Pink Flag

One of my favorite albums of all time. "Mannequin" was my most-played Spotify song this year (2021). This is the album that got me into punk music. The concept of this album is a suite of 21 minimalistic tracks that come and go in a span of just over a half hour. You just get a taste of each track, each unique idea, before moving on to the next. Album starts off with a memorable and exciting build up in "Reuters" that explodes in punk madness. I love the madness in the verses (both the vocals and the distressing apocalyptic description) followed by the chorus and the melodic screaming repetition of the word "rape" that slowly mellows off. Next track, "Field Day" demonstrates one of my favorite punk techniques. Burst of explosion for 4 seconds then STOP. Explode again for 4 seconds then again stop. Happens two more times then boom next track already. Not sure who invented this, maybe the Sex Pistols, but the "fuck this let's start over" attitude is all over this album. Things like this make each of these tracks, no matter how short, memorable. "Three Girl Rhumba" starts off with a memorable yet reptitive riff, and continues with the same riff the whole track, except when it deters randomly twice in the middle then at the end. It's so unexpected and surprising. Love the "go underrrr" at the end. Invites the audience to sing along even for just a brief moment. "Ex Lion Tamer" one of the best songs, complete and lengthy. Kicks off at 12 seconds, explodes at 24 for the chorus, starts over at 48 in a perfect transition, only to do the exact same thing one more time before extending that ending for another minute. I love that technique where they repeat the melody and one lyric, like "Stay glued to your TV set" with the back vocals but change the loudness and tone, throwing in some grunts, before ending it with a satisfying decelerated conclusion. Same reason why I liked the end of "Three Girl Rhumba," and a theme we'll see again many times. "Lowdown" is the easiest to hear the very punk lyrics. Another thing I noticed is the grunge-like bass. Not sure if there's any connection to the later movement or how common it was in punk, but it really sticks out here. That halfway break following "That smell of you" is orgasmic. Then there's the other type of ending I love. Also repetitive with the same melody and lyric, but less spooky and more energetic, usually ending so suddenly before starting the next track. "Start to Move" and "Brazil" are examples of this. Still invites me to join in and burst out. "Surgeon's Girl" is my favorite of the <90 second tracks. Love how they make fun of their mumbling vocals by diverging the "go insane" into something intentionally incomprehensible. Reminds me how they often sing so much it's hard to sing along, so this gives me an excuse to just go "yayayayayayayaya." "Pink Flag" closes off the first side, with the same type of build-up intro as "Reuters." My god that when they start going "How many dead or alive" and it devolves into intense chaotic screaming, dying down only to build up again, die down then one last yell. Intense and the perfect way to wrap up the first side. An instrumental piece bridges the two sides. "Straight Line" continues the themes I love. "106 Beats That" is the first of a string of more avant-garde tracks that could be labelled as post-punk. Starts off lofi and abrasive, almost like later hardcore but not as aggressive. Then it gets weird and spooky near the middle with the use of ever increasing synths and fuzzy guitars, ending before it gets any stranger. "Mr Suit" is my other favorite short track, absolutely love the fuck you lyrics. Then we jump into our second post-punk track. A more complete piece, this sounds like something straight off their next album "Chairs Missing" (which is a crime not being on this list). Spooky and atmospheric, perfect for any Halloween playlist. Love the clinking at the end. "Fragile" is another strange one, jangly and could fool people as an alt rock track of the 80s. Stands out like their masterpiece "Outdoor Miner" in their next album. Years ahead of the scene... I guess you could call this post-punk, but it's not very punk at all besides the "fragile" vocals. "Mannequin" is my favorite song off the album. Another post-punk entry, it's the most melodic of the songs, with a perfect bridge, a lovely three part harmony, savage lyrics, with an accompanying vibrant sound. Next three tracks are good. The album ends with the highlight "12XU" which has my favorite bass, ending on a satisfying note. This album is a unique experience with nothing like it, yet parodoxically is a perfect introduction to get people into punk or post-punk, perfectly utilizing an agglomeration of techniques only found in punk-like music. This is also the most accessible of their albums. You can instantly fall in love after just one or two listens. Even the weaker tracks one can grow to appreciate. Highly influential and with nothing bad to say, it not only goes down as a 5 star rating, but as one of my favorite albums of all time.

