Tonight’s selections from Wire’s 1977 debut album, Pink Flag.
Wire earned the somewhat dubious, definitely hilarious tag "The Ramones with a Ph.D." based on their debut album, 1977's Pink Flag. The British group, which disbanded and reformed a handful of times since first forming in the late '70s, has been one of the most innovative and unpredictable bands we'll ever hear in our time. Wire was not part of any punk scene when they broke out in England in the late '70s—they didn't even consider themselves punk, as loose a term as that might be. On a close listen, they bore little resemblance to the other acts of the day—The Saints, The Sex Pistols, The Damned—delivering a sound more fragmented and disorienting than punk was, initially. Abandoning traditional song structure, paying little mind to song length, ignoring the notion of hooks—Wire was doing something very different.
Pink Flag ran a parallel course to another iconic debut released the same year: Talking Heads '77. Four art students got together to form a band, only to toss away whatever conventions had been established within the genre of music rising up around them. If Wire wanted to play a three-minute song, they did. If 28 seconds would suffice (like on the standout "Field Day for the Sundays"), that was all they would record. Wire—at least in their early years—was the most economical band in history (possible contender: The Minutemen), erasing any unnecessary fluff, compressing songs into rough, yet awe-inspiring art punk gems. — Treblezine
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Reuters [1977]
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Pink Flag is an art rock experiment in the guise of a punk album, its themes, and subjects presented in a manner too detached and intellectual to fit in with the more strident, emotionally-driven music of Wire's contemporaries. The album's more punk-driven moments, such as the now-classics "12XU" and "Ex Lion Tamer", rely more on wordplay than plainly-expressed ideas, even as they play with heady concepts like media consumption and its dulling effects on everyday life. Furthermore, the album's slow, looping dirges like "Lowdown", "Strange", and the title track stretch the punk ethos of simplicity to its breaking point, revealing new ideas and textures one could play with inside the confines of the genre in the process. While Pink Flag appears to be a simple album at first, it takes the notion of simplicity and reveals the complexities lying underneath the surface. There isn't another album like it. — Pop Matters
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Ex Lion Tamer [1977]
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One of Wire's overlooked strengths was their ability to write a tremendous pop song, as exemplified by songs like "Mannequin", "Outdoor Miner", and "Map Ref. 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W" (an open field in Iowa, by the way). Listen to the harmonized "ooh ooh"s on "Mannequin", the softly sung verses of "Outdoor Miner" (which was only prevented from chart success by a payola scandal), and the transcendently huge chorus of "Map Ref." indicate this was a band that could have made an entire career out of harmony-laden power pop. — Pitchfork
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Mannequin [1977]
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It was clear, even at this early stage that Wire had something going for them that was at right angles to the prevailing distorted strummage trotted out by the rest of the class of ‘77. "Strange" (famously covered by R.E.M. on their 1987 album Document), lopes along at a leisurely pace and "Three Girl Rhumba," in spite of being based on the most primal of chord progressions, unfolds in a fascinating fashion and uses syncopation in a way that most of their contemporaries would never even consider. — Under the Radar
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Strange [1977]
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Three Girl Rhumba [1977]
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WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Ben Stiller, Desus Nice, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Jimmy Fallon: Robert De Niro, Chloe Fineman, Arctic Monkeys
Stephen Colbert: George Clooney, Alex G
Seth Meyers: Colin Jost, Paul Mescal, 5 Seconds of Summer, Tom Benko
James Corden: Billy Eichner, Maya Hawke, Mt. Joy
The Daily Show: Iman
SPOILER WARNING
A late night gathering for non serious palaver that does not speak of that night’s show. Posting a spoiler will get you brollywhacked. You don’t want that to happen to you. It's a fate worse than a fate worse than death.
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R.E.M.’s cover of Strange.
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R.E.M. :: Strange [1987]
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