Even from the start, Wire didn’t seem like your standard-issue punk band.
There were no catchy melodies with simple chorus-verse-chorus structures, like you might find in a typical Ramones song, for example. Nor were there obviously political lyrics or anti-societal rants, as in the work of the Clash or Sex Pistols—no, Wire’s lyrics feel abstract, even obtuse: “Think of a number, divide it by two / Something is nothing, nothing is nothing.” Huh?
It was clear from their debut, Pink Flag, that Wire had a different agenda—something more sophisticated and cerebral, something harder to fathom first time around. That’s not to say that Wire’s music is impenetrable. Far from it. Many punk albums suffer from too much of the same thing. Not Wire’s early punk-in-the-direction-of-post-punk classics, Pink Flag and Chairs Missing. Songs seem to ricochet off each other, refracting from one to the other with different tempos, lengths, volumes, rhythms, or styles, giving the albums a sense of variety and complexity unlike that of most other punk acts.
Is this art-punk? Probably. And Wire would only get artier. With 154, they would incorporate more synthesizers and explore more varied and darker moods.
I hear echoes of Pink Flag in the music of bands as diverse as Fugazi, Guided by Voices, and more. Heck, “Outdoor Miner,” “The 15th,” and “Blessed State” sound like songs Deerhunter has been “covering” their entire career.
Here are some choice cuts of Wire. Enjoy.
Cover Art:
- Pink Flag: Source, Discogs.com, Fair use.
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