These U.K. New Wave Albums By The Police, Duran Duran, David Bowie And More Are Turning 40 This Year

With the exception of Michael Jackson’s Thriller success, 1983 was the year that the British New Wave acts dominated pop music in the U.S. with their mostly sleek and futuristic sounds, distinctive look, and attention-grabbing videos. The popularity of these U.K. artists and their hit songs in 1983 echoed shades of the first British Invasion of America led by the Beatles almost two decades earlier. Today, their music still resonates with members of the MTV generation even as the sounds, fashions and technology from that era have dramatically changed. Here is a partial list of some of these British acts’ albums that are marking 40-year milestones in 2023.

David Bowie

Let’s Dance

After a number of late ’70s avant-garde albums, David Bowie made a commercial comeback with Let’s Dance. Produced by Chic co-mastermind Nile Rodgers, Let’s Dance saw an accessible Bowie adopting a soul-boy look and sound that appealed to the MTV generation. The results paid off hugely for the legend with a trifecta of hit singles in the the title song, “China Girl” and “Modern Love.”

Duran Duran

Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Coming off of the acclaim of Rio released the year before, Duran Duran’s third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, became another blockbuster for the Fab Five with such hits as “Union of the Snake,” “New Moon on Monday” and the Billboard chart-topper “The Reflex.” Seven and the Ragged Tiger‘s arrival coincided with Duranmania, which took over the U.K., U.S., and the rest of the world in 1983.

Culture Club

Colour by Numbers

Culture Club’s second and most successful studio album solidified Boy George and company’s popularity worldwide. Colour by Numbers was a Culture Club greatest hits record in itself as it contained four Billboard Top 20 singles: “Church of the Poison Mind,” “It’s a Miracle,” “Miss Me Blind,” and the number-one smash “Karma Chameleon.”

Eurythmics

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Touch

1983’s Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) was the album that broke the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart into mainstream success. Accompanied by an eye-catching video, the bittersweet title track has since become Eurythmics’ signature song. Later that year, Eurythmics released Touch, which extended their hit streak with the singles “Here Comes the Rain Again” and “Who’s That Girl.”

The Police

Synchronicity

The final studio album by the Police was also their most successful and triumphant as it went head to head with Michael Jackson’s Thriller on the U.S. chart during the summer of ’83. With hit singles including the mammoth “Every Breath You Take,” “King of Pain,” “Synchronicity II” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” the Synchronicity album elevated the New Wave trio for a time as the biggest rock act in the world.

Spandau Ballet

True

In the early 1980s, Spandau Ballet emerged from the New Romantic scene with their mixture of synthpop and dance funk music. Their third album True found the group doing a 180 with a focus on blue-eyed soul. True became Spandau’s most successful record thanks to the classic and sublime title song, which still continues to be popular four decades later.

Tears for Fears

The Hurting

The debut album by Tears for Fears—Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal—touched on heavy and turbulent personal themes, particularly drawing inspiration from Dr. Arthur Janov’s primal therapy. A harbinger of things to come for Tears for Fears’ recording career, The Hurting contained three of the duo’s beloved songs: “Pale Shelter,” “Change” and the now-universal classic “Mad World.”

Naked Eyes

Burning Bridges

With their distinctive synthpop music and lyrics about the trials and tribulations of romance, Naked Eyes, consisting of keyboardist Rob Fisher and singer Pete Byrne, rode the wave of the Second British Invasion of America. Burning Bridges, their debut album, featured two U.S. Top 20 hits in “Promises, Promises” and a signature rendition of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me.”

New Order

Power, Corruption and Lies

The second album by the Manchester-based New Order, who emerged from the ashes of Joy Division, further cemented their transformation from a post-punk group to an electronic dance outfit inspired by the American club music scene. Forty years later, Power, Corruption and Lies remains New Order’s best record (the American version of the album contained the legendary dance single “Blue Monday”).

The Fixx

Reach the Beach

With the politically-conscientious song “One Thing Leads to Another” hitting the Billboard Top 10 in 1983, the Fixx broke through in America. That song as well as other memorable Fixx tracks like “Saved by Zero” and The Sign of Fire” appeared on the group’s most popular album Reach the Beach.

