Gang of Four are a British post-punk group from Leeds, England. Original pe… Read Full Bio ↴Gang of Four are a British post-punk group from Leeds, England. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill. In 2005, the original lineup reunited.

The group had a single in the British Top 60 with "At Home He's A Tourist" in 1979, which was blacklisted by Top Of The Pops for its use of the relatively innocuous term "rubbers". Storming, Doc Marten-booted and fueled by a heady cocktail of Gramsci, Marx and lager, out of the Leeds art-school scene that produced The Mekons and Delta 5, they played a stripped-to-the-wire, funk-fueled permutation of punk rock. This is best exemplified by the dry production and forceful polemic of debut effort Entertainment! - Gang of Four's later albums (Songs Of The Free and Hard) found them softening some of their more jarring qualities, and drifting towards disco.

Critic Stewart Mason has called "Love Like Anthrax" (their first single, later re-recorded as "Anthrax") not only the group's "most notorious song" but also "one of the most unique and interesting songs of its time"; it's also a good example of Gang of Four's social perspective. After a minute-long, droning, feedback-laced guitar intro, the rhythm section sets up a funky, churning beat, and the guitar drops out entirely. In one stereo channel, King sings a "post-punk anti-love song", comparing himself to a beetle trapped on its back ("and there's no way for me to get up") and equating love with "a case of anthrax, and that's some thing I don't want to catch." Meanwhile in the other stereo channel (and slightly less prominent in the mix), Gill reads a deadpan monologue about public perception of love, and the prevalence of love songs in popular music: "Love crops up quite a lot as something to sing about, 'cause most groups make most of their songs about falling in love, or how happy they are to be in love, and you occasionally wonder why these groups do sing about it all the time." The simultaneous vocals are more than a little disorienting, especially when Gill pauses in his examination of love songs to echo a few of King's sung lines.

Allen left after Solid Gold and was replaced briefly by Buster Jones (who never recorded with the group), then by Sara Lee; Allen later co-founded Shriekback, Low Pop Suicide and The Elastic Purejoy.

Their angular, slashing attack and liberal use of dissonance had a significant influence on their post-punk contemporaries in the States, including Mission Of Burma. Gang Of Four went on to influence a number of successful funk-tinged alternative rock acts throughout the 80s and 90s - even, arguably, many rap-rock and nu metal groups who were "not in touch with their ancestry enough to realize it" (Andy Kellman, on allmusic.com) - although few of their followers were as arty or political. Michael "Flea" Balzary of Red Hot Chili Peppers has stated Gang of Four were very influential on his band's early music.

Gang of Four can also be credited as one of the early influences on techno or electronic music; they released dance remixes of several later singles.

Recently the band has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, initially due to emergence of new post-punk influenced bands such as The Rapture and Radio 4 and then the rise of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party, which led to the renewed patronage of the NME. The original Burnham/Allen/Gill/King lineup reformed in November 2004. In October of 2005, Gang of Four released a new LP featuring new recordings of past songs, entitled Return The Gift.

Dave Allen also co-hosts a twice-weekly "New Music Hour" radio show with Portland, Oregon's 94.7 alternative radio station.

Andy Gill died on 1st February, 2020 from, according to reports, a respiratory illness caught on the group's tour in Asia the preceding year. He was the only original member still playing in the Gang Of Four.

Something 99
Gang of Four Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I volunteer to serve myself
Words, comma, sentence, end.
Addicted to sentiment
Hopes, postponed sleepless, end.
Necrophiliac desires
Cock culture, I defend
Overdose nostalgic rides
Pause, scarequotes, fullstop.

Fuel stop, steak, wipe its arse
Something 99
Someone's got what should be mine
Something 99

I'm a consumer of myself
Reminiscence, and self love, end.
Memories I never had
dash, semi colon

Fuel stop, steak, wipe its arse
Something 99
12 inch Jesus on the dash
Something 99

Someone's got what should be mine
Something 99
(unintelligible)..all I can find
Something 99

Fuel stop, steak, wipe its arse
Something 99
Someone's got what should be mine
Something 99

Fuel stop, steak, wipe its arse
Something 99

Someone's got what should be mine
Something 99

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Gang of Four's song "Something 99" are a commentary on consumer culture, addiction to nostalgia, and the commodification of the self. The first verse speaks to the idea of serving oneself and being addicted to sentiment, with hopes postponed and sleepless nights. The line "necrophiliac desires, cock culture, I defend" implies a perversion of sexuality and masculinity, perhaps symbolizing a society that values power and domination over human connection and intimacy. The "overdose nostalgic rides" could be interpreted as a reference to the prevalence of retro and vintage aesthetics in contemporary culture, and the danger of becoming so caught up in nostalgia that we lose sight of the present.

The chorus, "something 99, someone's got what should be mine," further emphasizes the theme of consumerism and the idea of constantly wanting more. The line "12 inch Jesus on the dash" could be seen as a cultural reference to the "Jesus fish" that were popular bumper stickers in the 90s, highlighting the way in which even religion is commodified in contemporary culture. The second verse continues the theme of being a consumer of oneself, with memories that never actually existed.

Line by Line Meaning

I volunteer to serve myself
I am willing to put in effort only for my own personal gain

Words, comma, sentence, end.
I am adept at manipulating language to my advantage

Addicted to sentiment
I am dependent on sentimental feelings

Hopes, postponed sleepless, end.
My hopes keep me up at night, but I will not give up on them

Necrophiliac desires
I am attracted to things that are dead or dying

Cock culture, I defend
I am fiercely defensive of traditional masculine values

Overdose nostalgic rides
I indulge in nostalgic experiences to the point of excess

Pause, scarequotes, fullstop.
I am hesitant to commit to anything and rely heavily on irony and sarcasm

Fuel stop, steak, wipe its arse
I engage in mundane activities that distract me from my problems

Something 99
I am constantly searching for something to fulfill me

Someone's got what should be mine
I feel entitled to things that others possess