Punk var meget andet end traditionel rocknroll speedet op og spillet ned som hos nu f.eks. The Damned og The Adverts. Et af de klarest lysende bands fra London var Wire, som med Pink Flag (1977) udsendte det måske allermest forfriskende og nyskabende debutalbum på den nye britiske scene. 20 ultrakorte, kantede men sært catchy numre med nærmest telegramagtige og 100% usentimentale ord om tilværelsens absurditet som sådan i nær og fjern.

Men det er dog bandets tredje album 154 (1979), der i dag endnu mere fremstår som det righoldige skattekort af flugtruter væk fra den gængse rockmusiks slagne vej. Velkendte grundformer brydes op, muteres og genskabes i et kløgtigt arrangeret hele, hvor det iørefaldende gerne går hånd i hånd med det stærkt eksperimenterende, det i et indimellem stærkt støjende men dog altid køligt overblikstøjlet udtryk.

The Smiths’ guitar-es Johnny Marr er stor beundrer af Wire, og i et interview om sine favoritplader med det engelske website The Quietus udtaler Marr følgende om 154:

I think there is an argument to be made for Wire being one of the greatest ever bands to come out of the UK. They have become a band to namedrop over the last 20 years and rightly so. In 1977 or 1978, me and my mates were wagging school and listening to whatever new records were out at the time, and that would be invariably punk records. A couple of my friends were into The Stranglers, which never really did it for me. I was listening to The Only Ones and Generation X and things like that.

When 154 came out it was so startling as it was so ahead of its time. Well, it was of the time but broke away from the norm, which was very much still rooted in an aggressive rock & roll heartland. Wire really stretched sounds and included keyboards on their records, which at the time was a very brave move. I am trying my hardest not to use the word ‘arty’ but in this case, they owned that word.

I had left school at that time and moved away from my parents and was living on my own. That period was key for me as a person and Wire’s approach to guitar was just something I couldn’t ignore. It was a real pointer away from the blues-based guitar playing which dominated pop music – including punk – since rock music had started. As a young guitar player, discovering 154 showed me a world that was an alternative way of looking at the instrument. It has stuck with me all the way through my career.