Arctic_Reviews, Aug 11, 2008
Jello Biafra and company could have secured themselves lifelong careers in gorilla marketing in the United States. Rather than spawning genius song titles like Kill The Poor, California uber Alles and Funland at the Beach, they could have made millions creating strap lines and raining relentless shock upon middle America. You think it would have taken so long for british fashion chain French Connection to realise what they were sitting on if these guys had been managing their PR account?
Mercifully for everyone who relishes seeing hypocrisy rammed where the sun don‘t shine, they decided instead to commit their monumental lack of taste and decency to vinyl. This record reached British shores too late to really play a part in the first wave of punk nihilism. All the same, we should be truly proud as a nation that the anarchy explosion of the late seventies inspired such an unprecedented yankee tirade of guttural satire.
There is little point in trying to examine the fabric of the song structure, highs and lows, inspired lyrics or anything else. It is just deeply funny in a way that cannot occur through jokes alone. All it needs to live is to find a device that produces the worst sound reproduction possible and crank the volume to maximum. On reflection, what then occurs is more like the mutant side effect of some misguided 1950’s nuclear experiment than popular music. They never quite scaled these heights again.
For the avoidance of doubt, much of mainstream America is still in denial about this unpalatable product of free speech and for that alone this remains priceless art. If you remain unconvinced, dig out that Holiday in Cambodia t-shirt, wear it with pride and attempt to traverse American border control.
5.0/5 (