Great Punk Albums of 1982: Dead Kennedys- Plastic Surgery Disasters

Since I have said that in the early 1980s, punk had relocated from Great Britain to the West Coast of the USA, I thought it best to put forward evidence of this fact. I first learned this fact in 1982 when I read an article about it in Playboy Magazine. Hey, I was 20, in the marines and I was on a ship and it had been a couple of weeks since the last port call. With the boredom of ship life, you can start doing anything to keep your mind active like actually reading the articles in such magazines. One particular issue ran an article on how punk had done the above and was alive and well on the West Coast.

If I can point to anyone band that convinced me of that fact, it would have to be the Dead Kennedys. For me, this band was the essence of punk in the 1980s although it would be a couple more years until I heard their 1982 offering, “Plastic Surgery Disasters.” This album simply screams punk and what is even better, it is nearly thirty minutes longer than their EP from 1981, “In God We Trust Inc.” “Plastic Surgery Disasters” is loud, brash and in your face, just what I want from a punk album. While, I didn’t fully appreciate it back then, many of the songs have strong social and political commentary. Even the ones that don’t ring of reality. I think most of us can identify with the lyrics in “Trust Your Mechanic,” especially if you have ever been ripped off by one. The chorus in “Bleed For Me” is still ringing in my ears and I found “Winnebago Warrior” amusing. Political commentary really hits home with a dash of common sense in “Riot,” with the lyrics:

“Tomorrow we’ll be homeless but we’re having fun tonight.”

One thing this album highlights for me is the guitar talents of East Bay Ray. True, he doesn’t do any Van Halen solos, not even close. Buy he has a playing style that does sound unique or at the very least, ahead of its time. The songs where this is most present are “Government Flu,” “Buzzbomb” and “Dead End” but he shines throughout the rest of the album as well. If you never experienced early 80s American punk, then this album or the Dead Kennedys’ debut album, “Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables” is definitely the best place to start.

Track Listing:

1. Government Flu

2. Terminal Preppie

3. Trust Your Mechanic

4. Well Paid Scientist

5. Buzzbomb

6. Forest Fire

7. Halloween

8. Winnebago Warrior

9. Riot

10. Bleed For Me

11. I Am the Owl

12. Dead End

13. Moon Over Marin

Dead Kennedys

Jello Biafra- vocals

East Bay Ray- guitars

Klaus Floride- bass, clarinet, backing vocals

D.H. Peligro- drums

In 1983, there would be some bands who would become more political with their lyrics. Some of those would even try to call themselves punk. However, they wouldn’t come close to doing it the way that the Dead Kennedys did it with albums like “Plastic Surgery Disasters.”

Next post: Cheap Trick- One on One

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Great Punk Albums of 1981: Dead Kennedys- In God We Trust Inc.

First a confession, while I say that I was and still am a big Dead Kennedys fan, back in the 80s, the only two DK albums I listened to in earnest was their first album “Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables,” (for those who have joined recently, I did visit said album when I was journeying through 1980) and their 1985 “Frankenchrist” album and you can bet I will be paying tribute to that one. The 1981 EP, “In God We Trust Inc.” slipped past me back in the day. My excuse is and it’s a piss poor one, that EP’s weren’t something very common back in 1981 and so I didn’t pay much attention to them. That is what this album is labelled as. When I stumbled across “In God We Trust Inc.,” I thought it couldn’t have been an EP because it had eight songs on it and the standard EP has three or four. Then I quickly discovered that the eight songs on this EP take a grand total of just over thirteen minutes and most artists who release ones with three songs can be longer than that. Saying that, I’m not here to generate a debate on the definitions of EP’s and albums but to celebrate a great offering of music from a great band.

