Music For New Romantics / Various [Import]

• Track Listing

Three CD set celebrating the music played at legendary late 70s and early 80s clubs such as The Wag in London, Pips in Manchester and The Rum Runner in Birmingham. In the aftermath of punk and inspired by the glamor of the likes of David Bowie, young elites in England's major cities threw off the shackles of damp and dreary turn-of-the-80s Britain and sought something more refined and cultured than punk's primal howl. Armed with wardrobes full of colourful and outrageous second-hand clothes, cheap make-up, extensive record collections, their own extroverted imaginations and an urge to dance (not pogo), a collection of DJs, dancers and junkshop fashionistas would frequent popular dance clubs. The resulting scene would famously go on to spawn countless 80s pop scene faces and trigger what became the New Romantic movement. Curated with help from London boy-about-town and DJ Chris Sullivan, and featuring a smorgasbord of glam rock, proto-punk, electronica, disco, funk and camp 60s curios, Music For New Romantics captures something of the spirt of a night out at that remarkable, unique nightspot. From the pre-punk rock of Alice Cooper, Iggy and Lou Reed, through the futuristic sound of The Normal, John Foxx, New Order and Visage and into the imported New York cool of Tom Tom Club, Coati Mundi and co, this is a deep dive into the eclectic and eccentric listening habits of a group of people determined not to be swallowed by punk's gloomy reflections of British society, and to create a fantastical and improbable world all of their own.

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