A lot of bands have built a lot of careers on ripping off this punk classic (hello Elastica, hello Guided By Voices). Considering it has helped spawn genre after genre, DC hardcore to the early 2000s British post-punk revival, it still seems to go somewhat under the radar. They must be gutted that they sold sod all records and made no money off of it really.

Pink Flag is what I used to refer to my grandmother's minge as. I turned a bit darker and even green as the years went by. Still a top shag though.

instrumentals are rockin, but what the fuck is dude saying

Short fast loud and so good. Can hear this having so much influence on everything from Talking Heads to the Chats. Loved how the drums were mixed - the triplet cymbals in Lowdown got me good. Three Girl Rhumba and the title track were also great. Lowdown and Surgeon is my highlight.

Why has no one told me to listen to this album before? It feels so ahead of its time, and it keeps getting better as the album goes. One of the early masterpieces of punk 5/5

With (among much more) the guitar sound of grunge and the brevity of hardcore, it takes a special kind of ingenuity to make a punk album that sounds like this in 1977

I really enjoyed this album. I love how no song overstays its welcome. It's just this speed punch assault of energy. The music and vocals are exactly what I think of it terms of Brit punk, and it still sounds great.

British punk album. Lot of super short songs. Great energy, similar to The Clash. Which is probably the lazy comparison, but sue me. Very tight, which quick catchy riffs and tight drumming. Some songs are maybe just a little too short, but I really like it all. The guitar riffs and bass lines are GOOD.

Another album that I've heard of but never listened to before. I'm so glad that I have finally listened to it now. This seems to straddle the line between punk and post punk, utilizing the best of both. I can hear the influence this had on a lot of bands, most egregiously Elastica ripping off the riff from Three Girl Rhumba. I've listened to this a few times now and have no doubt that I will keep coming back to it.

Amazing. True punk. Can hear all the influence on music through the decades. Catchy, long, short. Has it all. Three Girl Rhumba stopped me and my jaw dropped. Had no idea where that riff came from. Loved Field Day for the Sundays. Totally content with a 28 second song. Damn, how amazing.

I love punk. I really do. "Pink Flag" is a great punk album. But. It's missing one of my favorite aspects of punk. The sheer, nihilistic joy of punk is missing here. The classic punk stance of "the world is screwed up and screw the world" seems to be missing. Instead, Wire has leaned hard into the angrier aspects of punk. The overall theme is darker, angrier, and more raw than other punk albums of the time. This is often cited as a reason for calling this early post-punk or even pre-hardcore. And for all that, it's good. The sheer intensity of the minimally produced, almost raw sound is enticing in the same way that great hardcore is. It's compelling. But I do so wish there were some lighter moments. I prefer my punk to be delivered with a knowing smirk, not a glowering scowl.

Like the Ramones... Solid album

Enjoyed cooking veggie meatballs to this

I had a cous8n from Germany that was in town to kill my uncle who was stationed in Germany. We were driving and hiding in my grandparents trailer where I found this cousins money and it was made up of rubber one dollar bills

The members of Wire got lucky. Their music is beginner, their lead singer is unintelligible. I don't understand how they got a record contract. The mercy of this album is that every song is under 2 minutes. I think there's a political message in some of the songs, but I can't understand the words, so I have no idea. What if 4 dudes picked up instruments yesterday and started a band? This album is the result. Blech.

