Synth & Swagger

Synth & Swagger

Over 60 new wave articles, 5 music video commentaries & more

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Synth & Swagger
New wave and '80s music authority

THEMED ARTICLES

Explore New Wave through curated collections that connect artists, sounds, and ideas across the genre’s many directions.

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Best New Wave Songs Featured in Movies

How movies across decades changed the meaning of iconic 70s and 80s new wave songs. From Simple Minds to Yello to the Psychedelic Furs, discover how unforgettable movie scenes transformed songs into shorthand for rebellion, romance, luxury, existential dread and self-acceptance.

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Headscratchers: Weird New Wave Songs

Some new wave songs are catchy. Others make you wonder what was in the studio air. Revisit the weirdest of the '70s and '80s - opera rap, pirate hip-hop, crying guitars, and more.

Best New Wave Christmas Songs

Celebrate a new wave Christmas with synth-tinged, bittersweet ’80s holiday tracks — from Wham!’s Last Christmas to Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Israel.

Best New Wave Collaborations

From duets to creative collisions, explore how new wave artists found synchronicity through 80s collaboration - teaming up to create some of the genre’s most compelling and unexpected moments.

Best New Wave Songs About Home & Family

New wave in the 80s explored what it means to feel at home. From Talking Heads to Depeche Mode, these six songs define home as a place to grow up and have family chaos

Most Misunderstood New Wave Songs

Six new wave songs that fool the listener - where melody, imagery, and context mislead and surprise. You’ll never hear these '80s songs the same way again

Headscratchers 2: More of New Wave's Weirdest Songs

Six more weird new wave head-scratchers that defy expectations - from absurd B-52s chaos to Depeche Mode’s synth hoedown and Falco’s theatrical excess. Explore the strange detours and identity shifts that made these 80s songs unforgettable.

Best New Wave Songs About Technology

From Cars to Television Man, five new wave songs of the '70s and '80s where cars and screens become tools of isolation: long before smartphones existed.

Best New Wave Songs About Starting Over

Discover new wave’s take on starting over: how '80s songs by Squeeze, Eurythmics, INXS, and more frame fresh starts as escape, release, and change rather than spectacle.

Best New Wave Songs About Winter

Explore winter through seven '80s and '90s new wave tracks that capture cold as mood and metaphor from icy synths to emotional freeze frames that go beyond holiday cheer

Best Covers of New Wave Songs

Discover how unexpected artists like Tom Jones and Eddie Vedder reinvent '70s and '80s new wave classics like Burning Down the House in inventive covers.

Best New Wave Songs That Are Covers - Part Deux

Discover five surprising new wave covers - from the Flying Lizards’ Money to Kim Wilde’s You Keep Me Hangin’ On - where ’80s acts reinvented classics.

Best New Wave Songs About Work, Jobs & Labor

Explore how ’80s new wave bands like XTC, Devo, and the Police turned office life and factories into unforgettable songs

Best New Wave Songs About Other Musicians

Explore how new wave artists sang about each other in the '80s and beyond - from the B-52s’ tribute to Debbie Harry to Billy Idol’s self-mythologizing tracks.

Best New Wave Halloween Songs

Explore new wave’s spooky side with eerie '80s tracks by Duran Duran, the Cure, Oingo Boingo, and more: perfect songs for your Halloween dancefloor.

Best New Wave One-Hit Wonders

Explore new wave one-hit wonders like Safety Dance, Break My Stride, and Tarzan Boy, unpacking why these '80s tracks became timeless singles.

Modern Songs That Sound Like New Wave Classics

Explore five modern songs - from Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack to Dua Lipa’s Break My Heart - that sound inspired by ’80s new wave melodies, rhythms, and riffs.

Evil Twins: the Most Wicked New Wave Songs & Their Tamer Twins

New wave '80s hit songs like Don’t You Want Me and Tainted Love, alongside their edgy evil twins. Deep cuts that twist mood, theme, and sound in unsettling ways.

Best New Wave Summer Songs

Explore new wave’s sun-soaked side through '80s hits like Katrina & The Waves’ Walking on Sunshine and Bananarama’s Cruel Summer, where synths meet summer vibes.

Best New Wave Deep Cuts ('79 to '81)

Unearth under-the-radar new wave tracks from 1979 to 1981. Think deep cuts by the Cars, Depeche Mode, Human League, and more.

New Wave & Music Videos - Like PB and J!

Explore new wave’s most iconic '80s music videos, from Talking Heads’ Once in a Lifetime to A-Ha’s Take On Me, and how visuals shaped the genre on MTV.

Best New Wave Songs That Are Actually Covers

Discover new wave hits that were actually covers. Like Soft Cell’s Tainted Love and Blondie’s The Tide Is High, and how they became ’80s classics.

Best New Wave Cold War Songs

Explore how new wave’s sound captured Cold War anxiety, with tracks like Nena’s 99 Luftballons and Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Two Tribes echoing '80s nuclear tension.