Yazoo

You and Me Both

The second studio album by Yazoo, made up of keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Allison Moyet, was also their swansong–a slice of synthpop heaven buoyed by the standout tracks “Nobody’s Diary,” “Mr. Blue” and “Ode to Boy.” After Yazoo’s split, Clarke co-founded the hugely popular Erasure and Moyet achieved major success as a solo artist.

Big Country

The Crossing

Compared to the dominant synthpop sound of the times, Scottish band Big Country’s music drew mainly from traditional guitar rock. Highlighting the husky and soulful vocals of the late Stuart Adamson, The Crossing featured the group’s best-known song, the anthemic “In a Big Country.”

Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Punch the Clock

After his earlier albums made him a figurehead of punk and New Wave movement of the late 1970s, Elvis Costello had by 1983 steered his sound towards sophisticated pop music—first with 1982’s classic Imperial Bedroom album and then its follow-up Punch the Clock, which yielded the Attractions’ first U.S. Top 40 hit “Everyday I Write the Book.” Another standout song from Punch the Clock, “Shipbuilding,” featured a divine performance by legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker.

Kajagoogoo

White Feathers

Led the charismatic vocals of singer Limahl, Kajagoogoo fused synthpop, dance and funk music as heard on their debut album, co-produced by Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes. It contained the band’s massive hit single, “Too Shy,” which reached the Billboard Top 10 in 1983.

Depeche Mode

Construction Time Again

Depeche Mode’s third album was significant as it marked the debut appearance of Alan Wilder, who would play an integral part in the band’s sound for the next 10 years. Construction Time Again saw Depeche moving further away from the bright sound of their 1981 debut Speak and Spell and towards a increasingly darker tone (“Pipeline”) while still delivering catchy electropop (“Love In Itself” and “Everything Counts”).

Billy Idol

Rebel Yell

Rebel Yell was the album that truly made former Generation X lead singer Billy Idol a superstar and a familiar presence on MTV. With its unique mix of New Wave and hard rock, Idol’s second solo record was ablaze with standouts: “Catch My Fall,” the title song, “Flesh for Fantasy” and “Eyes Without a Face”—the singer’s first Top 10 single in the U.S.

ABC

Beauty Stab

ABC singer Martin Fry wanted to go for something different for his band’s next album following the popularity and acclaim of 1982’s The Lexicon of Love record. The resulting Beauty Stab was a noticeable departure from Lexicon‘s elegant pop music–harder-edged and aggressive with more of a rock feel.

The Human League

Fascination!

Released in the wake of their blockbuster 1981 record Dare (which contained “Don’t You Want Me”), the Human League’s Fascination! continued the Sheffield-based synthpop collective’s upward momentum; both “(Keep Feeling) Fascination” and the Motown-inspired “Mirror Man” became hit singles off this EP.

Heaven 17

The Luxury Gap

Heaven 17—the synthpop trio of Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory—followed the success of their debut album, 1981’s Penthouse and Pavement, with The Luxury Gap. Like its predecessor, The Luxury Gap mixed celebratory dance music and and lyrics about the current state of affairs. Among its highlights include the tracks “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry,” “Temptation” and “Let Me Go.”

A Flock of Seagulls

Listen

Fronted by singer Mike Score (who had that unforgettable cascading haircut), A Flock of Seagulls was one of the first Second British Invasion bands to burst on the scene with the singles “I Ran” and “Space Age Love Song” from their 1982 self-titled debut. A year later, Listen followed the band’s hybrid of post-punk and synthpop, resulting in another hit song with “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You).”

Echo and the Bunnymen

Porcupine

The early albums by the Liverpool-based group are considered post-punk classics, including this offering from 1983. With Ian McCulloch’s brooding vocals and Will Sergeant’s guitar blasts, the sound of Porcupine was miles removed from the fashionable and shiny electronic-dominated pop of the times. It collected another batch of beloved Bunnymen tunes (i.e., “The Cutter,” “Back of Love,” “Heads Will Roll”).

Wham!

Fantastic

Upon its original release in 1983, Wham!’s debut album was a success for the duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in their native U.K.—a collection of aspirational dance-pop music with“Wham! Rap (Enjoy What You Do),” “Bad Boys,” “Young Guns” and “Club Tropicalia” as its notable tracks. Fantastic wasn’t a hit, however, in the U.S.; its 1984 follow-up, Make It Big, would be the record that properly introduced Michael and Ridgeley to American audiences.