After taking a "musicology of the 1970's" course in my senior year in undergrad, Wire became one of my favorite bands. I listened to Pink Flag on repeat back then. Now, more than a decade and many life transitions later, it's back. And it's amazing. I am in awe that this is their debut album, and that they paved their own genre of "post-punk" in the already nascent years of mainstream punk. This album is for professional haters who like their social commentary with a quick, rapid-fire bites of dry humor. And it's for haters of PDA/big displays of emotion/how modern society portrays romance sometimes. There are no fillers here. Yes, all 21 tracks are masterpieces. Though short, each track is like fully submerging into a experimental ocean of sounds. I love the color and number motifs. And how some tracks just abruptly end when they reach a climax. Some favorites: "Reuters" - a great intro to how dark and dry this album is. Great commentary on news/media and our attachment from atrocities/fall of humanity that we consume on our screens. "Three Girl Rhumba" - one of the more fun songs with a cool progression. Feels like playing a game, magic trick, or trying to solve a Schrodinger's cat like puzzle, with all of it to just become chaos at the end. "Pink Flag"/ "Commercial"/"Straight Line" - I like the sequence of these three tracks, with the title track describing a dire scifi level of destruction, followed by an instrumental jingle, then followed by a destruction of self and our carnality ("Brazil" is kind of like this too). "Strange" - another silly song with a heavy crunchy guitar that REM expertly covered. "Mannequin" - the ultimate hater song, but a good commentary of the lack of real substance that is pretty prevalent. Upbeat. "Champs" - I like the driving guitars with a slight tinge of something scary around the corner. Lyrics can have meanings on many levels, including sports, living recklessly, or living with a need to win that can lead to death of self. "Feeling Called Love" - a silly parody of love songs. "12 X U" - very punk. Ok, listening to this album led to a deep dive into all things Wire.

I used to listen to this all the time, but it's so much more eclectic than I remember - maybe it all used to blur together into what I assumed 70s British punk was, but now I hear it as like a sample platter for post-punk where you get a little taste of every sound and style that would follow - some slow chugging riffs, some funk infused beats, sped up hardcore powerchords, snarling drawled out vocals, aggressive angular guitars, grinding industrial sounds, power pop harmonies, a deadly serious but also constantly unserious affect, some hi-energy poppy jangle, lo-fi production. It really has it all and shows how much you can accomplish with minimalist instruments and more talent for song-writing than musicianship, but a huge amount of creative energy to invest in messing around and making stuff - it's dark and angry at times, but also kind of a joyous artifact of the diy spirit and ethic. Favorites: Reuters, Mannequin, Three Girl Rhumba, 12xU, Lowdown, Strange

BEAUTIFUL GLORIOUS NOISE

Personally one of the most important albums in my musical development. When I heard this album in 1980 I had never heard anything quite like it...and to this day never heard anything quite like it. In that way it is similar to Gang of Four's Entertainment; they are both of their time but also timeless. Great song after great song on this album whether it's the crunching guitar of the opener Reuters, to the 28 second assault of Field Day for the Sundays or the beautiful melodies of Mannequin and Fragile to the anthemic punk of Ex Lion Tamer to the grunge sounding Strange...this album bever fails to impress and delight. An easy 5 star album that 40 years later still gets regular play in my listening room. As an aside it is a travesty that either Chairs Missing or 154, the 2nd and 3rd Wire albums, didn't make this list.

This album is a cult classic that has a wide ranging influence that spans post-punk, hardcore, and britpop. The music itself is driving and minimalist, but unlike other British punk bands of the time, Wire is not anti-musicianship. They use their music in a way that is more in the spirit of their proto-punk predecessors and embrace the experimentally. The album is a short 36 minutes long though it is made up of 21 songs. Many songs are short impressions that link together to drive the disconnected bits forward as the album progresses. It is this experimentation with form that set Wire apart from their contemporaries who were more concerned with being perceived as anti-establishment and anti-rock and roll. It can be argued that Wire is bucking the British punk attitude and aesthetic perhaps making them the most punk of them all. Having said all that, calling them a punk band feels like a disservice. They occasionally have an almost Beatles/Byrds like guitar sound with layered vocal harmonies that betray their punk credentials. The acrobatic bass imparts a new wave/post-punk feel at times that would be at home on a Smiths record. Overall, I find that this album sounds at home in just about any decade.

Punchy, fun songs tightly coiled in a record with no filler in my opinion. Great punky stuff.

