Customer Reviews

If Evolution is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Evolve

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If you didn't get the summary and for some reason actually took it literally, then you've probably never listenned to the Dead Kennedys. Well, ex-Kennedy lead singer Jello Biafra has taken his razor blade-like social awareness and criticism to spoken word. You won't believe what you learn, and worst of all you'll never be able to pledge allegiance again(OH NO!!). Buy this. Yeah, yeah. I know that's all you hear every evening as you vegetate in front of the new opiate of the masses, i mean television, but this might actually wake you up. Besides, if you've found your way to this review than you must have some interest in Biafra or the Dead Kennedys. If you just stumbled upon this as a poor innocent good citizen, well, good. You need this. It's like Viagra for the brain. Arm the homeless!

Jello Biafra pontificates on a number of issues that I personally find important: the need for teenagers and young adults to have free access to entertainment, music and media of their choice; the banality and anti-aestheticism of "mainstream suburbia" and the suit-and-tie, Christmas-shopping, pro-sports mentality fed to us in the media (that's how their corporate sponsors make money after all).

But here Biafra is much more concerned with the economics playing behind the scenes. Rather than "whine" about Tipper Gore, the PMRC and their efforts to deny people under a certain age certain types of albums (and movies, video games, possibly even live concerts), here Biafra goes into a much more powerful threat to freedom and democracy: corporate power and the DE FACTO censorship and authoritarianism it brings. You could best think of this album as a rebuttal to conservative economist Milton Friedman's book CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM.

This album was recorded in late 1997/early 1998, the era of anti-gang paranoia, the Newt Gingrich regime, NAFTA, drug wars, welfare reform, and Wall Street uber-alles. Biafra clearly points out President Clinton's repeated concessions to the conservative right, not just the Wall Street right but also cultural reactionaries (one of which would have been first lady had the Supreme Court not handed the 2000 pres election to Bush). This frustration over pro-corporate, pro-suburbia, anti-marijuana, anti-musical freedom "liberal" Democrats was certainly at least part of the fuel behind Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign.

Biafra points out, very honestly, that the corporate media deliberately blames society's problems on everything except the real cause (how screwed up our economic system is (this is a verbatim quote)), which not only unnecessarily scapegoats innocent people like Marilyn Manson and divides the nation among race and culture lines, but assures that the real problems will never be solved.

Of course, to inspire the people for social change, he also gives examples of how Russians and Eastern Europeans overthrew their communist-by-name-only regimes and set up democracies run, in some cases, by rock musicians! Granted, neocapitalist fervor has been pushed too hard on the ex-"communist" countries, but the basic idea of a mass of people overthrowing a corrupt and elitist political regime is definitely something that a democratic socialist like myself can wholeheartedly support!

After listening to this album you too will be inspired to renounce the capitalist economic ideology and dream of the day when America will experience a general strike. Even if you don't agree with Biafra's (or my) quasi-socialist philosophy of wealth, work and property, you will be forced to admit that America is going down the tubes and that "It's the economic system, [...]"

You can't go wrong with Biafra's fantastic sense of humor, especially in conjunction with his ever-scathing political commentary.
This is a highly listenable and entertaining set of cds, which is not to undermine their importance. They are challenging and thought-provoking, addressing contemporary social and political issues, and weave together a perfect blend of satire and seriousness.

Recorded from April 1996 to July 1998 and released in October 1998, the 3-CD set that clocks in at 196 minutes is the best sample of Jello Biafra's spoken word style and vast biting commentary on social/pop culture topics that never seem to go away, but are repackaged by advertisers for the next generation of consumers.

Humorous passages on serious issues like war, entertainment as news, the prison-industrial complex and the corporatization of public school systems are not brief pauses in the action, but the shaking of the foundation constructed by the political puppets with seismic waves of powerful truth. The standout is the 26:02 "The New Soviet Union," with the theater of the absurd in full gear when Biafra discusses the plights of a meteorologist who rained on Rush Limbaugh's picnic and concert promoter who had to deal with an angry festival advertiser after a balloon busted.

If it wasn't so real - and true - we could have a good laugh.