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Devo
Devo, formed in Akron, Ohio in the early 1970s, built an elaborate conceptual identity around the theory of "de-evolution," a satirical premise arguing that human society was regressing rather than progressing, and the band's deliberately robotic, jerky performance style and matching red "energy dome" hats became one of new wave's most instantly recognizable visual aesthetics. Their 1980 song "Whip It" became the band's biggest commercial hit, and its accompanying music video, one of the first to receive heavy rotation on the newly launched MTV, helped establish Devo's satirical, deliberately dehumanized visual style as a significant influence on the broader new wave aesthetic. The band's formation was directly influenced by the 1970 Kent State shootings, which several members witnessed firsthand as students at the nearby university, and that traumatic event shaped the band's broader satirical, dystopian worldview embedded throughout their music and visual presentation. Devo's combination of genuinely satirical conceptual ambition and their catchy, danceable synthesizer-driven songwriting made them one of the most intellectually distinctive bands associated with new wave, and their visual and conceptual influence on subsequent new wave and electronic acts remains substantial.
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Talking Heads
Talking Heads, formed in New York in 1975 and closely associated with the CBGB punk and new wave scene, blended art-rock, funk, and African-influenced polyrhythms into a genre-crossing sound that distinguished them intellectually and musically from more straightforward punk contemporaries at the same venue. Frontman David Byrne's distinctively jittery, anxious vocal delivery and his oversized "big suit," worn during the band's celebrated 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, became one of the most visually iconic images associated with new wave's broader aesthetic. The band's 1980 album Remain in Light, incorporating dense, layered polyrhythmic production influenced by West African music and produced alongside Brian Eno, expanded new wave's musical ambition well beyond the genre's more straightforwardly catchy synth-pop mainstream. Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme, is widely regarded as one of the greatest concert films ever made, and Talking Heads' combination of genuine art-rock ambition and mainstream commercial accessibility made them one of the most critically respected bands to emerge from new wave's broader early-1980s commercial peak.
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