An original Georgia native growing up as a delinquent in the one traffic light town called Dacula in the 1980s, music on the radio and the most peculiar videos on cable television networks were my pass key to validating that there was much more to life than football, homecoming queens and the quest to reaching the top of a shallow popularity meter.

Before MTV, only a handful of artists were fashion-conscious and took advantage of imagery to sell their records (KISS, David Bowie, Blondie). On August 1, 1981 – the year MTV launched in America, video indeed killed the radio star, but it boosted the careers of innovative artists like the Jam, Ultravox and Generation X that defined the decade with their new wave imagery despite the fact that the FM airways had previously denied them access. It was evident that what was shown on cable television now radio’s greatest influence as kids like me spent allowances and small wages on records and cassettes after catching a visually stunning music video on MTV’s 120 Minutes over the weekend. After building a nice collection of alternative ‘80s music in various formats (vinyl, VHS, Laserdisc, cassette, CD), I subscribed to the new wave magazine Star Hits (short-lived American version of Britain’s Smash Hits), started attending concerts at the innocent age of fourteen, and could regularly be seen at the Masquerade’s Old Wave Thursdays with Miss Mary as the ‘90s progressed. In 1992, market giant Power 99 made a shocking transition from Top 40 pop to alternative radio. For the first time in Atlanta history, the chains that bound post modern ‘80s music to college stations left of the dial were broken with the inaugural debut of Steve Craig’s Retroplex on 99x, an hour of ‘80s & ‘90s post modern / new wave music including punk classics, b-sides, live tracks, and in-studio interviews. The Retroplex became the Energizer battery of radio programs for Atlanta’s premier alternative station for fifteen years until 99x was restructured and Craig relocated to New York in 2008.

Currently, with Atlanta radio becoming more predictable each month, finding classic alternative music on the dial is quite a challenge. It has almost become circularly underground once again. As a blogger on 99x, I would like to shed a little light on the new wave ‘80s for today’s alternative nation. My objective is to provide you, the reader, with detailed insight on classic ‘80s artists like B-Movie, the Thompson Twins and ABC, plus updates on where they are today. Many artists have resurrected in the studio and back on the touring circuit, albeit less than their original forms, playing large scale venues and making contemporary yet signature-sounding albums that please both their aging audiences as well as Generation Y. New albums, flashback concerts and all-access interviews will be shared and posted as I settle into my space here on 99x. Is it all ‘80s, all the time? It would be of great disservice not to introduce you to bands like The Mary Onettes, Foxglove Hunt and Germany’s Rename. Whereas most pioneering synth-pop and post-modern bands called England their home, an entire crop of American and Swedish electro, post-modernists are making their own waves across the U.S., Europe and Germany without the support of large, corporate record labels. However, rest assured; they will be given my support. Look out for cd releases as well as concert announcements and interviews of these bands as well.