It probably doesn’t need to be said out loud, but the ’80s were a weird time. In the ’70s, Wire were the genre-busting art school firebrands redefining punk, and on their second resurrection in the early 21st century, they were the angry elder statesmen of art rock. But their second incarnation, where they absorbed the influences of New Wave and tried to parlay with the MTV generation, we got videos of Colin Newman awkwardly dancing in not one but two button-down shirts covered with ear graphics as in the clip for the lead single from 1989’s It’s Beginning To And Back Again.

I am actually very fond of those ’80s Wire albums as they show the band leaning into their excellent innate pop instincts rather than subverting them, while remaining sonically adventurous and interesting. But it’s not a period the band seem to like to dwell on, and that’s a bit of a shame.

It’s worth noting that the video version of “Eardrum Buzz” features the 12″ single edit of the song; the album version is considerably different and somewhat more sinister. Maybe the video would have had real ears hanging off Colin’s shirt.