Definitely needed to be in 1001 Albums with the amount of influence this album has had on punk rock. Also it slays.

Punk is always great. End of review.

Discovered this one in college and was a favorite among friends and roommates. Wish punk on the whole sounded more like this than say The Ramones or The Sex Pistols. So many ideas crammed into such a tight space. Love the way it moves along. So efficient and refined in it's execution. No fat to be trimmed here. Many songs are short but all completely satisfy. Art-punk at its finest. The song "Strange" is in my musical spank bank. The album leaves me wanting more.

Pink Flag Another album of multiple short songs! I know Three Girl Rhumba and I know how influential this album was, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened before. It is right in the sweet spot between punk and post-punk, straddling both those genres; there’s some of the riffing and urgency of punk, but with an added (subtracted?) minimalist edge with some great bass hooks and drum patterns, as well as some sludgy creepiness like Strange. They also have a great line in catchy singalong melodies among the punkiness, Ex Lion Tamer, Pink Flag, Fragile for example. I also really like his voice, it’s of course not the most technical, but it has some of the punk sneer but with a slightly more detached feel. With Guided By Voices and Circle Jerks the shorter tracks are the whole point of what they do, whereas on here the shorter tracks interspersed with longer tracks feels more considered as part of the overall feel and sequencing of the album. I don’t get the same feeling of frustration as I did with GBV, something like Feeling Called Love is only 82 seconds but feels like a fully formed song with a beginning, middle and end. Although it's perhaps less in thrall to rock classicism It feels a bit like Marquee Moon in places, from the same year, as well as some of the Modern Lovers first album. There’s also a bit of Ramones in some of the more bubblegum punk moments, like the backing la la las on Mannequin or the overall feel of The Commercial. You can also hear the influence it has had through the years, Elastica most obviously, but also on Blur and some of the Strokes/Libertines era bands. And of course on some of the bands and music that immediately followed it, PiL, Magazine, Talking Heads and post-punk and new wave in general. It’s a great punk/post-punk album, wth some great songs, some great bits of frantic urgency and minimalist, wiry grooves. A solid 4 but keen to let it percolate some more, I think it will improve. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️ Playlist submission: Mannequin

Pre-punk? Punk-rock? Nice. Love the album cover.

For a punk album filled with mostly 1 to 2 minute songs, there is a surprising amount of depth both in the music and thr lyrics. Really great stuff.

Short, sharp, and great. Punk at its best. 21 songs in 36 minutes is impressive feet. I had never heard of Wire or pink flag before, but I was impressed. It seemed very ahead of its time for a 1977 release. Favourite song: Three girl rumba and ex lion tamer. Least favourite: Nothing was long enough to not like Album artwork: Cool cover

Very very good. Hard to pick out standouts because a lot of the tracks are snippets, but the flow is great.

The best and worst thing about short awesome punk songs like these is that they always leave me wanting more. I knew some of these songs already (the algorithm has been pushing Fragile on me for years) but this was my first time listening to this album in full. It definitely sounds way ahead if it's time.

A great punk album that was ahead of its time. I had listened to this a few times before and like it a lot, but I was surprised to see this was released in 1976. What a great preview of the Clash’s best a few years later and of some of the better arty punk rock of the 80’s. Fragile and Ex Lion Tamer are my favorites but it’s a solid record from beginning to end.

Punk started shifting here. I dig the groovier stuff over the more by the numbers punk stuff. From reading up on the band, will be checking out their catalog at some point.

Punk usually ends up gradually annoying when the innate anarchism of the genre starts seeping into what should still be good music. Pink Flag vibes some kind of excellence here that seems missing from a lot of punk music, and maybe that begs the question if this album is really punk? The album is certainly a band doing their own thing, their lyrics seemingly everywhere, their sound incorporating short and chaotic messes, but then there's also something else. Intention, as though they are also thinking about making the music good. There is a melodic tendency in their songs that temper the rebellious undertones, that remains a welcome stranger even if they do not care about you.

