"We Are All Prostitutes" is a song by English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

band

The Pop Group The Pop Group are an English rock band formed in Bristol in 1977 by vocalist Mark Stewart, guitarist John Waddington, bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist/saxophonist Gareth Sager, and drummer Bruce Smith. Their work in the late 1970s crosse ...

. It was released as the band's second single on 9 November 1979 through Rough Trade Records. The song is a critique of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

. 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." Writer

Mark Fisher Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsm ...

described the song "scouring, seesawing, seasick funk, a

pied piper The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...

’s exit from dominant reality, fired by a fissile compound of millenarian terror and militant jubilation." Fisher, Mark
"The Pop Group's ''How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?''
" '' Fact''. February 2016.

Legacy

(*) designates unordered lists.

Formats and track listing

All songs written by

. *UK 7" single (RT 023) # "We Are All Prostitutes" – 3:08 # "Amnesty International Report on British Army Torture of Irish Prisoners" – 3:08

Credits and personnel

The Pop Group *

Dan Catsis Dan Catsis (born 30 November 1959) is an English musician who served as the guitarist for the punk band Glaxo Babies, which he founded with Geoff Alsopp and Tom Nichols in 1977 in Bristol, England. He was also a member of The Pop Group The ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Gareth Sager Gareth Sager (born 10 August 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British guitarist, keyboardist, musician, composer and songwriter, and is a founding member of The Pop Group, Rip Rig + Panic (with Neneh Cherry), Float Up CP and Head. In h ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Bruce Smith Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963) is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was ...

– drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Mark Stewart –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* John Waddington – guitar Additional musicians *

Tristan Honsinger Tristan Honsinger (born October 23, 1949) is an American cello player active in free jazz and free improvisation. He is perhaps best known for his long-running collaboration with free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor and guitarist Derek Bailey. Born ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

(B-side) Technical personnel * Maxwell Anandappa – mastering * Dennis Bovell –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Adam Kidron Adam Kidron is a British-born ex-music producer, serial entrepreneur, and the ex-Chief Executive Officer of Urban Box Office (UBO), a reggaeton and urban Latino record label, and Yonder Music. Record producer Adam Kidron began his career in the ...

–

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

– production

Charts

References

External links

*
"We Are All Prostitutes"
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:We Are All Prostitutes 1979 songs 1979 singles The Pop Group songs Protest songs Songs about consumerism Songs against capitalism Rough Trade Records singles Songs written by Gareth Sager Songs written by Bruce Smith (musician) Songs written by Mark Stewart (English musician)