This Wreckage

"This Wreckage" is a song written and performed by Gary Numan. It was featured as the opening track on his 1980 LP Telekon and was the third and final single to be released from that album (although the only one to feature on every configuration of Telekon worldwide).

"This Wreckage"
Single by Gary Numan
from the album Telekon
B-side"Photograph"
Released20 December 1980
RecordedRock City Studios, Shepperton, 1980
GenreNew wave
Length5:26
LabelBeggars Banquet
BEG 50
Songwriter(s)Gary Numan
Producer(s)Gary Numan
Gary Numan singles chronology
"I Die: You Die"
(1980)
"This Wreckage"
(1980)
"Stormtrooper in Drag"
(1981)

Described by Numan as a "self-portrait" song, "This Wreckage" foreshadowed his temporary retirement from touring with lyrics that evoke images of reclusion and hiding ("Turn out these eyes / Wipe off my face / Erase me"). It also contains echoes of atheism ("And what if God's dead / We must have done something wrong / This dark facade ends / We're independent from someone"), a belief that Numan would later explore and espouse vocally.

Musically, the song has been described as an illogical choice of a single because of its slow tempo and choppy drumbeat mixed underneath the heavy rhythm guitar. Numan originally intended to release "Remind Me to Smile," which is uptempo. Compared with many of Numan's other early hits, This Wreckage stalled on the UK Singles Charts, peaking at #20 in December 1980. The single's B-side was the moody piano-based instrumental "Photograph."

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