"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a song by the English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

band

Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of founding Human League members Martyn Ware (keyboards, drum machine, vocals) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) with voc ...

. It was their debut single, released on 13 March 1981, and the lead single from their debut studio album, ''

Penthouse and Pavement ''Penthouse and Pavement'' is the debut studio album by the English synth-pop band Heaven 17, released on 18 September 1981 by Virgin Records. " (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve chart succe ...

'' (1981). It was a minor hit in the UK in 1981, despite being banned by the BBC. It was also a minor dance hit in the US. It developed from an instrumental, "Groove Thang", that

Martyn Ware Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware co-wrote hit songs such as " Being Boiled" and "Temptation". Wa ...

and

Ian Craig Marsh Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) is an English musician and composer. He was a founding member of the electronic band the Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form th ...

created earlier that year for '' Music for Stowaways'', an album they released as British Electric Foundation.

Details and ban by the BBC

"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was written by Heaven 17 members

and

Glenn Gregory Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synth-pop b ...

and included on their debut studio album ''

'' (1981). It was the first single released by the band.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer Stewart Mason describes the song as "clattering and jangled", with multiple electronic rhythm tracks played simultaneously making the song seem faster than its nominal tempo. In the lyrics

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

are described in an ironic fashion, using the lexicon of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

music. The lyrics of the song also reference the recent

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. The song suffered reluctance from UK radio stations to play it and it was banned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

due to concerns by Radio 1's legal department that it libelled Reagan by describing him as a "fascist god in motion". The BBC also informed Heaven 17 that the Reagan reference would need to be changed if they wished to appear on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. To promote the single, Virgin commissioned radio advertisements at a cost of £3,000, but these were initially banned by the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

for breaching its guidelines that no advert "may show partiality regarding political, religious or industrial controversy". The band responded by recording an altered set of lyrics for it, which changed "Reagan, fascist guard" to "Stateside cowboy guard".

Reception and chart performance

Despite the BBC ban, "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" reached number 45 on the UK singles chart. It debuted on that chart on 21 March 1981 and peaked one week later. The single peaked at number 72 in Australia, and was a minor dance hit in the U.S., reaching number 29 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart in 1981. The song was ranked at number 4 among the top 10 "Tracks of the Year" for 1981 by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''.

Personnel

Heaven 17 *

– vocals *

– synthesisers *

– synthesisers,

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

and backing vocals Additional musicians * Josie James – vocals * John Wilson – bass, rhythm guitar

Remix

A Rapino Brothers remix of "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single in 1993, reaching number 40 in the UK Singles Chart. The remix and original version of the song were included on the compilation album '' Higher and Higher: The Best of Heaven 17'', released in the same year.

Cover versions

* Scottish

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band the Fire Engines covered the song for a 23 February 1981

Peel Session John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. * German

dark wave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...

project Deine Lakaien featured a cover on the 1999 CD Maxi "Into My Arms" (as "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing"). * American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Poster Children Poster Children is an American indie rock band formed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1987.On the Offensive''. * American synth-pop band

Information Society An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, Content creation, creation, information distribution, distribution, manipulation and information integration, integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drive ...

covered the song in 2016 for their album '' Orders of Magnitude''. It was remixed by Inertia and the Crusher for the DEF CON 24 music compilation that same year, featuring multiple voice samples of American president elect

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. * American post-punk band 100 Flowers covered the song in 2017 for release as a digital single and released a 7" vinyl in 2019. * American rock band

LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem is an American Dance-punk#Contemporary dance-punk, dance-punk revival band from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals ...

released a cover of the song on 2 November 2018, with the lyrics altered to reference

instead of Reagan, and included it on their live album '' Electric Lady Sessions'' (2019). * Philadelphia

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band the Dead Milkmen released a cover August 21, 2020 on a limited-release 7", with proceeds to benefit the charity Girls Rock Philly.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang 1981 debut singles Songs written by Martyn Ware Songs written by Glenn Gregory Songs written by Ian Craig Marsh Songs about racism and xenophobia Heaven 17 songs 1981 songs Virgin Records singles Songs about dancing Protest songs Songs about Ronald Reagan Songs about Margaret Thatcher Anti-fascist music Songs banned by the BBC 1981 quotations Quotations from music