How the Dead Kennedys Used Satire
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
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00:00 Intro
00:46 Title Card
00:54 Satire
01:49 Kill The Poor
03:04 Über Alles/Bigger Problem
04:15 Music Industry
05:50 Holiday in Cambodia
06:52 Conclusion
They’ve only ever recorded Pull My Strings once, and they did that stunt with the dollar signs and saying they’re a new wave band because that’s what they’d been booked as for the show, which had loads of record producers there to survey potential artists to invest in. Pull my strings is an explicit fuck you to those people, and they sang it right to their faces
4 years later.. sure I'll add the note that's missing.
They didn't just sing it to their faces. They got them to SING ALONG.
@@erisdiscordia5429 I don't think every one decided to sing a long
@@shadowcween7890 I didn't say "Everyone" I said them. Listen to the song, it's a good song. At the end he invokes the audience to sing along with the chorus, and many do.
ua-cam.com/video/7lBohhXmoLs/v-deo.html
IIRC it was at the San Francisco music awards, as punk rock as anything that's happened.
Fun Fact on Jello Biafra's name:
His name obvious enough stems from the brand name Jell-O as an ironic nutritionally poor mass-produced food and his last name Biafra from a short-lived country that seceded from Nigeria in 1966.
Combined, his name was created as an ironic combination of a mass-produced unhealthy food and a country dying from mass starvation.
Jello's real name is Eric Boucher. But let's be honest, his true name and what we know him as is Jello
... and ended up being not only ironic but iconic (I think I hear Jello laughing at me).
Thanks for sharing this rather interesting tid-bit!
There was, and never will be another band like the DK, and Jello Biafra was and still is a rather unique individual.
Okay he’s a genius
Na, he was just named after jello
He explained it once using the old logo "every loves Jello!" juxtaposed with racism/hatred, so its Love Hate.
I'm amazed you didn't mention Jello's name once.
East Bay Ray and Klaus probably thank him for that, thanks to royalties and such.
the other members paid him to
@@Veggieman87 After they sued him for not letting them use his song in a Levi's commercial I say fuck them.
@L Train45 Fuck. Them.
THE Dead Kennedys!?!?
"Chickenshit Conformist" is honestly one of their best songs, at least lyric wise.
braden7180 I agree. I don't follow what Biafra does nowadays, so whatever.
dead kennedy's were great Biafra is way to motivated by liberal bias's you hafe to judge things issue by issue but aside from that that band meant something
i see why they hated MTV but at one point it had talent and good shows but now its total garbage
there not far left just liberal but the dead kennedy's did have songs that attacked political correctness the punk scene was diverse many did not like Liberals anymore than they did not like Christian conservatives
the green party there not off on all issues that's whats great about free thinkers Liberals don't hafe to take every liberal position same for Conservatives
they were not neo confederates or an caps the band pretty much had a left-wing Libertarian out look but at the time the conservatives were the establishment in the cultural sense but even then Liberals would join the Moral Majority crowed in trying to censor music and other forms of entertainment tipper gore and others. but now days the Liberals are the status qoe they control most of the university's hollywood media and silicon vally the left can be joyless puritans just as much as those on the right but i don't treat Traditionalism or liberalism as any kind of evil
dead kennedys were a good band but jello has turned into just a super Liberal idealoge witch goes against what he used to stand for he would bash the punk scene for its narrow mindedness and stagnation because of that it was losing the aspect of rebellion and individuality to some fade irony is he became what he set out against to him it seems anyone with any conservative views is a gate way to Neo Nazism
he sold out he's no longer a contrarian just a narrow minded Liberal that lives up to there inteligencia its like the Hippies becoming the yuppie generation
they were not a leftist band but they still rebelled against the conformity coming from the Conservative era they were a classical Liberal band with some leftist views at best now day's jello seem's to be a full blown critical theorist a school on the left that even tankies hate
"criticizing the government for lack of action in Cambodia". The DKs did not think the US government should intervene in Cambodia. In fact by the time the album was out Pol Pot had been out of power for over a year. They hated conservatives and liberals because they were a leftist band, they were not "centrist" like this video is trying to portray them
Regardless to say that Pol Pot himself is a byproduct of US bombing vietnamese in Cambodia during the war and promoting his faction sympathetic to maoist China whereassoviets who where ideologically closer to Hanoi in a divide et impera attempt. Vietnam ended up saving Cambodia from Pol Pot!
