Pink Flag

Is it just me or does the end of Surgeon’s Girl sound exactly - and I mean EXACTLY - like the Ying Tong Song: “Ying tong ying tong ying tong ying tong ying tong iddle I po!” (etc.) Yes, I am very old. Shut up. Now get off my lawn!

Three stars alone for that riff stolen by Elastica

#297 Heard Before? Yes. Notes: - the class of '77 is crowded with winners, but this is my top favorite. - production is perfectly dirty. arrangements are so minimal that everything is separated. - minimal, yes, but they wrangle a huge variety of songs from almost nothing. the breadth of sounds, moods , structures and themes is impressive. - a perfect example of how musicianship is so much more than just instrumental prowess. - ends on a real banger. Verdict: I want to kiss a man so Wire can get me in a corner. Listen Again? For sure!

I usually don’t care much for these punk albums. The songs are always super short, which is nice, but also feels like it’s undercooked. But this one did it for me idk why.

pretty good stuff for the time. much more post punk than i expected based off the few songs id heard before

I loved the first track and was rather disappointed that the rest of the record didn’t sound like that.

I love this album so much.

20ish songs in half an hour. Proper punk! Pretty radical at the time. Starts & finishes with real bangers.

How to make a punk album in 4 easy steps: 1 - Plug your guitar into a toaster. If it sounds like shit, its because its working. 2 - write 1 or 2 riffs (anything as long as its fast). Repeat them for the entirety of the song. 3 - Sing badly over them. Bonus points if you have a strong British accent. 4 - repeat And of course, dont bother thinking about making good lyrics. What do you think youre doing? Folk music? Thats for pretentious nerds come on. They dont get how raw you are. Im joking, I dont think most of this, but this is how I feel about most of punk music. I get why people like this album, but its not for me.

Absolutely unexceptional

This was great. Incredibly creative and original sounds that have influenced whole genres and bands, thrown out in tiny punk blasts. It was great to hear the originals of songs I've heard covered by REM and Lemonheads.

At first this album seemed okay but then it just wore into typical punk. I wish I liked punk. I like the counter culture values. I just don't like the music.

Thankfully this album was pretty short. Early underground punk just isn’t for me. 2/5.

Short songs that don’t give you a chance to get into them, and can barely understand a word being said

⭐⭐+ Polerad punk. Med tanke på tiden albumet kom ut så är det mer sofistikerat än mycket annan punk och låter modernare än 1977. Tycker det håller ganska bra nivå dock är tappar jag intresset snabbt och albumet känns längre än vad det är med sina 35 minuter. Är osäker på om jag kommer lyssna på det igen, det är inte riktigt min grej så det blir en stark 2a. Bäst är Girl Rhumba, Lowdown, 12 XU

Un punk de garaje bueno, entretenido

Album is fine. Not bad but I wish the themes were explored further. I suppose this is one of those way influential albums that came up with the basic ideas that later bands polished into something great. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Nearly 300 albums in, this is one of my favourite discoveries of this project so far. Feels both of its time and ahead of its time.

Really enjoyed. Will listen again.

Even now, as we speak, people are out there underrating Wire. We must stand against this. We must fight

Fantastic band. My favourite early British punk album - probably not a very punk opinion. 🦩🦩🦩🦩🦩/ 5

A quick run through some punk, with a detour into a little bit of psych rock.

Pretty good punk album, I vibe with it

High 3 I reckon

This was ok overall

I feel like I've heard many of these riffs in other songs

40 песен по пол минуты и поставил бы оценку получше

Thought this pink flag would be camp, alas tis damp. Just nothing deep or special to me, nothing really develops because it's always off to the next thing, and the cockerney accent grates on my wee ears

Ok album

Love this classic punk album

This album is over before the pink flag gets to the top of the pole

Fine

3.5 Better punk album - not my genre but I liked this more than expected

Yeah this was cool, sorta like a microcosm of punk verging into post-punk within one album.

This was a really fun listen, some great stuff on here. A lot of the tracks are pretty short, a couple too short for my liking though. 106 Beats That for example, I was really getting into it then it just stopped. I’ll definitely be checking out more from them though. Top Track - Mannequin

As far as post-punk goes, this is pretty great. Tight, tiny songs with plenty of vim and vigor. And the perfect portion sizes. As the album goes on, you can see the genius of it - Wire doesn't really explore all the possibilities of a song - they just try something out, work with it for a minute, and wrap it all up. It's refreshing. THREE STARS

almost too comedically punk but i liked it - i imagine it helped define the genre?

