Artist Playlists
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Wire was post-punk when there was still barely a punk to be post- about. Simple, yes—at times so stringently they sounded less like a rock band than monks ascetically scraping away at whatever they deemed unnecessary until an essence emerged. Even as they ventured into more self-consciously arty territory in the '80s—electronics, dissonance, ambient of a sort—their music retained a sense of anxiety and restraint that was instantly identifiable, the sound of a body twitching in its own skin. Make no mistake about their seriousness: Wire is serious. But they aren’t averse to being catchy, either—if anything, some of their best tracks had a perversely sing-along quality, like art music made into pub chants. Some bands experiment until they find a lane to settle in. Wire did, too. Then they experimented again. More than 40 years later, they remain restless, vital, and here. - The most influential U.K. group after The Beatles? Check the facts. From 1977's frenetic Pink Flag inspiring American noise rock and hardcore bands such as Mission of Burma and Minor Threat to the atmospheric experimentation of their late-'70s LPs providing a marker for indie rock acts of the '80s and '90s. Even the post-punk revivalists of the early '00s had Wire's sonic stamp all over them.
- Wire's inquisitive post-punk is hugely informed by those ‘70s artists who forged a thrilling alliance between sonic innovation and pop melody. It's an artistic approach led by the propulsive force of The Velvet Underground, informed by the conceptual perfection (and energy) of the Ramones, and shaped by Bowie and Roxy Music's canny synthesis of cosmic rock and outsider art.
- Music warps in Wire's hands. They are principally hailed for artfully scuffed jitter-punk such as 1978's “Heartbeat,” although their excursions into declarative industrial scree and driving lofty rock—such as “Drill” and “No Warning Given”—show that their true ongoing mission is to test the sonic structure of post-Bowie pop music.