If my understanding is correct, the “cold wave” became mainstream by streamlining the sound with pop-styled melodic focus after artists in the mid 70’s dropped the concept of guitar-led and cold punk music. Then, overwhelmed France, Belgium, and Poland with synth-driven, gnarling bass lines, that continually were coupled with wayward vocals. They claimed their barbed dance floor punk as native to the harsh environments they lived in and in return, frequently opposed singing in any other language than their own (crackmagazine.net). The whole ideology revolves around less guitar work, analogue experimentations, militant rhythm sections, and above all else, a vehemently do-it-yourself attitude. These artists are like Marquis de Sade (77-81), Jacno (79), and Norma Loy (80s) who I think is most responsible as Loy actually sang in English, opposed to all others of his genre. Asylum Party is another, who brought in British influences but disbanded due to financial issues (85). Now if this isn’t a grand enough appearance in mainstream music, look into Minimal Wave Records, Angular Recordings, Weird Records, and Ghostly International, who resuscitated the genre back to life in the mid 2000s, possibly condemned still to obscurity and oddities, they nonetheless were put back into a spotlight after these revisionist labels opened at the hands of forthcoming bands that are still more modern than their counterparts from the late 70s.