idk if this video is portraying them as centrist, but maybe that's because I'm already familiar with them. It shies away from DK's leftism for sure. But I think that when content creators says that something criticizes "both sides" they can still mean from a left perspective. It's just easier for the many people unfamiliar with leftist politics to wrap their head around. Idk if that's a good thing or a bad thing because I can totally see how people would read this video as saying that the DKs were Logical High-IQ INTJ Centrists.
@@xbfdx988 No shit, Sherlock. Might wanna put the fucking Dead Kennedys there, too.
Is it fucked up to call Cambodian cannabis Pol Pot?
literally they aint mentioning songs like lets Lynch the landlord
*Squarespace ad comes on*
Drool,
Drool,
Drool,
Drool,
Drool,
Drool,
My payola!
UA-cam won't help him, he has to get Dark Money
Another hilarious song that they wrote is "Kinky sex makes the world go round"
Basically, it makes fun of how wars are fueled and caused
It just has a direct conversation of the United States Department of Defense telling the UK Prime Minister on how to get rid of so-called delinquents by sending them to die in war. It's not even like a song, just a spoken word thing.
Damn I was not expecting a video on Dead Kennedys. All of these are super well made.
Yeah man. Love DK and I love this guy's videos. It's an amazing combo
WHOS THAT KID IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM? WHOS THAT KID IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM? WE ALL THINK HE'S REALLY WEIRD. WE ALL THINK HE'S REALLY WEIRD.
Blimps In Space
Bloody hell- I'd forgotten that one!
WEEEEE NEVER TALK TO HIIIIM
HEEE NEVER LOOKS QUITE RIGHT
Fernanda HEEEEE LAUGHS AT US JUST BEAT HIM UP
Insight!
One thing that pisses me off about dk, is when anti-progressive and ultra consetvative fans use these songs to claim dead Kennedy's and their songs supported their beliefs. Not making a poltical statement personally just hate it when people miss-interpret lyrics as the DK were anarchy-liberals who are strongly against these ideologies,
"Holiday in Cambodia" is, unfortunately, a big example of this. Just go search the song on UA-cam, and you'll see so many reactionaries thinking it's about "SJWs".
“Liberals” lol
Anarcho-liberals. HOW
anarcho commie actually.
Theo Buniel ikr?
As a huge Dead Kennedys fan thank you so much for making this!
They were also separated from the punk pack by their incredible musicianship. Make no mistake, they could play circles around more than 90% of the punk players of the time and even now. Ray is one of my main inspirations along with Wes Beech and Johnny Ramone.
Dude, I still don't understand what the fuck he does on guitar. Dude is an absolute legend.
@@killval849 ...He cranks up the reverb and treble. Not that amazing.
Between Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains, punk got clever.
Best channel I’ve subbed to in ages. I woke up and thought I was imagining this in my notifications. Never thought you would cover a band like the Dead Kennedys. Covering the Clash’s evolution from aggressive punk to aggressive world music would also be interesting. Cheers!
clash city rockers!
Taktwo2 I’m pretty sure the first time I listened to Bedtime for Democracy was through your uploads haha
Had - Happy you appreciate the uploads!
You deserve more subs, this is one of the best well constructed channels ive seen on youtube!
You said it. I bet it's gonna grow fast in the following weeks and months!
Agreed!
I never really listened to them before, but now after watching this I sure will! great video once again!
The thing about DK was that is was never really about the music. Jello conceived the band as a platform for his radical (to the mainstream) political views, and oh, they happened to play punk rock.
The best album is plastic surgery disasters
First time i heard about this band was when i read This Is A Call - the biography of Dave Grohl. He LOVES these guys! Still for some reason i didn't bother to check em out. This brought more context to the table though, so i'll take action this time.
you really should! The DK's are one of those rare bands who haven't written one single bad song
You can find Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death right here on UA-cam.
