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Protest Songs

cactusflinthead

By cactusflinthead
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Loco

Loco 3752

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funny read...

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The songs were manic-paced, vicious and funny, and they made the band famous. Biafra raised his profile in 1979 by running a prankish campaign for mayor against Dianne Feinstein and a crowd of other candidates. Voters began noticing Biafra when he pulled stunts like vacuuming leaves from Feinstein's front lawn after she promised to clean up the city. With some press attention, he became a magnet for voters looking to register their contempt with the establishment and wound up with 6,600 votes. Local politicians weren't amused and passed a law banning future candidates with "funny names" from getting on the ballot.

The band released a string of albums in the '80s, including "Plastic Surgery Disasters" and "Bedtime for Democracy." The lyrics returned to one theme over and over: Beware of the government.

Then, in an episode that still sounds like some kind of cosmic hoax, the government made Biafra's worst Big Brother nightmare come true, right in his living room. Nine cops raided his apartment on April 15, 1986, and began searching for something that wasn't hard to find -- a poster that had been included in every copy of the DKs' 1985 album, "Frankenchrist."

It was a reproduction of a sexually explicit painting by the Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger. In a brazen effort to win some easy publicity right before election time, the Los Angeles district attorney's office prosecuted Biafra on obscenity charges after a woman spotted the record in her daughter's collection. Calling the image "harmful matter" and hauling Biafra into court seemed ludicrous. Today, even the man who argued the case the against him, former L.A. deputy city attorney Michael Guarino, regrets the episode.

"The whole thing was a comedy of errors," said Guarino, who now is associate dean at John F. Kennedy University's law school in Walnut Creek, Calif.

"About midway through the trial we realized that the lyrics of the album were in many ways socially responsible, very anti-drug and pro-individual. We were a couple of young prima donna prosecutors."

Biafra had to seem like an easy mark. Since Dead Kennedys had always refused to sign with a major label, they didn't have deep pockets or pricey lawyers behind them. But after a lengthy trial, a jury deadlocked on the charges and the judge dismissed the case. The victory, however, exacerbated existing tensions within the band, and the group called it quits.

To this day, Guarino gets a lot of guff about his leading role in the trial, from both his students and his family. "My son adores Jello and plays his music all time, so my punishment is that I have to listen night after night to everything that Biafra has ever performed."

 

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Hornius Emeritus

Hornius Emeritus 12420

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On 3/29/2018 at 5:48 PM, ernest_t_bass said:

Watching Sabbath jam makes me really hate what music has become.  Mainstream shit today is fucking loathsome.  Gone are the days of kicking fucking ass in a band.  These 70s bands were fucking gods.

 


Sounds like something I heard my grandfather say about Jimi Hendrix in 1969.

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Bojack

Bojack 2073

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I didn't know this thread existed.  I was thinking I'd start one here or in music thread just for this song.  Josh Ritter is one of the all time best narrative song writers. This is a true protest song and one of the few ever that makes me think of Masters of War. 

 

 

 

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BehoId, The Underminer!

BehoId, The Underminer! 11668

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On 9/3/2020 at 6:31 PM, TwiceHorn said:

This isn't a protest song, per se, but it is peak REM.  And exceptionally apropos.

 

I came across this a few months ago.  I enjoyed it. 

 

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2020-10-13/all-star-austin-contingent-gets-out-the-vote-covering-r-e-m/

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