I have been reading a fair amount of negativity on the subject of Gang of Four and their allowance of the song Natural's Not In It to be used in an X-box Kinect Sports commercial. "Sell-outs!" is the general cry. How could a band that wrote such insightful songs on the evils of consumerism (Cheeseburger, Natural's Not In It), the media's biased and desensitising handling of world issues (I Found That Essence Rare, 5:45), on the failings of capitalism (erm...Capital, It Fails Us Now), a band whose very name invokes the heart of Chinese communism of the 60's and 70's endorse that most consumerist of products, the X-box? Get over it, I say. These people seem to neglect the fact that when the band released their seminal debut LP Entertainment!, they were signed to EMI. Their later records were released on Warner Bros.
Hypocrisy? Not really. In Paul Lester's biography Damaged Gods, Andy Gill makes it quite clear that the band never set out to be heroes of the self-righteous variety: "It would have been easy to wave a red flag, to adopt a stance, to put one foot on the monitors and man the barricades...but we don't feel that's accurate". He continues: "A lot of the time we're describing ourselves as being WITH the enemy. We're complicit. We're collaborators. It's not a straightforward world, that's what we think". In an article in today's Sunday Times, Jon King remarks on the raised eyebrows on the whole X-box commercial affair: "I'm not going to apologise for doing what we need to do to get by." And that captures the true essence of GoFs lyrics; as people, they're as flawed as you and me, as the system that governs them, it's just that they're able to recognise those flaws in themselves. Whilst I deeply admire the bold ethics of many of the bands to whom GoF were a benefactor (Fugazi, the Minutemen), it was never what GoF were about. Their music provided (and still provides) an accurate socio-political commentary; it's not a statement of intent.
On the 24th, Gang of Four release Content, their first album of new material in some 16 years. My initial scepticism has been curbed somewhat by catching half a new track on the radio the other day. It sounded pretty good actually, like a more muscular version of the band that recorded Entertainment! and Solid Gold. It reminded me of how Mission Of Burma sounded on their reunion, a band which, sonically least, had more than a little in common with GoF. Whether that's a reflection of the album as a whole, I couldn't say, but I will continue to assess GoF on what really counts, their music.
Amen!
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