I liked it well enough

Didn’t get the point of this. Short songs that all sound the same with lyrics hou can’t really hear. It’s a No from me.

Punk. Short. Good.

I have been looking forward to Pink Flag because it is one of the earliest punk albums and through this project I have found that I like late 70's punk and post-punk. The songs were shorter than I had thought they would be, but it did not let me down. It was less straight punk and more punk-new wave to my ears. I liked Wire's debut album a lot. I don't think it is on par with some of the other punk-ish albums that came before and after, and I also am not sure if them being in this book is a bit duplicate from the other punk-ish bands, but I am glad Pink Flag made the book. I thought I recognized Strange and it turns out that R.E.M. covered it on "Document." I guess I was exposed to Wire prior to even knowing I had been exposed to them.

Never heard these guys before. They are pretty good, a classic punk sound.

Really good, and made for a great punk double feature with the previous day’s album, since I was catching up. On the other hand, I do unfortunately think that Germfree Adolescents kinda ate this album’s lunch, for me. This’ll probably end up being 3.5 or a 4 after some more listens!

Yeah this album is awesome. I can hear the influence on 80s post punk. Fantastic.

If there is such a thing as a "filler album," this is one in this musical journey.

I have never heard of Wire before. But from the first song, I was hooked. 70’s punk really set the stage for punk music from there on out. It’s actually interesting how you can even hear certain more modern sounds of punk/rock: the hi-hat, the harmonies all tie in. The only thing I’m not a fan of are the short songs that are literally 45 seconds. It just feels weird on an album. Live is different because you can jam or use those as fillers but on an album just feels…off.

그냥 평범한 느낌이었다. It just felt ordinary.

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

3.5 stars Some enjoyable moments. But the micro tracks make it hard to get into. It’s why I had a hard time really loving Guided by Voices. I’d probably give this another listen and enjoy more of it. I know my cool older brother likes this album. But it didn’t do much more than keep me mildly entertained for a while.

On just niin ärsyttävää kun punkki yleensä on.

Tää nyt mänee aika varhaseen uuven aallon meininkiin. Ihan näppärää punkkimelskettä muillakin mausteilla kun vaan punkkihommilla. On joskus tullut kuunneltua vapaaehtosestikin eikä vaan listan pakottamana. Mut joo, ei nyt noussut ehottomaks suosikiks joten iha kiva.

Muutama oikeinkin kova biisi seassa, mutta iso osa levystä kyllä aika turhanpäiväistä. Eipä ollut tämäkään entuudestaan tuttu.

Really great punk while also being well ahead of its time.

Day 426 Enjoyed this a lot, some cracking riffs Highlights Ex lion tamer Strange 1 2 X U

If I had a shot at the end of each track then I might start enjoying it before the end! Minute long attempted punk tracks, I just failed to see the appeal even if I did get a snippet of each idea it just came and went as quickly as that. Guitars Rock but what the hell was he saying!?!? I didn’t do the shots however and got to a point where I actually enjoyed two tracks back to back- those been ‘fragile’ and my favourite in the album ‘mannequin’ Worst track ‘surgeons girl’ Not the worst album on this list but long way but I won’t be heading back- maybe if I had the shots or the band finished the tracks I would. 4/10

Wire - Pink Flag Of the time put still holds up and very listenable due to it being more art school than council estate. Each track lands a like a jab to the ribs. No excess baggage, no excess flabbage. You can hear loads of this resurfacing in Britpopt two decades later. Elastica stole a whole, but brief, 15 minutes of fame off the back of this. Best Track - struggling to choose between a few. Reuters, 3 Girl Rhumba, 106 Beats that, The Commercial, 1 2 X U all come close. But I'm going for Strange which took me ages ago to remember where I'd heard before but then worked out we'd had it covered on an REM album on this list. Worst Track - Mr Suit. 7.5/10

I've said it before I'll say it again. I don't need more of this music in my life

Creo que simplemente no me gusta el punk / post-punk británico, no sé la voz no me gustó jajaja

I was expecting more Stooges type songs but was pleasantly surprised how clean and controlled it was. For early punk, its a 4 out of 5. For my listening pleasure overall, it's a 3 out of 5.

Decent stuff! Not really my vibe but I appreciate the variance and creativity embedded in their punk style.

After about five minutes, I was waving the white flag.

