“Wire to wire” by Razorlight

"Wire to Wire" was the opening shot from Slipway Fires, the third Razorlight album, released as its first single on 27 October 2008, and it's a bold way to open a campaign: singer Johnny Borrell, who wrote it alone, put a slow-burning, piano-led ballad up front. Mike Crossey produced it.

The gamble paid off at home, where it reached number 5 and gave the English band their fourth top-five hit in Britain, and it did even better in Germany and Austria, peaking at number 3. Oscar-nominated director Stephen Frears shot the video, and Burberry later used it in the ad launching its Fall/Winter 2009 collection. It didn't linger, though: seven weeks in the UK top 100, a shorter stay than any of the opening three singles from their self-titled previous album.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.