Week 2: New Wave Alt Rock

Shouldn't every new popular genre be called New Wave? It is a new wave of music crashing into popular culture. And if so, is there an Old Wave? I do not know why or how certain things in pop culture are labeled, but I do know that in the early 1980's there was a new sound being brought onto the radio that is defined as New Wave. I found this book today called Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980's by Theodore Cateforis. Part of his book focuses on the Synthesizer, a musical instrument that is usually coincided with early 80's New Wave Music. His take on the instrument is that it de-emphasizes the legitimacy of calling the synthesizer a virtuosic solo instrument as well as blurring the lines between "man" and "machine". Now New Wave is most famous for the synthesizer, whacked out hair, and pale white guys. I'm talking about bands like The Cure, New Order, Psychedelic Furs, and the synth master himself, Gary Numan.