Album · Gang of Four
Entertainment! by Gang of Four
Entertainment! is an album by Gang of Four, released in 1979. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 17 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Damaged Goods”, on 11 lists with a best position of #23.
Entertainment!, Gang of Four's debut, came out in September 1979 on EMI, with Warner Bros. handling it in North America, and it takes punk's fury and makes it dance. Jon King sings (and blows the odd melodica), Andy Gill's guitar slashes and scrapes like broken glass, and Dave Allen's bass and Hugo Burnham's drums lock into grooves borrowed from funk, reggae and dub, leaving great gaps of empty space for the noise to rattle around in.
It's a thinking record you can move to, with the words and the sleeve wearing the band's left-wing politics out in the open. "Damaged Goods" is the danceable heart of it, with "At Home He's a Tourist", "Ether" and "I Found That Essence Rare" right behind. Post-punk would come to treat it as scripture.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Entertainment! on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damaged Goods | 11 | #23 | – | 1979–2026 | |
| 2 | At Home He's a Tourist | 2 | #277 | – | 2003–2022 | |
| 3 | I Found that Essence Rare | 3 | #549 | – | 2003–2022 | |
| 4 | Ether | 1 | #578 | – | 2024 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.