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Outside the Bands Don't Toe the Line: Gang of Four Makes Music Their Way

Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1981

WOULD YOU like your rock with politics or without? Today pop music offers a wide variety of choices: from the violent invective of stereotypic punk bands to the complacency of boogie-'til-you-puke clods and stupefying sensitive folkies. But it's been a long time since rock evidenced any consistent awareness of the real world. Much '70s music seemed insular or self-serving — at least until 1977, when the Sex Pistols, Clash and others revived the illusion (if not the reality) of rock as a social influence.

Total word count of piece: 2393

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