According to Simon Reynolds, new wave music had a twitchy, agitated feel. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. New wave includes several pop-oriented styles from this time period. New wave music encompassed a wide variety of styles that shared a quirky, lighthearted, and humorous tone that were very popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. Since the 1990s, new wave resurged several times with the growing nostalgia for several new-wave-influenced musicians. In the mid-1980s, new wave declined with the emergence of the New Romantic, new pop, and new music genres. MTV, which was launched in 1981, heavily promoted new-wave acts, boosting the genre's popularity. New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s into the early 1980s with numerous major musicians and an abundance of one-hit wonders. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter strains of 1960s pop and were opposed to the generally abrasive, political bents of punk rock, as well as what was considered to be creatively stagnant ' corporate rock'. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop and rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as 'new wave' in the United States. Ī number of common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, angular guitar riffs, jerky rhythms, the use of electronics along with a distinctive visual style in fashion and music videos. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk. Later, critical consensus favored 'new wave' as an umbrella term involving many popular music styles of the era, including power pop, synth-pop, alternative dance, and specific forms of punk that were less abrasive. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. It is considered a lighter and more melodic 'broadening of punk culture'. New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s through the 1980s.

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Digital soundwave background