It's a great DK record to start on because it's a compilation and as such it gives you samples of nearly their whole discography.
COPPA: **is now in place**
Dead Kennedys: **exists**
Me: I think I know what I’m going to be in the future!
The irony of using a punk band to gain ad revenue ain't lost on me.
Good point! Shitloads of videos get demonetized for no reason these days. But some of the more
speculative ones stay up. . .
Boo hoo.
Next song ➡"Squarespace Conscription"
@SPIKE Funny you say that since Levi's tried to do the same thing.
Frankly i find it ridiculous that once something is successful it cant be "Punk"
got to starve or you loose that street cred right?
A video on how Jimi Hendrix’s guitar playing was so unique and legendary would be awesome
SUCHDOGEMUCHWOW it came true lol
I don't listen to Dead Kennedys. They're just not a band I can get into. But watching this video gives me a newfound sense of respect for them. Good job.
Jello did a country music album with mojo nixon if that's more your speed
I can get into them! Absolute brilliant satire!!
Checkout Jello's spoken word albums. They get the point across without the music.
@@arianrhodhyde7482 i sang winnebago warrior on stage with mojo once, 1993 maybe, new haven connecticut
@@jjjohn4493 that is very cool
“Your kids will meditate in school” I’m in high school and this is a reality now
Cal yeah it sucks doesn’t it
if you think meditation is bad i really feel bad for you man that is a stupidity that can't be cured
Sadly, California Uber Alles did age pretty good
@@TheCarrots101 they weren't saying meditation is bad, they meant being made to meditate by an authority
@@TheCarrots101 Shut up hippie.
MTV Get Off the Air is one of my favourite songs
Dead Kennedys are such an underrated band imo
theyre overated in the general public but they are the most known band a lot of groups
By whom?!
They aren't underrated.....People won't shut up about them, actually. If anything, they're overrated.
I was with the DKs during this time and know the origins of several songs .
“Winnebago Warrior “was based partially upon our trip to Cloverdale CA - we stopped at a drive- in we called “ The Hell” drive in .
A medium sized motor home was parked and a family of , well , rotund individuals - mom, dad , kids - were seated around an outdoor picnic table , greedily eating burgers under a bug zapper , which was dropping flies on the table . Biafra and I stood staring - he was never shy about being vocal in his opinion in public and I think he said something regarding they , loud enough to be heard by them . I think we passed on buying any food .
My new favorite UA-cam channel! So glad to see a video about my favorite punk band :)
Great analysis. I always felt the dead kennedys and specially in songs like mtv get of the air show real complexity and are dismissed simply for being part of the punk genre.
Why would any one dismiss the punk genre any way
@@shadowcween7890 Because they don't like the sound of punk.
YES thank you i love the dead kennedys!! Glad you did a video on them!
Edit:also do you think you could do a video on deathgrips/danny brown/denzel curry and the rise of this experimental agressive type of hip hop thats slowly making its way to the mainstream?
Yes would love a video on experimental hip hop too
sam Hawpe totaly. Like a lyrics vs beats in hip hop, ergo: technicality vs energy video and how merging great sonics with meaningfull lyrism=great music
I know it's you fantano !
Tony M. Ayy lmao
Yes please, do this! Don’t forget to include Clipping.
I LOVE THAT INTRO!! That dope beat just absolutely works!! And I love how you say, "Let's take a closer look" and then the music plays out. Probably the best intro a channel can give its content. Good work :)
I love how much your channel have grown in the past months, you absolutely deserve it!
Dead Kennedy’s are punk legends
You know they played pull my strings at some awards show as a form of protest, they were supposed to play their hit CA uber alles, explaining how it starts.
This channel is Gold! Love the knowledge with Music ! Keep it up!
Great video! So glad you did this. Any other videos about punk or punk bands would be very interesting too!!!!
Lack of action in Cambodia? We illegally bombed there and then funded the Khmer Rouge against the Communists in Vietnam.
