CLASSIC ALBUM: Wire – Pink Flag

Wire’s 1977 debut Pink Flag did to punk what punk did to rock ‘n’ roll, it tore up the rule book. If any punk album in existence personifies the musical, creative philosophy of punk then Pink Flag is it. An open-ended (and minded) collection of 21 tracks, some catchy, some frenetic noise, some unfathomable, some as simple as 1-2-3. Many tracks stick around for less than 2 minutes or barely a minute in some cases as the album flashes through countless variations of garage rock with a contemporary, precise nonchalance and efficient, streamlined potency.

In the process, Wire’s approach to composition that emphasises brevity over excess delivers a template for post punk, new wave, indie, art-rock and in rare instances even Britpop (just ask Elastica about Three-Girl Rhumba, never mind I Am The Fly). There are very few records in existence that garner such praise from such a myriad of followers, with Henry Rollins, R.E.M., Minor Threat all covering songs from it, while artists such as My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Radiohead and whole load of indie bands from the 1990s onwards are indebted to its distorted melodic framework.