4 New Wave Hits Every 80s Kid Knows Like the Back of Their Hand

For kids in the 1980s, their parents probably hated new wave. Imagine little Jimmy coming home with a Devo record. What. Is. This? Awesome is what it is. And if you were an 80s kid, you most certainly know these four new wave hits.  

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“Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by Eurythmics

Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox were in Australia when their previous band, The Tourists, broke up. Then, Stewart and Lennox broke up as a couple. After convincing a bank to lend them money, the duo bought synthesizers, and Stewart began experimenting on one while Lennox lay depressed on the floor. Then a riff happened, and Lennox got up and went to her synth. “Sweet Dreams” took shape as she sang “Sweet dreams are made of this” over dueling keyboard parts. It remains a new wave masterpiece.

“Shout” by Tears For Fears

Punk disrupted the classic idea of a rock band. Post-punk and new wave quickly emerged, and musicians embraced new technology as sequencers, synthesizers, and drum machines became more affordable. Tears For Fears created a new wave anthem using the Fairlight CMI and other synths and samplers. Four decades later, “Shout” still sounds like an empowering rallying cry. Songs From The Big Chair is Tears For Fears’ masterpiece, and fellow album tracks “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” and “Head Over Heels” belong on this list, too.

“Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club

Boy George sings about trying to be everything to everyone, hiding one’s convictions to avoid friction. Though the lyrics are aimed inward, as George was in a secret relationship with drummer Jon Moss. “[The songs] were written about my relationship with Jon,” George said. “And they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world.” Culture Club’s new wave—true to the band’s name—blended sounds from around the world on its defining hit. But it almost didn’t happen. When George brought it to the group, they said it “was an awful country song.” George won the argument.

“Whip It” by Devo

In the U.K., Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, and others had separated themselves from late 70s punk bands with new aesthetics, slower tempos, and angular rhythms. But Devo’s post-punk also employed synthesizers with stiff-armed drumming and jagged guitar riffs, which helped further popularize America’s new wave movement along with Talking Heads, Blondie, The B-52s, and The Cars. If you could choose only one song to showcase America’s take on new wave, this is it. “Try to detect it / It’s not too late.”

Photo by Robert Matheu