Polyphonic's commentary on their politics acts like the Dead Kennedy's were centrists and not anti-capitalist leftists lmao
@@danielbelkin4652 They were and are not far elft. They hate marxists. The singer is member of the green party. So, if you want to lace them, they are center left.They are highly critical of AUTHORITARIAN far left movements. And calling them "anticapitalists" makes no sense, they criticized the flaws of modenr society but never EVER said that they wanted a socialist system.
@@freedomordeath89 Oh sure, because 'Let's Lynch the Landlord' and 'Chemical Warfare' aren't militant far-left songs at all, you fucking tool.
@@Sephimius irony is a mythical beast to you I guess... Keep dreaming about your favourite bands being tankies you tool
@@freedomordeath89 I honestly don't see how you could read those songs as anything but critical of capitalist exploitative economics and segregationism. And who said anything about tankies, are you one of those who thinks all far left ideologies are authoritarian? Try telling an Anarchist that.
Thank you Jello may your legacy live on
He's still alive dude
I love your videos, man. I learn so much! Keep on keeping on
Good video and well explained. Their use of sarcasm is something some of my family didn't understand growing up, I wish I could have showed this to them then!
Soo fucking pumped. One of my favorite bands. Jello Biafra is a smart fucking dude. NOFX could easily be included in this or have another video for themselves. They are genius writers.
Fat Mike and Jello are close friends.
Fat Mike is 100x more clever than Jello Biafra when it comes to political satire and witty lyrics! Every NOFX album has 5 songs better than California Uber Alles or Kill the Poor. DK are a legendary band but others have done it better since then.
true, peoples seems to think that NOFX is a shit band because of the enormous amount of joke they made but Fat Mike is by far one of the greatest punk writers to me.
haha, generalizing the whole decade into a tiny package. i know your type. don't give a shit about your grandiose punk view. not a fan of epitath''s band myself but i stay true with my opinion on NOFX lyrical genius.
funny you sayin that because i am myself an obnoxious shit as well (from what i see) but if there's something that id learned from internet-interaction is that sometimes being overly virtuous can make you look like a fool. shit still slip from time to time but most of the time i try to be less of a shit myself.
So happy to see my favorite punk band get the Polyphonic treatment. Thank you!!!
Thanks, really enjoyed this one! keep up the good work!
gahhhhh this video is amazing! subscribed in half a heartbeat!!
Great video! I remember when Jello ran for San Francisco mayor. It was an interesting time in SF history!
What a lad.😂
*Great video as always! Would love to see a video on why/how Josh Homme's guitar style is different from others*
Lie Likes Music I agree, the minor/dark sounds of Queens (especially on SFTD) could be a cool topic
Josh's solo on Song for the Deaf is so fucking awesome
I wanted more!! Great video!
Great video! I've been a huge Dead Kennedys fan for over 30 years.
Great video! I love seeing perspectives on the history of punk.
Having an ad on a video about a band that was explicitly anti-capitalist. What a time to be alive
ig you gotta pay the bills somehow, not justifying it tho
Really good video, nice job
I've been following this channel for about a year now (watching mainly old videos), and somehow I had no idea you covered the Dead Kennedys.
awesome video and cool channel! you should do a video about riot grrrl!
You’ve done Jon Bonham, Flea, and Freddie Mercury. We need an episode about a guitarist to round out the band.
Perfect! That'd be quite a group.
I only found this video from being a longtime Dead Kennedys fan, but I'm quite satisfied with your portrayal of them, really loved the video. Also just a bit of interesting backstory about the song you mentioned 'Pull My Strings', they were supposed to perform their big mainstream hit "California Über Alles" for this award show, they wore their Dollar sign shirts, and when the host presented them as the 'New Wave' band the Dead Kennedys, they weren't having any of that. So they began playing their hit, until killing it off after the intro and instead giving them that vicious music-industry critique of a song. DKs have T O N S of history to dig into, especially dealing with the PMRC and all the "Protect the Children" hysteria.
Well done. I really enjoyed this break down of the Dk's work.
What about Frank Zappa? He was equally good at satire and poking fun at the establishment. We're badly in need of something new and different now in 2017/2018.
