And then the nineties died another time

Will Bill Clinton's My Life be the only thing that survives of my favorite decade? Now it's Comdex that has expired due to neglect.

Seth Warshavsky, Judge Kimba Wood, Jake Fogelnest, Marc Andreessen, Sister Souljah, Marcia Clark, Jenny McCarthy: thou should'st be living at this hour!

[Clarification: Rick Barton notes in the comments that Comdex actually started in 1979, and that New Wave roolz.]

Comments

[Ken Shultz]

But CES lives on.

[Ruthless]

Tim Cavanaugh,
Do other members of the Reason staff know you are posting solo?

[Lisa Simpson]

Tim, you so funny with your Clinton-era minutiae. Are you a panelist on the upcoming I Love the '90s? (I'd rather see an I Love the '60s.)

[thoreau]

How long before we get That 90's Show?

[Eric II]

"But CES lives on."

As do CeBIT and CTIA. Comdex's death isn't as much a sign that the technology industry has lost its glamour as it is a sign that the PC-centric view of the industry has fallen by the wayside. So many of the truly eye-catching developments in the IT world now involve the mobile phone and consumer electronics industries, and other conferences are already doing a good job of satiating the technolust spawned by those realms -and in the case of CeBIT, doing so while still providing some digital candy for the PC die-hards that are still around.

[joe]

Kimba Wood got hosed.

OTOH, exactly how frightened would high level organized crime be of "Attorney General Kimba?"

[Rick Barton]

Will Bill Clinton's My Life be the only thing that survives of my favorite decade? Now it's Comdex that has expired due to neglect.

Hang on there! Comdex is a creation of the 80s as it got starteed in 1980 or 81....Ok, that's an opening and I'm going with it. Sorry, I just did this not too many threads ago but....

Does anybody else here like New Wave music a lot? Missing Persons, Human League, Blondie, Devo, Talking Heads, Kajagoogoo, Gogo's, Softsell, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, Bananarama, A Flock of Seagulls, Gary Numan, Berlin, Vapors, Wall of Voodoo, The Cars, Duran Duran, Modern English, Thomas Dolby, etc, etc.

The genera still seems like a very special phenomenon to me. It was hyper-creative with lots of appealing style and verve, very fun and the girls were really cute as well!

[Fred Gillette]

Warren, I was wondering what area rock was. But anyway the 70's were OK for the first three years. But that Punk stuff was not cool at all.

[Douglas Fletcher]

"Does anybody else here like New Wave music a lot? "

Did you know Ariel Sharon was briefly in a New Wave band during his hiatus?

[MALAK]

No. But the thought of THEM going commando is enough to make my berries wither.

[Lisa Simpson]

Rick, that's the third time now I've seen your same form-post about New Wave. Zzzzz. Start a web page if it interests you so much.

[LeprosyFace]

Ah, for the nineties.

I, for one, see Jake Fogelnest all the time nowadays, and it's frightening. He's around NYC quite a bunch, especially around the UCB Theatre...he directed a show a friend of mine was in. The man is everywhere.

And his laugh is hideous...

I mean, he's a good guy and all, but...he's a strong draught.

[joe]

"Blink 182 is punk? Makes me wanna drive my bitchin' camero into a bridge abuttment."

Yeah. They spit on Darby Crash. Such a fucking moron man. He was a punk in 75.

No googling, who gets it?

[Rick Barton]

Lisa,

Well; I only do it when it's not too far off topic, and it always generates some follow up posts...I mean besides ones like yours telling me to stfu 😉 In the future, if you see a post from me about New Wave music, you may just avert your vision.

Ok then, I've gotta take off the Oingoboingo and put on some Thomas Dolby to listen to while I check Ebay for Bananarama posters before I go to the retro club tonight....:)

[joe]

Rick,

Don't the other paleocons make fun of your eyeliner?

[Stewart Vardaman]

Jenny McCarthy....mmmmmmm. Saw her on TV sometime in the last year, and she still looks pretty hot.

[Bill Brown]

Jenny McCarthy has a new book out on pregnancy. She's even hot preggers.

[Warren]

New Wave was the death knell of youth music. The 50's spawned rock-n-roll, the 60's exploded in several directions.

Those of us who lived through the 70's often thought it was a gallstone of a decade. While area rock did become more plastic and uniform, we still had Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, and the Stones left over from the 60's and while firmly planted in the corporate mold, bands like REO, Rush, and Van Halen still rocked.

New wave was fresh and... well 'new'. Something long overdue. BUT it brought with it the video and ever since, the music has never been more important than the look. Now I'm middle-aged and when I say that all the kids listen to today is crap, I know exactly how little weight that carries. Still, I absolutely believe it. I also think the internet will kill the RIAA and a brave new world of sound is even at this moment being born.

[Rick Barton]

What, Oingo Boingo's too butch to make the New Wave cut?

Ah yes. Oingo Boingo, one of my fave of the New Wave. Libertarian oriented tunes as well!

"Capitalism", "Grey Matter", "Wake Up!(It?s 1984)", "New Generation", "Not My Slave".

[Warren]

While arena rock...

[Rick Barton]

"Did you know Ariel Sharon was briefly in a New Wave band during his hiatus?"

Yeah, I heard they were a killer band.

[DaveInBigD]

when I say that all the kids listen to today is crap, I know exactly how little weight that carries.

Aw, come on. You know you listened to a lot of crap back in the day. Hell, I think I've still got a Huey Lewis and the News LP gathering dust in my folks' house.

For my money, the kids are on to something with their Tool and A Perfect Circle, and a few others.

