Many pro second amendment Americans are familiar with Dianne Feinstein. Who for decades has been a thorn in the side of firearms rights in the United States.
I am here to talk about a thorn in the side of Dianne Feinstein. That thorn is Eric Boucher, aka Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys.
He actually ran against her for Mayor of San Francisco the very year prior to what I’m about to describe. Biafra would later become the Green Party’s Presidential nominee in the year 2000.
In 1980, Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys pulled something off that is nothing short of amazing in the realm of speaking truth to power. At that time, the Dead Kennedys were invited to perform at the Bay Area Music Awards in front of music industry bigwigs to give the event some “New Wave credibility”. I was not even one year old when this happened.
Jello Biafra said, “Hold it! We’ve gotta prove that we’re adults now. We’re not a punk rock band, we’re a new wave band.”
The band, who all wore white shirts with a big, black S painted on the front, pulled black ties from around the backs of their necks to form a dollar sign, then started playing “Pull My Strings”, a satirical attack on the ethics of the mainstream music industry. The song also referenced The Knack’s biggest New Wave hit, “My Sharona”. The song was never recorded in the studio but this performance, the first and only time the song was ever performed, was included on the album “Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death“, a reference to Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty or Give Me Death.”
To hear Pull My Strings for yourself, check out http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=pull+my+strings
In doing this, this band virtually wrecked any chance they would ever have for commercial success. Jello Biafra was active in the Dead Kennedys until the late 1980’s. They released a handful of records all dealing with social and political issues of the day. Their music is not for everyone, but the lyrical content of their music is pretty impressive.
Eventually, the band split and fought amongst themselves for the rights to the music.
Biafra then went on to record a number of spoken word albums, and was involved in other bands, Lard, and Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine who just released a new record in April of 2013.
I’m not saying these guys are perfect. Then again, neither are we. You don’t have to be perfect to make an impact.
sources:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=pull+my+strings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_My_Strings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jello_Biafra
Great post. Sharing!!