Among the world's population, there are those who consider me a fool for giving Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra's spoken-word albums such high ratings. They argue that he does nothing but quote left-wing propoganda as if it were truth, without coming up with any opinions of his own. They chide me about his arrogance and enormous sense of self-worth (as evidenced on this CD by the disgustingly high-and-mighty conclusion, "Lots of people come up to me and say, 'You changed my life'! Maybe.... but now it's YOUR turn."). They accuse him of ripping off his own band members for two decades, then bald-facedly asking fans to donate their money NOT to humans right causes NOR to charities for the poor, but to the "Alternative Tentacles Legal Defense Fund" (because it's YOUR fault he lost the DKs back catalog, and without your help, there won't be any more Pachinko cds). They even casually mention Jello's ongoing attack on Tipper Gore who, by all accounts, has supposedly helped the needy a hell of a lot more than Jello has (In addition to charity work, I'm told that she donated all earnings from her book Picture This to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council).
But why look at the glass as half-empty when it is clearly only 49.7% empty? Even if Jello isn't the perfect liberal saint we all dreamt he would be, his spoken word albums DO bring important information and ideas to lots of people (myself included) who don't have time to click through every leftist webzine in the world in an ongoing fruitless search for "the Truth." (Did Scully and that scab ever find it, btw? I stopped watching the show shortly after the movie answered every question I've ever had about the conspiracy, completely depleting any interest I might have had in wasting an hour of my life every Sunday night when I could be praying). I've never been Mister Political by trade, but I've been keeping a close, vigilant eye on Washington (via those 3 or 4 daily headlines on Yahoo) ever since the terrorist things happened, and yikes is this a many-flavored society of lies and cover-ups in which we are dwelling. If Jello doesn't tell the kids, who will? Certainly not Henry Rollins, who'd rather talk about buying condoms at Rite-Aid and how cool Jesus is. And beyond those two, there aren't any punk spokespeople!
Except Tesco Vee, of course, who moderates regular C-Span debates on health care and social security.
This latest spoken-word triple-CD focuses on Bush's War Against Terror, with a few bonus tracks about the fake California energy crisis, Ralph Nader and the Ramones. You'll hear (A) things you already know! (B) things you didn't know! and (C) things that aren't true! Unfortunately, it's completely up to you to figure out which of Jello's bold facts come from reputable sources and which are just bullshit funnelled down through the Leftist Grapevine. It's also up to you to somehow find cleverness in such satirical personal affronts as "John Ashcrack," "Osama bin Werewolf" and "George Bushcraft." These things I cannae do for thee. I can only invite you to listen, nod your head knowingly and use Jello's words as a starting point -- a launchpad, if you will, from which you can take certain concepts and conduct further research on them to find out if the world is as corrupt as Lard's lead singer claims (and believe me -- it IS).
So yes, if you can treat this album as a one-stop shop for post-9/11 leftist commentary while keeping in mind that every argument is one-sided and of questionable origin, you'll likely find it to be an incredibly interesting resource. I know I did! And you know me -- I don't find just ANYTHING interesting! (*stares at mousepad for 45 minutes, wondering how they made it squishy yet firm at the same time*)
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