map ref 43 degrees N 110 degrees W WIRE 16/18

[PeregrineTrousers]

Totally unbraided...

[TheTCBandage]

The map reference plants you squarely in Des Moines, Iowa-

[theerium]

di chi porco dio sono i non mi piace?

[mtcjoseph]

When we were young.

[perryhall1991]

the people in the audience have no idea what to do

[MrSKINFLICK]

@perryhall1991: They were listening. And i was among them. I was half a punk but what should i and my few friends have done there - should we have killed them ? I t was the "transgression" time period from hippiedom to punk area. Germany was slightly a bit later, sorry.

[MrSKINFLICK]

@autosloper: C´mon hippiedom was not the fashion of the day anmore in 1979, most of them had still longer hair because they did not dare going to a haircutter. Period. You underrate Germans.

[misssooshi]

Holy crap this is great. I've owned this album for ....damn...this is so good, I'm so glad we can see these clips now.

[PAULLONDEN]

Great...but...too sparse ,where is that synth...?

[CONSIDERABLYMORE1]

This is ok other than the fact the main hook gtr line in the 2nd chorus is missing. It is perfromed like a totally unfinished song.

[garageland1982]

Anyone else notice that the caption at the beginning (0:44) reads Map Ref 93 degrees north 110 degrees West....?

[MilitantScience]

The audience don't get it, they look like they're there to see Peter Frampton; Not the most important band of 79.

[MrSKINFLICK]

@MilitantScience:You can´t expect a lot from a somehow dry TV studio atmosphere+something like100-200people sitting there.For THAT occasion the crowd(most of which might have hardly known WIRE-sometimes technicians/other staff of the TV stations give tickets to friends or relatives!)was very friendly.A crowd of that number in SUCH a studio atmosphere will hardly ever get too enthusiatic.I´m the guy in the striped shirt second left to the guy with the red sweater+i´m even shaking!Funny time trip!

[PAULLONDEN]

@MrSKINFLICK Come on..you make it sound like a privileged east bloc gathering. thisis somewhat of an introspective band.How great they were , but hardly dance material...;]

[MrSKINFLICK]

@PAULLONDEN: Depends what you understand by "dance material"....which can always vary.....and many people around the globe don´t always need dance material.....

And yes YOU ARE RIGHT - it WAS a privileged east bloc gathering, don´t you see all the hard-liner communists and KGB secret agent-Tamaras in the audience ? 

[xyaqua]

Okay, i tried getting to 41 x 93 recently. it's a cow pasture outside of Albia IA, Those cows never had it so good...

Seriously, it would have been a 1000 meter invasion into a cow field, i didn't have the time (or the guts) to ask around. but it was a bit of a pilgrimage. Worth it none the less.

How freaking cool. :-0

[grubbiemac]

OMG! All these years later I can now see Wire perform the tracks I could only listen to on John Peel way back then. Mega!!

[xyaqua]

One of Wire's best songs ever, on OGWT no less. Wire is THE most under-rated band ever. every live concert is a treat, every album is a creation with unique focus. God-genius level artists, these.

[rgonko]

WIRE Live at WDR TV ROCKPALAST studio

[gahan101]

The vocals on the last chorus are a bit hasardous! In a different style,i prefer My bloody valentine's version.

[moyajc]

Quality harmony on the last chorus!

[MrSKINFLICK]

you say it ... and i experienced it LIVE....damn hot german summer night......and i must underline that colin is one of the funniest and most erotic male persons i´ve seen inside that biz on stage.....

[caiofons]

they made this song for "google earth" before it existed.

[PAULLONDEN]

Yeh!....nice train of thought

[xyaqua]

Mega Giga Tera Peta!!!!!

[xyaqua]

I was a freshman in HS when they did this. Wow. I have so little to connect me with back then. What a head trip, thank you so much. Wire are worth the effort!

[echoplus2020]

goddamn it's so hard to like music that comes out today when you know about bands like Wire. Almost nothing today is original, just a rehash of the greatness that came before.

[danhardwick77]

This still sounds fresh today, shows how far ahead of their time they were.

Wire have more ideas in one song than most bands have on 4 albums.

[CandyPsycho]

I've read sth similar with regards to Yo La Tengo's 'Shaker' ('makes more things happen in 3 minutes than most bands manage within 3 albums' or sth like that). And, yeah, I obviously agree with you. The problem with this particular song (or 'Outdoor Miner') is that it makes you crave for more timeless pop while the band are already busy pursuing a 100 other directions. The entire '4AD school' was based on a single chord buried within one of Wire's songs - I just can't recall which one.

[cupcakechagrin]

wow! what a perfectly beautiful song.

[michaelmichael5555]

Did they change the song title from 43°N 110°W to 41°N 93°W for the recorded version ? I looked it up on google earth, the first place is in western Wyoming, the second near Albia in Iowa.

[xyaqua]

isn't 41 n 93W roughly the geographical center of the 48 states? Wouldn't 43n 110W be the center of the 50 states?

Darn it, now i'm goingto have to go to wyoming as well.

Freaking awesome state, a bit homophobic, but they are mellowing out.

sort of like duran duran, they loved the rio grande, had a love affair with the States!

[SecondsToLast]

I'm guessing that it was just a mistake made by the TV program.

[xyaqua]

Oh well there goes that theory. I'm still taking aerial pictures of 41n 93w next time i'm flying that way..

Some farmer come out looks at this plane circling a few times, no idea that the band Wire even exists...

