Like other punk bands Wire strived to re-focus rock from it's growing excesses, but they took that aesthetic a step further. Unlike other artists Wire's aim wasn't a return to rock's roots, but minimalism. Wire didn't approach music as a rock band, but as an art experiment. On Pink Flag, Wire eliminate every extraneous element resulting pure, angular music. While not musically accomplished (in fact, the band members admit they were barely competent technically), Pink Flag contains an astounding variety and depth of creative ideas.
While other punk bands (The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, etc.) acheived notoriety with genuine angst and shock, Wire distinguished themselves through unpredictabilty and vocalist Colin Newman's sly, oft acerbic wit (while oft incomprehensible, he's always compelling). In a sense it seems Wire's limited musicianship actually works to their advantage; since they have limited tools the band is forced to rely soley on ideas and chemistry. The 21 songs on Pink Flag rarely exceed three minutes (most are 1-2 min in duration) and rarely conform to any standard notions of song structure.
With titles like "Field Day for the Sundays", "Three Girl Rhumba", "Ex Lion Tamer", and "Mannequin", many understandably view the songs as minimalist paintings tranformed into music. Arty as Wire can be at times, they're anything but pretentious. Pithy and snobbish as Wire might seem, Pink Flag is remarkably entertaining; it's intense, wryly witty, and at times undeniably funny. Wire's breadth of ideas is remarkable; they cover ground which includes proto-hardcore ("106 Beats That", "Different to Me"), tweaked power-pop ("Reuters", "Champs"), power-blues ("Lowdown"), and even spare texture experiments ("Strange"). "Mr. Suit" is the only marginal track... and it's still pretty enjoyable.
Some have argued that Pink Flag's songs are only fragments, but close analysis reveals Wire's brilliance; each song serves to convey it's ideas as expediently as possible and once this objective is reached it ends immediately. In his Rollingstone review Greil Marcus remarked about the lack of personality on Pink Flag ("You hear cleverness, wit, irony, but not personality."). While this might be accurate the lack of intimacy isn't a problem in the musical context and actually coincides well with Wire's aesthetic . One of the many things that makes Pink Flag unique is it's combination of emotional intensity and vaguely arty distance (which eventually became dominant in their later work). Wire's somewhat impersonal approach also makes Pink Flag transcendent; unlike many late 70s punk bands who focused on the sociopolitical climate, Pink Flag's more esoteric themes (both musical and lyrical) make it vital and relevant 25 years after it's release.
Pink Flag is proudly touted as a profound influence by artists as diverse as Big Black, Sonic Youth, The Minutemen, Elastica ...and REM (who covered a more straight-forward version of "Strange" on their album Document). Wire would later make other ambitious and noteworthy albums (most notably "Chairs Missing" and "154"), but never made another as seminal, ageless, and visionary as Pink Flag.
Reuters
Field Day For The Sundays
Three Girl Rhumba
Ex Lion Tamer
Lowdown
Start To Move
Brazil
It's So Obvious
Surgeon's Girl
Pink Flag
The Commercial
Straight Line
106 Beats That
Mr. Suit
Strange
Fragile
Mannequin
Different To Me
Champs
Feeling Called Love
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