The Three Johns

All Music Guide:

A side group started in 1982 by Mekons co-founder Jon Langford, the Three Johns, originally made up of Langford, John Hyatt, Phillip "John" Brennan, and a drum machine, specialized in abrasive, politically charged, danceable rock. Sounding almost nothing like Langford's main band, the Johns were a silly-serious bunch of political and cultural provocateurs. Recording during the height of Margaret Thatcher's ill-conceived Tory rebellion, the Johns were openly antagonistic to this new, conservative vision of Britain's future. And while their elliptical and epigrammatic lyrics might not offer the sloganeering that would easily identify them as lefties, certainly there were enough hints dropped along the way to remove any doubt. Unlike other rock agit-prop, the Johns played a fairly accessible version of polemical post-punk anti-pop that embraced big, messy arena-rock-sounding guitars and hard, repetitive, quasi-hip-hop dance beats. Perhaps the most subversive thing about the Johns is that, despite Langford's and Hyatt's goofy vocals, they were, in their own weird way, pure pop for now people, especially those who hated Thatcher. With collective tongue planted firmly in cheek, the Johns took on British and American obsession with materialism, the diabolical Reagan-Thatcher lovefest, the machinations of the pop music industry, all of it done with a great sense of humor mixed in with genuine fear and horror. Frequently hard to pin down, the Johns reveled in being slippery, exhibiting a love and loathing for pop music. In some respects, the Johns resembled friends and fellow Leeds, England mates the Gang of Four, but where the Gang of Four was dour and serious (bordering on academic), the Johns were loutish and boisterous, which when combining politics and rock & roll can, ultimately, be a good thing. After the release of Eat Your Sons in 1990, Jon Langford turned his attention full-time to the Mekons, putting the Three Johns on what has turned out to be an indefinite sabbatical.

Wikipedia:

The Three Johns were a post-punk/indie rock band formed in 1981 in Leeds originally consisting of The Mekons co-founder, Jon Langford (guitar) as well as John Hyatt (vocals) and Phillip "John" Brennan (bass), augmented by a drum machine.

History

The band initially formed just before the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, and their first gig was to be part of 'Funk The Wedding' event, but they were refused permission to play because they were drunk. They signed to CNT Records in 1982, which Langford jointly founded, releasing two singles and an EP for the label, including a re-working of the Mekons' "English White Boy Engineer", which attacked hypocritical attitudes towards South Africa and apartheid, the band being labelled as left-wing rockers. The band explained

"We're not a socialist band. We're a group of socialists who are in a band. It's a fine distinction but an important one"

The mid-1980s saw the band regularly in the UK Indie Chart with singles such as "A.W.O.L.", "Death of the European" (an NME 'Single of the Week'), and "Brainbox". During the band's career, the members maintained their day jobs - Langford as a graphic designer and Hyatt a teacher of Fine Art at Leeds Polytechnic. The band's left wing leanings were further evidenced by the Atom Drum Bop album, the sleeve carrying the words "Rock 'n' Roll Versus Thaatchiism", a reference to then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The band split up in late 1988 after a disastrous US tour, but reformed in 1990, releasing Eat Your Sons, a concept album about cannibalism, before splitting again. Langford continued with The Mekons, later releasing a solo album, while Hyatt concentrated on his academic career. They reformed again in 2012, playing five shows.

The band recorded six sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, and reached number 14 in the 1985 Festive Fifty with "Death of the European".