Pink Flag

#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 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!

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

22 fast-paced rockers. Listened to this driving to a work event a little stressed. It had all the nerve and drive to feel good. They packed a punch in 35 minutes and for 77 this one was ahead of its time.

Absolutely brilliant album. Ridiculously influential. I hear echoes of it almost every week.

More british punk or post punk or whatever. Maybe if this album had been giving to me in the first 10 in this category id have more patience for poor vocals and basic musicianship. But it didnt. So I dont. Mannequin was OK.

First time I've heard this or any material from this band. I find with post-punk that it has to be a very good album to engage me, and unfortunately this wasn't quite there. I lost interest fairly quickly and occupied got a bit pub rocky.

Not a huge British Punk guy, but there's a couple good ones here. Lowdown, Pink Flag, and 1 2 X U got me bobbing my head a little even. Still a lot that didn't quite get there for me though.

Me parece que es un buen album de punk, el problema es que no es mi género predilecto. Siento que el album mantiene un mismo tono y nivel de canciones durante todo el album, Mannequin me pareció un gran tema

Neočekivano sam pomalo oduševljena ovim albumom, zvuči baš friško za nešto od prije skoro 50 godina. Dobra kombinacija punka i post-punka, inače me rijetko oduševi išta od toga ali ovdje kao da je taman i jednog i drugog. Neke su pjesme bile baš dobre i nije mi sekunde dosadio na ovoliki broj pjesama.

mwah, denk dat koen deze wel leuk vind

Great post punk album

Shouty, unintelligible noise

Pretty good but nothing fancy

Liked this a lot and have never heard of them

my friend told me punk is just nursery rhymes with drums and screaming. i mean. sure. doesn't mean it's good Would I listen again: Nooooooo Deserves to be on this list: Perhaps 2.0

Didn't fully hold up as much as I wanted it to, but it's still fantastic.

Whoa! Hey now! Wooo!

Punk, leaning toward post-punk a lot of the time, where half of the songs are so short you can't remember them, appreciate them, get into them, or give a fuck about them. I can appreciate that this is probably a good showing of punk, and maybe even a somewhat seminal album, but today I'm just not feeling it. Sorry. Fave tracks: - Ex Lion Tamer - Lowdown - 106 Beats That - Strange - Champs

Hmmm. Not as annoying or grating as I find a lot of punk/post punk. At one point, I thought, I can hear how The Police were influenced by this, but then I looked and the album had ended and a Gang of Four track was playing.

I don’t get what’s different from regular punk, but it’s a good riff

Outstanding. This is a classic for a reason; so predictive of post-punk, indie rock, and hardcore punk. Smart and classy punk.

Good album

really like this. Love punk and I love the no nonsense attitude of get in...play the song...GTFO...job done!

I mean, this is okay, but I really am not a punk person.

Not memorable

1977 punk strikes again! Seriously, what was in the water in England in 1977? An absolutely formative punk project and a clear inspiration for many post-punk bands to come. It was hard for me to pick just 3 songs to include in my favorite tracks because they're all so damn good...so I picked 4. I really liked the changes in tempo throughout the album; instead of being thrashy the entire time, there was some good moodiness interspersed throughout. What an absolute banger, I'm kicking myself for not listening to this earlier. Favorite tracks: Reuters, Ex Lion Tamer, Lowdown, Mannequin

If tiktok was an album 😅😭😂

One of the best punk albums of the 70's. Just an all around solid album, short and sweet and straight to the point. Low 5!

Musically, this is kind of a forward thinking group. It's a bit punk, it's a bit new wave. Vocally and lyrically, I can't tell what's going on. The vocals are unintelligible throughout the album. I'm pretty sure it's punk, bordering on post-punk, but without knowing what the lyrics are it's hard to say. And it lacks the kind of fun sarcastic energy of actual punk, which is where I think it bleeds into the new wave sound of the soon to be 80's. I can understand why this album is on this list, but I think it sort of flubs the execution overall.

Really enjoyed the album. It’s a pretty quick listen since most tracks are less than 1:30 in length. Punk/Post Punk rock.

It's classic punk

had some good tunes on there, can really see the influence it had on later Britpop too

ALBUM #100! And it was... fine

Really enjoyable snappy punk album

Art house idea of punk fast furious dated.

Look I'm happy for all you punks that heard something in this but I just genuinely don't understand the point of 15 songs that don't last longer than a minute

This sounded more like knockoff Brit punk than anything else. And if there's one thing I hate now that I've been on this journey, it's Brit punk. Yes, let's semi-rhythmically chant or yell into the mic with an off tune guitar and a drummer with a mediocre sense of rhythm, and then record that shite. And SELL IT. Yeah, that'll make money. Not that we care about money. Down with the man, maaaaan. Get off it, wanker. My rating: 1/5

70s punk rock - felt more modern than this - was fun

I liked this. Not quite hardcore, but had similar vibes without being as intense. Good punk album. 4/5

Couldn't really get into it. So many of the songs feel like sketches. I can appreciate the vibe and see how it influenced the likes of Elastica and 80s post punk, but i've no real desire to go back. Probably a 3, but i've just given several of those, and this isn't as good, so 2.

This is one of the greatest punk albums. Listening to it felt sharp, focused and full of energy from the first track. The songs are short, direct and packed with ideas. There is no wasted time and the whole record moves with a clear sense of purpose. The band strips everything down to the essentials. The guitars are angular and precise, the rhythms are tight, and the vocals cut through with a cold, detached edge that still carries real intensity. It has the raw spirit of punk but already points toward something more controlled and inventive. The production by Mike Thorne is clean and effective. It keeps the sound dry and upfront, which suits the short song structures perfectly. Nothing feels cluttered or overworked. The recording lets the band’s precision and attitude come through clearly. Pink Flag remains a landmark record. Lean, intelligent and still one of the strongest statements from the original punk era.

*1977. English punk. *I dig the music, especially at only 35 minutes. But not a fan of the lead singer - completely unintelligible and just not the right voice quality/type for punk. RATING - 6/10

absolutely love will listen again

Over the years I've given this record several spins and it still makes very little impression on me. Oi oi post punk that might be good enough to do a bit of argy bargy in a pub gig but nothing particularly grabs me.

Lame and Br*tish. I can barely understand what they're saying. Most of these songs are so short, it feels like they just compiled together some random studio recordings and called it an album. 0.5 stars.