[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thepopgroup.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The band's 2010-2023 lineup[[note]]From L-R: Mark Stewart (vocals), Dan Catsis (bass), Gareth Sager (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), [[Music/PublicImageLtd Bruce Smith]] (drums)[[/note]]]]

The Pop Group are a Bristol band formed in 1977. They are one of [[TropeMakers the pioneers]] of PostPunk and DancePunk music, combining the energy of Punk with Free Jazz, Funk, Dub, and a distinctly radical and paranoid political stance. Their initial lineup included vocalist Mark Stewart, guitarists John Waddington and Gareth Sager, bassist Simon Underwood, and drummer Bruce Smith. Dan Catsis replaced Underwood on bass for their second album, and their current lineup includes Sager, Catsis, and Smith.

They released two albums during their initial run, ''Y'' (1979) and ''For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?'' (1980) before breaking up in 1981. Mark Stewart went on to be the {{Trope Maker|s}} for Industrial Hip-Hop, and helped a young musical collective called The Wild Bunch - who would soon evolve into Music/MassiveAttack and launch the TripHop movement of the 90s - get their start. Meanwhile, Gareth Sager and Bruce Smith formed respected PostPunk band Rip Rig + Panic (best known as an early project of Neneh Cherry), whilst Simon Underwood joined Pigbag in time for them to have a modest UK Dance hit with "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag".

They reformed unexpectedly in 2010, releasing a surprise third studio album (and their first in 35 years), ''Citizen Zombie'', in 2015. Their fourth, ''Honeymoon on Mars'', followed in 2016 with production from ''Y'' producer Dennis Bovell and The Bomb Squad's Hank Shocklee.

While never commercially successful, they are hugely influential in the more chaotic Alternative music scenes. "We Are All Prostitutes" directly inspired Music/NickCave during Music/TheBirthdayParty's transition from their early New Wave sound, and ''Y'' influenced artists such as Music/NineInchNails, Music/PrimalScream, Mike Watt of Music/{{Minutemen}}, and Thurston Moore of Music/SonicYouth.

Frontman Mark Stewart died on April 21st 2023 at the age of 62. Two months later, former guitarist John Waddington died at the age of 63.

!!Studio Discography:
* ''Music/{{Y}}'' (1979)
* ''For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?'' (1980)
* ''Citizen Zombie'' (2015)
* ''Honeymoon on Mars'' (2016)
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!!We Are All Prostitropes:
* AvantGardeMusic: Their music is often abstract, free-form, noisy and dissonant.
* CapitalismIsBad: A common element in their lyrics. As "We Are All Prostitutes" puts it:
--> ''Capitalism is the most barbaric of all religions''\\
''Department stores are our new cathedrals''\\
''Our cars are martyrs to the cause''
* CarefulWithThatAxe: Many of their songs feature blood-curdling screams from Mark Stewart, usually [[EstablishingCharacterMoment right at the beginning]]: "We Are All Prostitutes", "Blind Faith", "Citizen Zombie", "St. Outrageous"... and then there's the LastNoteNightmare ending of "Blood Money": "What does it feel like to kill a '''''MAAAAANNNNN'''''?"
* DancePunk: One of the early influences alongside Music/GangOfFour.
* EpicRocking: "We Are Time" and "Don't Sell Your Dreams" are 6-and-1/2 minutes, and live releases of the former are almost a minute longer.
* {{Funk}}: One of the band's most pronounced influences.
* GenreMashup: Their music is a fusion of PunkRock, hard {{funk}}, dub {{reggae}} and free jazz, with bits of West African ritual drum music, surf-pop, Music/CaptainBeefheart, early hip-hop and psychedelic noise. In spite of many imitators, it is generally agreed that there has been no-one quite like them since, and they're even harder to categorize after their reformation. Summed up with [[http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/pop%20group%20001.jpg this image]].
* HarshVocals: Stewart's vocals are sometimes harshly distorted, such as at the start of "Thief of Fire" and "Shadow Child", while sometimes he does that himself by screaming so loud it clips the microphone, like all of "We Are All Prostitutes".
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle:
** "We Are All Prostitutes".
** ''For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?''
* LargeHam: Mark Stewart, the band's howling frontman who may not even sing a song so much as scream it out into the void. The [[CarefulWithThatAxe screams that open many of their songs]] are IncomingHam moments followed by him jumping headlong into radical politics or biting the head off of some unwelcome element of modern life.
* MinimalisticCoverArt:
** The cover to the single version of "We Are All Prostitutes" simply has the lyrics printed in white against a flat black background. The title of the song and the line "[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: our children shall rise up against us ]]
" are underlined.
** ''Citizen Zombie'''s art is flat brown with [[UncleSamWantsYou Lord Kitchener]] surrounded by the album's title text in bold.
* NewSoundAlbum: ''Citizen Zombie'' has more accessible Pop and Soul influences than the records from their initial run, and the production is much thicker and more compressed.
* NonindicativeName: Their music is about as far from pop as you can get.
* NoiseRock: Much of their music is chaotic, distorted and discordant. If the guitars aren't playing a chord or melody, they're making a wild racket of noise, much like the [[CarefulWithThatAxe vocals]].
* OneWordTitle: "Snowgirl", "Justice", "Trap", "Springer", "Nations", "Echelon", "Zipperface", "Heaven?".
* PostPunk: One of the TropeMakers, combining the energy of Punk with Jazz, Funk and Dub right ahead of Music/PublicImageLtd and Music/GangOfFour.
* ProtestSong: The band's bread and butter.
* QuestioningTitle:
** ''For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?''.
** "Heaven?" from ''Honeymoon on Mars''.
* {{Reggae}}: Dub is one of their core influences, particularly in the prominence of the bass and the use of delay. This is probably why they chose Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell of the British reggae band Matumbi to co-produce two of their albums.
* ReligionRantSong: "The Immaculate Deception" paints Christianity as a tool of oppression and violence rather than anything Christ-like.
--> ''It's a billion dollar secret''\\
''Of the greatest story never told''\\
''The last temptation''\\
''The greatest fiction ever sold''
* SequelSong: The band have a miniseries in the live tracks "Amnesty Report", "Amnesty Report II" and "Amnesty Report III", though the former is a free-form workout, "III" is simply an alternate mix thereof, and "II" is a more-typical Punk Funk song with no apparent relation to it.
* SillyLoveSongs: "She is Beyond Good and Evil". Stewart describes the lyrics as "being about unconditional love as a revolutionary force -- where idealism and energy mix poetic, existential, and political yearnings with the romantic idea of passing through nihilism and emerging on the other side with something positive, something beyond."
* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Savage Sea", "Age of Miracles" and "Echelon" are softer, piano-led songs.
* TitleTrack:
** "How Much Longer" is shortened from ''For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?''.
** PlayedStraight with "Citizen Zombie".
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