The so-called 'new wave' kept alive the disco craze which had been trashed by punk, and emerged from the wreckage of that explosion in several strands, taking with it a punk sensibility.

The first strand was the Kraftwerk-inspired synth-based sound epitomised by Gary Numan, Soft Cell, The Human League, Depeche Mode and Erasure, the latter two driven along by the songwriting of Vince Clark. The second was the ska /mod revival bands such as Madness, The Specials, UB40 and The Selecter. A third featured the more pop rock orientated sound of Squeeze, Roxy Music, The Police, David Bowie, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, The Pretenders, Simple Minds and Adam & The Ants amongst many others, often referred to as New Romantic or post-punk.

In 1982, MTV, a fledgling 24-hour music channel, began to broadcast continuous videos of new wave bands as a commercial survival ploy, hugely boosting their wilting popularity and launching the heyday of the music video, in which style all too often took precedence over innovation or creativity. The hedonism of the early 1980's reflected itself in bands based in the dance club culture, including Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Culture Club. The era also saw the emergence of a major international act in The Eurythmics and the unique sounds of Scritti Politti and Prefab Sprout.

New wave as a distinct phase was over by the mid-1980's, when alternative rockers like The Smiths and The Cure took over, heralding a stylistic shift towards britpop. The new millenium however saw a mini new age revival as a proliferation of bands mixed post-punk with new age, most notably Bloc Party, Foals and The Kaiser Chiefs in the UK, and the mixing continued as indie rock and electro house combined into new rave, and 1980's film soundtracks, video games, cartoons and ambient electronic music were incorporated into a nostalgic sub-genre often labelled synthwave.

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