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Wire

Background information
Also known as Wir
Origin London, England
Genre(s) Punk Rock
Post-punk
Experimental Rock
Alternative Rock
Years active 1976 - 1980
1985 - 1992
1999 - 2004
2006 - present
Label(s) pinkflag, Mute Records, Harvest Records
Website http://www.pinkflag.com/
Members
Colin Newman
Graham Lewis
Robert Gotobed (né Grey)
Margaret Fiedler McGinnis (touring only)
Former members
Bruce Gilbert

Wire are an English rock band formed in London in October 1976,[1] (and intermittently active to the present) by Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar), and Robert Gotobed (né Grey) (drums). London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Post-punk was a popular musical movement in the mid to late 1970s following on the heels of the initial Punk rock explosion of the early 1970s Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre and/or which pushes the boundaries Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Pinkflag is the Record label run primarily on behalf of British art Punk band Wire. Mute Records is a Record label formed in 1978 by Daniel Miller primarily to release his own single "T Harvest Records was a Record label created by EMI in 1969 to promote Progressive rock music and to compete with Philips' Vertigo and Colin Newman (born 16 September 1954, Salisbury, Wiltshire) is an English Musician, Record producer and Edward Graham Lewis (born 22 February 1953 in Grantham, Lincolnshire) is an English Musician. Robert Gotobed (born Robert Grey 21 April 1951 in Marefield, Leicester) is an English Musician. Margaret Fiedler McGinnis (born Margaret Fiedler in Chicago, Illinois) is a London-based American Vocalist, Multi-instrumentalist and noted Bruce Gilbert (born Bruce Clifford Gilbert 18 May 1946, Watford, Hertfordshire) is an English Musician, one of the founding England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Colin Newman (born 16 September 1954, Salisbury, Wiltshire) is an English Musician, Record producer and Edward Graham Lewis (born 22 February 1953 in Grantham, Lincolnshire) is an English Musician. Bruce Gilbert (born Bruce Clifford Gilbert 18 May 1946, Watford, Hertfordshire) is an English Musician, one of the founding Robert Gotobed (born Robert Grey 21 April 1951 in Marefield, Leicester) is an English Musician. [2] They were originally associated with the punk rock scene, appearing on the Live at the Roxy WC2 album - a key early document of the scene, and were later central to the development of post-punk. Live at the Roxy WC2 is a seminal album of live recordings taken from various Punk bands that played the now-legendary Roxy club in Covent Garden, Post-punk was a popular musical movement in the mid to late 1970s following on the heels of the initial Punk rock explosion of the early 1970s

Contents

Overview

Inspired by the burgeoning U. K. punk scene,[2] Wire are often cited as one of the more important rock groups of the 1970s and 1980s. Critic Stewart Mason writes, "Over their brilliant first three albums, Wire expanded the sonic boundaries of not just punk, but rock music in general. "[3]

Wire are arguably a definitive art punk or post-punk ensemble, mostly due to their richly detailed and atmospheric sound, often obscure lyrical themes and, to a lesser extent, their Situationist political stance. Art rock is a term describing a subgenre of Rock music that tends to have "experimental or avant-garde influences" and emphasizes "novel sonic texture Post-punk was a popular musical movement in the mid to late 1970s following on the heels of the initial Punk rock explosion of the early 1970s The Situationist International ( SI) was a small group of international political and artistic Agitators with roots in Marxism, Lettrism and the The group exhibited a steady development from an early raucous style (1977's Pink Flag) to a more complex, structured sound involving increased use of guitar effects and synthesizers (1978's Chairs Missing and 1979's 154). Pink Flag is the first album by the band Wire, released in 1977 Chairs Missing is the second album by the British band Wire. It was released in 1978

The band gained a reputation for experimenting with song arrangements throughout their career. Following their reformation in 1986, The Ex-Lion Tamers (a Wire cover band, named after a song title from Pink Flag) were their opening act. A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. The cover band played Wire's older material, while Wire themselves played only new material on that tour.

