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Panic Shack tackle “ludicrous” ’00s body image culture with new single Gok Wan
Watch the video for Panic Shack’s new single Gok Wan, which reflects on how growing up through the 2000s “shaped our little teenager minds into this grown-up hellscape…”
- Words:
- Emily Garner
- Photo:
- Ren Faulkner
Welsh punks Panic Shack have just unleashed their first new single in two years.
Taken from what will be the band’s debut album, the track is entitled Gok Wan and powerfully (and depressingly!) addresses how “growing up in the ’00s we were bombarded with constant images of super skinny models and ‘IT girls’ as well as TV shows all about ‘looking good’ and ‘being thin’. We wanted to write a song that embodied the ludicrous nature of what we were consuming as literal children and how it affected us then and to this day.
“We dug deep into our shared memories of that time, bought some trashy magazines at the corner shop and watched some old shows on YouTube, Trinny And Susannah and Ten Years Younger being a couple… but honestly there are so many to choose from. It was shocking to watch them back. The stark difference to what’s acceptable now, discussing women’s bodies with such negativity felt satirical, albeit a plus knowing things have come along a fair bit since then. We took headlines from the magazines and worked a few into the lyrics, ‘fat or pregnant’ being one – yes, that’s a genuine magazine headline.”
Panic Shack continue: “The title Gok Wan comes from the show he presented How To Look Good Naked, which in all honestly was one of the better shows, in terms of negativity but still obviously had the main focus on women’s bodies. No hate to Gok – Trinny And Susannah didn’t have the same ring to it for a title – it was the time we lived in and through but it was still shit, it still shaped our little teenager minds into this grown up hellscape of constantly focusing on how we look rather than what we do.”
Watch the video for Gok Wan:
Catch the band live on their Don’t Quit Your Day Job Tour in May, and at 2000trees in July.
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