Jon King (musician)
Encyclopedia
Jon King, born 8 June 1955, London
, is a singer, musician and founding member of the Leeds based UK rock
band Gang of Four
. He attended Sevenoaks School, where he was a member of the 'Art Room' that produced musicians Tom Greenhalgh
and Mark White of The Mekons
, along with Andy Gill
of Gang of Four, Adam Curtis
, the award-winning British documentarian and writer, and Paul Greengrass
, the film director, screenwriter and former journalist famous for the Bourne identity franchise. The band's main lyricist and co-songwriter, he sings in the group as well as playing melodica
and percussion such as a microwave oven or wooden block (using a baseball bat or a stick), the latter notably on the song "He'd Send In the Army." Jon Pareles in The New York Times described King's lyrics as "bitterly analytical, infused with theories from Marx, Adorno
, Baudrillard and Godard
, and the band was determined to puncture pop romance with the consciousness that people are manipulated by power economics, media and marketing.Why not write about ideas? Mr. King said. " - Source Jon Pareles, New York Times , Jan 24th 2005. Jon King co-wrote and co-produced the groundbreaking Entertainment!, Gang of Four's debut album, regularly listed as among the top 100 albums of all time and described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the best debut album by a British band – punk or otherwise – since the original English release of The Clash
in 1977.
Referring to the influence of Situationist ideas on Gang of Four's work, Jon King remarked, in a 1980 letter to Greil Marcus
, that "where I think that Situationism was good was in the development of its revolutionary tactic: 'reinvesting' the cultural past. Situationism conspicuously used popular imagery in order to subvert it – to make the familiar strange, rather than rejecting the familiar out of hand. The tactic was good, worth ripping off, as in the Entertainment! cover, or the original 'Damaged Goods' sleeve." In an interview with NPR ( http://www.npr.org/2011/01/29/133303522/gang-of-four-new-content-same-classic-sound ) the author ( NPR staff) state "King's lyrics have always meant different things to different people. Some see his words as a reaction to Margaret Thatcher, unemployment in early-'80s Britain or the unraveling of the unions. But King says he was more interested in "changing the meaning of things by the label." King says, in the same feature :"I remember when I was 15, I got incredibly excited when I found some grubby old book in a secondhand bookshop about the revolution in Paris in 1968," King says. "There was a picture, which I still cherish — it was a photograph for some kind of perfume and a very glamorous-looking woman on this poster, and someone had written on it in French: 'I'm exploiting you, but I'm not doing it on purpose.' I got terribly excited by the fact ... you can change the meaning of things by the label... I wondered how one could play around with these sorts of ideas in music"
King said of his lyrics, quoted by Michael Hoover (ibid): "If you, say, look at the published agenda of music which limits itself to a very small set of subjects and the way it approaches these subjects (which in its most extreme identity is a sort of Bryan Adams-style song), about missing or making up with your girl, driving the car, in some sort of all-white, midwestern high school, which is an incredibly common motif ... I don't know anything about that. That is something which is a very specific American topic, but it seems to be exhaustively gone around. I had a chance to describe it the other night, like a dog returning to its own vomit.
In other words, pop songs as false emotional advertising and ideology as everydayness are themselves grounds for inquiry", as King told Greil Marcus, because "unless you have an awareness of your views as political manifestations, you won't believe you can change them"
He has written music for TV & film, notably title music for "Pandora's Box" (BBCTV), and co-wrote Gang of Four songs featured on the soundtracks of major movies such as The Karate Kid (1984), The Manchurian Candidate
(2004), and Marie Antoinette
(2006). Won in 2005 (with Gang of Four) Mojo Magazine's "Inspiration to Music" and the Diesel U Music "Outstanding Contribution / Lifetime Achievement" award.
He's currently the managing director for Story Worldwide in London.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, is a singer, musician and founding member of the Leeds based UK rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
. He attended Sevenoaks School, where he was a member of the 'Art Room' that produced musicians Tom Greenhalgh
Tom Greenhalgh
Thomas Charles Greenhalgh is a multimedia artist and singer-songwriter best known for his work with the Mekons.-Education:...
and Mark White of The Mekons
The Mekons (band)
The Mekons are a British rock band. Formed in the late 1970s, they are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.- History :...
