There’s no question that Gang of Four are legends of punk, but where do they belong in the conversation really? When they formed in 1976, punk was still shiny, new, and considered revolutionary. Yet even in their embryonic state, Gang of Four were contrarians and noticed that a style and sound had begun to calcify and stale. So they took the genre, broke it up, added their pieces, and put it back together into a whole new, jagged but funky form.
For many, the first name that comes to mind when they think of Gang of Four is Andy Gill, and for good reason. The chaotic but controlled punk-funk he wrestled out of his guitar spawned a million lesser clones. Yet, Jon King was the vocalist and primary lyricist for the majority of their now five-decade run, so he is arguably more integral to their critical and sombre yet sometimes funny takes on consumerist culture and a society of ruins.
To Hell With Poverty! A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four is King’s side of the story. It’s about how he got there, how he managed all the chaos during the Gang of Four years, and how it all fell apart. It’s a cranky old man telling stories about when he was a cranky young man, so it’s full of spit and vinegar, but it’s also really fun.
Throughout To Hell With Poverty! Jon King lets readers inside his head. He develops from a culturally deprived and financially impoverished kid in nowhere Britain into a snotty art school punk who takes wealthy benefactors for all he can, and then finally into a successful but always a little agitated frontman for a notorious rock band.
Any diehard Gang of Four fan caught this attitude from the band’s peak years, from 1979’s Entertainment to 1982’s Songs of the Free, and King delivers on that, of course. We hear the whole story starting with their CBGB-inspired genesis: “All the musicians we meet assume we’re in a band, because almost everyone is, and ask what our group’s name is, so Gill says we’re The Mudflaps.”
Gang of Four eventually get their moment of near-fame, during the Songs of The Free album cycle, for which the BBC censored them: “I’m sorry, play something else or pack up and go. Not negotiable,” they’re told. To Hell With Poverty! ends with the band ripping apart at the seams with their 1983 clunker Hard: “Andy and I are drowning, not waving.”
All these stories are great for the Gang of Four devotees, but the real pleasure is reading Jon King’s voice: a bit tetchy but always with a sly sense of humor. When talking about inter-band dynamics, he writes, the boys “constantly snipe at each other and row about anything from Hegel to the price of a Mars bar…”
When asked why he acts so differently on stage, he writes, “It’s theatre, who’d pay to see the real me?” Describing the guitar sound on Hard, an album he hates, he describes it as sounding like “…Spandau Ballet on Ludes” and adds, “…the new Gill Lite sucks, give me the full fat!”
Indeed, Jon King has no issue throwing in pissy takes, and they’re endlessly charming. He even gets an unnecessary dig on mid-day catering: “…lunch is for losers!” There are no apologies given in To Hell With Poverty! and it’s hilarious.
This book came about on a lark. Jon King had a bump in with Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks, who was writing a memoir. Diggle hooked King up with his literary agent, and King started writing his memoir about the same time he was planning Gang of Four’s final tour, which they are charging through this spring. King rushed the book to coincide, thinking it would be a good addition to the celebration. It’s like he wanted to dump Gang of Four from his brain as well as from his itinerary. He’s still got a few months left of touring, so he’s not done yet. A note for the caterers: skip the lunch service.