Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andrew Gill, and Jon King came together as Gang Of Four in 1976 in Leeds, UK. They released the Damaged Goods EP on Fast Product in October, 1978; and on the heels of their first US tour in 1979, Entertainment! was released in September that year by EMI Records in the UK and Europe, and in the US by Warner Bros. Records in 1980. The album is considered a seminal work in the post-punk genre, being ranked 273 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020, 49th in their 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time in 2023, and as the fifth best album of 1979 by the NME. The band won Mojo’s ‘Inspira on’ Award in 2005.
Allen and Burnham left the band in the mid ’80s, but Gill and King continued, on and off with other musicians, until the original band re-united in 2005 for almost 2 years of touring and an album of rerecordings and additional mixes, Return The Gift. In 2012, King left, assuming the band would cease, but Gill continued working with various session players until his death in 2020.
2021 saw the release by Matador Records of the Grammy-nominated limited/numbered box set, Gang Of Four: 77-81. It sold out in three months. In 2021, Burnham and King drafted former G4-bassist Sara Lee (B-52s, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Ryuichi Sakamoto) and guitarist David Pajo (Slint, Stereolab, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol) in to start touring again, with great success and renewed energy. The current band with bassist Gail Greenwood (Belly, L7) and guitarist Ted Leo (TL & The Pharmacists, Aimee Mann, et al), recently completing the ‘Long Goodbye’ headlining tour of the US and Europe. Contrary to some assumptions, Gang Of Four has not retired.
“Gang of Four knew how to swing. I stole a lot from them.”- Michael Stipe (R.E.M.)
“Gang of Four is the first rock band I could truly relate to… These limies rocked my world.”- Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
“(They) took no prisoners. It was art meets the devil via James Brown”- Michael Hutchence (INXS)
“Hard, angular, bold… A Gang of Four metal gurus, a corporation of common sense, a smart bomb of text that had me ‘at home feeling like a typist.'”- Bono (U2)