Pink Flag is by no way an easy listen. The production is extremely raw and bleak. The songwriting is uncompromising and the length of most tracks forces you to be bombarded by new impressions almost every minute. What a ride! I am not as blown away as I was the first time I listened to Pink Flag almost a decade ago; maybe I’ve just been exposed to more (and more extreme) punk since? Nevertheless there’s no denying the influence this would’ve had 45 (!) years ago - and still has to this day. And while its the few longer songs that lingers after, it’s the shorter ones that truly binds it all together. This is also the first appearance of “Strange” on this list. Already looking forward to listening to it again when Document appears.

Startlingly still relevant 70s punk I’ve never heard before? The dark and foreboding lyrics paired with the fast and raw musicality really worked for me. I’m going to give this one multiple listens.

I’ve wanted to listen to this for a while but never got round to it… The album opens with Reuters, quite a cool heavy little rocker and at 3:03 the album’s third longest song! Field days for Sundays is a little rocker not amazing but feels like more of a bridge between songs 1 and 3. Oh it’s connection ( well actually 3 girl rumba but elastica stole the guitar riff) and it’s good nothing amazing but a nice song. Ex loon tamer is a rather good song, I like the use of backing vocals on this one. Lowdown opts for a spoken word style at the start which makes the song sound really unique amongst its peers. Start to move is a proper punk riot with brilliant guitars. I like the drumming of brazil. It’s so obvious has a cool little guitar riff. Surgeons girl is good but I don’t really like the random African sounding drum bits that don’t really fit in with the tune. Side one ends with the title track pink flag and it’s the second longest song on the album, a song that really feels like the climax to the album best part is the mental outro that it has! The commercial starts off side two with a short instrumental, meh but I get it’s inclusion. Straight line is probably my favourite out of the “microsongs” good tune! 106 beats that manages to fit in a nice guitar solo but the last verse sounds really crammed, cool. Mr suit is a very angry thing indeed. The longest song on the album is strange a dark slow rocker, really dug this! Fragile is a violent sounding love song and it’s cool. I’ve herd the Carter USM cover of mannequin before so I have some vague ground with the tune and well the original wire version is better a very good song. Different to me is the last really really short under 1 minute song and it’s okay these short songs are a cool idea but go in one ear and out of the other. Champs has some great guitars work and listenable lyrics but the hand claps… not for me. The penultimate track feeling called love is a great tune I love the super muffled guitars that pop in the later part of the song. 12 X U closes the album and I kinda get it as a closer but it’s not an amazing song to be honest? This has gotta be the shortest 20 song album ever.

Hey, this is the album that birthed Elastica! But, in all seriousness, I struggle to classify Wire as a full on punk band. More like an art rock group that saw the punk explosion as an opportunity to get their foot in the door and get their foot in the door they did. Mixing short songs with harbingers of what they would later come up with, Pink Flag remains Wire's defining statement forty-five years on through sheer invention and aplomb. Yet another example of 1977 being a sublime year for music. Favorites: Reuters, Three Girl Rumba, Ex Lion Tamer, Lowdown, Pink Flag, Strange, Fragile, Mannequin, Feeling Called Love, 12 X U.

If there is one thing this whole exercise has taught me, it's that I am a fool for having ignored punk music from the 70's for this long. Shame on me! This album, with its 21 songs in 37 minutes, is a whirlwind of musical thoughts. Don't conflate that for a lack of quality though. In contrast to my equal appreciation of prog-rock, I also appreciate that Wire didn't feel the need to draw anything out. If they could get the idea across with a single verse and 40 seconds, then sobeit. Each track, be it an entire song or a segment, is complete and stands on its own. If you're only glancing across the album, you would be forgiven for thinking much of it is all the same, but a closer listening reveals the contours of something unique in every song. Some of the brightest spots for me, which also show the diversity of sound across the album, are 'Three Girl Rhumba', 'Lowdown', 'Mr Suit' and 'Champs'.

