Post-Punk vs New Wave: Shadows and Shimmers
How Post-Punk’s Gloom and Mainstream New Wave’s Glamour Defined Two Sides of the 1980s
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Audio Note: This audio version was AI-generated using a model of my voice, originally recorded during an old podcast. It's not perfect, but it helps bring the article to life.
Intro
When most people picture new wave, they imagine sharp suits, neon videos, and radio-ready choruses. But running alongside that polished mainstream was post-punk crossover — bands who carried punk’s jagged edges into more atmospheric, anxious, and often darker territory. Mainstream new wave leaned toward romance, glamour, and danceable hooks, while post-punk acts wrestled with themes of futility, alienation, and uncertainty, often cloaked in minimalist or hypnotic textures. In this article, we’ll explore that contrast by comparing The Cure and Joy Division/New Order with Duran Duran🔒 and Blondie, showing how both sides kept new wave vibrant and unpredictable.
The Cure
In the ‘80s homage The Wedding Singer, Adam Sandler’s character plays a song he wrote, while being hooked on the Cure at the time, for his crush. Sure, it was for comedic effect, but Sandler nailed the duality of the Cure. They were equally good at writing earworms that masked despair (Boys Don’t Cry), straight-up doom-and-gloom (A Forest), and unabashedly happy songs (Friday I’m in Love).
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry vs Blondie – Hanging on the Telephone
Melodically, the Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry sits comfortably alongside many new wave singles at the time. The keyboard happily plays in the intro and chorus, and those new wavish angular guitar work their mojo. But the song’s about someone who royally messed up his relationship. Smith’s contrite about it (“pushed you too far, took you for granted”). He says he’d do anything to win her back, but I wouldn’t even call it begging because Smith sounds resigned, like his pleas won’t matter. While contemporaries like Squeeze also worked this formula well (like in Another Nail in My Heart), Curt Smith really sells it with his distinct vocals that trail off in the end like he’s slowly failing at keeping himself together.
Let’s compare Boys Don’t Cry, a post-punk anthem, to new wave founder Blondie’s Hanging On the Telephone. In it, Debbie Harry plays a teenager or young woman who’s falling hard for someone. But his mom spooked him out of contacting her again. In a Cure or Joy Division song, the narrator would slink away in despair and let you know all about it. But being more traditional new wave, Debbie Harry’s not going down without a fight. With her edgy vocal style, and driving guitars and pounding drums to back it up, Harry strongly lets him know her lust (not unlike One Way or Another).
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry (listen on Spotify)
Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone (listen on Spotify)
The Cure – A Forest vs Duran Duran – Save a Prayer
A Forest is one of my favorite tracks by the Cure, and is an excellent blend of new wave and post punk. It’s an ode to monotony and nihilism, post-punk go-tos. It’s explained using Smith trying to save a girl lost in a forest. But the girl is just a mirage, and because of his efforts, Smith is lost in the forest’s void. He’s “running toward nothing”. His convincing follow-up drone of “again and again and again” sounds defeated, and makes me feel like I’m also drifting infinitely. The guitars, drums, and keyboards all do their job in reinforcing this feeling with low-key but never-ending loop.
Save a Prayer by Duran Duran is also a solid slow burn new wave song, but comes at a different angle than A Forest. While A Forest is anxious, Save a Prayer has more of a vigil feel to it. A key contrast is that LeBon is hopeful a woman he met can set aside her hesitation to have a one-night stand with him. And while there’s a slightly anxious tone from him, he believes he can convince her. With A Forest, Smith realizes there’s no hope in changing his circumstance.
The Cure - A Forest (listen on Spotfiy)
Duran Duran - Save a Prayer (listen on Spotify)
Joy Division/New Order
Still reeling from Curtis’ tragic suicide, the rest of Joy Division wanted to make more music but under a different moniker out of respect for their fallen frontman. Enter New Order, an appropriate title. I’d argue New Order is almost a band renaming rather than a brand new band. The Rock Hall strongly believed this and nominated the two bands as one entity (which was never done before). Many just know New Order’s Blue Monday and Bizarre Love Triangle and think they’re a dancier ‘80s or new wave band. But that took a few albums, and their early sound is quintissential post-punk crossover.
