In a review for Entertainment! magazine, Rolling Stone’s David Fricke wrote that the album was “the best debut album by a British band, punk or not.” The Clash For Gill’s widow, journalist and UK Women’s Equality Party co-founder Catherine Mayer – Gill herself passed away in 2020 – Gang of Four rejuvenated the spirit of young people in the late 1970s.
“I use the word storytelling,” she explains. “Gang of Four were thoroughly radical and uncompromising in their stories. They made us all feel like we could change the future. Entertainment! is hard-edged and feature-rich. As much as it’s rooted in dysfunction, it has an incredibly energizing riff.”When I hear this, I feel 100% ready to go out and make the world a better place, certainly it’s campaign music is. ”
Mayer asserts that Gill’s ambiguous guitar playing is central to Entertainment!’s enduring brilliance, saying that Gill plays like someone who “dislikes the extended, bombastic solos of progressive rock guitarists.” states that it did. Gill’s sound is a lesson in deliberate restraint. He plays in small, controlled outbursts of anger, and just when you expect him to break into a solo, he withdraws into himself and holds back. “I used to tease him and call him ‘Mr. Angular’ because every review would point out how angular his guitar playing was,” she laughs.
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“He just created this wild noise that was completely his own,” Mayer added, “When you pick up the guitar, you don’t think it’s Gang of Four anymore. Andy’s guitar. DNA remains everywhere today! Why Andy went on to produce the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Futureheads, Michael Hutchence, and the Stranglers, because they all wanted the Gang of Four Entertainment sound Because it was there!”
Rap duo Run the Jewels (El-P and Killer Mike) sampled Gil’s guitar playing from Entertainment’s highlight track “Aether” in their protest song “The Ground Below.” Meanwhile, Frank Ocean sampled another song, “Love Like Anthrax,” in 2016’s deep R&B rule-breaking song “Futura Free.” Perhaps it was Natural’s Not that helped introduce Gang of Four’s music to a new generation of artists. among them appear prominently in In Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette, the song’s straightforward lyrics about how even love can be “bought” are a perfect match for the film’s depiction of unabashed materialism. Ta.
When I asked King why so many contemporary artists still seem to be inspired by Entertainment!, he speculated that it might have something to do with the sociopolitical parallels. did. “In 2024, young people are being treated badly in every conceivable way, whether it’s owning the best real estate or having the best pensions, it’s generally the older generations who are doing it. Today’s youth feel like they’re in a bind.” Back to Entertainment! This means we think we can get something for free, but we don’t. , is a story about that cursed deal that leads to this conundrum. From 1979 to 2024. ”