, along with Andy Gill
Andy Gill
Andy Gill is a founding member and guitarist for the English rock group Gang of Four, considered among the most influential post-punk bands...
of Gang of Four, Adam Curtis
Adam Curtis
Adam Curtis is a British BAFTA winning documentarian and a writer, television producer, director and narrator. He works for BBC Current Affairs.-Early life and education:Curtis was born in 1955...
, the award-winning British documentarian and writer, and Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
, the film director, screenwriter and former journalist famous for the Bourne identity franchise. The band's main lyricist and co-songwriter, he sings in the group as well as playing melodica
Melodica
The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
and percussion such as a microwave oven or wooden block (using a baseball bat or a stick), the latter notably on the song "He'd Send In the Army." Jon Pareles in The New York Times described King's lyrics as "bitterly analytical, infused with theories from Marx, Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
, Baudrillard and Godard
Godard
-People:* Agnès Godard, French cinematographer* André Godard , French Iranologist* Benjamin Godard , French composer best known for his opera Jocelyn and salon music* Christian Godard , French comic artist...
, and the band was determined to puncture pop romance with the consciousness that people are manipulated by power economics, media and marketing.Why not write about ideas? Mr. King said. " - Source Jon Pareles, New York Times , Jan 24th 2005. Jon King co-wrote and co-produced the groundbreaking Entertainment!, Gang of Four's debut album, regularly listed as among the top 100 albums of all time and described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the best debut album by a British band – punk or otherwise – since the original English release of The Clash
The Clash (album)
The album received positive reviews from critics and peaked at number 12 in the UK charts. In December 1979, critic Robert Christgau named it his favorite album of the 1970s....
in 1977.
Referring to the influence of Situationist ideas on Gang of Four's work, Jon King remarked, in a 1980 letter to Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...
, that "where I think that Situationism was good was in the development of its revolutionary tactic: 'reinvesting' the cultural past. Situationism conspicuously used popular imagery in order to subvert it – to make the familiar strange, rather than rejecting the familiar out of hand. The tactic was good, worth ripping off, as in the Entertainment! cover, or the original 'Damaged Goods' sleeve." In an interview with NPR ( http://www.npr.org/2011/01/29/133303522/gang-of-four-new-content-same-classic-sound ) the author ( NPR staff) state "King's lyrics have always meant different things to different people. Some see his words as a reaction to Margaret Thatcher, unemployment in early-'80s Britain or the unraveling of the unions. But King says he was more interested in "changing the meaning of things by the label." King says, in the same feature :"I remember when I was 15, I got incredibly excited when I found some grubby old book in a secondhand bookshop about the revolution in Paris in 1968," King says. "There was a picture, which I still cherish — it was a photograph for some kind of perfume and a very glamorous-looking woman on this poster, and someone had written on it in French: 'I'm exploiting you, but I'm not doing it on purpose.' I got terribly excited by the fact ... you can change the meaning of things by the label... I wondered how one could play around with these sorts of ideas in music"
King said of his lyrics, quoted by Michael Hoover (ibid): "If you, say, look at the published agenda of music which limits itself to a very small set of subjects and the way it approaches these subjects (which in its most extreme identity is a sort of Bryan Adams-style song), about missing or making up with your girl, driving the car, in some sort of all-white, midwestern high school, which is an incredibly common motif ... I don't know anything about that. That is something which is a very specific American topic, but it seems to be exhaustively gone around. I had a chance to describe it the other night, like a dog returning to its own vomit.
In other words, pop songs as false emotional advertising and ideology as everydayness are themselves grounds for inquiry", as King told Greil Marcus, because "unless you have an awareness of your views as political manifestations, you won't believe you can change them"
He has written music for TV & film, notably title music for "Pandora's Box" (BBCTV), and co-wrote Gang of Four songs featured on the soundtracks of major movies such as The Karate Kid (1984), The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate (2004 film)
The Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 American thriller film based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Richard Condon, and a reimagining of the previous 1962 film....
(2004), and Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...
(2006). Won in 2005 (with Gang of Four) Mojo Magazine's "Inspiration to Music" and the Diesel U Music "Outstanding Contribution / Lifetime Achievement" award.
He's currently the managing director for Story Worldwide in London.