Shoes." By 1984, however, Ant's career was on the outs, and the Londoner turned to acting. He came back into the public eye briefly in 1995, with a surprise hit, "Wonderful," from the album by the same name. Nothing more was heard from the star until early 2002, when he was arrested in an assault incident supposedly involving a firearm in a London pub. Ant was admitted into a psychiatric hospital to evaluate whether or not he was competent to stand trail on the charges. Following a 12-month community service sentence, Ant made headlines again in August 2003 with news of yet another arrest, and once again his mental stability was publicly questioned. Regardless of his mental state, Ant has shown passion for a new cause: gorillas. He re-recorded "Stand And Deliver" as "Save the Gorillas" in an effort to call attention to the species' dwindling population, and he spent the better part of an hour talking on U.K. radio about subjects ranging from his arrests, his mental health, Malcolm McLaren and, of course, gorillas. - Linda Ryan]]>