First, apologies for not posting more often. Things at TuneCore have gotten incredibly busy due to the overwhelming response. I eat, drink, breathe and sleep TuneCore, and I love it!
That being said, there is little to no time to do anything else and everything from reading to blog postings to having a life has suffered.
But, things are getting a bit too stale on the blog ( someone emailed us and asked if we were still in business as we had not done a blog posting since June); it’s time put up new postings.
And there are some very cool things to talk about….
In my high school days I became a fan of the punk band Dead Kennedys – California Uber Alles, Holiday In Cambodia and Nazi Punks Fuck Off ended up on countless mix tapes. I was fascinated by two of the band members’ names – Jello Biafra (lead singer ) and Klaus Flouride (bass player). It might sound a bit nuts, but due to Jello’s name I learned about the world. I had no idea what Biafra meant, or what it was, but I assumed it meant something so I looked it up.
Low and behold, Biafra was not just a word to follow the name Jello, it was ( and yes I am now copying from Wikipedia) “…a short-lived secessionist state in southeastern Nigeria. It existed from May 30, 1967 to January 15, 1970. The military’s Chief of Staff formally announced capitulation on January 12. The country was named after the Bight of Biafra, the bay of the Atlantic to its south. ”
The history of Biafra is a brutal and terrible one. A lot of death, war, destruction and inhumanity.
This was a bit of an epiphany for me – for the first time it really clicked with me that there was a “rest of the world” out there and it was vastly different then the United States. And as horrible as my high school angst was, and as much as I tried to look like Robert Smith and be cool, there were so many other important issues going on – like civil war, real death, torture, brutal dictators, US foreign piolicy, dead and starving people/children and other governments that were not the then Soviet Union being incredibly oppressive.
Jump ahead to my freshman year of College, and Jello once again impacted my take on the world. There I was singing Holiday In Cambodia when my friend turned to me in disbelief and said “what do you think those lyrics are?” And I said “Cold, Hot, Cold, Hot”. Ted started to crack up. “No you idiot, he’s saying ‘Pol Pot’”.
I had no idea who Pol Pot was but learned very quickly about the Killing Fields in Cambodia ( a holocaust that had the Khmer Rouge kill over 2,000,000 Cambodians). I was stunned at the slaughter and once again my vision of our world was expanded and my personal and political outlook was impacted.
Add to this Jello educating me – via his spoke word albums – about the PMRC. No clue what it is? In a nut shell, Tipper Gore ( Al Gore’s wife) and a few other self described “Washington Wives” started an organization that claimed that ( Wikipedia again) “…popular music, especially rock music, was partially responsible for the (at the time) recent increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. The PMRC’s mission was “to educate and inform parents” about “the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol”, and to seek the censorship and rating of music. “
Te PMRC had some scary bedfellow and associates including people like Phyllis Schlafly ( right wing activist that is part of the conservative religious organization the Eagle Forum) and more.
I used to play clips of Jello’s spoken word albums on my college radio show discussing the impact the PMRC had not only on the Dead Kennedys but also on countless other bands. In effect, by demanding that “offensive” albums be stickered with warning labels, many nationally chain record stores stopped carrying albums someone arbitrarily deemed dangerous. And once they stopped carrying the albums, the albums could not sell. And when they could not sell, the band could not make money.
I was also astounded to learn that the Dead Kennedys, and their self run label Alternative Tentacles, were charged with peddling harmful matter to minors as their album “Frankenchrist” contained a poster by the artist Geiger that some deemed pornographic. The police actually raided Jello’s house, took his stuff and he was dragged to criminal court. This went down circa 1985. I had no idea things like this actually happened in the United States.
Some years later Jello came up on my radar again when he ran for the Green Party’s nomination for the President Of The USA. Nader won, but I still thought that was cool.
Segue to two weeks ago I received an email from the founder of the South Park Music Fetival & Retreat – a music conference where I am appearing on a few panels – stating Jello Biafra was also attending and appearing on a panel. I asked if I could sit on the same panel as Jello. And now I am.
I am psyched!
Here’s the panel.…if you come, please say “Hi”!
WHAT’S NEXT —
THE CURRENT AND FUTURE STATE OF
INDEPENDENT MUSIC?
12:15pm – 1:15pm ~ Room A
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