I love how such a big part of the comment section is just comments mentioning how great Zappa was at satire xD
Derek williams What about you go watch a Zappa video then and let the Dead Kennedy's shine.
its cool too cuz jello is a huge zappa fan
When I was a freshman in high school I got in trouble for writing KILL THE POOR on my notebook. I got hauled into the principal's office and my parents were summoned. My mom told the principal that it was just the lyrics to a song. "It's satire, like A Modest Proposal." Unfortunately this high school educator had no idea what that meant and I was suspended for 2 days.
danny allen r/thathappened
Lmao right
Imagine teachers not knowing what their students are talking about lol, if you don't understand the irony, how did you become a teacher in the first place? I'm overdosing on the irony in that story lol Jesus, sorry that happened
That song is about the neutron bomb that the Carter administration was pushing for in the late 70's.
keep up the great videos!
Good shit. Keep it up!
“Alternative Tentacles”
..kinda says it all, really
Awww, Chuck Palahniuk in the top left corner of that collage of satirists. He’s the best.
great video!! i subscribed😀😀
Damn I love your vids. Always well researched, and I always learn something new. I think the Kennedys understood a lot of the historical context you mentioned.
"California Uber Alles" held up frighteningly well...
'Riot, the unbeatable high. Tomorrow you're homeless, tonight it's a blast.'
Bro yes!! You make the best videos
pull my strings is one my favorite songs of all time
I’ve got a suggestion, The Germs?
Really pisses you off when you realize that Jerry Brown is still govener
Not anymore
Now it's Gavin Newscum who is even worse.
Great video analysis of the Dead Kennedys' style. Thanks!
Dude your channel is gonna be huge one day, mark my words! I absolutely love your content, almost as much as I love the Dead Kennedys. I think another great punk band that effectively uses satire is Bad Religion (probably my favourite band of the genre)
His voice grew on me.
My uncle gave me all of his records from he was 19 for my 15th birthday. I spent most of my time listening to dead Kennedy's on full blast analyzing the lyrics. It drives my mom crazy and as a teenage girl in 2018 my friends don't like it, or any of my music, they think green day is punk music. They're such a great band and Jello is 100% one of my idols. Great vid:)
Nice video! reminded me of an essay by Istvan Meszáros about the satire in literature. As a fan of music and Dead Kenndys too, maybe after watching this I try to wrtie some article with this theme too!
I like the surprising parallels of Jonathan Swift and Dead Kennedys. Nicely researched!
You should do a video on Rush
Liam Drage YES!
Could you make a video about Jimi Hendrix´ guitar playing ?
I was already subbed and now you do a video on one of my favorite punk bands? sheeei
You've had one of the better runs of great videos I've seen in a long time on youtube. Great work here man. Would you be able to look into some classic blues some time? Buddy Guy is one of my favorite artists and examining his influence, which I think is not fully appreciated, would be awesome.
What about Frank Zappa?
Conor M. The vids about how DK used satire. They were good at it, but Zappa is superior. It wouldn’t do him justice to have both DK and Zappa mixed in one video, Zappa deserves his own video going in depth with his jazz funk fusion and witty lyrics. And about how openly he offended people, and about how he wouldn’t fly in todays standards. It’s kind of sad we probably won’t have any more big musicians like that anymore.
Totally!!!! I second a Zappa video
Agree... a Zappa video
i agree on a zappa video, but .. thats gonna be a 3 hour video hehehe
Conor M. What about him? He sucks.
Joy Division, plz
yeeesssss
This channel is soo good👌 and I love the DK's
Kill the poor, yes, but what about "I eat children"? In Sweden a book was published (för Sverige på tiden) that really didn´t understand satire AT ALL - the writer really belived that DK encouraged people to resort to cannibalism ;)
Damn no love for the drummer 😂
Which one?
Still in this satire discussion: do you know Os Mutantes?
Um vídeo sobrr os Mutantes iria ser TUDO
Are you just going through my record collection? jk Great video as usually. I would love to see you do something on the clash or Lou reed.
do a video on kraftwerk.