It may be only thirteen minutes but in that brief time you get totally bombarded with some loud, fast and furious in your face punk rock. Unlike the Plasmatics, this is punk as punk was meant to be. It ticks all the boxes of punk for those who like to categorise things. I don’t but there are some who do. The funny thing is that I don’t care that I can’t understand what is being sung in the opening track, “Religious Vomit,” maybe that’s what it is, but I just want to have a good scream when I hear it and that is what punk was meant to do. The next few songs are slightly more intelligible, especially “Moral Majority” and “Hyperactive Child,” although I don’t know where the last one ends and the next songs begin and frankly, I don’t care. I just am carried away by the ferocious music. It is the last three tracks that get slightly more serious and they slow down just enough for Jello Biafra to get his political message across with “Nazi Punks Fuck Off.” The same goes with the next and longest track “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now,” a fitting song for back then and probably now. In the sense of political awareness in music, I think the Dead Kennedys were ahead of their time. Still the ferocity of the music is not lost in either track. The album ends with a very amusing punk cover of “Rawhide” showing a sense of humour in the band and it was a great way to end things.

Track Listing:

1. Religious Vomit

2. Moral Majority

3. Hyperactive Child

4. Kepone Factory

5. Dog Bite

6. Nazi Punks Fuck Off

7. We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now

8. Rawhide

Dead Kennedys

Jello Biafra- vocals

East Bay Ray- guitar, backing vocals

Klaus Flouride- bass, backing vocals

D.H. Peligro- drums

If you want a good ear bashing but don’t have much time, then I can recommend “In God We Trust Inc.” from the Dead Kennedys. You will certainly get an ear bashing for thirteen fast and furious minutes. This may have been a short EP, but when it’s over, you surely don’t forget it and like me, starting over to listen to it again.

Next post: Hanoi Rocks- Bangkok Bakes, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks

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Great Punk Albums of 1980: Dead Kennedys- Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables

As I have stipulated in many posts thus far, back in 1980 and before, the term punk was brandished around fairly liberally in regards to bands who brought a unique sound to the music world. However, there are very few of theses acts which I would actually call punk, Talking Heads being one of the exceptions. My idea of punk was always in the form of the Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Ramones and the band whose album I’m visiting now, The Dead Kennedys. For me, Punk has always been the loud aggressive hardcore sound that the forementioned bands provided.

I have to confess, I didn’t listen to the Dead Kennedys much back in the day. I knew and loved their more notable songs, including two from this album “Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables,” “Let’s Lynch the Landlord” (something I wanted to do to two of mine) and “Holiday in Cambodia” but I never listened to their albums in real earnest. My interest in listening to the Dead Kennedys again came about 8 years ago when I listened to some political speeches by former lead singer Jello Biafra. Side note: His speech on school shootings gave me lots of inspiration for my new book “He Was Weird.” And of course, when I get to 1986and 87, I will be writing posts on the criminal charges brought against him on the Dead Kennedys’ “Frankenchrist” album. Still, that’s down the line so let’s look more closely at their debut album.

Like I said, I already knew the songs “Holiday in Cambodia” and “Let’s Lynch the Landlord” and hearing them in recent times, I love them even more. However, two songs does not an album make. The rest of this album is just as hardcore and kickass. You can name any track on the album and I would give it my thumbs up but the standouts for me are: “Forward to Death,” “Kill The Poor,” “California Uber Allies” and “Chemical Warfare.” I also really love the cover of Elvis’s “Viva Las Vegas.” For me, this is what punk should be; loud, powerful and to the point. The combined total of the fourteen songs is just over thirty-three minutes.

Track Listing:

1. Kill the Poor

2. Forward to Death

3. When Ya Get Drafted

4. Let’s Lynch the Landlord

5. Drug Me

6. Your Emotions

7. Chemical Warfare

8. California Uber Allies

9. I Kill Children

10. Stealing People’s Mail

11. Funland At the Beach

12. Ill in the Head

13. Holiday in Cambodia

14. Viva Las Vegas

Dead Kennedys

Jello Biafra- lead vocals

East Bay Ray- lead guitar

Klaus Flouride- bass, backing vocals

Ted- drums

6025- rhythm guitar on Ill in the Head

I slam danced my way for the entire thirty three minutes of this album. Thank God there wasn’t a stage for me to dive off of. But this is the effect “Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables” has on me as is the case with most hardcore punk. By 1980, punk was moving away from the UK and re-establishing itself on the West Coast of the US. This album is prove that it had done so successfully.

Next post: Aerosmith- Greatest Hits

To buy Rock And Roll Children- go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London