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart vs Duran Duran – Hungry Like the Wolf
The lyrics to Love Will Tear Us Apart are a master class in nihilism. Ian Curtis baldly lists to his partner how their relationship is on the rocks, and the resulting fallout. While a lot of songs will say that love will allow them to power through, Curtis goes the opposite route and say it will tear them apart. I’d venture its because it prevents the couple from ending it, and starting the desperately-needed post-breakup healing process. Curtis matches the lyrics well with his despair-laden baritone. The low-pitched synths and guitars add to the gloom and doom.
Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf is a great contrast to Tear Us Apart and also shows key differences between post-punk crossover and mainstream new wave. The latter had a larger share of lustful songs. Michael Hutchence needs someone tonight, Falco’s itching to visit Munich’s red light district again, and now LeBon is hungry for this woman… like a wolf. Early Duran Duran lyrics could get cryptic, Hungry drives home the wolf hunt metaphor (foaming at the mouth, “scent and a sound”, “a howl and a whine:, etc). And finally, Joy Division would be the last band on earth to drop a “do-do-do-do” in his songs.
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (listen on Spotify)
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf (listen on Spotify)
New Order – Temptation vs Blondie – Heart of Glass
New Order’s debut served as a transition between Joy Division and the (somewhat) lighter and dancier New Order albums to come. Around that time, their first single, Ceremony, has the classic post-punk angular guitars, but they sound a bit peppier than before. In the verses, vocalist Bernard Sumner is not far off in tone from Curtis or Siouxsie Sioux. In the choruses though, he’s more dynamic in range, also a sign of things to come for the band. Lyrically though, it reads like fragments of a troubled relationship: a plea for connection, a sense of betrayal, and an almost ritualistic resignation. Sounds familiar. Turns out Ian Curtis wrote Ceremony and even performed it a few times before his passing. New Order releasing a sonically peppier single showed progression, but choosing an Curtis-penned track is to pay respects.
Temptation was a shining example of New Order incorporating dance rhythms in their music. A couple years earlier, Blondie went that route in Heart of Glass and other tracks. But unlike New Order, the music on Glass drew heavily on disco (the demo was even called The Disco Song and the video features Studio 54!). Indeed, for Blondie a track was dancy or not. If it was, they’d double down on that (Rapture is another good example). In contrast, New Order had dance melodies and rhythms baked into their DNA. Lyrically, Heart of Glass has Debbie Harry complaining of the whiplash of love and romantic relationships (“love’s so confusing, there’s no peace of mind”). But its undercut by the upbeat disco sound. And Harry’s carefree vocal style here shows her concerns are a bit tongue-in-cheek.
New Order - Temptation (listen on Spotfiy)
Blondie - Heart of Glass (listen on Spotify)
Outro
The Cure and Joy Division/New Order prove that new wave’s story wasn’t just about pop glamour. Their willingness to confront despair, alienation, and futility balanced out the genre’s playful hedonism, embodied by Duran Duran and Blondie. Juxtaposing these tracks shows how new wave thrived on contrast — the romantic and the nihilistic, the disco and the drone, the lustful and the lost. Together, they remind us that new wave wasn’t one sound, but a spectrum of moods.
If you like this article and want more, check out our collector’s PDF version⧉ for only $9.99. It has:
this writeup highlighting differences between post-punk and mainstream new wave
A bonus section on the Psychedelic Furs (Love My Way vs Rio, Heaven vs Dreaming)
Bonus blurb on why Joy Division/New Order should have been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame
Album-based timelines for Joy Division/New Order, the Cure, and the Psychedelic Furs
an influencer and follower infographic, with Spotify playlists about them
select expert and fan commentary
Enjoy this playlist of post-punk crossover songs, next to some mainstream new wave tracks.