New Romantics (ending)

Music style

Music sources "new romantics" were electronic minimalism, glem- and krautrock. At the same time (unlike the glam stars of the early 70s), neo-romanticists practically did not use guitars, replacing them with synthesizers; The drum machines took the place of the live drums. However, in the compositions of many well-known electropop groups, real drummers also played: Richard James Burgess (Landscape), Warren Cann (Ultravox), Rusty Egan (Visage).

The music of the “new romantics” was mainly electropop (or synthpop) and was, as a rule, danceable. Along with the legacy of Bowie and Roxy Music, disco, funk and rhythm-and-blues were actively used by the “new romantics” as musical sources.

New Romantics

The New Romantics is a musical direction that emerged in the UK in the early 1980s and (as part of a new wave) that had a significant impact on the development of the English pop and rock scene. “New Romantics” emerged as an alternative to punk culture that was ascetic in many of its manifestations and not only didn’t carry social protest, but also (according to Virgin Encyclopedia of 80’s Music) “sang glamor, bright styles and hedonism”.

The rise of the movement coincided with the early flowering of the music video culture. The latter served as a catalyst for the process, since it was precisely in the calculation of the video clips that “new romantics” created incredible hairstyles (A Flock of Seagulls) and fancy robes (Spandau Ballet), actively using bright cosmetics.