Andy king obituary 20207/2/2023 ![]() ![]() The band walked off Top Of The Pops rather than change a condom reference in their second single ‘At Home He’s A Tourist’ – their first for EMI – and the BBC banned the song, focussing instead on pushing Duran Duran. ![]() ![]() Their confrontational stance wouldn’t help their career. Accordingly, their wiry, stripped-down punk sounds were infused with politics from the off – the souring fling described in their 1978 debut single ‘Damaged Goods’ has been read as a metaphor for the turning tides of British society in the ‘70s, and set them alongside The Clash, The Au Pairs, This Heat and The Fall as frontrunners in music’s new wave of political radicalism.Īndy Gill with the original Gang of Four line up. Clark and bonded over shared interests ranging from Dr Feelgood to the Frankfurt School of social theory. Gill was born in Manchester in 1956, but formed the band in 1976 after meeting singer Jon King at Leeds University, where they studied under Marxist-feminist scholar Griselda Pollock and Situationist avant garde art historian T.J. Gang Of Four caught their own vibe amid the late-‘70s post-punk intellectualism which grew out of punk’s unrefined splatter. I think so many people have gotten things from Gang of Four or caught a vibe from it.” Flea cited the band as a key influence on early Red Hot Chili Peppers (Gill produced their debut album), Kurt Cobain claimed that Nirvana started off as “a Gang of Four and Scratch Acid ripoff” and Gill’s music was as pivotal on the early ‘00s funk-punk revival as Wire’s was to formative Britpop, both in America ( The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, Radio 4, We Are Scientists) and at home ( Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, whom Gill also produced). R.E.M., Tom Morello, St Vincent, Carrie Brownstein and James Murphy are just some of the acts and musicians who have acknowledged their debt to Gang Of Four’s spare grooves and Gill’s cranky, cut-throat style – attacking his instrument with an unhinged precision. Great musicians encapsulate their age the very best echo endlessly onwards, and Andy Gill, who died today (February 1) aged 64, has been reverberating along the baseline of alternative culture for 40 years. “A lot of people think it’s their own little secret,” Andy Gill, the cult hero guitarist behind Gang Of Four’s uber-influential post-punk abrasions and the man who helped make radical politics danceable, said in 2015. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |