Something For The Weekend

One of my favourite bands of all time has to be Dead Kennedys.

I never got to see them play sadly, and a few years ago Jello Biafra came to Glasgow as part of one of his Spoken Word tours but I couldn't go and sorely regret it.

His spoken word performances are amazing, even though I might not always agree with his commentary. It was Jello who inspired me to write to the Tippor Gore, wife of Al Gore and head of the PMRC, in the 80's to protest against censorship in music. He was targeted by the group for the cover of Frankenchrist which they deemed to be sexually explicit.

The PMRC released a list known as the Filthy Fifteen which was a list of songs they found the content of to be particularly offensive and many of the songs on the list were by bands I was into at the time. They also believed that heavy metal bands were putting subliminal satanic messages into their records which could be heard if the record was played backwards - suffice to say I ruined many a good bit of vinyl trying to find these mysterious messages! 

The PMRC called for warning stickers to be placed on records which were said to contain offensive content. When Metallica released Master of Puppets many copies, one of which I had, had a sticker on it which said "THE ONLY TRACK YOU PROBABLY WON'T WANT TO PLAY IS "DAMAGE, INC." DUE TO THE MULTIPLE USE OF THE INFAMOUS "F" WORD. OTHERWISE, THERE AREN'T ANY "SHITS," "FUCKS," "PISSES," "CUNTS," "MOTHERFUCKERS," OR "COCKSUCKERS" ANYWHERE ON THIS RECORD", as a way of poking fun at the labelling system proposed by the PMRC.

My letter to Tipper Gore may have made zero impact, however, had it not been for Jello Biafra I would not have been quite as politically aware as I was, well as much as a teenager can be of course.

So here's one of my favourite tracks: Too Drunk To Fuck. Fitting for the weekend, non?!

Queen Michelle

Comments

[Dave C.]

His recent open letter to Obama was pretty good, but you've just reminded me of a horrendous oversight on my part - Jello brought his spoken word tour to my local venue last year and I only found out the day after... drat and double drat!

[Girlcreeture]

I never saw Jello myself but my husband did get to see him speak back when Jello was supporting Ralph Nader at all his rallies...

And oh how you bring back the memories lol... the hilarity of being branded a devil worshipper in small town 80's America, you shoulda been there with me: no school for a week and the funniest reputation I ever had (~_^)

I remember hating on Tipper and the PMRC and finding them to be THE WORST witchunters I'd ever had the displeasure of knowing.

There's nothing like experiencing the self righteousness that injustice can elicit when you're already full of teenaged righteousness to begin with!

I'd get so caught up watching the 700 Club air endless cuts of music videos with vicious and ridiculous commentary on the evilness of the music, then I'd be so eager to make the phone call to berate them their ignorance but there was never anyone intelligent on the end of the line - the PMRC and their ilk spread more evil than the music they allegedly were combating.

And to think they thought the music was so bad then heh heh, it's gonna be a real interesting planet when the last, ignorant remnants of those generations finally let go of the human consciousness. I wonder how free we'll be then and how long it's really gonna take to cleanse all the faux fears we throw at each other every day?

[Shannon]

Ah, the Dead Kennedys. Still one of my favorite punk bands. I need to find my old LARD albums as well...

I got to see Jello do his spoken word about 10 years ago. Into a church basement in Washington, DC I went, and there I sat for over 2 hours listening to him. He still had it!

[Meaculpa]

I helped set up Jello's stage when he came here during his spoken word tour back in 2002. He was amazing. So inspiring, yet so totally down to earth. He's the real deal.

[Queen Michelle]

I can't even look at The Power of Lard ep cover without wanting to barf! That worm thing was just gross!
Meaculpa, how exciting!!

[Suzanne aka Punk Glam Queen]

I was lucky enough to have a crazy political conversation with him back in the 80's. It was this stupid thing where Reagan decided there would be no rock n roll at the capitol on 4 July, so a bunch of punk bands organized a "Rock Against Reagan" concert there instead! Brilliant! The scariest part was when the Dead Kennedy's came on last, and we had a look around us, only to find the crowd surrounded by cops in riot gear. Ah yes, those were the days! (Also my fav song! I was just singing it -- albeit very badly -- for my husband a few days ago!)
XXX
Suzanne

[Queen Michelle]

Suzanne you always have the best stories to share!

[Suzanne aka Punk Glam Queen]

I guess I was just lucky to always be where the action was!
XXX
Suzanne

[Make Do Style]

Had I known I'd have sent you my Dead Kennedy's collection - I had to sell all my record collection when we moved I just couldn't cart it around any more. It still pains me but I try not to think about it....

[Queen Michelle]

I had an amazing record collection and left it at my mums when I moved to Glasgow, but she got sick of carting it from house to house and threw them all out! I had collected loads of rare stuff and it pains to think of everything I lost too :(