Album: Entertainment!
Artist: Gang of Four
Born: Leeds, West Yorkshire
Released: September 1979
Genre: Funk Punk
Influenced: Fugazi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Bloc Party, Liars
Of all the politically-motivated bands that emerged in the wake of punk, Gang of Four were one of the most articulate and socially aware. I've listened to several post-punk albums over the past year, from Pop Group's Y and Pere Ubu's Modern Dance to Public Image Ltd's Metal Box and This Heat's Deceit, and while Entertainment! may not be the most sonically revolutionary it does seem the most coherent statement. Gang of Four also had some of the best songs. Like Wire, the band had extreme left views that were reflected in their name (reference to Mao Zedong's network of four political fixers), album artwork (on the front, three pictures of a cowboy shaking hands with an Indian and the text, "The Indian smiles, he thinks that the cowboy is his friend. The cowboy smiles, he is glad the Indian is fooled. Now he can exploit him") and the lyrics. In Natural's Not in it, Go4 are able to integrate a Marxist-inspired critique of consumerism ("the problem of leisure, what to do for pleasure? Ideal love, a new purchase, a market of the senses") into a song that's one enormous rock riff without a verse or a chorus. As well as funk and reggae, the influence of Dr Feelgood is obvious on Go4's sound, especially when listening to the powerfully precise guitar riff of Damaged Goods.
There's no greater demystification of Western romantic love than the line in Damaged Goods that goes, "sometimes I'm thinking that I love you / but I know it's only lust". There's also that brilliant call & response element in the song when Andy Gill takes over the lyrics in the mid-section ("damaged goods / send them back"), a trick that Wire pulled off brilliantly too. This duality is further reflected in the alternating bass and guitar sounds and the sexual / political double-entendres throughout the song. Even if you're not tuning into the lyrics, the bass-heavy groove and chaotic, rave-like ending make it good enough to dance to. I Found That Essence Rare is one of the more orthodox pop songs on the album, a brilliant fusion of heavy funk and driving punk. For me, the album's crowning moment is At Home He's A Tourist, with its dub-heavy bass intro, Hugo Burnham's off-kilter but military tight drumming and Gill's "anything but a cock rock powerhouse" guitar riff. Jon King also sneers brilliantly as he rails against a consumerised world where the young look to fashion and trends for their identity, an escape from confronting the harsh realities ("he fills his head with culture / he gives himself an ulcer"). 5:45 is another highlight, its haunted reggae sound (echoes of Augustus Pablo's melodica) and prophetic lyrics about watching modern warfare on TV making for a powerful mix. Entertainment! ends with the momentous Anthrax, with its Hendrix-inspired guitar feedback intro and hugely innovative approach of channeling a lecture on the pitfalls of idealised love through one speaker and King's monotone vocals comparing romanticised love to "anthrax" through the other. There's some sort of irony in the fact that many of the bands that stole Go4's innovative sound, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Bloc Party, ended up as largely politically-void entities.
Of all the politically-motivated bands that emerged in the wake of punk, Gang of Four were one of the most articulate and socially aware. I've listened to several post-punk albums over the past year, from Pop Group's Y and Pere Ubu's Modern Dance to Public Image Ltd's Metal Box and This Heat's Deceit, and while Entertainment! may not be the most sonically revolutionary it does seem the most coherent statement. Gang of Four also had some of the best songs. Like Wire, the band had extreme left views that were reflected in their name (reference to Mao Zedong's network of four political fixers), album artwork (on the front, three pictures of a cowboy shaking hands with an Indian and the text, "The Indian smiles, he thinks that the cowboy is his friend. The cowboy smiles, he is glad the Indian is fooled. Now he can exploit him") and the lyrics. In Natural's Not in it, Go4 are able to integrate a Marxist-inspired critique of consumerism ("the problem of leisure, what to do for pleasure? Ideal love, a new purchase, a market of the senses") into a song that's one enormous rock riff without a verse or a chorus. As well as funk and reggae, the influence of Dr Feelgood is obvious on Go4's sound, especially when listening to the powerfully precise guitar riff of Damaged Goods.
There's no greater demystification of Western romantic love than the line in Damaged Goods that goes, "sometimes I'm thinking that I love you / but I know it's only lust". There's also that brilliant call & response element in the song when Andy Gill takes over the lyrics in the mid-section ("damaged goods / send them back"), a trick that Wire pulled off brilliantly too. This duality is further reflected in the alternating bass and guitar sounds and the sexual / political double-entendres throughout the song. Even if you're not tuning into the lyrics, the bass-heavy groove and chaotic, rave-like ending make it good enough to dance to. I Found That Essence Rare is one of the more orthodox pop songs on the album, a brilliant fusion of heavy funk and driving punk. For me, the album's crowning moment is At Home He's A Tourist, with its dub-heavy bass intro, Hugo Burnham's off-kilter but military tight drumming and Gill's "anything but a cock rock powerhouse" guitar riff. Jon King also sneers brilliantly as he rails against a consumerised world where the young look to fashion and trends for their identity, an escape from confronting the harsh realities ("he fills his head with culture / he gives himself an ulcer"). 5:45 is another highlight, its haunted reggae sound (echoes of Augustus Pablo's melodica) and prophetic lyrics about watching modern warfare on TV making for a powerful mix. Entertainment! ends with the momentous Anthrax, with its Hendrix-inspired guitar feedback intro and hugely innovative approach of channeling a lecture on the pitfalls of idealised love through one speaker and King's monotone vocals comparing romanticised love to "anthrax" through the other. There's some sort of irony in the fact that many of the bands that stole Go4's innovative sound, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Bloc Party, ended up as largely politically-void entities.
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