History

Wire's debut, Pink Flag (1977) contains songs which are very diverse in mood and style, but most use a very minimalistic punk approach, unorthodox structures, and several songs are under a minute in length; "Field Day For The Sundays" is only 28 seconds long.

 Music samples:

"Outdoor Miner"

Sample of "Outdoor Miner", taken from Chairs Missing (1978)
Problems listening to the file? See media help. Chairs Missing is the second album by the British band Wire. It was released in 1978

Chairs Missing followed in 1978, and found Wire stepping back a bit from the stark minimalism of Pink Flag, with longer, more atmospheric songs and synthesizer parts by producer Mike Thorne.

The experimentation was even more prominent on 154 (1979)[4]. Many of the songs had bassist Graham Lewis on lead vocals.

In 1979, creative differences pulled the band in various directions, culminating in the Document & Eyewitness LP (1981), a recording of a performance that featured almost exclusively new material. The LP came packaged with an EP of a different performance that was also new material. Some of this material ended up being included on Colin Newman's post-Wire solo albums.

There followed a period of suspension (1981-1985) in favour of solo and non-Wire collaborative projects, including Dome, Cupol, Duet Emmo, and several Colin Newman solo efforts. Dome was a Musical group consisting of Bruce Gilbert (guitar vocals synthesizer and Graham Lewis (bass vocals synthesizer Colin Newman (born 16 September 1954, Salisbury, Wiltshire) is an English Musician, Record producer and In 1985, the group reformed. Reforming as a "beat combo" (a joking reference to early 60's beat music or even possibly beatniks), the group became increasingly immersed in electronics. The band released It's Beginning To And Back Again, in 1989 as a "live" album of mostly reworked versions of songs from The Ideal Copy and A Bell Is a Cup...Until It Is Struck. It's Beginning To And Back Again, also known as IBTABA, is an album by the British post-punk group Wire. The Ideal Copy is a 1987 album by the English rock group Wire. IBTABA was based on live recordings, heavily re-arranged, edited and remixed in the studio. One of the few new songs on the album, "Eardrum Buzz", became the band's biggest charting single.

The increased use of electronics on the album Manscape caused Gotobed to fire himself in 1990 when he realised a drummer was unnecessary, even at live gigs. Manscape is an Album released in 1990 by the British post-punk group Wire. In response to his departure, Wire dropped one letter in their name to become "Wir" (still pronounced "wire"). Wir released The First Letter in 1991, which received a mixed reception, but whose electronics-heavy sound was arguably ahead of its time. Afterwards, the occasional collaborative effort punctuated a further period of solo recordings, during which Newman founded the Swim ~ label and latterly Githead with his wife (ex-Minimal Compact bassist Malka Spigel), but not until 1999 did Wire once again become a full-time entity. Swim ~ is a Record label started in 1993 by Colin Newman of Wire and his life & working partner Malka Spigel of Minimal Compact Githead is notable as a rather unlikely musical collaboration that includes Wire 's Colin Newman as well as electronic musician Robin Rimbaud ( Minimal Compact were an Israeli rock band operating mainly during the 1980s and are notable as one of the few bands from that country to have achieved any significant Malka Spigel is a founding member of the Israeli rock band Minimal Compact.

With Gotobed back in the line-up (now using his birth name, Robert Grey), the group initially reworked a substantial chunk of its back catalogue for a performance at Royal Festival Hall. Royal Festival Hall is a concert dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. Great receptions during a short tour of the U.S. and a number of UK gigs convinced the band to continue. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Two EPs and an album Send (2003) followed, as well as live collaborations with stage designer Es Devlin and artists Jake and Dinos Chapman. An extended play ( EP) is a Vinyl record, CD, or Music download which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify Send is a 2003 album by the English rock group Wire. It was their first recording as a 4 piece since 1990 Jake Chapman (born 1966 and Dinos Chapman (born 1962 are brothers and English Conceptual artists who work almost exclusively in collaboration with

2006 saw the re-release of Wire's 1970s albums returned to their original vinyl tracklistings. Rumours abounded of a renewal of activity to mark the 30th anniversary of the band's debut as a 4 piece & the release of Pink Flag in 2007. Pink Flag is the first album by the band Wire, released in 1977 A third Read & Burn EP was released in November, 2007.

