Heatwave

CLASSIC FESTIVAL APPEARANCE BY LOWE, EDMUNDS & ROCKPILE IN 1980 • This newly discovered radio broadcast recording presents one of the early afternoon highlights of the festival, Rockpile. • The invigorating sound of Rockpile was based on the strengths of Lowe and Edmunds, who shared a love of late 1950s/early 1960s pop and rock & roll, but who had distinctively different approaches. Edmunds was clearly a retro-rocker, obsessed with the sound of Sun Studios and Phil Spector. Lowe, on the other hand, preferred things loose and ragged and was primarily interested in capturing raw energy and passion. It is this approach that connected Lowe to the punk and new wave scene in England.

INXS hailed from the pubs of Australia, which is part of the reason the band never comfortably fit in with new wave. Even when they branched out into synth pop on their early recordings, they were underpinned by a hard, Stonesy beat and the Jagger-esque strut of lead singer Michael Hutchence. Ultimately, these were the very things that made INXS into international superstars in the late '80s. By that time, the group had harnessed its hard rock, dance, and new wave influences into a sleek, stylish groove that made their 1987 album Kick a multi-million-selling hit.

Elvis Costello arrived as a sneering spitfire, the smartest and meanest singer/songwriter in the first wave of 1970s British punk backed by the Attractions, a band who could match his ferocity. Soon, Costello galloped away from the loud, fast rules of punk, demonstrating his musical and verbal facility with Armed Forces, a 1979 album that contained "Oliver's Army," "Accidents Will Happen," and his cover of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding," a trio of singles that turned into new wave standards. Such rapid musical evolution and switches in style became the rule in Costello's career, as he amassed a catalog that seemed to touch upon every conceivable genre of popular music.