Gang of Four
Leeds, UK’s Gang of Four was formed in 1976 by bassist Dave Allen, drummer Hugo Burnham, guitarist Andy Gill, and singer Jon King. The band pioneered a style of music that inverted punk's blunt and explosive energies — favoring tense rhythms, percussive guitars, and lyrics that traded in Marxist theory and situationism. This first lineup of the group released two monumental albums, Entertainment! (1979) and Solid Gold (1981). A third, Songs of the Free (1982), was recorded with Sara Lee replacing Allen. These records have endured as a formative influence, not only to subsequent generations of musicians, but also activists, writers, and visual artists.
