History Music / Wire

It was this incorrigibility, as well as internal tensions, that lead the band to leave Creator/{{EMI}}[=/=][[Creator/HarvestRecords Harvest]] in late 1979, then go on hiatus in 1980, each member retreating to various solo projects. Lewis and Gilbert formed Dome (a.k.a. [[IHaveManyNames Cupol, Duet Emmo, Gilbert & Lewis...]]) and experimented with [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible confusing the hell out of everyone]] whilst wearing awesome hats; Newman, Gotobed and producer Mike Thorne, on the other hand, made eccentric, punk-inflected pop music under Newman's name.

+Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{Buzzcocks}}, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/{{Magazine}}, The Psychedelic Furs, Music/BigBlack, Music/{{REM}}, Music/ThePixies, Music/NewOrder, Music/MissionOfBurma, The Mekons, Music/MyBloodyValentine, Music/DinosaurJr, Elastica, Music/{{Pavement}}, Music/{{Blur}}, Clinic, Music/FranzFerdinand, Music/BlocParty...

Seeing himself as irrelevant to the band's new sound, Robert Gotobed quit in 1991; in acknowledgement of his departure, the band changed their name to Wir ([[NoPronunciationGuide pronounced either as "wire" or "veer"]]) and released ''The First Letter'', which produced a BlackSheepHit in the mournful dance number "So and Slow It Grows". The success was short-lived, and Wir dissolved in 1993.

It was this incorrigibility, as well as internal tensions, that lead the band to leave Creator/{{EMI}}[=/=][[Creator/HarvestRecords Harvest]] in late 1979, then go on hiatus in 1980, each member retreating to various solo projects. Lewis and Gilbert formed Dome (a.k.a. [[IHaveManyNames Cupol, Duet Emmo, Gilbert & Lewis...]]) and experimented with [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible confusing the hell out of everyone]] [[NiceHat whilst wearing awesome hats]]; Newman, Gotobed and producer Mike Thorne, on the other hand, made eccentric, punk-inflected pop music under Newman's name.

* NewSoundAlbum: Practically every new one. ''Chairs Missing'' expanded ''Pink Flag'''s sound to include lengthier songs, synths and moodier soundscapes, ''154'' dipped into brooding Gothic PostPunk, ''Snakedrill EP'' began the band's SynthPop period, ''Send'' and the ''Read & Burn'' EP's were much DarkerAndEdgier, bringing in elements of Industrial music and NoiseRock, ''Object 47'' marked a steady return to the band's 70s PostPunk sound, culminating in ''Change Becomes Us'' being entirely of incomplete music from 79-80.

** Their songs have been covered a ''lot'': "12 X U" by Music/MinorThreat, "Ex Lion Tamer" by [[Music/HenryRollins Rollins Band]], "Strange" by Music/{{REM}}...

** ''Live at the Roxy'' includes covers of JJ Cole ("After Midnight") and The Dave Clark Five ("Glad All Over").
** There was a whole album featuring 19 different covers of "Outdoor Miner" entitled ''A Houseguest's Wish''.

* {{Mondegreen}}: [[invoked]] "Nice Streets Above" is named after one such mishearing of the lyrics. When Gilbert Lewis pitch-shifted some of the vocals from a recording of "Drill", the repeated line "Could it be a, could it be a drill?" seemed to transform into the words "Nice streets a-, nice streets above," which struck him as "an odd phrase".

In 2003, Bruce Gilbert, grown bored of playing guitar and interested in pursuing his solo work, amicably left the group; Margaret Fielder [=McGinnis=] of Laika was recruited to replace him as touring guitarist. Subsequent albums, such as 2007's ''Object 47'', have been more subdued and widely spaced, though the band's touring schedule remains formidable. For their 2010 tour, [=McGinnis=] was replaced by Matt Simms of It Hugs Back, who became a full member of the band for 2013's ''Change Becomes Us''.

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Well, distinct ''single'' album. For ''10:20'', side A was recorded in 2010 (with musical assistance from Margaret Fielder), and side B was recorded in 2020 (with just Newman, Lewis, Grey and Simms). Oddly, the two halves sound remarkably cohesive in spite of the decade separating them.

# 1979's ''Music/{{154}}'', which developed the themes found on their previous effort with added synthesizers and studio embellishments in a NewWave-ish manner.

* ''Music/{{154}}'' (1979) - Darker and more experimental; many of its songs are {{Ur Example}}s of GothRock.

Wire are best known for their 1977 debut album ''Music/PinkFlag'' and specifically its track "12 X U", which, in a roundabout way, [[TropeMakers pretty much started the entire genre of]] HardcorePunk; to a lesser extent, they are also well-known in certain circles for their next two albums (1978's ''Chairs Missing'' and 1979's ''154''), both of which, while quite different, [[TropeCodifier helped define what we now know as]] PostPunk. All three are universally regarded as classics of the era, and each set the trend that Wire would later become notorious for: Every album a NewSoundAlbum, every tour a showcase of new material, regardless of fan or critic's opinion.

* ''Chairs Missing'' (1978) — One of several {{Trope Codifier}}s for PostPunk.
* ''154'' (1979) - Darker and more experimental; many of its songs are {{Ur Example}}s of GothRock.

** "Practice Makes Perfect" has "Waiting, waiting, waiting for us... Waiting, waiting, waiting for us...". Colin only repeats it [[SanitySlippage louder and more unhinged each time]].

* NewSoundAlbum: Practically every new one. ''Chairs Missing'' expanded ''Pink Flag'''s sound to include synths and moodier soundscapes, ''154'' dipped into brooding Gothic PostPunk, ''Snakedrill EP'' began the band's SynthPop period, ''Send'' and the ''Read & Burn'' EP's were much DarkerAndEdgier, bringing in elements of Industrial music and NoiseRock, ''Object 47'' marked a steady return to the band's 70s PostPunk sound, culminating in ''Change Becomes Us'' being entirely of incomplete music from 79-80.