A fascinating missing link between the early stages of punk and post-punk and the following hardcore, new wave, and alternative scenes. At times Pink Flag sounds like traditional punk, reminiscent maybe of The Sex Pistols whose debut album dropped the same year. Other times, dark, distorted guitars bring to mind the brooding of The Stooges. Midway through the album, I hear a seed of Talking Heads. Other songs foretell Black Flag or The Dead Kennedys. Wire moves effortlessly and fluidly between genres and probably spawns a couple along the way. Even lyrically, they move between smart, political lyrics (see "Reuters") to more lager-soaked, in-your-face, punk-grousing with songs like Mr. Suit ("Take your fucking money and shove it up your arse"), depending on the sonic profile and intent of the song. The effort in their shifting lyric styles and music approaches is worth noting. It is what elevates this album to more than the average quality of its individual songs. Pink Flag is not an easy listen. Few of the 21 tracks could be singles (though you will likely note that "Three Girl Rhumba's" excellent guitar is sampled on Elastica's "Connection"). Rather, the album is an intersection and likely origin point of many emerging styles of the late 70s and beyond. Wire is at once slavish and subversive to genre conventions as they present archetypical sounds and subjects and then utterly ignore precedent on how to piece them together, assembling component parts of countless styles in new and novel ways. As a result, Pink Flag is a genre-defying musical madhouse.

Very, very good. I've listened to it roughly twice now. I feel like there's a lot going on in this cluster of little nuggets. No song outstays its welcome; in fact, some would be welcome to stay a little longer. But that's the point, I suppose. These are finely polished little gems - it takes a lot of buffing to make these gems sound so unpolished.

There are 21 tracks on the album and the album is 35 minutes long. Quick and fast and no messing around

Good raw punk

Where has this album been all my life? Post-Punk in its purest which is one of my favorite genres. Brilliant!

An album I revisit fairly often, fairly unlike anything else as it just flows from short song to short song. The first stretch from "Reuters", to "Field Day for the Sundays", to "Three Girl Rhumba" ending in "Ex Lion Tamer" is a huge opening sequence.

Love this mix of punkish-indie rock. Both the bite-sized and longer tracks alike share a kind of spastic energy reminiscent of acts like Squid or black midi today, and the remaster on this thing is insane - sounds like it could have been recorded today. The sludgey guitar tone that features on many of the tracks is absolutely perfect to boot.

Enjoying this one a lot, punky messy, great sound and style to it. Have definitely slept on these guys and I'm pleased its on the list!

was so good until the vocals kicked in

YAPA (Yet Another Punk Album) I'm not sure why this is here, it's ok, some good energy in some tracks. 3*

Meh. I didn't hate it, but I still don't like most punk all that much.

meh

Didn't leave much of an impression on me

Deconstructing punk almost as soon as it's born is cool. Manufacturing said de-punk brand as ready made detritus is art school cool. Doing it all without melody or groove is high stakes. A few times here the payoff is exponential, a bunch more it's handsome, but a few too many you don't leave the bookies with much more than you walked in with.

Fav Song: Three Girl Rhumba

kinda boring, feels very dated

I honestly didn't notice listening to it.

If nothing else, this list proves to me that I find post-punk pretentious and an unnecessary exercise in navel-gazing.

Whenever I see it is a postpunk album, I expect something like this. They all start to sound the same to me.

First Album, didn’t really click with it. I could hardly hear the vocals throughout most of he tracks so they all molded into one unimpressive chore to listen to. The were a couple songs I almost found intersting like ‘field day for the Sundays’, ‘Three girl rhumba’ and ‘feeling called love’.

