Music like Wreckless Eric

Eric Goulden (born 18 May 1954), known as Wreckless Eric, is an English rock/new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single "Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two decades after its release, the song was included in Mojo magazine's list of the best punk rock singles of all time. It was also acclaimed as one of the "top 40 singles of the alternative era 1975–2000".

Wreckless Eric was born in Newhaven, East Sussex. He is a cousin of actress Gemma Arterton through her mother. In 1973, he began attending Art School in Hull, where he joined bands such as Dirty Henry that played local clubs. On a break after his first year at school he saw Kilburn and the High Roads in Oldham. Struck by their honest approach to music, Eric decided to employ the same to his composing and performing. His next band, Addis and the Flip Tops, were the first incarnation of what would later be known as the DIY style. He first became known as one of the original members of the late 1970s Stiff Records artist roster, along with Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. Eric's first appearance on record was "Whole Wide World" on the Stiff label sampler A Bunch of Stiff Records in April 1977. The single version of that song was finally released in August. The song was produced by, and featured bass and guitar by Nick Lowe, with Steve Goulding on drums. The following month, the song was one of five tracks broadcast for the first of two sessions Eric recorded for DJ John Peel at BBC Radio 1. The song went on to make number 47 in John Peel's 'Festive Fifty', the so-called 'lost list' of 1977; it was number 8 in the Sounds critics' singles of the year; and it received an 'honourable mention' in the NME critics' chart. The song's reputation has grown over the years and numerous bands have covered "Whole Wide World", such as the Lightning Seeds, Mental As Anything, The Monkees (on their Pool It! album in 1987), The Proclaimers (on their 2007 album Life With You), Paul Westerberg, and Cage The Elephant (on their 2017 album Unpeeled).