Hear LCD Soundsystem’s Frenetic ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’ Cover
LCD Soundsystem update Heaven 17’s 1981 single “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” for the Trump era with their tense, wildly funky cover of the synth-pop track. The reworked tune appears on the band’s upcoming Electric Lady Sessions, a live-in-the-studio project recorded in the legendary New York City studio and due out in late 2018 via Columbia Records/DFA.
Singer-keyboardist Nancy Whang fronts the track, belting lyrics that feel particularly relevant to a divisive political era. “Have you heard it on the news/ About this fascist groove thang?” she sings over palm-muted guitar buzz and vintage synth stabs. “Evil men with racist views/ Spreadin’ all across the land/ Don’t just sit there on your ass/ Unlock that funky chain dance.”
The decades-old lyrics feel oddly prescient to 2018. “History will repeat itself/ Crisis point, we’re near the hour,” Whang observes. “Democrats are out of power across that great wide ocean.” And she switches the only dated lyric to include a Trump diss, reworking “Reagan’s president-elect” to “The orange one is president.”
Heaven 17’s scored a minor hit with their original version of “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang,” despite the BBC banning the track due to its scathing political focus.
Electric Lady Sessions will follow LCD Soundsystem’s fourth LP, American Dream. The record earned a nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at this year’s Grammy Awards, and Rolling Stone named it the fifth-best album of 2017.