Dead Kennedys is THE band for my generation. In the 80’s they defied every law and rule just to make an album. Actually, I shouldn’t say DK. I should correct myself and say Jello Biafra; since he is was brains behind the band. Sure, the rest of the band played incredible instruments along side Jello’s lyrics and voice, but they had no talent whatsoever in the energy department. I guess he was kicked out of the band for “supposedly” (meaning that I heard about it and that I may be wrong or that I doubted that--) defrauding the band by holding payment checks and crap like that. So the rest of the band has replaced him with some little bastard who’s voice is horrible.

DK is one of the most political bands ever made and were “famous” along side Black Flag, Minor Threat, and Millions Of Dead Cops. The mixture of sarcasm, brilliant lyrics, snotty anger, humor, and explosive rage, make up this awesome band. The lyrics in “Plastic Surgery Disaster” are great, but I just have to say that they are more violent than what DK fans might be used to. They talk about rioting, lighting forest fires, and similar stuff. It’s bad, but it’s also cool at the same time.

One thing that I would like to talk about is the booklet. It is dynamic and you can tell that a lot of work went into it. The cover is really depressing showing a big, white hand holding a really small black hand that is dehydrated and yucky looking. It’s a real picture. What I think the message is about this picture is that Americans take a lot of crap for granted and that we shouldn’t think that other countries are inferior. The inside is equally great depicting lyrics for all the songs, and a collage of pictures that DK is known for. There are a couple pages of these collages and some are disturbing, but some are informative. Basically some informative ones say that Americans are ignorant and greedy and selfish. I’ve had this CD for years, and I still haven’t deciphered all of the collages.

You get basically two albums in one. It’s “Plastic Surgery Disaster” and a Virus 5 12” EP aptly named “In God We Trust, Inc.”. The EP is good, consisting of eight tracks, but they are all short. One is a remake of the popular, “California Uber Alles” song and it is renamed “We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now” with different lyrics. Which reminds me to tell you that DK has a couple different versions of “California Uber Alles” floating around, so you should check them out.

I would also like to make a little note that none of DK’s albums are “user-friendly” or “pop-like”, and this album demonstrates that with hardcore vocals and instrument mangling.

BEWARE: If you are easily offended, then most likely you will despise DK because their lyrics center on religion, politics, violence, and insubordination, mostly like any other punk band and criticizes everything to do with America. That’s cool, I think. On the back cover of “Plastic Surgery Disaster” is a picture of a cross made out of dollar bills with Jesus on it, remaking Jesus’ crucifixion and it completely offensive in every way—not to me, but to a lot of people. It’s the cover of their “In God We Trust, Inc” EP.

Another thing I’d like to jot down right now really fast, is that this dastardly album is awesome and remains steady the whole time through and you will be listening to it continuously.

My favorite tracks are “Government Flu”, “Trust Your Mechanic”, “Well Paid Scientist”, and “Riot”, which are pretty close to the beginning of the record, but that’s just a coincidence. “Government Flu” starts out with JB doing his best girl impersonation and then it goes to an incredible melody that is jazzy and full of style. It has some of the band’s best drum work. The guitar and bass guitars feed off each other and bicker the whole song and they sound phenomenal. The guitar is also being shimmied the whole song, so it sounds cool. “Trust Your Mechanic” starts with wonderful drum rolls that sound amazing while the guitar keeps up with them at a steady pace with the bass trailing behind. Jello’s voice comes in and is totally in unison with the instruments and they sound perfect together. “Well Paid Scientist” begins with an amazing bass riff that repeats throughout most of the song and never gets repetitive. The chorus is one of the best DK has ever come up with and is full of sarcasm. There’s a part in this song that I just love. It’s when Jello says, “When will you crack” over and over and it is in sync with the tweaking of the guitar and it sounds terrific and upright. “Riot” is my guilty pleasure. It is full of violence and defiance, and awesome nonetheless. It starts out slow, but becomes moderately faster and faster. The scratching of the guitar strings (which DK is known for) is awesome to hear and the guitar is tweaked out a bunch. When it gets fast-paced, it is full of energy and you will have a ton of adrenaline and you’ll want to start your own riot. It gets you totally pumped up.

(Wow, that was a long “paragraph”)

Although I hate to admit it, I have a few dislikable tracks. They are “Terminal Preppie” and “Winnebago Warrior”. Now, I still listen to these tracks, I just don’t enjoy them as much as the rest of the record. “Terminal Preppie” is sort of humorous where they are making fun of preppies and predicting what preppies are going to do. The lyrics are sort of repetitive. The guitar work is cool, though. “Winnebago Warrior” is all about a weird song that has great bass lines, but it just gets tiring after a while. The lyrics are okay, but they could have been better.

“Bleed For Me”, “Buzzbomb”, “Dead End”, and “I Am The Owl” are awesome tracks, it’s just that they are similar to DK’s past work and there’s a huge familiarity overshadowing the songs. They are still fun and vibrant to listen to. They are just sort of familiar. They all have incredible bass and guitar work and even cooler drumbeats that are steady and fast paced, yet mellow. The lyrics in each of these songs are smart and snotty, and just all around fantastic. These songs remind you about why you love Dead Kennedys.

“Forest Fire”, “Halloween”, and “Moon Over Marin” are all nicely done tracks that mediocrity shows through. They aren’t horrible tracks, their cool tracks, just disappointing a little bit. They are sour and I don’t think that Jello’s message came through by that much because the message was sort of clouded by innuendoes in all songs. The bass riffs and guitar lines, though, are completely inspiring and full of intensity that you will enjoy a bunch while the drums just carry the songs by nicely and fast with no filler visible.

FINAL WORDS

So, although this isn’t my favorite DK album, it is still very fantastic. That’s why I’m giving it five stars, because they earned it by entertaining the crap out of me. The catchiness of all the tracks is astounding and will take you aback, unlike any of DK’s work (with the exception of “Give Me Convience Or Give Me Death”). The bass, which I love hearing, is the most dominant instrument most of the time, so if you are a big fan of that instrument like me, you will be ecstatic about this CD. So, you have good tracks by a terrific band, what else do you need to know? Go out and buy this CD.

JiggyJay

QUOTE FOR THE REVIEW: “The dark shattered underbelly, of the American dream, avoid it like the plague, it stares you from your bathroom mirror, drown!” Dead Kennedys, ~Plastic Surgery Disaster~, “Well Paid Scientist”


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Cleaning the House