I'm just glad that Tenacious D and The Darkness are giving glam-rock/hair-metal its due.

Actually if you want to despair, listen to what the kids are calling 'punk' these days. Blink 182 is punk? Makes me wanna drive my bitchin' camero into a bridge abuttment.

Not sure a bunch of dynamists should be lamenting Comdex succumbing to market forces, though, should we?

[Rick Barton]

Correction: The first Comdex show was in 1979...close enough. Some great New Wave music acts got started in the late 70's as well.

[MALAK]

Yeah Rick, I'm with you. I can remember seeing the Bangles at college. Front row, and the girls in the band went commando. Yowza!

[Tim Cavanaugh]

What, Oingo Boingo's too butch to make the New Wave cut?

[Rick Barton]

joe,

I said that I like New Wave. I didn't say that I'm English! 😉

[Kevin Carson]

I was never big on New Wave, although I did like Devo. With the exception of some punk, I think of the 80s as a vast musical wasteland.

For me, the grunge of the early '90s was a breath of fresh air after a decade of hair bands, "R&B" [sic], and keyboard and drum machine pop. Living today in the age of Britney and Justin and the rest of the Mickey Mouse Club alums, it's hard to believe there was a time when Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots dominated the Top 10.

[Rick Barton]

Kevin,

My experience was similar. I found most of the pop music of the mid-70's so not to my taste, that I mostly only listened to 60's "oldies" and classical music.

When the Wave hit, it filled a real void for me. Blondie, Culture Club, the Heads and Devo were not only current bands whose music I really enjoyed, they also sported an edgy attitudinal difference as well. It fit in well with my libertarian sensibilities.

The appealing style of New Wave, in combination with the music video (as Warren at June 25, 10:32 AM points out) did render, to this day, the visual component of rock a much elevated importance. But, for me it was worth it since all those New Wave videos are still fun to watch.

My personal adoption of New Wave fashion was limited to Devo-esque sunglasses. I did however much enjoy the whole look on the girls.

[Rick Barton]

My last post was directed to kevrob. Serendipity intervened and Kevin Carson posted a minuet before I did.

[Rick Barton]

Oh oh. Bananarama image links. Yeah Baby! Lisa Simpson, please don't get mad at me.

http://www.pure80spop.co.uk/Images/poppics/bananarama2.jpg

http://www.hakushouse.com/images/RnR45/0a0630g.jpg

http://www.inmusic2000.de/POP_Queens/M-POP_Queens/A-POP_Queens/B-POP_Queens/bananarama01.JPG

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/features/wallpaper/images/800/bananarama.jpg

[Rick Barton]

Malak,

That sounds like a wonderful concert. The Bangles had some great tunes and Susanna Hoffs was really WOW!

[Rick Barton]

Here are the lyrics for some of Oingo Boingo's more libertarian songs.

http://members.aol.com/thegneech/elflib.htm

[Rick Barton]

Hey Lisa Simpson,

Of course Danny Elfman, lead singer and oft time writer for Oingo Boingo wrote the theme song for "The Simpsons". Is that better? 🙂

[kevrob]

Rick, we can all take comfort that we are all DEVO.

[cue The Devo Corporate Anthem, and
follow it with Freedom of Choice.]

Kevin R.

[Rick Barton]

ARE WE NOT MEN?

[kevrob]

Joe:

People shouldn't spit on each other. It spreads Germs.

REO et al did NOT rock. They were one of a myriad of soulless, formulaic hack-bands that called forth punk rock to scour them from the turntables of anyone who wanted real rock and roll.

Journey. Foreigner. Supertramp. Kansas. Yes. Boston. Starship. Bad Company. Genesis. The Hair Bands. Guitar-hero wankers, Doodly-Noodly Progs, and aahhtt-rockers. I hated them, all of them. They drove me to seek out roots music of all kinds - blues, folk, bluegrass, rock-a-billy, country, jazz, jump, r&b - anything but the schlock that passed for rock-n-roll in the early 1970's.

The CBGB's bands and Stiff Records saved the decade from being a rock wasteland. Don't even get me started on disco.

And Springsteen was kinda OK.

Kevin
(had some skinny ties, but never bothered with the poufy hair.)

[Rick Barton]

Lisa Simpson,

Thank you for not getting after me for making all these further posts concerning New Wave on this thread. If I ever bring it up again (I probably will, "ever" will be a long time, at least I sure hope so) I promise not to use the exact same form post. 🙂

[kevrob]

Rick, if the Illinois GOP convinces the former Governor Ed to run for U.S. Senator against Obama, we can reunite him with former Governor Tommy, and the Thompson Twins will live again!

Of course, they are immortal in the pages of Herge's Tin Tin.

Kevin

[Rick Barton]

Kevin,

They could use "You Take Me Up" for a campaign theme song and rally the volunteers with "The Gap" as they close in on the Dems.

Yeah, they were named after the Tin Tin cartoon and that robot that they had on stage with them was called the "Tin Twin".

I'm listening to their CD, "Into the Gap" as I type. What a smart looking crew:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.finnegan/

btw; I have their "Summer 1984 N.A. Tour" poster. I saw them in Boulder that year. Did you ever see them up there in Brewtown?

[Jake Fogelnest]

I'm really sorry about my laugh. I know it's loud and annoying but I can't help it. It's just the way it comes out.

[Rick Barton]

WE ARE DEVO!

[kevrob]

I never got to hear TT live, but I do have a copy of Into The Gap on vinyl, somewhere, I think.

Alannah Currie had the best hair!

Kevin