Posted on 04/06/2025 2:42:12 PM PDT by sushiman
Dave Allen, the bass player for postpunk band Gang of Four whose playing style was one of the group’s signatures, has died.
Allen died Saturday, April 5 at the age of 69, former bandmates Jon King and Hugo Burnham wrote in a social media post. “It is with broken yet full hearts that we share the news that Dave Allen, our old music partner, friend, and brilliant musician, died on Saturday morning. He was at home with his family,” the post reads.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Rest In Peace, Dave Allen.
He was predeceased by GO4 guitarist Andy Gill who died in 2020 at 64 .
Really liked his playing! Was a Go4 fan but didn’t get to see them. Saw him as Shreikback in 85- frenetic, moody and masterful! RIP
Andy is believed to be one of the first Westerners to die of Covid (2/1/2020). GO4 played shows in China in November 2019.
Ah yes , Shriekback with ex-XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews . I saw Barry play with Fripp’s “ The League Of Gentlemen “ in 1980 at the same club I saw Gang Of Four . The LOG bassist - Sara Lee - replaced Dave Allen in The Gang Of 4 !
Wow ! I didn’t know that . Thanks for sharing .
Yeah. Me too.
Is a musician all he was in life?
Gee , thanks for chiming in . From now on I’ll send all my posts to you first for approval !
I saw Gang of Four in San Diego in 1982. REM was the opening act. This was at the old Adams Avenue Theater.
What a lineup!
Shreikback? That was the same guy. How much farther apart could two bands be?
I like a couple of their songs.
Entertainment is one of the all-time great post-punk albums.
I think there are now only two of the Gang of Four left.
Rest in Peace
(Still listed to their "Songs of the Free" album - still sounds great).
“Is a musician all he was in life?”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No; depending upon whether he also wrote for Shriekback, he may have been a well-educated practicing Satanist and possible pedophile, as well. See the lyrics below.
Caveat and warning: the tune and the video images have well-crafted hooks and will stay in your eyes and ears.
Shriekback - Nemesis (Official Music Video) 3:41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMM61Y5CEU
Lyrics:
♪ IN THE JUNGLE OF THE SENSES ♪
0:18
♪ TINKER BELL AND JACK THE RIPPER ♪
0:21
♪ LOVE HAS NO MEANING, NOT WHERE THEY COME FROM ♪
0:25
♪ BUT WE KNOW PLEASURE IS NOT THAT SIMPLE ♪
0:28
♪ VERY LITTLE, FRUIT IS FORBIDDEN ♪
0:32
♪ SOMETIMES WE WOBBLE, SOMETIMES WE’RE STRONG ♪
0:35
♪ BUT YOU KNOW EVIL IS AN EXACT SCIENCE ♪
0:39
♪ BEING CAREFULLY, CORRECTLY, WRONG ♪
0:43
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
0:47
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
0:50
♪ BIG BLACK NEMESIS, PARTHENOGENESIS ♪
0:54
♪ NO ONE MOVE A MUSCLE AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
1:11
♪ WE FEEL LIKE GREEKS, WE FEEL LIKE ROMANS ♪
1:15
♪ CENTAURS AND MONKEYS JUST CLUSTER ROUND US ♪
1:18
♪ WE DRINK ELIXIRS THAT WE REFINE ♪
1:22
♪ FROM THE JUICES OF THE DYING ♪
1:25
♪ WE ARE NOT MONSTERS, WE’RE MORAL PEOPLE ♪
1:29
♪ AND YET WE HAVE THE STRENGTH TO DO THIS ♪
1:33
♪ THIS IS THE SPLENDOR OF OUR ACHIEVEMENT ♪
1:36
♪ CALL IN THE AIR STRIKE WITH A POISON KISS ♪
1:40
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
1:44
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
1:48
♪ BIG BLACK NEMESIS, PARTHENOGENESIS ♪
1:51
♪ NO ONE MOVE A MUSCLE AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
1:55
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
1:58
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
2:02
♪ BIG BLACK NEMESIS, PARTHENOGENESIS ♪
2:05
♪ NO ONE MOVE A MUSCLE AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
2:23
♪ HOW BAD IT GETS, YOU CAN’T IMAGINE ♪
2:26
♪ THE BURNING WAX, THE BREATH OF REPTILES ♪
2:30
♪ GOD IS NOT MOCKED, HE KNOWS HIS BUSINESS ♪
2:33
♪ KARMA COULD TAKE US AT ANY MOMENT ♪
2:37
♪ COVER HIM UP, I THINK WE’RE FINISHED ♪
2:40
♪ YOU KNOW IT’S NEVER BEEN SO EXOTIC ♪
2:44
♪ BUT I DON’T KNOW, MY DREAMS ARE VISIONS ♪
2:48
♪ WE COULD STILL END UP WITH THE GREAT BIG FISHES ♪
2:52
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
2:56
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
