Known Pleasures Ep 34 - Wire

Hit singles: nuh. Hit albums: nuh. Unusually charismatic singer? Unforgettable visual image? Brilliant band name? Nuh. Nuh. Nuh. So why, 46 years after they formed, are we talking about Wire? Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154 might sound like the opening line of a really good poem; it is, though, the list of albums – released between 1977 and ’79 – which, despite making only the barest dent in the charts, remain among the most influential of the era. Beloved by everyone from Johnny Marr to Elastica, from REM to Henry Rollins to Sonic Youth, Wire are still, as Rolling Stone noted in 2017, ‘Punk’s ultimate cult band’.       Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/1VLiKVlWbrLbxvtAkCnGOD?si=-Oa7As9oSNWmfyNdQEz_cw  

Om Podcasten

Known Pleasures takes a look at the highly influential music that washed up in the wake of the seismic splash that was punk. Call it post-punk, or new wave, but from 1978 to 1984 bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, PiL, Gang of Four and Joy Division were re-defining what was possible in this brave new musical landscape of machines, rhythms and electronics. In turns affectionate, amusing and anecdotal, our own Gang of Three former amateur indie musicians dissect the albums, songs and tours that made this experimental era one of the most important in rock history, scattering their own personal recollections and insights amongst the facts along the way. Ever wondered why The Cure’s Robert Smith was playing two shows a night in different bands, where a bridge for suicidal dogs in Scotland fits in to the Talking Heads story, or how the Human League’s Phil Oakey started a nipple piercing craze? We’ll tell you, and more. Welcome to Known Pleasures - this is the way, step inside.