Pop/Rock » Punk/New Wave » New Romantic

The New Romantics were a peculiar subgenre of new wave. Wearing heavy makeup and dressed in stylish clothing, the new romantics took not only their visual cues from David Bowie and Roxy Music, but also their musical cues. Drawing from Station to Station/Low-era Bowie and latter-day Roxy Music, new romantics created a sleek, synthesized, and danceable form of pop that was designed to be fashionable and transient. More than any other post-punk genre, new romantics relied on style and glamour. Duran Duran was the ultimate new romantic group, and they were the only one to become superstars. New romantic had died out by 1984, but it had a brief revival in the mid-'90s by the Melody Maker-sponsored, non-movement Romo.