One of the most influential, longest-lived British punk bands of the late 70s is also one of the least known among music snobs. With extremely short songs, angular dissonance between guitars, serious political content (as opposed to the Sex Pistols' comic extremism), and non-traditional structure, Wire's debut LP exerted a huge influence on nearly every non-hair metal band to follow them, including PiL (I suppose I should have posted this one first). Though "poppier" stuff exists on this album, "Reuters" kicks things off with an almost climactic example of this new wave. The heavy bass, straight-ahead toms, and guitar drone are a straight, two-year line away from Joy Division. So is the nihilistic worldview; says Colin Newman:
This is your correspondent,
running out of tape:
Gunfire's increasing,
looting, burning, rape.
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