New wave of new wave

The new wave of new wave (often abbreviated as NWONW) was a British alternative rock scene in the early 1990s. Bands in the scene were influenced by punk rock and new wave acts such as the Clash,

Characteristics#

Writing about the new wave of new wave band Elastica, author Steven Wells summarised the scene: “The mid-’90s saw a clutch of new punky bands getting a lot of music press attention in the UK. Labelled the ‘new wave of new wave’, these bands looked back to The Buzzcocks and Blondie in much the same way that their Britpop compatriots (like Oasis and Blur) looked back to The Beatles and the Small Faces.” The new wave of new wave was short-lived. The NME played a major part in promoting and covering the genre, and promoted the On event, which featured many of the bands they had labelled NWONW. In a 1994 feature in Melody Maker, critic Simon Reynolds asserted that the new wave of new wave “resurrected punk’s ethics of drug use, ie. speed = good (cos it increases IQ, self-confidence, aggression), dope and E = bad (‘cos they make you mellow, quiescent and full of love).” Reynolds also observed that ambient techno was a “readymade enemy” for the NWONW bands, “the ’90s subcultural equivalent of the mid-70s hippies.”

History#

In December 1993, These Animal Men (from Brighton ) played the New Art Riot concert at London’s 100 Club along with opening act Flamingoes. Simon Williams, They initially intended to release only that EP and cease the label’s activity. The new wave of new wave scene was enthusiastically supported by the NME and thrived for a short time while Britpop was getting under way. It was led by These Animal Men and SMASH. The scene struggled after the arrival of Britpop. Both These Animal Men and SMASH split up by 1998, with These Animal Men having released two albums and SMASH one. The Guardian later noted that Elastica were the most commercially viable new wave of new wave band, adding that they “managed to get themselves co-opted into Britpop instead, the minute that became a better scene to be lumped in with.”

Aftermath#

John Harris and Paul Moody eventually moved on from Fierce Panda Records, but it continued under Simon Williams. Writing in 2006, Harris referenced his part in the coining of “new wave of new wave” in an article for The Guardian. Reacting to the emergence of new rave, he compared it to his own “piss-poor attempts” at “inventing a supposed youthquake,” including the new wave of new wave (which he described as “Britpop without the good bits, circa 1994”) and “the New Eclecticism.” On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Fierce Panda’ founding, Simon Williams reflected: “We didn’t think it was going to last 25 days! That was the whole point. It was just a bunch of drunk idiots saying, ‘We need to pay tribute to the NWONW’ which was a scene we’d completely concocted ourselves, in the same pub!”

Critical reception#

In a 1994 feature in Melody Maker, containing an interview with author Jon Savage about the new wave of new wave, critic Simon Reynolds criticised the new wave of new wave bands as a “too literal recreation of punk,” compared them to the pub rock bands which came before punk rock, and characterised the NWONW as “whiter-than-white rock, mod filtered through punk filtered through the Manics” which “ignores anything that’s happened musically since 1978.” On the subject of These Animal Men, article author James Cook argued that they were “spectacularly right for the mid-90s – ambitious, self-absorbed and hedonistic” and “musically they were prescient too, drawing from punk’s mod-glam seedbed: Small Faces, Mott, the Who.” He concluded: “in any just world, These Animal Men would have been as big as Oasis.” In a 2018 article for Record Collector, Luke Haines of the Auteurs wrote that “the new wave of new wave was only marginally worse than the old wave of new wave back in 1978.”

Notable examples#

Record label Fierce Panda’s first release, Shagging in the Streets, was a tribute to the scene, SMASH, Menswear, Blessed Ethel, and Compulsion.