Jon King is a singer, musician and engineer from London, best known as a founding member of the Leeds-based UK rock band Gang of Four. He is the band’s main lyricist and co-songwriter, and performs vocals as well as melodica and percussion. His percussion work includes unconventional instruments and objects such as a microwave oven and a wooden block, played with a baseball bat or stick; this is noted on the song “He’d Send In the Army.”

Gang of Four

King helps shape Gang of Four’s sound and writing from the start. He co-writes and co-produces Entertainment!, the band’s debut album, which is regularly listed among the top 100 albums of all time. In 1980, Rolling Stone describes it as “the best debut album by a British band – punk or otherwise – since the original English release of The Clash in 1977.”

His lyrics are known for their analytical approach and for drawing on political and philosophical ideas, including Marx, Adorno, Baudrillard and Godard. King describes pop songs as a form of false emotional advertising and treats ideology and everyday life as subjects for inquiry. In a 1980 letter to Greil Marcus, he writes about the Situationist idea of “reinvesting” cultural past material, saying the tactic is worth borrowing in the use of popular imagery to make the familiar strange. He specifically links this idea to the Entertainment! artwork and the original “Damaged Goods” sleeve.

Film and television work

King also writes music for television and film. His credits include the title music for BBC TV’s Pandora’s Box. He also co-writes Gang of Four songs that appear on the soundtracks of The Karate Kid (1984), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and Marie Antoinette (2006).

Awards

With Gang of Four, King wins Mojo Magazine’s “Inspiration to Music” award and the Diesel U Music “Outstanding Contribution / Lifetime Achievement” award in 2005.