40 Years Ago Today - Top 20 New Wave Chart from Record World (1978)

I'm not sure if Record World was the only magazine to have a separate New Wave chart, but it's the only one I've seen to date. Best I can tell, the first New Wave Top 20 appeared in the September 10, 1977 issue and this July 1, 1978 chart was the last (I'll dig a little deeper and get back to you on that). No telling how it was compiled (airplay? sales? club play? payola? flip a coin?). There's also several errors, particularly in artist/band names, but all-in-all, it's an interesting time capsule.

Record World, July 1, 1978, p. 72

On July 1, 1978, I was listening to KRIG-AM, a Top 40 station in Odessa, TX. I might have heard the Nick Lowe and Patti Smith tunes on that station around that time, but I couldn't swear to it. I discovered other bands on this list (The Clash, The Romantics, The Jam, Devo, Boomtown Rats, Blondie, Elvis Costello) a short time later. Other groups listed here I didn't discover until the '90s: Plastic Bertrand, Ian Dury, Modern Lovers, etc. But there's a few on here that have sent me down an unexpected rabbit hole. Even if these aren't new to you, come join me:

• "Don't Do It" by Bethnal 👍
• "Tired of Waking Up Tired" by Diodes
• "Ain't Got a Clue" by The Lurkers
• "Judy Says" by Vibrators 👍
• "On & On" by Pezband
• "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" by X-Ray Spex 👎
• "Another Girl, Another Planet" by The Only Ones 👍
• "Bored" by Destroy All Monsters
• "Get Off My Case" by Rape & Pillage (Streaming not found. To quote friend o' the blog JB: "Writing about a song so obscure that it isn’t even on YouTube: geek achievement unlocked." Heck, this one ain't on Discogs, either.)
• "You Make Everything Dirty" by Jett Black
• "Tele-Tele-Telephone" by Wazma Nariz
• "The Kids Are Back" by The Criminal$ 👍
• "World Friction" by Lora Logic (Essential Logic)
• "Life After Life" by Alternative TV (with Jools Holland)

Note: chart positions 3 & 4 are both covers of The Rolling Stones 1965 tune, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction)"

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Or listen to all the available songs while you're tanning by pool this weekend: