Blog 12 - New Wave Rock

New wave was known as a subgenre of rock of the early 1980s. This subgenre is a great example of rock because it contains all of the elements that rock is known for. The example band that I am going to use to display this subgenre of rock will be the Talking Heads singing the song that I would imagine that most everyone should recognize, called “Burning Down the House”. (I apologize, I couldn't get this particular video to show up on the blog, but here's a hyperlink to it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNnAvTTaJjM

First, the guitar is a very important component to rock, whether it be the bass guitar, the electric guitar, or the acoustic guitar. However, most of the focus and emphasis of the music came from the electric guitar, as was common in rock. Next, there are only four players in this band. Each of them plays an instrument: the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the bass guitar, and the drums. However, three of them sing as well, the drummer being the exception. The size of this group is identified as a small ensemble. The fact that three of the four musicians sing as well proves the emphasis on singing that rock had. Though normally the lead singer may be the one that stands out in appearance in order to make a statement and stand out from the rest of the bands of the time, the whole band had the image, instead of just the head singer. In their music videos, as well as in the recording studio, they had a creative use of technology. If anything, their video should prove this, and also that it was not just blending in with other bands at the time, but it was an emotional, powerful style that no other band had tried quite like this before. They had an excitement and energy that couldn’t be ignored, which came through very loudly.