The new wave of new wave (NWONW) was a term coined by

music journalists Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

to describe a subgenre of the British

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

scene in the early 1990s, in which bands displayed

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

and new wave influences, particularly from bands such as

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

, Blondie,

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

, and

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origina ...

.Childs, Peter & Storry, Mike (1999) ''Encyclopaedia of Contemporary British Culture'', Routledge, , p. 365. The associated bands generally played guitar-based

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

often accompanied by

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. The movement was short-lived, and several of the bands involved were later linked with the more commercially successful

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

, which it immediately preceded, and the NWONW was described by John Harris of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' (one of the journalists who first coined the term) as "Britpop without the good bits".Harris, John (2006
"The new wave of old rubbish"
''

'', 13 October 2006. The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' played a major part in promoting and covering the genre, and promoted the ''On'' event, which featured many of the bands they had labelled NWONW.Larkin, Colin (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Oxford University Press. Record label

Fierce Panda Fierce Panda Records is a London-based independent record label, with its first release in February 1994. It also produced a small number of releases that year by now famous artists such as Ash, The Bluetones, Baby Bird and Supergrass. Fierc ...

's first release, ''Shagging in the Streets'', was a tribute to the scene, featuring

S*M*A*S*H Smash (normally typeset as S*M*A*S*H) are an English punk rock trio, who enjoyed brief notoriety in the early 1990s in the UK. S*M*A*S*H was formed by Ed Borrie (vocals, guitar), Salvatore Alessi (credited as Salv) (bass), and Rob Hague (drum ...

Done Lying Down Done Lying Down were a British-American rock group, active during the mid-1990s. Their reputation for intense, energetic live performances won the group major acclaim in the British music press and a number of devoted fans. The group's sound wa ...

These Animal Men These Animal Men were an English band active in the 1990s, as part of the New Wave of New Wave, and released two albums before splitting up in 1998. History These Animal Men These Animal Men formed in Brighton in 1989, signing to Hut Records ...

, and others. Associated bands have included

Elastica Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex- Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times ...

Menswear Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion ind ...

,Wolk, Douglas (1995) "Menswear - Nuisance, London", ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'', December 1995. Sleeper,

Echobelly Echobelly are a British rock band, debuting in 1994 with their album '' Everyone's Got One''. They were often compared to Blondie and The Smiths; Morrissey becoming a fan of the group. The most prominent part of Echobelly's success formula wa ...

Shed Seven Shed Seven are a alternative rock band, formed in York in 1990. One of the groups which contributed to the Britpop music scene of the 1990s, they continue to write, record and release music over thirty years later. They originally comprised sin ...

,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 965.

,Vazquez, Michael (1995) "These Animal Men - ''(Come On, Join) The High Society'' Review", ''

'', May 1995. and

Compulsion Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

identified the mid-1990s NWONW movement as the peak of a new wave revival that has continued on and off since, stating "1994 was the top of a curve we can't be certain we've reached the bottom of".Christgau, Robert (1996
"How to Beat the Law of Averages"
from ''Details'', 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Wave Of New Wave Britpop New wave music British styles of music British rock music genres