‘Sweet Dreams’ explores the New Romantic scene that launched Duran Duran, Culture Club and more
For Dylan Jones, the paradox of the New Romantic music scene is that this British blend of new sounds and styles became a worldwide phenomenon thanks in large part to American television. “The New Romantics were made by America because of MTV,” says Jones, author of the new oral history “Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics.” For those too young to experience it, the scene was one that combined synthpop music with outrageous fashion and makeup. “Without MTV, this pop music would not have traveled around the world with the same speed and the same ferocity that it did,” he says by phone recently from London and his day job as editor...