In 2008, a full length album of new material entitled "Object 47" is to be provisionally released 07/07. It appears that Bruce Gilbert was not involved in this recording (although, according to Colin Newman, he did feature in a minimal capacity [1] on the third Read and Burn EP, despite having left in 2004) and, judging by recent photographs (April 2008) at the band's website, and a mailing list email sent to fans, is certainly not part of the band touring from April through to July 2008. [2]

Influence

Like The Velvet Underground, Wire are a band whose influence has outshone their comparatively modest record sales. This article is about the band For their self-titled album see The Velvet Underground (album; for the book see The Velvet Underground (book In the 1980s, The Urinals, The Minutemen, R.E.M. (who covered "Strange" on their Document album) and Robert Smith of the Cure expressed a fondness for the group. The Urinals are a Punk rock band from Southern California. Known for their Minimalist approach to songwriting and recording--their lyrics The Minutemen were an American Punk rock band formed in San Pedro, California in 1980 REM is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Michael Stipe ( lead vocals) Peter Buck ( Guitar Document is the fifth studio album by the American band REM It was released in 1987 a few months after their rarities collection Dead Robert Smith, Rob Smith, Bob Smith or Bobby Smith may refer to Media Robert Smith (musician (born 1959 lead singer/guitarist The Cure are an English rock band that formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976 [2] Guided By Voices's Robert Pollard claimed that Wire was his favorite band, and that the fact that GBV's albums had so many songs was directly influenced by Wire's albums. Guided by Voices (often abbreviated as GBV) was an American Indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. One of My Bloody Valentine's last renditions was a cover "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" for a Wire tribute entitled Whore. My Bloody Valentine are an Alternative rock band formed in Dublin Ireland in 1984 and predominantly based in London. The song was selected as a favorite cover at Flak Magazine. Flak Magazine is an American Online magazine, founded in 1998 [5] More recently, Fischerspooner (who covered "the 15th" on their #1 album), britpop bands like Elastica and Menswe@r and post-punk revival bands like Bloc Party, Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand owe a debt to Wire. Fischerspooner is an Electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in New York. The 15th is a song first featured in the 1979 album 154 by the English rock band Wire. Britpop is a subgenre of Alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. For the theory relating to large scale deformations of elastic structures see Elastica Theory. Menswear (sometimes written " Menswe@r " were a short-lived Britpop band in the mid 1990s from Camden in London. The post-punk revival is a movement in Alternative rock of the 2000s where bands draw from of the original sounds and aesthetics of the Post-punk sound of the late Bloc Party are a British Indie rock band composed of Kele Okereke on vocals and Rhythm guitar, Russell Lissack on The Futureheads are a four-piece English Post-punk revival band from Sunderland. Franz Ferdinand is a rock band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 2001 Blur's work, along with many more minor Britpop bands, has been particularly redolent of 1970s Wire at various points. Blur are an English Alternative rock band that formed in London in 1989

