Forming Chaos: 1980s Punk
For example, take the popular punk band the Dead Kennedys. Prior to the wave of conservatism that dominated the United States in the 1980s following Ronald Reagan's election, the Dead Kennedys focused on the problems of liberalism that they saw within their home state of California. Their song, "California Uber Alles," is often seen as the example of this.
The lyrics may seem comical as lead singer Jello Biafra describes the "Zen fascists," but they show his distrust for government authority.[1] The sound also is unique to the Dead Kennedys with Biafra's unique voice layered with overdriven guitars and hard hitting drums.
Yet this focus on liberal ideology would change in the 1980s, not just with the Dead Kennedys but with most punk bands. MDC from Austin, Texas often focused on corporations and capitalism as a whole within their lyrics. Throughout their career, they would also criticize conservatives and their politics. Their first album in 1982 featured the song, "John Wayne Was A Nazi” where the band repeatedly calls him a Nazi and explains why based on the roles he played in films.[2]
The song features fast paced guitars and drums while the vocalist Dave Dictor derides the conservative actor and expresses contentment in his death. Although not a politician, the actor was well-known for his political views. How MDC referred to him as a Nazi became a common theme within the punk movement in the 1980s as many punk bands would refer to conservatives as either Nazis or members of the KKK. But this was part of a much larger trend in punk that targeted Ronald Reagan as representative of what they saw as wrong in America. Bands like MDC and the Dead Kennedys began linking their political criticisms to Ronald Reagan.
The Dead Kennedys eventually started a tour which they titled Rock Against Reagan and featured various punk bands including MDC. A writer for the Deseret News in Utah described one of these shows as having multiple political causes with it being "short on anti-Regan sentiment.[3] Nonetheless, Reagan was the target of the shows from the titling as he became the easiest way for punks to consolidate their distrust of authority. This would be seen within the lyrics of many of the bands who played Rock Against Reagan shows, as they were quite outspoken in their disdain for the president and his policies. The Dead Kennedys changed the lyrics to their previously mentioned song, “California Uber Alles,” and retitled it “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now.” Jello Biafra opens the song by altering the lyrics from “I am governor Jerry Brown,” to “I am emperor Ronald Reagan,” as the band plays quietly in the background.[4]
Halfway through the song it bursts into a much faster than the original with the lyrics being screamed louder. Joking lyrics of “Zen fascists,” in the original are changed to describe the real Ku Klux Klan as Jello Biafra draws a connection between the racist group and the Republican party as he had done perhaps more ironically with “Zen fascists” and the Democratic party. While these connections may seem extreme, this was part of what made it punk and this general trend is seen in vast amounts of punk lyrics. One punk band went beyond just outlandish lyrics as Reagan Youth titled themselves after Reagan and the Hitler Youth.[5] The New York group did not stop with their name however, they also released a song of the same name.
The fast song has a less than subtle message as they yell throughout “we are Reagan Youth heil.”[6] The Reagan Youth were unique in the fact that they named themselves in opposition to the president, yet their connection between a racist group and the Republican president were commonplace in punk criticism. Punk lyrics did however go beyond these sort of attacks on Reagan and often focused on specific policies of the administration. One of the most notable examples of this comes from the short and fast track “Reaganomics,” played by the Texas group, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (D.R.I.).
While not detailed in its criticism, the lyrics claim that the economic policy is killing him.[7] It did not need to be detailed however, punk saw Reagan as the enemy and their songs were meant to challenge his authority. Yet the most common trend in how punks did this was criticizing Reagan’s military policies. MDC’s “Who’s the Terrorist Now?” has Dave Dictor asking this question throughout the song as the lyrics are more spoken than screamed as they had in the majority of their songs. [8]
The anti-war sentiments were echoed in the faster punk songs as well as can be seen with Wasted Youth’s “Reagan’s In.” The track clocks in at just about a minute with fast pace guitars and drums.[9] War in this track seems as a pointless endeavor that is being carried out by heartless leaders like Reagan who don't care about the people who fight for their country. While it does not go in detail, the blame is clearly directed at the president and away from those who serve in the military itself.
Most punk bands at this time saw military action as pointless killing and ironic. Some would directly relate this to Ronald Reagan while others would focus on the policies themselves. Punk bands also often criticized Christianity in their lyrics and in particular the Moral Majority, who were Ronald Reagan’s base. Most punk bands tried to draw on their perceived hypocrisy of the Moral Majority as can be seen with both the Circle Jerks and Dead Kennedys who created songs that derided the Christian ideology.
The first of these from the Circle Jerks points primarily to the control they see the Moral Majority trying to maintain over the lives of people and how it is incompatible with the first amendment to the constitution.[10] It was not that Christianity exist which bothered them, it was that they were trying to use this as part of governing. The Dead Kennedys also saw this and called out the names of members of the Moral Majority like Phyllis Schlafly and Jerry Falwell, both of whom Biafra tells to “blow it out your ass.”[11] Yet his criticism went beyond this. Biafra saw their version of Christianity as trying to seek a profit. He also pointed to the flaws of banning abortion and birth control. These lyrics went fairly in depth for describing Biafra's complaints as they also were part of a musical form of art.
Punk lyrics ranged in how complicated they tried to criticize the politics of Ronald Reagan, yet most tended to be direct in how they mention him specifically. While a large portion of these bands were based in California, there were others from Texas and New York who shared their ideas making the anti-Reagan sentiments a nationally occurring phenomenon in punk in the 1980s. Some targeted Reagan as the symbol of all the problems while others focused the military and religious policies of the president as examples of what they saw wrong in society. Punks were often extreme in their denunciation of these politics often creating lyrics that sought to create connections between conservatives and the KKK. What was created then in the punk ethos, was a general hatred of the conservative Republican party as Ronald Reagan was the target of punk lyrics throughout the better half of the decade where he served as president. Punks’ traditionally anti-establishment tendencies formed around a long period of time that saw conservativism as the primary example of authority.
[1] The Dead Kennedys, “California Uber Alles,” in 1978 Demos, 1978.
[2] MDC, “John Wayne Was A Nazi,” in Millions Of Dead Cops, Alternative Tentacles, 1982.
[3] Michael Perkins, “Rock Against Reagan long on punk and short on anti-Reagan sentiment,” Saturday Morning Deseret News, September 4 1984, accessed August 22, 2017, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2318&dat=19840904&id=fVgnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=94IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5816,1522176&hl=en.
[4] The Dead Kennedys, “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now,” in In God We Trust, Alternative Tentacles, 1981.
[5]. Reagan Youth, “History,” accessed June 26, 2017, http://www.reagan-youth.com/history/.
[6] Reagan Youth, “Reagan Youth,’ in Young Anthems for the New Order, R-Radical, 1984.
[7]. D.R.I. “Reaganomics,” in Dirty Rotten, R-Radical Records, 1982.
[8]. MDC, “Who’s the Terrorist Now,” in This Blood’s for You, R-Radical Records, 1987.
[9] Wasted Youth, “Reagan’s In,” in Reagan’s In, ICI Productions, 1981.
[10] Circle Jerks, “Moral Majority,” in Wild in the Streets, Faulty Products Frontier, 1982.
[11] The Dead Kennedys, “Moral Majority,” in In God We Trust, Alternative Tentacles, 1981.
