What was the ultimate New Wave ballad?

"Lovesong" by The Cure.

"Suddenly, Last Summer"

Power of Love

"Friday I'm in Love" is another good one by The Cure.

Thompson Twins - If You Were Here.

"Mad World" by Tears for Fears

Thread closed

R9 God no

I melt with you

This!

True Colors or Time After Time should be in the top 10, but probably not #1.

"Where Hides Sleep" by Alison Moyet.

"Save A Prayer" Duran Duran. This wasn't a chart hit in the U.S. but it caught on as an album track and still gets airplay.

Thompson Twins, "Hold Me Now."

R12 Ballad, Rose, not new wave techno disco.

“Only You” by Yazoo

You beat me by seconds, r19! Thread closed!

OMD “Love My Way” to me is more New Wave than “If You Leave.”

I love all these songs! Many of them are written in the same keys (D, E, and F major).

Does anyone have synesthesia? I’ve always associated these songs with a beautiful shade of blue. Maybe subliminally from the Hold Me Now video.

Also seriously r12 wtf.

Flock of Seagulls “Space Age Love Song”

A country ballad turned effortlessly into a new wave anthem

^ Too disco.

You should've done a poll OP.

How could you?

Per Bing

Here are some popular 80s new wave ballads that were written in E major:

“The Promise” by When in Rome

“True” by Spandau Ballet

“Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol

“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds

R25, R27, and R28 need to consult a dictionary for the term "ballad."

Funny enough - I saw a lot of these bands just 2 weeks ago at a music festival in SoCal. OMD, Soft Cell, Tears for Fears (Human League, DEVO, New Order, B-52's, English Beat, and Violent Femmes also played).

I'm just saying this to stir up some jealousy. I'll find the exit.

I see this as a NW ballad but can understand others might not see it in that light -

R27 Tainted love was written in 1967

It’s not a ballad

If you wanted a Soft Cell ballad, you should have chosen this one

VISAGE - Fade To Grey

Everybody Wants to Rule the world is a brilliant song and probably the most meta 80s song ever written.

However, it is a meditation on power and powerlessness and would not be considered a ballad, although it shares the same key as many ballads.

Time

R26 has it. It’s “Eyes Without a Face.”

Thread closed.

China Girl

Among the big hits, I'd say yes it's Spandau Ballet's True.

The Yazoo and Culture Club hits are also very good and timeless.

The inspirations built into True include Al Green, Marvin Gaye, and Nabokov's Lolita, quoted: "with a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue".

Paging Howard Jones….

So many good voices, above! Tony Hadley had a great voice. Where are the great voices today?

Oh damn. I missed the ballad part in OP’s post. I was just posting songs that I felt represented that quintessential New Wave sound.

Not really New Wave, but of the same time period. I love Siouxsie's vocals in this. At the time, many of the diehards hated this album at first because it was a departure from the Banshees' sound. Also Siouxsie chopped her hair off.

R45 - great addition to the thread - one of their best songs among so many.

Personally, I would never put Spandau Ballet into the "new wave" category - but I guess it's not a really well-defined term.

To me, new wave had to have a sound that was relatively unique (synth, drums, guitar) and/or have lyrics that were unique, dark, or about unexpected topics.

Spandau Ballet's True is just a fucking love song with an awful sax. Nothing new wave about that at all.

Oh for crissakes Spandau Ballet has been classified a New Wave band by almost every music historian and music critic, ever. As well as by the industry. You have a point that True isn't edgy at all. And that was on purpose.

R47 - right, so if Dolly Parton makes a rock song, then the song is country by default?

"True" is easy-listening adult contemporary and is not new wave, despite the band's previous efforts.

Overruled.

R46's statement reads to be about the BAND, not the song. Be more precise, and you wouldn't have to backpedal.

Everyone here knows the answer is Spandau Ballet's TRUE. You may not like it, but it's the one.

Everyone here now knows R50 is an idiot. He doesn't like it, but it's TRUUUUUE!

I know, I know, I KNOW this much is true.

Autobahn

Captain of My Heart 💜

The Killing Moon

Her*

Save a Prayer

R7

That iconic moment at the end of Sixteen Candles…

Robert De Niro's Waiting!

It's about rape!

Psycho Killer

Life During Wartime

A few people here have no idea what a ballad is.

r48 incorrect

R61 - tell us exactly what in "True" makes it a new wave song?

Just Like Heaven.

does everyone in this thread know what a 'ballad' is? geez

r63

R62 would you just shut the fuck up?! You can ask the same hissy fit obstinate stickler question about half the popular "New Wave Ballads".

[quote]Almost no one here has any idea what a ballad is.

Fixed.

