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[King Rollo]

The whole playlist:



Disc 1:



Disc 2:



Disc 3:



With glam rock in decline, the singles charts of 1975/76 were full of novelty songs and cheesy pop and soul records and there was little for teenagers who watched Top Of The Pops each week to get excited about. Many of them decided to buy whatever musical instruments they could afford and started making their own music. Punk rock came first, a reaction to the corporate rock and progressive rock that dominated the albums chart, as well as what was going on in the singles charts, with the Sex Pistols leading the way.

Inspired by the impact of punk rock, another batch of groups began to be formed and these came to be known as the 'new wave'. Their music was more melodic than punk and less political, often with a sense of humour in their lyrics. Having been at school when all this was happening, it's a genre of music I have a lot of affection for and I've put together this collection of sixty of the best songs from the era. It's debatable when the new wave finished but I've taken it as far as 1984.

New wave is bit of an umbrella term but I've chosen to exclude the ska and 2 tone groups so The Specials, Madness and The Beat etc. don't appear here. There's also no synthpop but don't worry, Buzzjack Presents... Synthpop will be coming soon. There are a few bands here who veer towards the punk sound and I've decided to include The Stranglers but not The Clash and The Undertones.

All the songs were top 40 hits, with most of them reaching the top 10. There are seven number 1 singles which you'll find at the start of each of the three discs. The rest of the playlist is mainly in chronological order. I hope you all enjoy listening to it, whether you know every song already or you make some new discoveries. Let me know what you think.

Thanks to Colm for doing the amazing graphics.