Grapthar's Song of the Day: Wire - 'Map Ref. 41°N 93°W'

in #music3 years ago

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Wire - Map Ref. 41°N 93°W

Wire are a group who I discovered

Wire performing live (Image Source)
well after my teenage years, though I had listened to and loved lots of other punk bands in that time who who absolutely were influenced by Wire, which became very obvious after going through Wire's discography in my '20s. The band was formed in London, England in 1976 by Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar) and Robert Grey (drums) (Source - Wikipedia: Wire). Their early music was definitely a part of the burgeoning punk scene, but they always veered into the experimental more than other groups of that era. By their second and third albums, they were doing things that would be later referred to as post-punk, while other bands were just starting to play actual punk, pushing boundaries and writing more complex, interesting, and deep songs. This song comes from that 3rd album, 1979's 154, which is my personal favorite from the band, though there are amazing tracks on really everything they do. The first 3 or 4 songs on this album are probably my favorites, until almost to the very end, when this song comes in, and gives them a run for their money. This song could've been something from the post-hardcore world of the late '90s/early '00s, and yet was written in the late '70s, proving these guys were lightyears ahead of other groups, and were willing to try the new things and see what stuck.

Listen to Map Ref. 41°N 93°W by Wire here...


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Wire, 154 (1979, Harvest Records)