Wire’s ‘Pink’ period a punk rock landmark

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 | 8:57 a.m.

Perhaps better than any other musical statement during the remarkable year 1977, Wire's "Field Day for the Sundays" signalled the true start of a rock 'n' roll revolution.

Pretty amazing accomplishment for a 28-second song.

With that track -- the second cut on Wire's debut album, "Pink Flag" -- the British band shattered the rules laid down by such genre godfathers as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who.

One year earlier the Ramones' self-titled debut had seemingly done just that, proving that musicianship and complexity weren't nearly as essential as catchy hooks and a defiant attitude.

But with "Field Day for the Sundays," a dizzying half-minute of punk rock, Wire issued an even more far-reaching challenge: Anything goes.

The song's structure is linear, doing away with traditional verses and choruses. Production is low-fi. Instrumentation is minimal. Lyrics are difficult to make out.

Yet "Field Day" is, without question, a classic, retaining its inexplicable appeal with every blink-of-an-eye spin.

It's almost worth plunking down $15 for those 28 seconds. You don't have to, though, since "Pink Flag" is loaded with similarly brilliant moments.

The records's first side -- now the first 10 tracks on the CD version -- form a near-continuous stream of punk glory, from ominous opener "Reuters" through addictive singalong "Ex Lion Tamer" and on to the apocalyptic title cut.

The back half is slightly less accessible, but no less impressive, highlighted by future R.E.M. cover "Strange," the poppy "Mannequin" and in-your-face closer "1 2 X U."

That same year, the world saw the release of debut albums by the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, Elvis Costello, the Talking Heads, the Jam and Television, to name just a few of the seminal acts bursting onto the scene in 1977.

Nearly three decades later Wire's "Pink Flag" may be the most important of the bunch, having created a fiercely independent movement within rock's most original independent movement as it did.

Artist: Wire.

Title: "Pink Flag."

Year of release: 1977 (reissued 1993, Restless Records).

Tracklisting: "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," "Commercial," "Straight Line," "106 Beats That," "Mr. Suit," "Strange," "Fragile," "Mannequin," "Different to Me," "Champs," "Feeling Called Love," "1 2 X U," "Options R." (bonus track).