Wire Pink Flag

The definitive post-punk record that would come to epitomize a genre, Pink Flag snuck onto the scene when the Sex Pistols and the Clash were playing to their safety-pinned, Mohawk’d crowds. Three of the four members of Wire came from an art-school background, enabling them to take the basic punk esthetic (simplicity and brashness) and mold it into a completely different and more sophisticated form. Enhancing that punk core with white space, meticulously controlled repetition, and pop hooks camouflaged under an abrasive sheen, the songs on Pink Flag threaten to burst apart: sometimes short and explosive, other times rumbling with a slow fuse, they impact the listener with visceral force. Wire’s debut has more than withstood the test of time, especially with tunes like “Three Girl Rhumba,” “Ex Lion Tamer” and “1 2 X U” becoming two-and three-chord cult wonders, covered by blossoming punkers everywhere. Pink Flag is an astounding document of musical evolution that imparts utter timelessness in its perfection.