We Are All Prostitutes

Last updated
"We Are All Prostitutes"
The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes single.jpeg
Single by The Pop Group
B-side "Amnesty International Report on British Army Torture of Irish Prisoners"
Released9 November 1979
Genre
Length3:08
Label Rough Trade
Songwriter(s) The Pop Group
Producer(s) Dennis Bovell, The Pop Group
The Pop Group singles chronology
"She Is Beyond Good and Evil"
(1979)
"We Are All Prostitutes"
(1979)
"Where There's a Will There's a Way"
(1980)

"We Are All Prostitutes" is a song by English post-punk band The Pop Group. It was released as the band's second single on 9 November 1979 through Rough Trade Records. [1] The song is a critique of consumerism. [2]

Contents

The song was included as the third track in the 2016 reissue of The Pop Group's 1980 album For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?

Reception

Songwriter Nick Cave declared the song to be the band's masterpiece, saying, "It had everything that I thought rock and roll should have. It was violent, paranoid music for a violent, paranoid time." [3] Writer Mark Fisher described the song "scouring, seesawing, seasick funk, a pied piper’s exit from dominant reality, fired by a fissile compound of millenarian terror and militant jubilation." [4]

Legacy

PublicationCountryAccoladeYearRank
Mojo United Kingdom100 Punk Scorchers [5] 200133
Gary MulhollandUnited KingdomThis Is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock [6] 2002*
MojoUnited KingdomThe Mojo 100 Greatest Protest Songs [7] 200493
Q United KingdomThe Ultimate Music Collection (Punk) [8] 2005*

(*) designates unordered lists.

Formats and track listing

All songs written by The Pop Group.

  1. "We Are All Prostitutes" – 3:08
  2. "Amnesty International Report on British Army Torture of Irish Prisoners" – 3:08

Credits and personnel

The Pop Group

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

Charts

Chart (1980)Peak
position
UK Indie Chart [9] 8

References

  1. "We Are All Prostitutes Single". thepopgroup.net. 2014. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  2. "BBC Four – Punk Britannia, the Pop Group – We Are All Prostitutes (Web exclusive performance)".
  3. T, Peter (September 19, 2012). "1979: The Pop Group – Y". Tiny Mix Tapes . Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  4. Fisher, Mark. "The Pop Group's How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?." Fact . February 2016.
  5. "100 Punk Scorchers". Mojo . Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  6. "This Is Uncool". Gary Mulholland. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  7. "The Mojo 100 Greatest Protest Songs". Mojo . Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  8. "Ultimate Music Collection – Tracks (Punk & New Wave)". Q . Archived from the original on February 22, 2006. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  9. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980–1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved September 11, 2014.