Gang of Four; comprised of four members from England who formed while at art school in Leeds during 1977. The band took its' name from the Chinese Communist political faction of the same name; the name was just the beginning for the heavy politics GoF infused within their songs. Actually, to get some sense of what you may be delving into before even giving the album a listen, look no further than the album cover. A simple picture of a cowboy and a Native American with the caption, "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." Further social criticisms ensue on the back cover and album sleeve. You may be saying, "How are these blokes different from any anarcho-punk troup from England?" What sets Gang of Four apart from their predecessors, as well as those bands that would follow, is that while GoF's music was rooted in punk, their songs contained prominent basslines and distinguishable guitar twangs incorporating elements of funk and reggae. Ultimately, the gave the world punk it could dance to. GoF's fans include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., and U2 while paving the way for politico-acts like Rage Against the Machine and offering their influence to bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party.
Gang of Four's debut, Entertainment!, is an album of criticisms, analysis, and fatigue toward society. Heavily debated upon a number of message boards, the tracks included on Entertainment! range from Marxist ideology to "Great Man theory" to social models to the problems of the everyman. These problems include, but are not limited to the working class, ideas toward leisure, and marital issues evident throughout and created by society as seen in "Anthrax," "Damaged Goods," and "Contract," while "At Home He's a Tourist" speaks to the plight of the everyman who feels alien in his own everyday surroundings. The aptly titled "Not Great Men" deals with the aforementioned "Great Man theory." Other tracks are not so obvious, such as "Guns Before Butter," which some listeners claim deals with the "guns vs. butter model" that states a country can either invest in their military (guns) or in the production of goods (butter). Other listeners, while not necessarily disagreeing, believe the song's title and criticism on the Nazi regime and ideology comes from a quote by Hermann Goering, "Guns will make us powerful, butter will only make us fat." Personally, I enjoy the line that asks, "If I'm only blood and iron / O Doktor Doktor, what's in my shirt?" This ambiguity continues on tracks such as "I Found that Essence Rare," which alludes to the naming of the bikini as well as the H-Bomb testing done on the Bikini atoll.
The track "5:45" deals with the ever-present thought process toward the 6 0'clock news in that all we ever see at dinner-time is death and destruction on the news. Towards the end of the song, repeated lines hammer home the idea that television brainwashes people and makes them drones. "Anthrax" examines the glittering stereotype of love created by entertainment which often leads to let down and depression in the real world. How can we accurately assess relationships when we are bred to believe love and marriage is what Hollywood portrays it as? This speaks volumes for the ever-increasing divorce rate, right? "Contract" also deals with this fascination in terms of the contract of marriage and what it is as opposed to what it should be, while also dealing with society's constant measuring themselves to magazines and television. This track is highly relevant in today's supermodel "I wanna be thin like them" and bored housewife "I wanna fuck like they talk about in Cosmo" cultures.
Entertainment! offers its' listeners all of this ideas and criticism while keeping our heads bobbing and our feet tapping. The album is very accessible even to those who may not lean towards the lines of The Sex Pistols or Against Me!. The music is catchy and interesting from the choir-like melodies in "Damaged Goods" to the crazy cool guitar work at the end of "At Home He's a Tourist." Unfortunately, the tracks that were added in the 1995 reissue were not as inspired, leaving you with the question, "Why add them?" Overall, the first issue is a great album. Worthy.
As promised, the cover song pick of the album. Although, not humorous like the guy yelling "Bollocks" in the last post, I picked this cover, because it shows a young high school band performing a Gang of Four song. Whether it's a good cover or not doesn't matter. What matters is that good music is still reaching the youth.
-d.
There’s so much to love here. There is no fear of breaking conventions and it shows right away. "Ether" features bass chords and a drumbeat that seems to be looking for a new beat to accent every few bars. I feel my affection for this song grow with each listening. The next few songs are the building blocks for every rock band that has tried to be danceable since. "Not Great Men" could be on a Franz Ferdinand cd and "Damaged Goods" is a pretty obvious influence for early Red Hot Chili Peppers. None have pulled it off so seamlessly, although in retrospect OKGO might as well just become a Gang of Four cover band for how much they take from these songs.
I’m surprised "Glass" never became a hit. In my opinion the most radio friendly song here, it’s catchy and fun to sing along to. I need to really praise the rhythm section. The basslines are amazing. I can say from experience that it’s not easy to be that aggressive and stay funky. Hugo Burnham is a very underrated drummer as well. He deserves much of the credit for keeping things together when they have no business doing so.
"At Home He’s a Tourist" flirts heavily with disco but is still somehow one of the most cynical and ‘punk’ songs on the record. The completely discordant guitar solo over the last 16 bars or so is genius. There’s an obvious vein of self destruction running through the songs and it spills over into the instrumentals in those moments. It rears up again in "Anthrax," arguably the best known song of their career. The 90+ seconds of feedback that begin the song break way for a rolling train of drums and bass. Lyrically and style wise its one of the most obvious nods to their own influence, Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
I can’t get more specific about individual songs as this would be a ten page review if I did. Just buy it. If you don’t suck at life you will love this album (really hoping Danny also liked this cd). All in all, a brilliant album with such wide ranging influence that 21 years later we’re barely scraping the top of how many musicians have or will be pushed to experiment after listening.
-TFM
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