Entertainment!
Released: 1979

Entertainment!

by Gang of Four

The 89th greatest album of all time

Entertainment!, the 1979 debut by Gang of Four, combines punk urgency with funk-influenced dance rhythms and art-punk angularity. The album is built on staccato, jagged guitar figures, propulsive, groove-driven bass and tight, rhythmic arrangements that favor economy and texture. Lyrically it offers direct, politically charged critiques of consumerism, interpersonal power and modern capitalism, delivered with a cool, detached vocal approach. The spare, abrasive sound and focus on rhythm and ideas helped define a strand of post-punk that fed into later dance-punk and alternative music.

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