Stars and Stripes of Corruption
105
of Dead Kennedys, in lyrics and interviews, have asserted that it is more than
simply drugs numbing postmodern America—it is the perpetuation of Darwinistic
capitalism and the institutions that support it which are at the core of American
soullessness. As Biafra commented in a 1982 interview, “Americans as a whole
have no soul. .. .There’s certain pride in being from a certain stock and a certain
region, and even in being able to do things in a certain way and do them well, that
we don’t have in this country” (31).
From the perspective of various punk rock critics, the works of Efead
Kennedys hinged on trying to raise the consciousness of their young fans, both on
record and on stage. Making money was never the raison d'etre o f the band, as
evidenced by their skeptical attitude to their newfound fame when their first
album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, was released in 1980 and sold tens of
thousands of copies in Europe alone. In the face of growing demand for Dead
Kennedys records and appearances, the band staked out public positions in
opposition to high ticket prices, restriction of minors from clubs, and the
massification of punk into “New Wave.” Without such resistance, Biafra felt that
their musical expression would turn into a job “you have to do if you’re going to
play for Bill Graham on a seven-foot stage for ten bucks a ticket and watch his
goon squad beat up fans for dancing” (31).
Critique of Religious Hypocrisy in 1980s America
An overriding theme of the music of Dead Kennedys is that the Moral
Majority of the 1980s experience—that is, the religious right and fundamentalist
religion in particular—have engaged in a campaign to censor or curtail the
distribution of rock music, art, and literature considered to be blasphemous,
sexually explicit, or obscene. In song after song, interviews, and literature
distributed by the band, Dead Kennedys, in Nietzschean fashion, hold that
religion is the opiate of the masses—that by instilling the fear of the wrath of
God, by imposing guilt, and by imparting the fear of eternal damnation, religion
is, in effect, not offering the path of salvation, but is utilizing a form of mind
control. In the 1981 EP In God We Trust, Inc.—featuring a cover art by Winston
Smith depicting Christ nailed to a cross constructed from a dollar bill—two songs
especially reflect the band members’ revulsion ever what they perceive as a
religious gestapo. In one song, titled “Religious Vomit,” a manic, rage-filled Jello
Biafra screams:
All religions make me wanna throw up
all religions make me sick
all religions make me wanna throw up
all religions suck.
They all claim that they have the truth, that’ll set you free
just give