Pink Flag
Wire
1977
Album Summary
Pink Flag is the debut studio album by English rock band Wire. It was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records. The album gained Wire a cult following within independent and post-punk music upon its initial release, later growing to be highly influential on many other musicians.
WikipediaA 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Definitely needed to be in 1001 Albums with the amount of influence this album has had on punk rock. Also it slays.
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
Punchy, fun songs tightly coiled in a record with no filler in my opinion. Great punky stuff.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Where has this album been all my life? Post-Punk in its purest which is one of my favorite genres. Brilliant!
There are 21 tracks on the album and the album is 35 minutes long. Quick and fast and no messing around
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yep! Just wish it went on a bit longer. But its post punk at its best.
One of the defining records, I don't get wire's appeal usually but this album is an exception.
Very cool album throughout, definitely had some bangers and flowed pretty well. If i had any complaints about it, i think the songs could be longer
A thoroughly bitching album. The rockier tracks have shades of The Black Keys, while the punk tracks are pure Ramones and Minutemen. I like my punk musicians to be... actually able to play music, so this album was a real treat.
I enjoy reading the wiki entries on each of the albums and this one was a good one that reinforced why this album stands out from the rest of the random late 70s to mid 80s British bands that have an entry on this list. tldr; “Richard Hell but good. See Black Flag, Robert Pollard, and Franz Ferdinand”
Even if the songs weren't great (they are) it could be a 5 star album just for the amount of influence it's had on so many bands and artists that I enjoy. It's just all around great.
I wish I had some really thoughtful, critical thing to say. All I can think is this is a damn fun album. Great great great!!!
Love this album. Minimal punk perfection with a great dynamic range, from the repressed anger of Mannequin to the beautiful Strange. So different from its contemporaries, this album should be vaunted alongside the first Ramones effort for its succinct and focused energy. A masterpiece only surpassed by what came next from the band. 10 stars.
Iconic band and album - much more so, in the case of the latter, for being a debut.
So very good. I love the story of when Wire resumed touring in '87 after many years off. The opening band covered Pink Flag in its entirety so Wire didn't have to revisit their old sound. https://gojohnnygojohnny.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/the-ex-lion-tamers-wire-the-amazing-story-via-cassette/
I thought this album was fantastic. I found myself thinking about how much I'd love to hang out these guys. They seem like a perfect mix of smart and cool. The intonations that they make with their voices are subtle for punk, but really lend themselves to the beat. I particularly liked "Fragile" and "It's So Obvious." I will definitely save some of these songs for future listens.
Artsy and angry, my favorite flavor of punk. Been meaning to listen to this one for a while and it was well worth it!
I totally love the album, though I'm not into punk music. This one is so energetic and harmonic and high-quality, so I would keep it for my collection.
"Pink Flag" is the brilliant debut album from Wire. Classifying Wire is almost impossible; Throughout their career they've like had like four iterations. I would definitely put this in the punk category with 21 songs clocking in at 35 minutes. There are some similarities to the Ramones (1,2,3,4). However, some of their songs have a much more darker and grungier edge. There are some songs with no choruses that just end after 45 seconds. That's punk. The songs seem to fall into three categories to me: pop-rock with choruses, dark driving more grungy and straight-forward punk. Lyrically, this album jumps all around from political, social, and a bunch of other topics. This album was heavily influential with covers/samples by Henry Rollins, Elastica, Minor Threat, Firehouse, the Minutemen and R.E.M. Two of my favorite songs follow more in pop-rock category: I can't play "Three Girl Rhumba" without hearing Elastica's "Connection." Just listen. Also, I won't be able to get the great chorus "Stay glued to your TV set" out of my head all day after listening to "Ex Lion Tamer." In the grungy dark category, "Pink Flag" has an eerie percussion beginning and then kicks in with their driving guitars and ends in a very punk way. "Strange" is the longest song on the album at four minutes and is driven by a distorted guitar and ends with screams and echos. How R.E.M. reconstructed this song into a pop song is quite the reinterpretation. "12XU" ends the album in a straight-forward punk way. Great, simplistic lyrics. This is a great album. I could re-write this second paragraph with five different songs. I would also say that I haven't heard a bad Wire album. All of them are worth checking out to some extent.
Short albums with short songs deserve short reviews. Chaotic, confounding, catchy, cryptic... genius.