R65 Quick Cliff Notes: dreary, maudlin, suicidal

I Feel For You by Chaka Khan

R66 - you're the one having a hissy fit. I ask for clarification on this topic because people are all over the fucking place.

You're just pissed off because you voted for "True" upthread and now can't justify your response.

And I would agree - Time by Culture Club is not a New Wave song either. But Do You Really Want to Hurt Me is.

Some of the above posts were both new wave and ballads, "True" just isn't. Neither is Eurythmics Here Comes the Rain Again - although it's a wonderful song.

🥰👍🏻🤡👏 noted New Wave artist Chaka Khan in her greatest ballad!

Hold On For One More Day by Willson Philips

R70 no you're being a stickler and a prig. New Romantic is a subgenera of New Wave so New Wave does accommodate the white soul New Romantic stylings. How much edge can you really put in a ballad? You can, but it won't be the "ultimate" if that includes the most popular.

This is TOTALLY New Wave. Again, would you kindly shut your trap, Miss Thing?

I'm posting Madonna, not so much because she's a great example of New Wave, but because the New Wave crowd loved her, too. Including me.

Well if that's the way we're playing it, I'm posting Dusty Springfield Look of Love because she later cut a track with Pet Shop Boys and they were never New Wave but the New Wave crowd moved on to like them, too.

Don't forget moi! I was New Wave Something or Nutter

Billy Idol is not new wave, r26.

Interesting that you’d cite PSB — possibly the ultimate new wave band — as “too disco” but then post “eyes without a face,” which is arguably not new wave and definitely not a ballad.

Mickey by Toni Basil!

My Camera Never Lies by Bucks Fizz

Elvis Costello's Alison, of course.

Aren't PSB mostly categorized as synth-pop, first and foremost. And dance?

Psychedelic Furs, “The Ghost In You”.

Agree with Suddenly Last Summer (Motels), "Hold Me Now," and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." Those songs make me feel sad and wistful (Mary!) and take me back to my very young adulthood.

I would agree that True is not New Wave and, somehow, Billy Idol is New Wave-adjacent, but his music was definitely welcome at the time. Billy Idol was a lot more rock or punkish. Forgot to Be a Lover was a really good song and yes, not a ballad.

This thread has gone off the rails. In that spirit, here's a video of cats dancing.

R83 is a good one.

Apparently it takes an authentic boomer to know what both New Age and Ballads are.

I try by Macy Gray

The Ballad of Mackie Messer

R19 Yes, Only You by Yazoo is the definitive new wave ballad, even after 40 years. The best song listed on this thread so far is Elvis Costello's Allison. But I just consider it a great song that is a ballad, I don't consider it new wave or punk.

Yeah, Alison is not a new wave or punk song. Elvis Costello actually predates New Wave by a couple of years.

Piss On Your Face All Night Long (The Chug a Lug Song)

If you only knew what you're putting me through. Feels like a HEART ATTACK.

Most of these songs are 80s synth pop, not new wave

R91 NO, he doesn't. His first album came out in 1977. There were already new wave records out by other bands by that time. Talking Heads, Blondie, Devo etc. Unless you consider the 80s pop crap like Madonna and Duran Duran to be new wave

The Power Of Love by Jennifer Brush

The gift of life extension by divine intervention.

r94 Provide a clear distinction, then

R98 Alternative style of music that has it's roots in punk rock/garage rock. Velvet Underground were called new wave music back in 1967

r99 That doesn't help explain why you think a specific song doesn't qualify as one

Do any of these songs slap?

I love slapping meat

R99 Cause most of these songs are just mainstream pop songs. Is any pop song from 1980s a new wave song to you then? In that case, the name of the thread could be What was the ultimate 80s pop ballad?

Exactly R103. Understandable that people would post ballads by New Wave bands recorded during the New Wave era. What else could “New Wave ballad” mean?

R104 But what is New Wave era to you? I think that New Wave was already dead by the early 80s with the birth of Mtv and commercialization of that type of music

I'd go with I Melt With You.

r106 You consider that a ballad?

Paula Abdul's Rush Rush

R108 Because when I think "new wave," Paula Abdul is the first person who comes to mind.

As I hate ballads, yes, R107. Thats it for me.

lol r108

Janet Jackson NASTY SNATCH

I do love the Motels Suddenly Last Summer though.

Age of Consent by Joy Division

You Are The Wind Beneath Your Wings by Betty Midler

You are the shit underneath my shoe

Do the pedants have a problem with this one?

Drive was in Post # 5 and no one has complained about it.

r114 That's not New Wave

R118 just that one? Are you a snark and satire free zone?

