The Lowdown on WIRE: Reflecting on a 30 Year Evolution

 In my experience, the ability to personally connect to a particular record relies not only on the music, but on the context in which that music is first listened to. And sometimes a true connection with a record cannot happen until the environment is ideal. The first time I heard WIRE's classic 1977 record Pink Flag was this kind of scenario. I had been aware of the band, as many critics are fond of dropping the bands name when describing punk or post-punk bands that don't quite fit in the pigeon-hole definition of "punk" that they prefer. So on a crispy fall day in the PNW I went for a walk, deciding to try some new tastes on for size. As the opening track "Reuters" began to play, with the headphones tight, I walked downhill. Colin Newman began to holler "Gunfire, looting, burning, rape," with almost tribal chants in the background, the rhythm clicked into perfect walking speed, causing my footsteps to align with the withheld post-punk speed. It was at this moment I became officially connected.

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