At a post-conference party last night, I mentioned this Simon Reynolds article about Gang of Four to a friend who has written extensively about the band. The band's early records are full of anti-institutional rhetoric that invokes thinkers like leftist thinkers like Gramsci, yet the band was rarely political in the sense of street-level action. Reynold's discussion of their later career is enlightening.
The extent that some of the band members pull the levers of the culture industry really is strange.
On Wednesday, I ran into a former student asked, "Are you going to see Gang of Four tonight?" The band was playing at Emo's on their reunion tour. I told the student I thought the show was sold out, but, in reality, I've been too busy to go to shows. If I had planned ahead, I might have budgeted time to go, but Reynolds' lukewarm reception of the band's reunion cast out any thought of going. This seems like it was a good decision. My friend said the Austin show was terrible.
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