New Romanticism

New Romanticism (also called blitz kids and a variety of other names) was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and New Wave music. Several music acts from the era adopted the style of the movement and became known to epitomise it within the music and mainstream press, including Ultravox, Visage, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, ABC and Boy George (of Culture Club). Japan and Adam and the Ants were also labelled as New Romantic artists by the press, although they had no direct connection to the original scene. A number of these bands adopted synthesizers and helped to develop synthpop in the early 1980s, which, combined with the distinctive New Romantic visuals, helped them first to national success in the UK and, with help of MTV to play a major part in the Second British Invasion of the U.S. charts. By the mid-1980s, the original movement had largely dissipated and, although some of the artists associated with the scene continued their careers, they had largely abandoned the aesthetics of the movement and the synthpop sound. There were attempts to revive the movement from the 1990s, including the short-lived romo movement.