Pioneered in the late '50s, exotica is easy-listening lounge music that draws upon world music, but doesn't aim for authentic replication. Instead, exotica's purpose is lightweight entertainment that conjures images of foreign paradises.
One of the most eclectic sub-genres in rock music, new wave features the punk-influenced, synth-dominated sound that defined pop music in the early 1980s.
Although MTV-friendly new wavers and poodle-haired metal bands got much of the decade's attention, the 1980s were vintage years for mainstream pop and rock. Kick back to all your favorites from the era of polo shirts and big sunglasses.
The first wave of punk bands in Britain produced some of the fastest, hardest, and grittiest rock music the world had ever heard. Hold on and get ready for "anarchy in the U.K."