Ok 2/5

I’m not really into punk. One star…

An excellent start to an unknown album, which may have lagged a little in the middle. But way ahead of its time.

Never heard of this band. What a manic album, 21 songs with an average duration of about 80 seconds. Excellent guitar and percussion held back by sone shaky vocals

Some nice moments on this. I'm not a fan of post-punk, though, and this one doesn't rise to a level where I can overcome that. I do enjoy the super short tracks lengths, at least.

Punk again

Soft vibe punk

This is about what you can suspect for a genres "first" album it's not bad but it's also not great Just like how the sugarhill gang album is not great this album is also not great. After you get over the fact that this is supposedly the 'first' punk rock album the novelty rares off.

you can skip this one...

Not on Apple Music. Rating based on other album.

Love the length but it's meh

A breath of fresh air after the crap I’ve been listening to

Great punk album. Will listen again.

Pretty good punk music. Usually I'm not a huge fan of early punk but this is not bad. There is some nice variety and it's not too noisy for the sake of being noisy. Vocals are pretty good too. After reading a little bit about the band I can see that they have a very long career still releasing an album in 2026. Pretty impressive with an equally impressive variety of sounds. I will probably listen to this band again.

Love this album

Solid , not great but a good initial listen

Better than a lot of punk from that year, it's positively melodic in some places. It was an okay listen.

Kinda grew on me actually, but I'm pretty selective with my punk/fast/loud music.

Energetic punk rock that diden't leave a lasting impression

Not really feeling this one. Most of the songs weren't interesting enough due to being too short, and the ones that were interesting obviously ended too soon. Just ended up annoying me really.

Solid punk rock.

Looking at the description and track listing (little over 90 seconds per song), I was not expecting much here. I was pleasantly surprise. Especially for 1977. This is a punk album. It's not the best or the first, but it's not bad.

Usually I like Punk, but this was somehow off form me. First of all I don't like the singer, the production sounds muffled, the songs don't stick. Meh.

Quick rapid punk with a poor buzzcockd cover thrown in

album poznat otprije, bio sam ga odslušao prije koji mjesec da vidim kakav je. dojam sada otprilike kao i tada: okej, ništa posebno. čak mi je napola nekako naginjalo dvojci, al pretkraj se vratilo u nešto bolju melodičnost, što je popravilo dojam. čista trojka

1977 post-punk, 21 snippets Ex lion tamer Strange

Samey with too-short tracks. I couldn't understand the lead singer at all and I don't really like Colin Newman's style of singing on this, either, it's kind of annoying. The instrumentals are just okay punk rock, nothing more. Favorite Track: Reuters

An all timer. If you don’t like this album there’s a good chance we have nothing meaningful in common.

This is the genesis of it.

21 songs in 36 minutes is pretty punk rock. Until they showed up on this list, I had never heard of Wire. And I enjoy punk of that era quite a bit. I liked this album quite a bit, and you can hear how influential it was to later punk and grunge bands. Still, it feels like it’s missing something that I can’t quite place, and that’s keeping out of the 5* zone.

Solid 3, version I found included an extra song, options r.

Gear: ZMF Auteur Classic LTD Shedua Artwork: 🚩🏳️‍⚧️🟦 Production (2006 Remastered Version): 📢⚡🙂‍↕️ Music: 🐇⏱️🧷 Rating: 🩷🩷🩷🩷/5

Hard to remember any one particular track after listening due to how compact they are, but it wasn't an unpleasant listen by any means. I definitely heard influences on rock/punk bands that would follow in the coming years. Punchy, aggressive Brit punk.

Short and quite sharp. Interesting guitar sound but not all the songs stick for me.

Overall: 7/10 I'm surprised that a punk album like this was made in 1977. It's dark and almost hardcore at some points. Most punk at the time had a bit of humour to it but this doesn't at all. I think it's pretty great for the most part, but it seemed like every time I was getting into a song, it ended. The songs are too short. Fav Song: Lowdown

Surprised that the neither the band nor the album hit my radar at the time of its original release, but glad to catch up with it nearly 50 years later! 4

Okay, 70s punk, makes sense. Vocalist not good. The rest was... fine, I guess. I'll give it a 3 cause I am feeling generous.

Listening to this in the office as if that’ll teach them not to mess with me

i enjoyed squeezing so many songs into half an hour - really fun to get a bit of each one and then move on. i liked the sound - it’s minimalist in a way that lets it still sound fresh today. 3.25.