A lot of the bands who benefited from the punk explosion at the end of the seventies weren’t punk bands at all. Artists such as Elvis Costello weren’t banging out two-chord tracks about being on the dole – but the rapid growth in independent labels and the subsequent frenzy as major labels tried to claim back their unrighteous hegemony gave opportunities to a host of musicians who had been struggling to get airplay. So ‘new wave’ was coined as a catch-all style: sharing an independent spirit with the punks, but choosing different subject matte and often a very different method of delivery. For a more recent parallel, think Radiohead rising up on the back of Britpop. Here we go: 30 questions in two equal parts.
Answers: here
1 Who sang the archetypal song about ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll’? The B-side was a song called ‘Razzle in My Pocket’ – what was ‘Razzle’?
2 Which murderous single from 77, the first Talking Heads album, helped to bring the band their first taste of cult success? Which song from their fourth album Remain in Light gave them their first UK Top 20 hit in 1981?
3 ‘Take Me, I’m Yours’ was the first single by which group, who formed in London in the late seventies? Who started his career as the band’s keyboard player?
4 Why Don’t You Kill Yourself? is the blackly humorous title of a 2004 compilation of music by which new wave band, bringing together the three albums they released between 1978 and 1980? What’s the title of their third album, which contains the track that gave its name to the compilation?
5 Who joined Talking Heads from the Modern Lovers, another New York new wave band, in the early seventies? Who went on to lead the Modern Lovers into the UK Top 5 with ‘Egyptian Reggae’ in 1977?
6 What was the 1975 debut single by Television? What was the second single from their debut album, which gave the band their biggest UK hit?
7 Who was the lead singer and guitarist in the Stranglers from 1974 until 1990? Who has filled the same role for the band since 2000?
8 Which two singles took Nick Lowe into the British Top 10?
9 What was the only cover version to appear on any of the eight Talking Heads studio albums? Featuring the singles ‘Road to Nowhere’ and ‘And She Was’, which album took the band into the Top 10 of the UK albums chart for the first time?
10 Who are the two main songwriters in Squeeze, who both contribute vocals and guitar to the band?
11 Which mod band included a cover of the theme from the 1960s TV show Batman on their debut album? What was the album called?
12 Magazine, Visage, Siouxsie & the Banshees and Public Image Ltd all feature on the CV of which pioneering guitarist? What’s the title of the debut single by Magazine on which he announced himself to the world with a searing guitar solo?
13 What was the debut single by cult new wave band Devo, which also appeared on their B Stiff EP? Which jerky cover of a Rolling Stones song appeared on the same collection?
14 The Clash never reached the UK Top 10 until a 1991 e-release of which track from Combat Rock shot to number one on the back of a Levi’s ad? Although two other albums got higher in the charts, what has been their biggest-selling album?
15 What was new in the title of Ian Dury & the Blockheads’ debut album in 1977? What mock title did Dury give himself in a controversial single four years later, written as a protest against what the singer saw as the patronising International Year of Disabled Persons?
16 Apart from ‘I Only Want to Be with You’, what was the Tourists’ only other UK Top 10 hit? Which group did two members go on to form after the Tourists had broken up?
17 Where didn’t Elvis Costello want to go? And what did ‘The Angels Wanna Wear’?
18 Which single from Plastic Letters gave Blondie their first British hit, reaching number two in 1978? Incorporating elements of disco into their new wave sound, what became their first UK number one a year later?
19 Which American landmark lent its title to the first major UK single release by XTC in 1978? And what became their first British Top 10 hit four years later?
20 John Foxx was the leader of the seventies incarnation of which band, who went on to enjoy great success in the eighties? Who replaced him and helped move the band towards a smoother, more commercial sound?
21 Which seven-and-a-half minute track closed Rattus Norvegicus, the Stranglers’ debut album, and showed that while their aesthetic may have been punk, their sound was far ahead of the game? What was their debut single, which featured a Welsh miner named Eric Clarke playing the saxophone?
22 Who was the keyboard player in the Attractions, Elvis Costello’s backing band for much of the first half of his career? Which instrument did Costello play himself?
23 Who enjoyed chart success with the 1979 re-release of his first single ‘Is She Really Going Out with Him’? What was the singer (or stand-in model) wearing on the cover of Look Sharp!, his debut album?
24 What’s the title of Elvis Costello’s fourth album, an exploration of sixties soul sounds and ska beats? Which song from the album, also a single, had originally been recorded by soul duo Sam & Dave?
25 Which Blondie single was a cover of a track by the Nerves, an influential pop-punk band from the mid-seventies? What’s the other cover on Parallel Lines, a straight reworking of a Buddy Holly song?
26 Which band’s second album included a 14-minute version of the Lord’s Prayer? What’s the title of their debut album, which combined basic punk thrash with startlingly sophisticated sounds?
27 Whose single ‘The Sound of the Suburbs’ was used as the title for a big-selling punk compilation some years later? Taking his surname from a British supermarket chain, who was the band’s singer?
28 Who was the tremolo-voiced original singer with Ulster punk band the Undertones? What’s the title of the opening song on their second album Hypnotised, an acknowledgement of the fluffy nature of their lyrics and a spoof of the Talking Heads’ album title More Songs about Buildings and Food?
29 What were the adopted ‘Ramones’ names of the band’s three main drummers? Which drummer, best known for his work with Blondie, played two gigs with the band as a stand-in under the name Elvis Ramone?
30 How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is the debut album by which American pop-punk band? Who has been the band’s singer and mainstay for all 16 of their albums?