Track 10 on Minor Threats Complete Discography is 1 2 X U, a one minute jaunt of perfect punk...no more no less. Fast 1-2 1-2 counting complete with simple lyrics you can chant while patting your friends shoulder from backseat upholstery. Ian McKaye and the gang are actually covering a song written by Wire.
Wire is a band which goes under the radar far to often probably due to thier experimentation into punk music in the mid 1970s. Non-user friendly music means no record sales, but certainly bolsters influence. Pink Flag was released in the Winter of '77. It contained three different types of punk songs: Sub-60 second head bangings like Brazil and It's So Obvious, the grand anthem-like calls to arms such as title track Pink Flag, and perfect melds of the two in 1 2 X U. Pink Flag is perhaps the greatest straight punk album of all time due to Wires credibility: they did not stop here.
Chairs Missing which came out less than a year later would sophmore Wire and, while giving the listener a sort of progressive feel, would show the bands prowess in getting across emotion. Whereas songs like Sand in My Joints paid homage to a hardcore punk sound, longer attacks like Mercy, opener Practice Makes Perfect, or Marooned show the band branching out. Wait a tick, branching out from punk in the 80s...post punk.
Album Cover to 154
At the dawn of a new era marked by the likes of Joy Division, Gang of Four, and Public Image LTD, Wire would emerge as an impressive group of post punkers. 154, their final in a trilogy before a 4 year hiatus beginning in 1980, would be a staple post punk album. The albums 1st track I Should've Known Better instantaneously feels different. It flows into other, more arcane electro-heavy tracks like The 15th, On Returning, and Blessed State. 154 also credits a bass vocalist, flute, english horn, electric viola, among other things. The intensity of the music is not lost though, post punk is not punk burning out, but punk being expanded, and Wire stretch and stretch the fucking idea.
