Wire
Pink Flag (1977)
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As history shows, 1977 was a very important year in punk
rock music. Here’s a list of the most essential releases that straddled the
genre in many ways:
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The Clash – S/T
The Damned – Damned,
Damned, Damned
The Buzzcocks – Spiral
Scratch (ep)
The Vibrators – Pure Mania
Dead Boys – Young,
Loud, and Snotty
Iggy Pop – Lust for
Life
Suicide – S/T
The Heartbreakers – L.A.M.F.
Elvis Costello – My Aim
is True
The Ramones – Rocket to
Russia
Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation
Television – Marquee Moon
Talking Heads – Talking
Heads:77
The Sex Pistols – Never
Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Wire – Pink Flag
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The last album listed is one that needs to be mentioned a
bit more. In the throngs of all those great releases, Pink Flag (released in December of that year) stands tall as
perhaps the most accomplished. In fact, it’s perhaps the most influential
arguably. That’s a strong statement, but the roots that sprung from it go deep
in the genre.
Think of a family tree, but of punk bands and styles. Not
all relatable, but surely inspired by one another. Punk rock evolved from out
of nowhere. Almost like a big bang. Wire somehow tapped into that unknown
source and concocted a massive album that’s’ only a little over 35 minutes
long, but enormously organic.
There’s not a single throwaway track of the 21 contained
here. Each track by itself is like a portrait painted to perfection. This music
was all sprouted from the time and conditions of which the band lived in, and
from those places comes forth fantastic orchestrations (yes orchestrations!)
that are instantly relatable and still hold up both in lyrics and sound.
The inspirations this album gave is the huge aspect. Sure
those punk albums of 1977 carved paths for future artists, but some on more
superficial levels. Some inspired a certain “lookâ€. Some inspired certain “techniquesâ€.
Other, perhaps to a fault, inspired utter trash heaps of mediocrity in
shameless rip-offs, but for each album listed they at least did their part in
the scene. Pink Flag though is
another beast.
Bands like The Minute Men were inspired for shorter, more
tight song structures, Guided by Voices for the wealth of tracks on their
albums, Minor Threat for approaching simple songs with intensity levels cranked
up to 11 (listen to their cover of “12XUâ€) and The Cure for everything after their
debut release. Even Brit-Pop band Elastica took a leaf from Wire when they
practically stole the guitar riff from the song “Three Girl Rhumba†(an
out-of-court settlement happened because of it!).
When Pink Flag first
released it garnered great reviews, but did not sell well and was left to be
forgotten amongst the other lot. That did not stop the album from garnering a
cult like status and massive appeal. In many retrospective reviews the album is
ranked high in lists of greatest albums ever made and there’s nothing wrong
with that. It deserves those spots because in hindsight everyone should have
got on this.
So yeah, in the very end of the day we have
right here the album Pink Flag by the
UK band Wire. It’s punk rock 101 and worth your time and attention. Can’t
really pick highlights because each friggin’ track is amazing, but the songs “Fragileâ€
and "Mannequin" are fun little pop tunes. Dig it…