Poor

eh, a couple of the songs are good but at the same time edgy british boys yelling isnt really my vibe but to each their own

More punk on this list than I needed

I love a good post punk album, so I’ve been looking forward to Wire’s Pink Flag for a while. I’ve never listened to any of Wire’s music before, but this album’s reputation precedes itself. Here’s hoping I’ll find a new album that I’ll want to add to my collection! Sadly, I thought this album was a bit of a letdown. After listening to this album, I completely understand its significance and impact on music. The do-it-yourself ethos, the raw sound, the great guitar work… Wire embraced all of these elements in a way that helped them craft their own sound that’s certainly not The Ramones or The Clash. Most of these songs are short and to the point, and that serves this album well. Listening to this album was a bit of a chore though. Other than the guitar playing, I wasn’t really a fan of anything else going on musically on this album. The vocals and drumming felt restrained and simple. I don’t know if that was done intentionally or not, but for me, it just made the sound of the album flat and boring after a while. I thought the second side of the album was a bit stronger than the first though; “106 Beats That” and “Strange” were probably my favorite songs on the album. “Reuters” and “Lowdown” were pretty good too though. Even though I didn’t like this album that much, I think it could be the type of album that would grow on me over time. But I listened to this twice today, just desperately hoping that I would connect with it, but to no avail.

starts exciting but after a few songs there's nothing new and it becomes mediocre

Just a bunch of the ol' punk. Nothing special here in my opinion. The intro track had me hoping for something more. But nah

I don’t see the “art-rock” behind. It really sounds very punk. That isn’t a bad thing but I don’t see the “post” to it. Solid album, nothing amazing.

I don't like British rock vocals. I appreciate the instrumentals. 2.4

Not super crazy about this one but was still a fun listen, a couple tracks ended up as standouts. Great production and musicianship throughout, and was a big fan of guitar and bass tones. Liked the loud post-punk style and the fact that it had softer moments imbued with musicality. Can very easily see how it became regarded as a landmark album and it’s obvious the huge influence it had on music going forward. Fav track: Mannequin

Definitely ahead of its time, but couldn’t get into it.

Another punk album I didn't enjoy

The whole experience is so flat.

Une série d'interludes punk aussi insupportables que ceux des Minutemerdes. Je savais toutefois à quoi m'attendre puisque les noms de groupes constitués d'une couleur et du mot flag s'inscrivent tous dans ce style musical considéré par les gens intelligents comme un errement dans l'histoire du quatrième art.

Bien essayé de la part des Minutemerde mais la couverture ne prend pas, ils sont très facilement reconnus et jugés comme il se doit. 2/5, et qu'on ne les y reprenne plus.

Uninspired punk. Black flag did it better. Nothing remarkable about the guitars, drums, vocals. Pretty low energy, would never seek this out.

Not for me

Another British post-punk album. Hooray. Not.

Not a pleasant listen

Feel like I'm throwing around five star reviews like confetti but I couldn't possibly give this album any less. Great from start to finish and I must have listened to it hundreds of times over the years and not got bored.

I was aware of the existence of Wire, but I had them down as some sort of alt-rock band from the 90s, totally unaware that they started out back in the late 70s and were punk/ post punk. I was slightly daunted by the track listing of 21 tracks, but then I saw this is a short (35 minutes) album. Some of the songs barely get started before ending, but the band somehow manage to make just about every track have a start, middle, and ending of sorts. By the halfway point, I was getting used to this and had basically given up trying to keep up with the rapidly shifting "now playing" game. If someone wanted to know what crunchy guitar sounded like, then this album would be a great reference point. There's so many reference points that it makes my head spin a little. I had to listen through once just to feel that I could start trying to unpick things a little. I can hear sounds that have obviously influenced many bands that I liked from the 80s and 90s, even into the early 2000s. Some are such short snippets that it's easy to miss them. I feel that this is an album that would really reward repeat listening. Similarly, reading what music influenced Wire is almost like reading a shopping list for the best bands from the 60s and early 70s. It's often difficult trying to pigeon hole music into a specific genre, but this is so obviously more than punk, earlier than PiL by one year, not quite post punk. I'm not sure what it is to be honest, but I liked it enough for 5 stars. One final thought that came to me listening to this. I used to have a mix tape of punk music back in the early 1980s, Crass, Sex Pistols, etc. and this is how I remember all that music from back in the day, even though some of it is far rougher to listen to. It's possibly down to the remastered edition I listened to, but production values seem sky high here.

