John Kongos, Who Turns 80 Today, Shares First Single In 40 Years
John Kongos is a fascinating figure, a South African figure who scored two major early-’70s UK hits with songs that still sound strange and futuristic. Kongos started making music with his band Johnny And The G-Men. He moved to the UK to keep his music career going, and while his early experiences with bands went nowhere, he eventually went solo and made two pounding, rhythmic pop smashes that had long tails. His 1971 singles “He’s Gonna Step On You Again” and “Tokoloshe Man” both reached the UK top five. “He’s Gonna Step On You Again” made extremely early use of sampling technology, and it eventually served as the basis for the Happy Mondays’ 1990 rave-rock classic “Step On.” Kongos continued to work in the music industry in the years ahead, and he programmed the Fairlight on the 1983 Def Leppard classic Pyromania, but he hasn’t released any music in a long time. Today happens to be John Kongos’ 80th birthday, and now he’s back with his first new single in 40 years.
John Kongos has four sons, and the four of them started a band called Kongos in the ’00s. In 2012, Kongos’ single “Come With Me Now” became a #1 hit on the Billboard alternative chart. (That seems like something that they should have in common with their dad, but no, the Happy Mondays’ alt-rock chart-topper was “Kinky Afro,” not “Step On.”) Come to think of it, “Come With Me Now” sounds a bit like something John Kongos might’ve recorded in the ’70s. It’s probably stuck in your head right now, just from reading the title.
John Kongos’ new song “Nature’s Game,” which came out last week, isn’t really a new song. Instead, it’s an unreleased track from 1986, and John Kongos and his sons worked on the new version of it together. The track is credited, somewhat confusingly, to John Kongos and Kongos. It’s a rock song that finds fun ways to pulse and hypnotize. Listen below.
The members of Kongos have been trying to get their father to do social-media stuff to promote “Nature’s Game,” and they have not had much success. Leave your father alone! He’s an old man! It’s his birthday!
“Nature’s Game” is out now on Tokoloshe Records.