Pink Flag can stand on its own legs as a great album, but listening to this in a vacuum doesn't do the genre or moment in time justice. Post Punk, Hardcore, and Alt scenes all owe a lot to this record. Wire finished what the Ramones started. It's insane this album is from the friggin 70's Reuters - Halfway through the first play of Reuters I restarted and doubled the volume - immediately gave the drudging guitars more atmosphere and weight for that build up. Field Day for the Sundays - Did the Wire or Minutemen come first? I'm a sucker that farm boy punk banjo sound Three Girl Rhumba - I actually know this from Elastica first (I love 90's girl alt rock - go watch that music video for connection right now), and while I like their take on that riff more I gotta knock em for stealing it from Wire Ex Lion Tamer - Such an unreal tune! I love singing the back up vocals in a dumb deep voice, one of my favourite tunes on the album both instrumentally and lyrically. You cant not play air guitar to this one! Every time this tune shows up day to day Im good for a couple immediate replays. Lowdown - Probably the only song on the album that I'd consider too long Start to Move - Vintage Wire. I swear this dude goes an entire album without annunciating a single word Brazil / It's So Obvious / Surgeon's Girl - Nice slew of 1 minute songs. Drumming stands out on all of them and love those tweaked vocals on Obvious but I don't love the Irish drunk boy vocals of Surgeons Girl Pink Flag - This song could have came out today and depending on the producer it could have been Stoner Rock, Hardcore, Post Punk, or Pysch Rock. The bones of this track have been widely used since - you can feel the wire start to gear their music to a more solitary listening experience rather than the typical jams that were designed to be played live Straight Line - This was made to be played live 106 Beats - Vocals are a bit mismatched but the progression makes up for it. That riff (progression?) at 42 seconds rules Mr Suit - Classic punk tune down to the 1,2,3,4 Strange - Another favourite. You can feel this one borrowing from early DEVO as the vocals gets a bit more nerdy/tech while still being grounded by that drudge guitar sound. Love the experimentation in the studio too, the producer had fun with this one. Fragile - That drum beat is surprisingly dance-able. Mannequin - A CLASSIC. People have written essays about this song so I don't have to. Feels like a really early take on pop punk or emo . . . proto-emo? Different to Me - Perfectly paced, love the roar of the opening vocals Champs - Some interesting vocal experimentation going on here that separate it from the others. Champs bridges the gap between those explosive 1 min bangers and the 4 minute more considered tunes. Franz Ferdinand created an entire style after this song. Feeling Called Love - Least favourite tune on the album. Sounds like he's doing a Bob Dylan impression lol. 1 2 X U - The opening dialogue feels gimmicky but this tune has a rich history of being expertly covered (Minor Threat <3) Overall, Pink Flag is not an easy listen, the explosively short songs demand attention but its legacy can be heard in modern takes of rock keeping this album fresh. I bet this was the first time reviewers were using words like "minimalistic" or "atmospheric" to describe rock music. Wire deserves to be considered alongside Devo, Gang of Four, Joy Division, and the Talking Heads as the most important bands to mature punk.
I was really surprised actually! I've never heard of this band before even though I like this era of music. The short songs really seem to fit the album format the best so far. Pretty unique music, my first 5 star rating.
Never heard of them, but grew up listening to punk rock in the 80s 90s. Awesome!
So many ideas. Ex lion tamer and Mannequin fantastic pop punk. Strange I heard the REM cover first. Short, stabby, songs everywhere else. No need to write much here it's so massively influential. The longer it goes on the better it gets. Fabulous album.
Fuck yeah. All-time great album. I listened to this all through college but haven't listened to it much since. It's amazing how many of the lyrics I still remember. There's not a ton of punk that resonates with me, but Pink Flag still totally does.
I remember hearing this album for the first time about a decade ago and it being a brilliant half hour. It remains so. Averaging about 90 seconds a track, nothing outstays it's welcome, it's all very good fun (well, musically, lyrically it's pretty serious). It has Three Girl Rhumba (elastica's best song), Ex Lion Tamer, 12XU, it's like an intro to great punk.
I love it, one of my favorites! Probably the best of the early punk era. And 'Mannequin' is one of my top songs ever. 5/5
The slowest hardcore I've heard, predicting so much music I like, almost endlessly inventive. The guitar tone fades into itself, maybe, but the pieces are so well-designed that I never came down from amazement. Track-by-track impressions are pointless because of the time-warp affect musicians can conjure. The package is united by sound in the way great post-punk albums are, laconic lyrics ready to unfold.
This album is full of energy and new sounds, I can see why is the inspiration of a lot of great albums of that age. The sound of the bass is there, not just for armony but just like a guitar, this give the album a better sound.
Great album. Can’t understand how I hadn’t came upon it before. Cover art 4/5
I love this album. You can see why it's considered an influence for like half of the bands that I consider now to be my favorites.
This rules. Spiky, concise razor-slash tunes that by turns sneak, slither and strut into the ol' lugholes. Alienation has rarely sounded so cool, so together.
Love this. Such energy for a punk band that can really play. It is kind of astonishing they aren't as huge as The Clash, say.
Timeless classic. Punchy guitars and even punchier songwriting blitzed through in scarcely over half an hour, this record really is a bit of an outlier in the history of music. Few records sound as fresh and vital nearly 50 years after their debut. Whereas the slightly exaggerated pseudo-anarchism of bands like Sex Pistols and their legions of wannabe punks may look a bit cartoonish through the prism of history, Wire’s completely stripped back approach stands the test of time and represents a real challenge to the established musical order to this very day. Although the majority of these songs are barebones fragments punctuated by growling, feedback-ridden guitars, Colin Newman’s pop sensibilities shine through on tracks like “Mannequin” and “Ex Lion Tamer”. Wire are a band who always stood at the margins of their field, completely distinct from their contemporaries but always pushing the boundaries of what may be called alternative music. Following a short hiatus at the beginning of the 1980s, they returned with a string of albums which completely reinvented the band’s sound into an electronic groove-space, while still maintaining something that was essentially theirs. That period is my favourite of this unique band, but this is where you should start. So far ahead of their time, we still haven’t caught up yet.
So we're now back to familiar territory for me. Have had this album for years and I love it. An absolute punk classic, with its deconstructed songs and bursts of ideas and energy. It is extremely influential on the next generation or two of alternative music. There isn't much to say other than that, so in honor of Pink Flag itself, this will be a short review.
Wow. I had never heard of Wire, but this is one of the best punk albums I've ever heard. This is on par with The Clash and The Sex Pistols. I might even like it more.
Brilliant. A band I knew only through the artists they had influenced (Manics, Elastica etc.) but now wish I had explored more. Like a slightly artier Clash, or a Pistols who could actually play. Wonderful