The new wave music of the ’80s helped define a generation with its synthetic beats, swoony sensitivity — and clothes and hair that made artists look like the victims of a paint factory explosion in a wind tunnel.
In the book “Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s,” journalists Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein interviewed some of the most memorable musicians of the genre to find out how it came to be.
Bernstein — who, with his co-author, will host a launch party for the book on April 21 at Housing Works — spoke with The Post about the artists whose style made the phrase “over-the-top” an understatement.
1. Adam Ant
The “Goody Two Shoes” singer had a greater influence on ’80s fashion than most people realize.
“Michael Jackson saw Adam’s ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier’ video and jacket from the original Crimean War,” says Bernstein. “Michael called and said, ‘Where can I get one?’ Adam sent him to a tailor in London, and Michael asked for an Adam Ant jacket, because he didn’t know to ask for a Crimean War jacket.”
The result was the infamous red military jacket that Jackson wore in so many photos from then on.
2. A Flock of Seagulls
This band was a one-year wonder, charting three Top 30 hits, including “I Ran (So Far Away),” in 1982, and then never again. But they remain in our collective memory for the space-age hairdo of singer Mike Score.
Score was one of the top punk hairdressers in Liverpool, styling the likes of Echo & the Bunnymen. His own style happened by accident when a band mate pushed down the front of his usual spiky-all-over ’do.
“If you’ve got even the vaguest notion of what the ’80s were, you think of that hairdo,” says Bernstein.
3. Bow Wow Wow
Best known for “I Want Candy,” this act formed when music Svengali Malcolm McLaren “recruited” Adam Ant’s band to play behind a 13-year-old singer named Annabella Lwin.
McLaren also borrowed from Adam Ant’s look for Bow Wow Wow. Like Ant, “the whole band was wearing Vivienne Westwood stuff,” says Bernstein, referring to the designer who was dating McLaren at the time. Lwin even riffed on Ant’s dramatic face paint and signature pirate hair, with bits and bobs woven into it.
4. Gary Numan
The “Cars” singer’s sleek, alien look was influenced whole-cloth by David Bowie.
“Bowie was the Man Who Fell to Earth. Gary Numan was the man who fell into a vat of hair dye. The way Oasis zeroed in on a little bit of The Beatles’ career, Numan stayed on this little bit of Bowie — the skeletal, freaked-out alien.”
5. Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo is a perfect representation of ’80s ridiculousness.
“The singer had this skunk hairdo, and the bassist had the Bo Derek. They became influential for sketch comedians because it was an easy way to mock the period,” says Bernstein of the one-hit wonders (“Too Shy”). “Thirty years later, bassist Nick Beggs is an accomplished musician who’s played with many people, including Eric Clapton, but what you remember is the beads in his hair.”
6. Thomas Dolby
The “She Blinded Me With Science” singer used his nerdiness to his advantage: “When everyone else was going for this androgynous thing, he cultivated a look like he spent his days in the library,” says Bernstein.
While Dolby, who went on to form a company that creates ringtone technology, has done well — the Web site Celebrity Net Worth puts his at $40 million — the professor look did eventually hamstring him in music.
As Bernstein puts it, “Sometimes you do such a good job of branding yourself that that’s the only thing people see.”
Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science from Mad Hatter on Vimeo.