[2014-03-27] Gang Of Four "Entertainment" paperback by Kevin Dettmar (33 1/3)

Linda · **Posted:** Tue Jun 25, 2013 5:41 pm

Product Description
Following hard on the explosion that was British punk, in 1979 Gang of Four produced post-punk's smartest record, Entertainment! For the first time, a band had wedded punk's angry energy to funk's propulsive beats—and used that music to put across lyrics that brought a heady mixture of Marxist theory and Situationism to exposing the politics of everyday life.

But for an American college student from the suburbs—and, one expects, for many, many others, including British youth—Jon King's mumbled lyrics were often all but unintelligible. I loved Entertainment! immediately, the first time I heard it; as the album turns 35, however, there are still lines I can't understand. Nothing resembling definitive lyrics were available until the 2005 Rhino reissue; even in that package, Andy Gill's largely unintelligible lecture on sexual politics from "Anthrax" isn't transcribed. What can it mean that a band that put so much emphasis on its songwriting—pop songs as political theory—actively resisted making that theory legible?

Coming to terms with the impact and legacy of Entertainment! requires us to take the mondegreen—the misunderstood lyric—seriously. The old joke has it that the title of R.E.M.'s debut album should have been not Murmur, but Mumble: true, so far as it goes. My argument is that's the title, too, of rock & roll's Greatest Hits compilation—and that strategic inarticulateness itself has an important politics.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1623560659/?tag=imwan-20

[2014-03-27] Gang Of Four "Entertainment" paperback by Kevin Dettmar (33 1/3)

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