New Romantic

New Romantic was a British pop movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused synth-pop and post-punk with glam rock's theatricality, producing polished, danceable songs wrapped in flamboyant fashion. Centred on London clubs such as the Blitz, its bands favoured lush synthesizers, slap bass, electronic drums and crooned, escapist singing about romance, glamour and nightlife, in deliberate reaction against punk's austerity. Acts including *Duran Duran* and *Spandau Ballet* became central to the Second British Invasion of the American charts, and the movement's emphasis on image and video helped define the early MTV era.