{"id":526707,"date":"2026-01-19T04:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T04:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/526707\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T04:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T04:51:11","slug":"5-british-songwriting-legends-who-emerged-from-the-1970s-new-wave-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/526707\/","title":{"rendered":"5 British Songwriting Legends Who Emerged From the 1970s New Wave Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you didn\u2019t play heavy metal, prog rock, or arena rock in the late 70s and early 80s, chances are you were labeled as New Wave. Many artists lumped into that genre came from the UK, where they were also occasionally categorized as punk.<\/p>\n

These five songwriters emerged from the British scene of the late 70s. They\u2019d go on to become some of the most revered tunesmiths of the era, even as they mostly left their New Wave trappings behind.<\/p>\n

Elvis Costello<\/p>\n

Costello came bursting out of nowhere with the brilliant debut album My Aim Is True in 1977. Because he was more likely to sneer at a camera than smile, Costello was tagged as New Wave\u2019s angry young man. When he hired the Attractions as his backing band a year later, he revved up the pace and the intensity. But even in those early days, Costello was writing with eloquence and nuance, a far cry from the one-sided approach that some critics believed he was taking. Time has proven him to be one of the most versatile songwriters of all time.<\/p>\n

Sting<\/p>\n

When Sting joined The Police, drummer Stewart Copeland was considered the leader of the trio. But Sting\u2019s songwriting prowess soon put him out in front. That arrangement would later breed resentment and help hasten the end of this outstanding group. But before that occurred, Sting progressed magnificently as a writer, moving from punchy early tracks like \u201cRoxanne\u201d to the complex material found on Synchronicity,<\/a> the band\u2019s swan song. In his solo career, he\u2019s added many more sides to his multifaceted approach to music.<\/p>\n

Nick Lowe<\/p>\n

Lowe was already a veteran of the music scene by the time he emerged as one of the leading lights of New Wave. His time as a member of the pub rock legends Brinsley Schwarz helped him establish his chops as a songwriter. Acidic early solo songs like \u201cI Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass\u201d certainly seemed in lockstep with the irreverence of the New Wave artists. But as time progressed, Lowe showed that he had much more up his sleeve. He eventually settled into a groove as a roots-music-oriented songwriter of effortless cleverness.<\/p>\n

Joe Jackson<\/p>\n

This is another case of a British songwriter who broke out doing one thing but soon flashed his chops in other genres. Jackson was pegged as a bit of an Elvis Costello clone when he emerged on the scene with biting songs like \u201cIs She Really Going Out With Him\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m The Man\u201d. But he shook off those New Wave trappings much earlier than any of his peers. When he scored big on the 1982 album Night And Day, he had adopted a jazzier approach that allowed him to carve out an impressive niche on the pop scene.<\/p>\n

Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford<\/p>\n

We\u2019re cheating a bit by including a two-for-one deal. But it\u2019s impossible to ignore the work that this duo has delivered as the artistic leading lights for Squeeze. Tilbrook (the composer) and Difford (the lyricist) have stayed in the pop lane much longer than the others on this list, although landmark albums like East Side Story proved they could branch out. Anyway, why would they deviate from such a potent formula, one distinguished by Tilbrook\u2019s formidable melodies and Tilbrook\u2019s quick-witted lyrics?<\/p>\n

Photo by Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you didn\u2019t play heavy metal, prog rock, or arena rock in the late 70s and early 80s,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":526708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[20829,171,975,42099,4185,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-526707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1970s","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-wave","tag-rock-music","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115919970890274562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}