gavreid
Pretty Words...
I still struggle with the ‘pub rock = new wave’ thing as so much pub rock was just traditional blues and pop structures compressed to basics and given a spiky aesthetic. That’s not saying it wasn’t great, but I view it as an intermediate stage before the past was rejected. As stated above for me ‘new-wave’ (as I understand it) threw those structures away and was largely the thing that emerged from the generation (mine) who had read the ‘here are three chords, now go form a band’ rallying call of punk but had time to experiment despite still having little/no musical training. Much of what I remember about being in bands at the time and later into the ‘80s was very consciously rejecting the structures and cliches of the past. Krautrock was the same mindset, it very consciously and deliberately rejected the formulaic blues/rock/pop structures. I see zero overlap between say Gang Of Four or Wire and Cream or Led Zep.
I don't think you can really say that about My Aim Is True or New Boots & Panties, both of which grew out of pub rock but were clearly new wave. I'd argue that Costello morphed further with This Year's Model once he was playing with the Attractions. I agree though it's not possible just to say 'pub rock = new wave' as some of it clearly wasn't.