The new wave of new wave (often abbreviated as NWONW) was a British alternative rock scene in the early 1990s. Bands in the scene were influenced by punk rock and new wave acts such as the Clash, Blondie, and Buzzcocks.
New wave of new wave bands included These Animal Men, S*M*A*S*H, and Elastica. The scene struggled after the arrival of Britpop.
Characteristics
Writing about the new wave of new wave band Elastica, author Steven Wells summarised the scene: "The mid-'90s saw a clutch of new punky bands getting a lot of music press attention in the UK. Labelled the ‘new wave of new wave', these bands looked back to The Buzzcocks and Blondie in much the same way that their Britpop compatriots (like Oasis and Blur) looked back to The Beatles and the Small Faces."
The new wave of new wave was short-lived. The NME played a major part in promoting and covering the genre, and promoted the On event, which featured many of the bands they had labelled NWONW.
In a 1994 feature in Melody Maker, critic Simon Reynolds asserted that the new wave of new wave "resurrected punk's ethics of drug use, ie. speed = good (cos it increases IQ, self-confidence, aggression), dope and E = bad ('cos they make you mellow, quiescent and full of love)." Reynolds also observed that ambient techno was a "readymade enemy" for the NWONW bands, "the '90s subcultural equivalent of the mid-70s hippies."
History
In December 1993, These Animal Men (from Brighton) played the New Art Riot concert at London's 100 Club along with opening act Flamingoes. Simon Williams, They initially intended to release only that EP and cease the label's activity.
The new wave of new wave scene was enthusiastically supported by the NME and thrived for a short time while Britpop was getting under way. It was led by These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H.
The scene struggled after the arrival of Britpop. On the subject of These Animal Men, article author James Cook argued that they were "spectacularly right for the mid-90s – ambitious, self-absorbed and hedonistic" and "musically they were prescient too, drawing from punk's mod-glam seedbed: Small Faces, Mott, the Who." He concluded: "in any just world, These Animal Men would have been as big as Oasis." S*M*A*S*H, Menswear, Blessed Ethel,