When Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys first hit the punk
\nmarket in 1980, their declarations shocked their critics and
\ndelighted their fans. Their debut effort
\nFresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables<\/i> is one listen that you
\nwon’t soon forget – and as I admitted way back in January 1997, is
\nan album I wish I had purchased earlier in my life.<\/p>\n
So, you may ask, why wait 18 months to review their follow-up
\nEP,
\nIn God We Trust, Inc.<\/i>? After all, it is probably one of the
\nshortest listens you will experience (eight songs in the vicinity
\nof twelve minutes). Well, no good reason except it gets very bogged
\ndown here in the Pierce Archives (where we’re eagerly awaiting the
\nannual sale at my favorite used record store – two weeks and
\ncounting, and making lots of room), and the disc just got lost in
\nthe shuffle.<\/p>\n
But the truth be known,
\nIn God We Trust, Inc.<\/i> is a rush job that should have had
\nsome more time put into it. It’s much more ferocious than
\nFresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables<\/i>, but it loses something
\nin the process.<\/p>\n
Biafra, guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride and
\ndrummer D.H. Peligro decide on this disc that speed is the key to
\nthe delivery of the messages. Unfortunately, in the process
\nBiafra’s ranting vocals are crunched to the point where if you
\ndidn’t have the lyrics on the jacket, you’d have no idea what the
\nhell he was saying. (If you’re easily offended, this might not be a
\nbad thing, especially when Biafra declares that all religions make
\nhim sick. This is not an album for the kiddies.)<\/p>\n
Oh, there is still the irreverent social humor\/commentary that
\nmade their first album so wonderful – especially notable is the
\ntrack “Moral Majority,” on which Biafra tells people like Ronald
\nReagan and Jerry Falwell to “blow it out your ass”. Amen. (I do
\nadmit some ignorance here: who is “Anita” that Biafra refers to?
\nCouldn’t be Anita Hill, who didn’t make headlines until well over a
\ndecade after
\nIn God We Trust, Inc.<\/i> came out.)<\/p>\n
Maybe what the Dead Kennedys picked up on this album were
\ninfluences from other punk acts like Black Flag; the overall sound
\nof the music does seem to have similar qualities like those on
\nBlack Flag’s
\nDamaged<\/i>. This isn’t a bad thing, but it would have been nice
\nhad Biafra put more emphasis on the vocal tracks instead of
\nbreakneck speed; he
\ndoes<\/i> deliver a good vocal.<\/p>\n
Besides being far too short,
\nIn God We Trust, Inc.<\/i> shows signs of possible burnout.
\n“We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now” basically reprises
\nFresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables<\/i>‘s “California Uber
\nAlles,” despite certain parts of the song being delivered
\nlounge-style. And the prerequisite cover – this time of “Rawhide” –
\njust falls flat, and could have easily been left off. Truth be
\ntold, it’s half-ass.<\/p>\n
All this leaves
\nIn God We Trust, Inc.<\/i> to be a less than satisfying product.
\n(On CD, it’s now being packaged with the EP
\nPlastic Surgery Disasters<\/i>, which I have yet to purchase.)
\nWhile this disc still shows some of the genius of Biafra and the
\nDead Kennedys, it also spelled possible trouble on the horizon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5639],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39368","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dead-kennedys","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39368"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39368"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}