Review
"Entertainment!" by Gang of Four is the kind of album that makes you question whether you've been living in a cave for the past four decades, subsisting on nothing but stale crackers and the soothing lies of late-stage capitalism. Released in 1979, this post-punk manifesto hits like a Marxist textbook thrown from a third-story window – unexpected, potentially life-altering, and likely to leave a mark.
The band's decision to co-produce allowed them to craft a sound as tight as the grip of the bourgeoisie on the means of production. Their blend of punk, funk, and dub creates a sonic landscape more jarring than finding a copy of "Das Kapital" in Margaret Thatcher's bedside table. Andy Gill's guitar work slices through songs like "Natural's Not in It" and "At Home He's a Tourist" with the precision of a proletariat uprising, while the rhythm section keeps time better than a union-mandated lunch break.
Lyrically, "Entertainment!" is about as subtle as a sledgehammer to a corporate boardroom window. The album tackles everything from The Troubles to media manipulation, all while subverting love song tropes faster than you can say "late-stage romance." It's no wonder artists from Kurt Cobain to Flea have cited this album as an influence – it's more infectious than a capitalist's greed during a stock market boom. On the Atticus Cheese Scale, I rate this album a sharp, aged Cheddar – bold, biting, and likely to keep you up at night pondering the futility of consumerism. - Atticus