Best music channel on UA-cam? I think so
Good god no. You are easily impressed.
I love you, I love the content, I wish you had like a fucking podcast and just listen you drop knowledge. Fucking love this man, also, please please please please do my bidding and break down King Crimson or Tool for me :(
I would love for you to do something on sublime
You should make a video about tool and the golden spiral
yes, this. do this please
you stole my idea!
Ouh, you mean the Fibonacci sequence? There's probably a lot to be mentioned about that! Which version of the album do you guys like best? The original or "The Holy Gift" one.
Lie Likes Music yes! And I think the holy gift adds a lot to the album.
Amazing video, I love the dead kennedys! I think it's worth mentioning that pull my strings was only performed once, and they where scheduled to play California Uber alles, but instead surprised everyone with pull my strings...the where banned from ever performing that festival again hahaha.
made me think theres a german punk band called terrorgruppe which is pretty much the german equivalent lyrics-wise critisising the iraq wars from the perspective of a poor worker who finally has something to watch on tv (the war beoadcast by cnn). if you understand some german theyre worth a listen :)
Nö. Die goldenen Zitronen seit den 90ern wären da eher das Analogon. "Auf dem Fundament meiner Innitialien", "Mila", "Das sag ich dir nicht", "Meine kleine Welt"...
Simon Gunkel ok hör ich mir mal an aber frontbericht CDU Schöner Strand die neue Schüssel sind textlich schon nah an DK
Ja, Schöner Strand fiel mir auch ein, nachdem ich das gepostet hatte. Aber die Zitronen haben das längere Zeit schon auf die Spitze getrieben und Wenn ich ein Turnschuh wär, Das bißchen Totschlag und die Bürger von Rostock, Mannheim, etc. sind so aktuell wie eh und je
Hey man, great video once again. Although I fully support the suggestion of doing something about Death Grips, you might also want to look at what's happening with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's last album. Not only did they release it completely for free, they encouraged doing whatever you want with it. Now people all over the world are crowdsourcing their own Vinyl releases of the album, merch, cassette's the whole thing. Pretty fascinating to see this happening in the digital age.
Radiohead already did that with In Rainbows I still like the sentiment though. If the album is free people are going to do whatever they want with it anyway hopefully they listen to it.
does Vietnow by RATM count as Juvanalian satire?
And Down Rodeo
I love soup... SOUP IS GOOD FOOOOOOD
fresh fruits for rotten vegetables is still the best punk rock record
Raph Jojo definitely
Is that one by DK?
plastic surgery disasters
love all DK's records, but for me it's plastic surgery disasters
Definitely Frankenchrist for me
dead kennedys are the noam chomsky of music
That's a bit off.
more punk please!!!
Great video as always. However, l must admit I cringed just a tiny bit at the end when you said "and now I would like to thank my sponsor...". I know, you are not the DKs and you gotta pay your bills too, but it just sounded weird after 8 minutes praising the DKs' punk attitude, including anti-commercialism. ;)
I feel that Uber Alles wasn't really about Brown. It seems that the song was written to address the claim that "Yeah, well the democrats can be just as bad". In the song, Jello's response to this claim is "Oh yeah? What are they gonna do, gas me for not smoking weed?" I feel theres a lot more meaning to the song, rather than the usual interpretation of Democrats are bad too
Agreed. Jello says he wrote the song after Brown made statements to the effect that the hippies/new agers needed a leader, implying that it could be him, so Jello imagined him becoming a fascist dictator on the back of the new age movement. It is trying to suggest that people and movements can be manipulated by power hungry individuals. I think they rewrote it as We've Got A Bigger Problem Now because he recognised Reagan's govt as a bigger threat than the Democrats - the clue is in the title!
But it was about him.
You should have also talked about Bad Religion. They're a bit more verbose and not as dirty but equally clever and "woke" as DK
DK is my 2nd favorite Punk band BR are my 3rd Misfits are my 1st.
They were so good at satire on politics because Jello and the band really knew politics. Most writers of "political" songs for a little while now have been pretty corny and cliche, and don't really know what the hell they're even talking about