This is essentially just sort of a re-hash of this post from around the same time last year, only with a better version of the photograph.
Despite the fact that the original foursome hailed from the industrial hinterlands of Leeds, England (alongside the Mekons, the Sisters of Mercy and the Wedding Present), I’ve long associated the music of Gang of Four with the East Village here in New York City, largely thanks to a formative evening at the dawn of the `90’s (fleetingly described here), wherein I took a snowy evening stroll around said neighborhood, scored by the fittingly cold, brittle post-punk/funk of the then newly-released Gang of Four compilation, A Brief History of the Twentieth Century. Honestly, since that fabled night, anytime it snows, I tend to dial up the Gang and walk around the Lower East Side. It synchs up perfectly, to my mind.
In any case, as mentioned on that other old post from 2015, my former colleague Catherine is actually married to Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, and initially posted an image from an Anton Corbijn exhibit at the Fotomuseum Den Haag of Gang of Four posing on an East Village street. I’d never seen the image in question before, and was thrilled to discover it, even if at a strange angle. Well, thanks to the magic of Tumble, someone else snagged an photo of the photo and posted it. Herewith a better depiction of Corbijn’s photo of the Gang of Four in New York City circa 1980. Click to enlarge.
Now comes the question: WHAT STREET ARE THEY SEEN STANDING ON?
For some reason, I keep wanting to suggest that it’s East 6th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, but I’m just guessing.
What say YOU? Weigh in.
Here, meanwhile, is a bit of the `Gang in NYC around the same era. Taped a Hurrah, maybe?
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