Wire were influential on hardcore punk. Hardcore punk (now usually referred to as simply hardcore) is a subgenre of Punk rock that originated in North America in the late 1970s Fans included Ian MacKaye of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat and Henry Rollins, formerly of Black Flag. Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (məˈkaɪ born April 16, 1962) is an American singer and guitarist Minor Threat was an American Hardcore punk band that formed in Washington D Henry Rollins (born February 13 1961 as Henry Lawrence Garfield) is an American singer-songwriter Spoken word Artist, Stand-up comedian, author Black Flag was a Hardcore punk band formed in 1977 in southern California, largely as the brainchild of Greg Ginn: the guitarist Minor Threat covered "1 2 X U" for the Dischord Records compilation Flex Your Head and Henry Rollins, as Henrietta Collins & The Wife-Beating Childhaters, covered "Ex-Lion Tamer" on the E. Minor Threat was an American Hardcore punk band that formed in Washington D Henry Rollins (born February 13 1961 as Henry Lawrence Garfield) is an American singer-songwriter Spoken word Artist, Stand-up comedian, author P. Drive by Shooting. Drive by Shooting is a Hardcore punk EP by what is essentially the Rollins Band as per the line-up featured on the previous Hot Animal Michael Azerrad reports, in Our Band Could Be Your Life, that at Minor Threat's second gig, each of the seven bands on the roster performed their version of a Wire song. Our Band Could Be Your Life Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 is a book by Michael Azerrad (ISBN 0-316-78753-1 Big Black covered Wire's "Heartbeat" twice, once as a studio version which was released as a single (also included on The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape compilation), and also as a live version featuring Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis that was included on the VHS version of their live album Pigpile. Big Black was a Noise rock band founded in Chicago Illinois, United States that was active between 1982 and 1987. The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape is an album by Post-hardcore Noise rock band Big Black. Bruce Gilbert (born Bruce Clifford Gilbert 18 May 1946, Watford, Hertfordshire) is an English Musician, one of the founding Edward Graham Lewis (born 22 February 1953 in Grantham, Lincolnshire) is an English Musician. Pigpile is a live recording of Noise rock band Big Black 's final tour in 1987

Wire influenced the Britpop movement; a plagiarism case between Wire's music publisher and Elastica, over the similarity between Wire's 1977 song "Three Girl Rhumba" and Elastica's 1995 hit "Connection", resulted in an out-of-court settlement. Britpop is a subgenre of Alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work For the theory relating to large scale deformations of elastic structures see Elastica Theory. The rateyourmusic website's popularity rated Wire's albums, as of August 2007 - Pink Flag #4 for 1977, #185 overall - Chairs Missing #3 for 1978, #173 overall - 154 #13 for 1979, #579 overall - Read & Burn 01 #6 for 2002, #159 overall and Read & Burn 02 only available at live shows in 2002 and via mail order #17 for 2002, #378 overall. Rate Your Music is a Metadata database where musical Albums EPs, singles, Videos and bootlegs are rated and reviewed Pink Flag is the first album by the band Wire, released in 1977 Chairs Missing is the second album by the British band Wire. It was released in 1978

Sample

Dot Dash

"Dot Dash", an early single — 519 KB
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles and EPs

Compilations & live albums

Singles chart placings

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK
1979 "Outdoor Miner" - - - #51 Chairs Missing
1989 "Eardrum Buzz" - #2 - #68 It's Beginning to and Back Again
1989 "In Vivo" - #24 - - It's Beginning to and Back Again

References

  1. ^ Strong, Martin C. Hot Modern Rock Tracks (originally called Modern Rock Tracks) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks (originally called Mainstream Rock Tracks) is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on Mainstream rock The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC on behalf of the British record industry See also Musical groups established in 1979 Record labels established in 1979 1979 in music (UK This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989 (2002), "The Great Rock Discography 6th edn", Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-312-1
  2. ^ a b c Wire: Biography : Rolling Stone. Biography. Rolling Stone (2001). Retrieved on 2008-02-09. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.  “b) Inspired by the burgeoning U. K. punk scene, and with only rudimentary knowledge of their instruments, South Londoners Colin Newman, Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis, and Robert Gotobed came together while attending the same art school.
    c) Despite little attention in the beginning, Wire's first three albums are among the most influential on the postpunk era, cited by Michael Stipe of R. E. M. and Robert Smith of the Cure.
    from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)”
  3. ^ allmusic ((( Bruce Gilbert > Overview )))
  4. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2002), "The Great Rock Discography 6th edn", Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-312-1
  5. ^ Flak Magazine: Cover Tunes - "Map Ref 41N 93W," 1-29-01

Sources

External links

Rolling Stone is a United States -based Magazine devoted to Music, Politics, and Popular culture that is published
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