[quote] Alternative style of music that has it's roots in punk rock/garage rock

Oh, dear.

Oldest Story in the World - the Plimsouls

This might help some of you =

Army of Lovers "Crucified"

3/4 of the songs in this thread are not New Wave and even more are not ballads.

Fuck it, I'll throw in my vote for Tammy Wynette singing "Justified and Ancient".

Love Will Tear Us Apart

Lust To Love...

Avalon by Roxy music. That song still makes my toes curl.

The definition at R122 (Wikipedia) sounds like it would embrace most, if not all, of the pop and dance music that the purists on this thread are rejecting.

[quote]New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture" ... including power pop, synth-pop, alternative dance, and specific forms of punk that were less abrasive. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk

R128 yes I made this point at R47 but the obstinate stickler had to have his stampy feet fun.

🎶 I just died in your arms tonight 🎶

130 comments in and no Sunglasses at Night.

Samantha Fox - Touch Me (I Wanna Feel Your Buddy)

R128 I agree most of the tunes on here are New Wave except for a couple music snobs that think about 100 songs total fit the category.

Thread closed.

Wikipedia says this is a new wave ballad

Echo & the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

R135 So basically any 80s pop music is new wave? If Cyndi Lauper and Samantha Fox count, why not Whitney Houston or Kylie Minogue?

Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi is not new wave, it’s nouvelle vague

R131 Okay, you're getting there. Sunglasses at Night could be considered "new wave," but there's no way it's considered a "ballad."

New Order's "Your Silent Face"

I don't think this has been mentioned yet.

And if it has, it deserves to be mentioned twice.

^ Ballad, r140? Hahahahahaha.

[wuote] Apparently it takes an authentic boomer to know what both New Age

You’re really batting a thousand, girlfriend. I’m not a boomer, I’m Gen X and new wave was our music. Oh, and we’re talking about New WAVE music, not new age.

Should we sign you up for an EEG, dearheart?

[quote]130 comments in and no Sunglasses at Night.

Because it sucked. Corey Hart was easy on the eyes, but hard on the ears.

Some great choices already, I submit OMD - Souvenir

If I Was

The problem with this thread is that folks have different definitions of "New Wave" and "ballad" which makes some of the entries questionable.

However, it's still a fun romp through some very good songs from the past.

Who hasn't been stood-up on a date?

Roxy Music - More Than This

Crazy For You by Madonna.

Karen Carpenter could have recorded it.

Depeche Mode - Blue Dress

every talk talk ballad > every other new wave/new romantic band.

tomorrow started, john cope, runeii, after the flood, i believe in you, etc. RIP mark hollis

R139 It’s a dance ballad you smart hoe.

God - I weep for some of your lack of musical knowledge and history.

For those of us who received abuse for following this musical movement - which relied on stretching your antennaes to hear college stations that MAY play songs you want to hear or a frequency you could sometimes get - meanwhile dressing and acting in a way decisively different in the 80's, we are PROTECTIVE of what the New Wave sound is and describes - even though it wasn't defined formally, as no music category is.

But believe you me (those New Wavers will get this reference), there was New Wave and you knew it when you heard it.

Yes, the Krays R4

Actually my entire play list is the 80s

No love for Under the Milky Way by The Church?

I Melt With You by Modern English

^^^this most definitely!

Ultravox - Vienna

And a more obscure one: Alison Moyet (with David Freeman from The Lover Speaks) - Sleep Like Breathing

Your Silent Face has the midtempo of a ballad and some of the most vivid and evocative synth of the Eighties, but the song is about existential dread. So, not a ballad.

Jesus Christ R21 that’s the Psychedelic Furs. Do people not think before they post?

R152 There's no such thing as a "dance ballad," for God's sake.

R9 ABSOLUTELY

Spandau Ballet IS a new wave band and "True" IS a new wave ballad. PLEASE kill yourselves if you disagree.

ANYWAY...

Something tells me Larry Flick is up in here...

Hey, Larry <3

R113 EXCUSE ME?

Really digging all of these submissions

New wave was already dead by the 1980

A lot of these songs/bands (Spandau Ballet, ABC, Modern English etc.) would be classified as New Romantic, not New Wave. Madonna is neither. Straight up pop.

R170 Material Girl has very strong new wave influences.

Madonna's ballads (Crazy for You, Borderline, Angel etc.) are definitely PoP and not New Wave.

r169 No

R173 Yes

Ultravox "Vienna"

Skimmed thread. Sweet Dreams are made of this/Eurythmics.

This is basically any pop 80s slow/quiet song?

r177 Yeh - at this point - just go for it

R178 In that case second (?) vote for Drive by The Cars. At least they were a new wave act, unlike Madonna