#380
Album: Pink Flag
Artist: Wire
Year: 1977
Length: 35:37
Genre: Punk Rock / Art Punk / Post-Punk
“Think of a number
Divide it by two
Something is nothing
Nothing is nothingOpen a box
And tear off the lid
Then think of a number
Don’t think of an answer”Three Girl Rhumba
1! 2! 1 2 X U!!!
Another heavy hitter when it comes to my own personal listening habits. Pink Flag stands as one of my top 50 favourite albums of all time and, according to my Last.Fm statistics, sits as my second most listened to album (although those numbers are easy to rack up when you have 21 songs in your album). There was always something about Wire’s approach to music that just resonated with me. It was a lot of things I was looking for in music, short songs that stayed interesting the whole way through, and seemed to follow the same philosophy I had for when I was writing sketches, the song (or in my case sketch) only needs to be as long as it needs to be. When the song was losing steam or just didn’t feel like it needed more to it, that was it and that’s all it needed. This seems to be Wire’s minimalist approach to songwriting. Cut the fat and just use what feels absolutely needed. As Three Girl Rhumba says “Think of a number. Divide it by two.” A philosophy they used to write this album.
Dubbed a 21 song punk suite, every song here works as part of a whole and the album subverts our expectations and plays around with song structure in fun and interesting ways. Just when you think you know what they’ll do next, they throw you a curve ball with another song doing something different. A lot of people aren’t fans of how short the songs can be, but the beauty of it is that if there is a song you’re not enjoying, it’s done before you really start to dislike and a new one comes around. This is all done tongue in cheek of course, and Wire was both poking fun at the punk scene that they were surrounded by but also at the same time reinventing it into something artful and new. Post-Punk was starting to spread its wings and fly and Pink Flag is one of the first to set that foundation. A bunch of art school students taking punk into their own hands and turning it into something new and pushing ts boundaries and limits until it breaks at the seams. You’d think 21 songs would be excessive, but in the case of Pink Flag its necessary to make its statement.
When I first listened to Pink Flag years and years ago, it was jarring in the best possible way. It made me see art in a new way and how I could approach it myself. Being economical and efficient while still being effective. Say what you need to say with no excess attached to it, while also playing around with the rules and bending them to breaking point without ever actually breaking them. The band would often play their music live by standing on the stage and moving as little as possible. In a time where solos were the craze and musicians were jumping and dancing and moving all about on stage to create theatrics, Wire completely subverted that by practically being mannequins playing their instruments to sometimes confused crowds.
Is this what music could be? Is this what performance could be? The possibilities opened up and there was nothing I felt I couldn’t do on my own terms. Art didn’t have to fit into boxes and rules and regulations anymore. I could do what I felt was right and keep the integrity of my work. I could have a vision and see it through in my way and not any way others wanted me to. I could do something different and that was still a right answer.
Wire really had an impact on me and Pink Flag will always hold a special place in my heart because of it.
Favourite Song: 1 2 X U
-Bosco
P.S. I especially love the humour behind putting 1 2 X U as the last song. A song named after a count-in used to start their songs placed at the end rather than the start is quite funny to me.
Bosco's Modern Life 