OK, this is my first review so go easy on me. The Dead Kennedys are, in my opinion, the greatest punk band of all time. The lyrics written by Jello Biafra(born Eric Boucher) are among the best in music, and are sung with his utterly unique voice. Jello wasn't all they had going for them though, the music behind the lyrics was equally impresive. Yet, there is only one of their albums reviewed here.
Plastic Surgery Disasters, Jello and the crew's 2nd full length release, was definitely one of their best.
The album opens with the spooky intro, "Why are such a stupid asshole? Would you really like to know? Well, pay your fee, remove your clothes, and Yvette will show you how. You went to school where you were taught to fear and to obey, be cheerful, fit in, or someone might think you're weird. Life can be perfect. People can be trusted. Someday, I wll fall in love; a nice quiet home of my very own. Free from all the pain. Happy and having fun all the time. It never happened, did it?"
After the subversive brainwashing message from our friend Evette the first song starts. Government Flu, one of my all-time favorite Dead Kennedys songs, starts slow and then just rips. The lyrics "We've got a drug, we're gonna try it out on you, won't make you die, it'll get you just a little sick" serve as an accurate summation of the song.
The next song, Terminal Preppie, is an attack on... well, preppies. Another one of my favorites, this song is incredibly catchy with those quirky horns in it. "My ambition in life, Is to look good on paper. All I want is a slot, In some big corporation". Now that is song writing.
The third track, Trust Your Mechanic, rips. It is basically a song about how doctors and mechanics rip you off by 'fixing' problems that never existed. How true is that, I bet every one of you can relate to an experience like that.
Well Paid Scientist is an attack on scientists. Dar. "A PhD to show you're smart / With textbook formulas / But you're used up / Just like a factory hand"
Buzzbomb is a good song, but not as cool as the Buzzbomb From Passedina version on the Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death LP. It's about people who think they are cool because they have a 'nice' car, I hate those fuckers.
Next we have Forest Fire. "No junk food, just earthly goods / I ate weird berries in the woods / Now I'm seeing colors, I'm getting higher / I think I'll start a forest fire". You have to laugh at that. The song goes on about a house that looks more like a prison(security gates, alarms, etc), and those devices ended up locking him in the burning 'home' in the end.
"You're dressed up like a clown / Putting on your act / It's the only time all year / You'll ever admit that". Thats a quotation from 'Halloween', which is a song about a person who let's loose on halloween, but returns to their 'mold' after. Meaning, they are too afraid of what others think to be themselves every day, except on halloween.
Winnebago Warrior is a song making fun of those traveling families in mobile homes. It's pretty fucking funny, with the back up vocals making some sort of lone ranger type howl.
Next up is Riot, an abnormally long song for a hardcore punk band like the Dead Kennedys, but an abnormally great one at that. The music fucking kicks ass and the lyrics/subject matter is awesome. Its an critizing look at rioting, in the respect that it always turns out that you destroy your own neighborhood instead that of the opressors whom you intended to riot against. It also covers other aspects of rioting, such as police brutality.
Bleed For Me is a pretty fucked up song, which is probably why I like it. Lyrics are great, about 'US Interests'.
I Am The Owl is a song about all the nice little things that goes on behind closed doors; corruption, lies, survelliance, and murder.
Dead End is really the only song on the album I don't like a real lot, and I don't really know why. Can't like them all.
Moon Over Marin is, described on the AT website as, "as close as DKs ever came to a ballad." This is an awesome anti-pollution song. Just check some of the lyrics... "O' Shimmering moonlight sheen upon / The waves and water clogged with oil / White gases steam up from the soil". Awesome. The record leaves on Evette's final note, ccomplete with wierd background music, "There, wasn't that a nice visit? Don't forget, a psychiatrist is on-duty 24 hours a day in the blue room, just up from the parking garage. Drink plenty of water when you take these. Now you can relax and return to your job."
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Damn that was pretty long. Well, an album this good deserves a long review.