Published on Aug 8, 1998
When Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys first hit the punk
market in 1980, their declarations shocked their critics and
delighted their fans. Their debut effort
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables is one listen that you
won’t soon forget – and as I admitted way back in January 1997, is
an album I wish I had purchased earlier in my life.
So, you may ask, why wait 18 months to review their follow-up
EP,
In God We Trust, Inc.? After all, it is probably one of the
shortest listens you will experience (eight songs in the vicinity
of twelve minutes). Well, no good reason except it gets very bogged
down here in the Pierce Archives (where we’re eagerly awaiting the
annual sale at my favorite used record store – two weeks and
counting, and making lots of room), and the disc just got lost in
the shuffle.
But the truth be known,
In God We Trust, Inc. is a rush job that should have had
some more time put into it. It’s much more ferocious than
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, but it loses something
in the process.
Biafra, guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride and
drummer D.H. Peligro decide on this disc that speed is the key to
the delivery of the messages. Unfortunately, in the process
Biafra’s ranting vocals are crunched to the point where if you
didn’t have the lyrics on the jacket, you’d have no idea what the
hell he was saying. (If you’re easily offended, this might not be a
bad thing, especially when Biafra declares that all religions make
him sick. This is not an album for the kiddies.)
Oh, there is still the irreverent social humor/commentary that
made their first album so wonderful – especially notable is the
track “Moral Majority,” on which Biafra tells people like Ronald
Reagan and Jerry Falwell to “blow it out your ass”. Amen. (I do
admit some ignorance here: who is “Anita” that Biafra refers to?
Couldn’t be Anita Hill, who didn’t make headlines until well over a
decade after
In God We Trust, Inc. came out.)
Maybe what the Dead Kennedys picked up on this album were
influences from other punk acts like Black Flag; the overall sound
of the music does seem to have similar qualities like those on
Black Flag’s
Damaged. This isn’t a bad thing, but it would have been nice
had Biafra put more emphasis on the vocal tracks instead of
breakneck speed; he
does deliver a good vocal.
Besides being far too short,
In God We Trust, Inc. shows signs of possible burnout.
“We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now” basically reprises
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables‘s “California Uber
Alles,” despite certain parts of the song being delivered
lounge-style. And the prerequisite cover – this time of “Rawhide” –
just falls flat, and could have easily been left off. Truth be
told, it’s half-ass.
All this leaves
In God We Trust, Inc. to be a less than satisfying product.
(On CD, it’s now being packaged with the EP
Plastic Surgery Disasters, which I have yet to purchase.)
While this disc still shows some of the genius of Biafra and the
Dead Kennedys, it also spelled possible trouble on the horizon.