[scs3000]

"Chorus"

Man, groundbreaking tune for Wire. This is way beyond post punk.

[xyaqua]

Wire is so far beyond normal pop it is indescribable. even 25 years ago, they were so cool.

Wire are cooler than Antartica.

[electrobooty]

@scs3000

chorus....

[CONSIDERABLYMORE1]

@scs3000 would have been if either of them had remembered the lead guitar line.

[gkaleu]

@scs3000

Sorry but even in this live version it´s absolut postpunk

[62salv]

if you believe punk rock was all about creating your own sound and image then you have that with bands like Wire......and if you don't you can indulge in 80's tuneless mohawk nonsense!

[Jerdna3]

Love the audience's enthusiasm

[MrSKINFLICK]

@Jerdna3:

Some here in the other vids of this WIRE live stuff in Cologne 1979 call the audience "boring".

What do they expect ? That they would storm on stage and rip their clothes off ? It was 1979 and many of the audience heard them for the first time here. Their applause is very very friendly + with complete respect.

And i´m inside of them, but knew already better.

[McCamyTaylor]

Oh man! I just listened to Ghinzu's Blow and it reminded me of this. Now that I have listened to this song again, I know why.

Wire is to bands what Patti Smith was to female vocalists.

[Wearenotreallyhere]

Totally agree , I just wish they'd still play this live !!!!

[xyaqua]

next time they tour, offer them a few hundred to add it to the set. 3 to 1 they will take you up on it,

[xyaqua]

30 year ago. longer than most of you have been alive. Wire has been a real source of inspiration for many of us.

Yes this is a raw cut, but listen to wire today, it will still rock your world, babes.

[uhhhclem]

I kind of get the sense that they hadn't actually *written* the backing vocals we're familiar with now when this was made.

[cupcakechagrin]

I love the spattering of applaus, FOOLS..

[gatofristail]

damn, where I can get that show!!! is there any torrent or something?

help me please, right now I can't buy it.

[xyaqua]

perhaps their best song ever. 41N 93W actually. somewhere between melrose and Georgetown in Iowa, USA.  I must go there some day. maybe put a plaque in the ground. Sound slike totally stupid thing to do, i think i'll do it.

I love the way they play with their own musoc so much, these guys must have mensa level intellects each, really. Every album, 47 so far, has been significantly different. Holy mother of god, that takes a lot of talent. Thanks guys, you really make life better.

[agbz]

This is a piece of rock n roll history. But the backing vocals suck. Wire is one of my top 5 bands but where are the backing vocals? Was Lewis upset with Colin about doing this so he didn't "backup?" Was something going on so this could've been done much better? I know we can't change history so this is just an observation. Maybe we could ask Colin or Lewis or the other guys what was going on during this show.

[JanJurk]

Crappy backing vocals if not no backing vocals at all!

Robert Gotobed is the best "worst drummer" in the world.

[xyaqua]

in 87 at the metro in chicago gotobed/grey was awesom. A bass, a tom, and a high-hat... he just sat down and cranked for 2 hours.

After all, when drumming, with your arms you can only use two things at once...

The bass stack was the best, the sounds live were so awesome, the recordign does not do it justice, not in a hundred years...

[pleasureavalanche]

I think it's great, but what the heck is the 2nd guitarist(in the dark shirt) playing? he sounds like he's getting smothered or something. I miss the synths, but this is still a great version...thanks for posting this!

[Marcuskristicus]

Isn't he playing that "boing"-sounding (don't know how else to describe it!) feedback effect we can sometimes hear over Colin's guitar?

[sonicjoydivisonswans]

Phaser.

[andruchina]

I wonder what pedals they used.

[simonbath]

nice post thanks

[MarineResearchCentre]

many origato, very much grain the way we love, more film grain in music please. :)

[cloonmore]

Outstanding. Much better than the studio ver.

[superchunk333]

This the BEST and ONLY geography song that makes sense.

Elastica could NEVER copy this... they might be worried about looking uncool. Wire never worried about that old crap.

I double dare every crappy UK guitar band of 2008 to write a song about Geography and love - admit it! You can't.

[squeekycat]

It's Map Ref 41 degrees north, 93 degrees west. Still not sure where that is, I always meant to look it up but....

Definitely one of the greatest songs anywhere!

:D

[hawaiianrobot]

Just looked it up, and it seems to be a few miles east of Melrose, Iowa.

[clamupcalmdown]

Des Moines, Iowa. And I should know as I'm a geography teacher (and it's on the picture sleeve of the single ;) )

[trevorpf]

love wire best post punk band ever from a43 yr old bass player in australia

[xyaqua]

Wire is widely regarded as the most under-rated band ever. With good reason. Beautifully erudite & numinal.

Discovering Wire is in my top ten best things that ever happened to me in my 44 years!

[ftwelve12]

This is one of my favorite songs ever

[scipio123]

Anyone else notice that Bruce Gilbert doesn't really do anything live except back up Colin's rhythm parts really quietly?

[dtrellis]

I'm pretty sure he's playing the little melody line part, it's just very hard to hear it because he's turned down so low.. he's almost never loud enough in the video of this show.

[keilan303]

This is quite a primitive version of this song....sometime before 154 was recorded I'd imagine. Bruce adds some great guitar parts to other tracks in this concert.

I wonder who is responsible for all the guitar effects in the final studio version though?

[pleasureavalanche]

i think it's the guy who you can't hear in this version...they got it right in the studio. :) Great song...one of wire's best!