2:59
♪ BIG BLACK NEMESIS, PARTHENOGENESIS ♪
3:03
♪ NO ONE MOVE A MUSCLE AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
3:06
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
3:10
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
3:13
♪ BIG BLACK NEMESIS, PARTHENOGENESIS ♪
3:17
♪ NO ONE MOVE A MUSCLE AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
3:20
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
3:24
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
3:28
♪ BIG BLACK NEMESIS, PARTHENOGENESIS ♪
3:31
♪ NO ONE MOVE A MUSCLE AS THE DEAD COME HOME ♪
3:35
♪ PRIESTS AND CANNIBALS, PREHISTORIC ANIMALS ♪
3:38
♪ EVERYBODY’S HAPPY ♪
Shorts
comment by:
@robertjirava942
5 months ago (edited)
“I have read quite a few of the comments. Most (99%) don’t seem to have a clue what this song is really about. A couple of people seem to know. Just a nasty, piece of work, this song.
“Tinkerbell and Jack the Ripper”. OK, this implies that grisly murders take place, in a fantasy world they live in.
“Love has no meaning, not where they come from” ‘they’ are a very, very nasty race of beings. “But we know pleasure is not that simple” meaning the things that bring normal people pleasure no longer get their rocks off, as they have graduated, or regressed, to worse perversions.
“Very little fruit is forbidden” meaning that anything goes, when it comes to plying their evil and torture and murder in increasingly grisly ways.
“But you know evil is an exact science” meaning medical and biological expertise is required to execute some of the tortures.
“Being carefully correctly wrong” they take great care to do the ‘right’ thing which is torture and murder, and wrong is how it appears to regular folks.
“Everybody happy as the dead come home” means after their grisly, murderous sinfest concludes they sit there satiated and satisfied as the remains are sometimes sent back to the families, or they lay in wait for the food as it walks into their lair, unsuspecting.
“Big black nemesis” relates to the ghastly black apparition at the start, which appears to be a draconian being, which stomps around underground inflicting misery upon all its prey at its pleasure.
“Parthenogenesis” implies that clones are used, and the perpetrators have genetic engineering technology / expertise, as they do not require mothers nor surrogates to produce bodies.
“No one move a muscle as the dead come home” meaning they have to lay still so they prey can approach so as to be caught.
“We drink elixirs that we refine, from the juices of the dying” means adrenochrome extraction which is done by taking the victim at the point of maximum fear and taking their blood out when it is mixed with adrenaline and the refining process is very complex for this substance making it perhaps the most expensive drug ever devised.
I think you get the idea. I don’t want to carry on, as it is quite distasteful. One of the commenters said that the song is a masterclass in esoteric material. yes I would say this is a fair assessment. But now that we have circled back to it many years later, and finally know what it means, it is not within my moral compass to comment on catchy tunes.
Rather, I will close by saying the days that sick, evil, perverts would celebrate and honor themselves..... are drawing to a close. We have shut down their underground places. We have stopped the trafficking of children. “God is not mocked, he owns our business” Well, I am not mocking here, just stating a plain fact. The control matrix of “the harvest” is being ripped apart by the forces of good, of the light. I have been sent here for these times, to be part of the defeat of darkness. We are stopping this evil. All murderers shall be held accountable for their transgressions.”
(Note: at 2:37, “Cover him up; I think we’re finished” certainly sounds like someone was just murdered or sacrificed, tortured to death.)
ping to post 17, as you appear to be Christian.
But thanks for the heads-up.
Sara Lee replaced Dave Allen in 1980 . I saw her play with Robert Fripp’s League Of Gentlemen in 1980 before she joined GO4 , coincidentally at the same club on LI at which I saw the GO4 !
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