This Wreckage
title: "This Wreckage" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1980-songs", "1980-singles", "gary-numan-songs", "songs-written-by-gary-numan", "beggars-banquet-records-singles"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Wreckage" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | This Wreckage |
| cover | ThisWreckage.jpg |
| type | single |
| artist | Gary Numan |
| album | Telekon |
| B-side | Photograph |
| released | |
| recorded | 1980 |
| studio | Rock City Studios (Shepperton) |
| genre | * Pop rock{{cite book |
| url | https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}} |
| * synth-pop<ref name | "Billboard Staff 2025" |
| length | 5:26 |
| label | Beggars Banquet |
| BEG 50 | |
| writer | Gary Numan |
| producer | Gary Numan |
| prev_title | I Die: You Die |
| prev_year | 1980 |
| next_title | Stormtrooper in Drag |
| next_year | 1981 |
| misc | |
| :: |
| name = This Wreckage | cover = ThisWreckage.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Gary Numan | album = Telekon | B-side = Photograph | released = | recorded = 1980 | studio = Rock City Studios (Shepperton) | venue = | genre = * Pop rock{{cite book|title= Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978–1983|first=Richard|last=Evans|date= August 6, 2024|chapter= 1980.3|page= 234|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-915841-45-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}}
- synth-pop | length = 5:26 | label = Beggars Banquet BEG 50 | writer = Gary Numan | producer = Gary Numan | prev_title = I Die: You Die | prev_year = 1980 | next_title = Stormtrooper in Drag | next_year = 1981 | misc = "This Wreckage" is a song written and performed by the English new wave musician Gary Numan. It was featured as the opening track on his second solo studio album Telekon (1980).
"This Wreckage" followed the singles "We Are Glass" and "I Die: You Die", which were only included on the cassette release of Telekon and on later reissues. Released on 12 December 1980 by Beggars Banquet Records, "This Wreckage" reached No. 20 on the UK singles chart. Numan later admitted that, regardless of its merits as a song, it was a "bloody stupid single". The song was later described as "possibly the strangest Top 20 hit of all time", a fore-runner of "the slightly one-note anti-religious goth-industrial music" Numan would favour later in his career.
References
References
- "Music Week".
- Billboard Staff. (March 24, 2024). "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time: Staff List".
- Conte, Frank. (9 October 1980). "Reviews: Gary Numen - Telekon". [[The Boston Globe]].
- Stephen Webbon & Gary Numan (1985). "Complete Gary Numan UK Discography". ''[[Record Collector]] (December 1985, No. 76)'': p.15
- McNamee, David. (17 November 2008). "It Started With A Mix: One Side Of A C90 From Synth Pop Pioneer Gary Numan".
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