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Talk:No wave

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Latest comment: 7 months ago by Echoedits67 in topic Chicago scene in the Southern United States

Lacking in history

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The article overemphasizes the No New York compilation and a narrow subset of guitar-based bands, while overlooking the broader diversity of the no wave scene. Important early contributors such as Peter Gordon, Bob George, Boris Policeband, and James Blood Ulmer are not adequately covered. The article also lacks history and context around classical composers like Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, whose contributions were central to the scene. A more inclusive historical overview and clearer organization of influences are needed.

This is copy-pasted from my previous clean up but yeah this article reads really badly when it comes to accuracy of the emergence of the no wave scene, there was really no mention of key band Jack Ruby, a band that had 2 members who'd go on to be strong figures in the no wave scene (George Scott III in James Chance's band the Contortions as well as Boris Policeband), this information was not mentioned until I added it and still not much of a mention of figures like Peter Gordon who are named in "No Wave: Post-Punk.Underground.New York. 1976-1980" as people who put on some of the first gigs in the scene. Chronological accuracies talking about when Lydia Lunch emerged in the scene should also be represented as she was one of the early figures in female punk music and no wave, arriving in New York at just 16 years old.

The no wave history section starts in 1978, when the scene really started developing with Jack Ruby in 1973, and then from there way before 1978. People in the scene even said by the time No New York was released no wave was dead, and it was a comp criticized for killing the scene due to it bringing more attention to the bands featured on the comp and close to no features of other prominent artists. It created this stereotype of no wave that persists today where people just think of the bands featured in the comp as representative of the scene when it was far more diverse. No wave did not mean weird noise rock music, it was a strict rejection of the conformity of new wave music, which could manifest in any manner of form as you see with James Blood Ulmer being considered part of the scene even though he's pretty much just a jazz musician and had little connections to rock music. (Later came what some called the Post-no wave era where some parts of the scene enveloped with the mutant disco scene). Aradicus77 (talk) 01:54, 8 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

Early Rock'n'Rock influence

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This article states:

No Wave is not a clearly definable musical genre with consistent features, but it generally was characterized by a rejection of the recycling of traditional rock aesthetics, such as blues rock styles and Chuck Berry guitar riffs in punk and new wave music.

Rejection of New Wave and late 60s Pop Rock aesthetics is an understandable statement. But isn't it weird to talk about a rejection of early Rock'n'roll when the genre is pioneered by the band Suicide and Alan Vega (as said on the same article)?

As stated on the Suicide_(band) page:

Music journalist Colin Larkin wrote that Suicide, "with their potent fusion of rockabilly and electronic music on cheap equipment", became an important influence on the Birthday Party, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Nine Inch Nails.

This Rockabilly aesthetic can clearly be heard in tracks like Johnny on Suicide's first record, which is a (if not the) founding album of the genre. This early Rock'n'Roll aesthetic is also very present throughout Alan Vega's solo work such as in the track Jukebox Babe, which also had a later version made by Suicide in a minimalist No Wave aesthetic. BUGLITCH (talk) 09:13, 21 October 2025 (UTC)Reply

Editors on this page have tried to pigeon-hole no wave into a specific sound, failing to realize that the scene was incredibly diverse with some prominent artists playing art rock such as Peter Gordon or jazz music such as James Blood Ulmer Aradicus77 (talk) 19:55, 8 December 2025 (UTC)Reply

Chicago scene in the Southern United States

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"regional scenes influenced by New York city no wave would emerge such as Japan's Kansai no wave movement along with the Chicago no wave scene in the Southern United States."

This doesn't sound correct to me. Kazen 90 (talk) 09:39, 15 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

I made an edit to that but it was reverted Aradicus77 (talk) 17:32, 9 December 2025 (UTC)Reply
Chicago isn't in the southern U.S., I'm pretty sure that's what they meant (see the title of this section) Echoedits67 (talk) 17:51, 9 December 2025 (UTC)Reply
@Maestro hz Echoedits67 (talk) 17:55, 9 December 2025 (UTC)Reply