Enjoyed this one front to back. It sounds extremely modern for an album made in ‘77. Added it to my regular rotation.

the punk blueprint. no fat. all style

brutalmente bom. papo de obra-prima. (importante ressaltar que passou um álbum do elastica por aqui semana passada e claramente eles plagiaram tudo do wire)

COMO PODE ESSE ALBUM EXISTIR MEU DEUS esse tá no top 5 MAIORES DEBUTS DA HISTÓRIA DO ROCK. vai tomar no cu fraga 21 músicas em 30 minutos e só delicinha minimalista gritada. viver é bom demais. vale citar que a sequencia dos 3 primeiros albuns deles é PEDRADA, mas o pink flag não tem jeito, é o maior de todos pqp

I was a little hesitant at first because this was Yet Another British Album From This Era, but actually this was a banger start to finish. I listened through it twice in a row I liked it so much. Sounds like something you'd here at a tiny record store or a college town dive bar. Hell yeah. Standouts: Ex Lion Tamer, Mr. Suit, Manequin, 12 X U

A stunning post-punk album, especially considering it was released in the punk heyday and the same year as Never Mind the Bollocks. Wire were already thinking ahead on their first album. Brilliant.

Min favoritklubb i mitten av 00-talet var namnad efter detta album. Pink flag förebådar så mycket alternativ rock genrers så jag blir nästan yr. Ett av de riktiga fynden så här långt och då är de två efterföljande skivorna nästan ännu bättre.

This is the good stuff. Such a great album. No filler. Just fantastic post punk by a criminally underrated band. There could have been multiple albums from these guys in the book but at least their absolute best is in here. A treat.

Don’t really consider myself a punk fan, but for some reason this one really works.

Fuck yes!!!

A grossly underrated album in this modern era of music. The Grandfather of so much modern punk, post-punk and rock music. Thick fuzzy guitars, almost sludgy in tone, sneering vocals, groovy bass and energetic drums. This one should be on everyone's radar! 6/5 from me if I could give it

Świetne punkowe kawalki

Великие песни, великая обложка. Быстро и по делу. Лучшая песня - Mannequin.

This is an essential album. It is also clear on listen through that many other bands think so too. You can hear the influences on Blur, Mission of Burma, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Q and not U in here. They also cross pollinate with Television on the jangly bits. I could list to this all day every day.

One of my favourite albums of all time. Since listening to it for the first I always came back for it and love it for its almost mathematical approach to Post Punk.

Wow, really liked Elastica before I realized Three Girl Rhumbah preceded Connection. Sure, they didn't rip it off, but they plainly expanded on the foundations setup by Wire. Great album, this is a plenty dirty and crusty garage rock. Songs are short, simple and plenty of energy.

One of the best to ever do it. Just a phenomenal album, might be in my top 10. There’s not really a bad song on this, and even if there was it’s over in 2 minutes and on to the next one. A few bands have tried to rip them off, and you can’t really blame them.

Amazing album. I'm a huge fan. Everything they put out is worth a listen, even the later stuff -- which is how I discovered them, through a copy of "A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck". I think of Wire as being similar to Gang of Four in some ways, but they are both more poppy and more industrial sounding, depending on the track, and of course way less political.

I listened to this one when I read Rip it Up and Start Again like 70 years ago. Definitely get it way more after obsessing over gang of four for a long while. Unbelievable that theyre able to accomplish these little amazing warm wonders on each of the 21 tracks. It's definitely a lot to like get into this music and recognize that and there's so many god awful knock-offs. But like the challenge of post-punk is more to limit yourself with little guitar effects/dry production/ironic lyrics thing but to still come out the other end sounding like a human being. Too often do artists trying this these days end up sounding like robots.

Es un pu...himno al punk. Bárbaro.

Had I known about this album in 1977-78 I would have promptly bought it (okay, got my mom to buy it), and then I would have played the hell out of it. The songs are short little bursts of punk energy. I love this. Too many new favorites: Reuters, Three Girl Rhumba, Ex Lion Tamer, Lowdown, Strange, Mannequin, Champs