"Seven Minutes to Midnight" was the second and final single released by Pete Wylie's Wah! Heat incarnation. The band had made major line-up changes and bass guitar player Pete Younger was replaced by Colm Redmond, then Carl Washington who became Wylie's right hand. The recording included keyboard player King Bluff for the first time. It was during this incarnation that they recorded their only Peel Session on 19 May 1980. The release of the single also marked the departure of Colm Redmond (who joined

Faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

for a short while and then joined as a full-time member the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band

Pink Military Pink Military (originally Pink Military Stand Alone) were a post-punk band from Liverpool. Led by former Big in Japan singer Jayne Casey, other band members included former Deaf School drummer Tim Whitaker, guitarist Martin Dempsey who also pla ...

) and the transformation of Wylie's first outfit into the better known four piece

Wah! Peter James Wylie (born 22 March 1958) is an English singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the band variously known as Wah!, Wah! Heat, Shambeko! Say Wah!, JF Wah!, The Mighty Wah! and Wah! The Mongrel. Career Early b ...

.music...isms: Wah! Heat
/ref> The track's title is a reference to the

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...

and their iconic

Doomsday Clock The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe, in the opinion of the members of the ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''. Maintained since 1947, the clock is a metaphor for threats to humanity ...

. In 1980, in an atmosphere of increasing nuclear paranoia and failing

détente Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduc ...

over Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, the Bulletin moved the clock forwards two minutes, to the eponymous seven minutes to midnight.

Track listing

# "Seven Minutes to Midnight...To Be Continued" (Wah! Heat) - 3:43 # "Don't Step on the Cracks" (Wah! Heat) - 3:09

References

1980 singles Wah! songs Songs about nuclear war and weapons 1980 songs {{1980s-single-stub