Song · Athlete
“Wires” by Athlete
From the album Tourist (2005)
“Wires” by Athlete appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2005 and 2007. It was first released in 2005 on the album Tourist. Its best result is #97 on the CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2006. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #542 alternative song of 2006 and #5,775 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (Athlete Band). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Wires" was the first single from Tourist, the second album by British band Athlete, arriving on Parlophone in January 2005, and it's about as raw as a guitar-pop hit gets. Joel Pott wrote it about his baby daughter, who fell ill after she was born and was rushed into intensive care, and he used it to thank Ben McQuade, the hospital worker who did so much to pull her through.
Victor Van Vugt produced it, and the songwriting credit is split among Pott, Steve Roberts, Tim Wanstall and Carey Willets. It went to number four in the UK, then caught a second wind in 2012, when Rylan Clark sang it on the ninth series of The X Factor and Athlete's original climbed back into the UK chart at number 40 the week after.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 97 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2006 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 352 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
| 2007 | 1845 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
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