My wife and I got our son to sleep at 9:15 tonight, I emptied the diswasher, and went for a 1/2 hour power-walk through the neighborhood to unwind from the day. I had my iPod in hand, put it into "shuffle" mode, and the first song that popped up in the line-up was the Dead Kennedys' punk gem, "Too Drunk To F***". The Dead Kennedys and the song I just mentioned aren't what you think - a tasteless, crass band, with lewd and mindless lyrics - they were an innovative Punk band of the late 70's and 80's that sang songs filled with social commentary. I interpret "Too Drunk to F***" to be their parody of "good 'ol boys" or delinquents who have to be plastered to have a good time. The DK's most notable song from the era was (my favorite!) "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now", which was a commentary on the politics and scandals of what now seems to have been a sane choice for president, Ronald Reagan.
The reason I write about the DK's is that I realized that on this evening in West Georgia, I was pumping myself up with the song as I walked through my suburban Atlanta neighborhood. The DK's were about questioning politics, power structures, and the social ills of society. I'm a middle-aged guy with a family and a mortgage, who still grooves to songs of protest from another era.
As I listened to the DK's while on my walk, I wondered, "Which bands are the voices of protest now?" I couldn't really name any off the top of my head. It might have been good to have had a band like the DK's to listen to over the past 8 years...
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1 comment:
My generation would probably say Pearl Jam, they are probably the standouts when it comes to protest music in the '90s and this decade. Radiohead maybe in terms of lyrics, but their music doesn't have the hard edge that PJ has.
Funny you mention DK, when I think of that era I think of The Ramones.
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