We Are All Prostitutes

1979 single by The Pop Group

"We Are All Prostitutes"

Single by The Pop Group

B-side

"Amnesty International Report on British Army Torture of Irish Prisoners"

Released

9 November 1979

Genre

Post-punk
funk

Length

3:08

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]

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

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Mojo	United Kingdom	100 Punk Scorchers^[5]	2001	33
Gary Mulholland	United Kingdom	This Is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock^[6]	2002	*
Mojo	United Kingdom	The Mojo 100 Greatest Protest Songs^[7]	2004	93
Q	United Kingdom	The Ultimate Music Collection (Punk)^[8]	2005	*

(*) designates unordered lists.

Formats and track listing

All songs written by The Pop Group.

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 – bass guitar
Gareth Sager – guitar, saxophone
Bruce Smith – drums, percussion
Mark Stewart – vocals
John Waddington – guitar

Additional musicians

Tristan Honsinger – cello (B-side)

Technical personnel

Maxwell Anandappa – mastering
Dennis Bovell – production
Adam Kidron – engineering
The Pop Group – production

Charts

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

References

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