So happy to see yall doing this one. I feel like this song and ‘Uber Alles’ should be required for students, so they understand the horrors of totalitarian regimes. Oh and when you do ‘Uber Alles’ they are using another historical reference to fascism, because the beginning of the Naz- national anthem goes: Uber Alles Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles unt verld (not exact on the spelling). But it means:
The words of this poem were written in 1841 and were considered revolutionary at the time. The author lost his job shortly after its publication. They were sung to the tune of Haydn's 1797 composition, which was the anthem of the Austrian monarchy. Over time, the song grew in popularity, especially during World War I, and in 1922 it became the anthem of Germany (Weimar Republic), more than 10 years before the National Socialists came to power. Currently, only the third stanza of the poem is the anthem of Germany. The melody has remained the same.
I'll give you the background of the lyrics: Dead Kennedys were an anarcho-punk band, they were left-libertarians essentially. They were known to lampoon what they thought were dumb, hypocritical takes from all political leanings. This included the "champagne socialists", those who had great standards of living under capitalist countries but romanticized communist regimes in the third world. This song basically lampoons those people, those who romanticized across the board equality, "being one" under brutal communist regimes like the Khmer Rouge, when in reality it was absolute hell to live under those repressive regimes. Why did they choose Cambodia in particular? Probably because it was basically communist ideals driven to absolute extremes, the regime got rid of all intellectuals that it deemed to be anti-revolutionary, got rid of all private ownership, forced people who lived in urban areas to move to rural areas to work on farms and fields to support an agriculture-based economy, where they were overworked to death or killed when they tried to resist forced labor.
You guys nailed the meaning. So many people hear this song and bulk at the use of that particular word without looking at the context in which it's being used. If you guys do dead kennedys again, california Uber alles would be an obvious song to do next.
Pol Pot was a revolutionary despot in Cambodia around 1975 to 1979. The revolution and the revolutionary government caused the deaths of more than one million people from forced labour, starvation, disease, torture, or execution while carrying out a program of radical social and agricultural reforms. I remember press reports at the time of anyone thought to be an intellectual or in any way educated being persecuted, tortured and executed. This even when as far as killing teachers and even people who wore spectacles. Cambodia was a nuts scary place to be so the Holiday in Cambodia title and lyrics refers
There’s even more to it: Very few people outside Cambodia even paid attention, but the United States was planning to recognize the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot’s party) as the legitimate government of Cambodia if they would foreswear Vietnam and the USSR and be a US ally in the region. Meanwhile, one of the only countries that was paying attention was Vietnam-which invaded Cambodia, deposed Pol Pot, and put in place a non-genocidal socialist government before the US could officially recognize the Khmer Rouge. One of the reasons the Dead Kennwdys wrote “Holiday In Cambodia” was to call attention to this situation in the West, the same way the intent of “The Killing Fields” was to bring attention to it.
Pol Pot was the Prime Minister of Cambodia his real name was Saloth Sar. Pol Pot is actually a acronym meaning Political Potential and he pretty much orchestrated the Cambodian genocide. There's you a dose of history for today guys lol 🤘🤘
A friend that was a death metal drummer for The Summoned was from Cambodia and told me about those stories. He was born a few years after but his parents were enslaved by him. He also told me stories about you don't walk off a path due to landmines.
Jello Biafra is amazing and still speaking out to power. When I had a radio show in the nineties, I would end my show either with The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen (Ren & Stimpy), or with Jello's Pledge of Allegiance with Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner playing underneath. The two matched up surprisingly well.
The meanings actually a lot more harsh than and directed than what your interruption was. The songs directed at people who have never experienced or interacted with (in this case specifically black culture) acting like they know and understand that culture because of what they've read about it or have seen in the media. They're basically saying alright you're so smart and you know everything about how to deal with and solve all these issues affecting the world, go to the single worst place on the planet (at the time) and experience that then figure out. An educated white person showing up there at that time would instantly be tortured and killed then have their body paraded around. The song hits even harder today because people are so desensitized to the world that news of violence or genocide doesn't even register as a tragic to most young people now, it just gets flicked past. At the same time even the threat of physical violence, let alone actually getting in a fight is something that a lot of people who think they have the answers would struggle to handle emotionally and move on from because their space is usually so protected.
When I was in the Third Grade, in 1987, I got a walkman for my birthday. I went into my older brother's room to borrow a tape. I picked "Give Me Convenience, or, Give Me Death" by the Dead Kennedys. From the opening of "Police Truck" it was my "Road to Damascus" moment. 35 years later, I'm still a Punk!
Back in the late 90's early 2000 nds I knew a girl who worked for Alternative Tentacle Records! She introduced me to The owner who was the lead singer from them! He was a great guy!
I'm a metalhead but I love old rough punk straight out in your face as dead Kennedy's among others in this particular punk era other than that you guys diving right into the disturbing real meaning of this song.
@@DefinitelyNotBender most anarchists I’ve known have usually been on the liberal side so I tend to think of it that way, they rallied against the conservative administration in the 80’s
@@DarkAngel1985Mike Anarchist are true Left. Liberals are on the right in every country besides the US and Canada. They are not similar at all and the "Anarchist" you've known are not actual Anarchist if they were in any way NeoLiberal. Actual Anarchist despise Libs more than Conservatives. At least Conservatives are honest about who they are. The Left in the US/Canada died and co-opted by Liberals/"Progressives" in 2014 with the death of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Any actual Leftist still around are now considered Post-Left/Alt-Right/Populist.
I'm sorry, but you seem confused about what "liberalism" really is. Socially permissive does not mean the same thing as liberal, at least not in the sense of political ideologies like anarchism vs liberalism. Within that context, liberalism is a center right philosophy that is absolutely 100% capitalist. Liberalism and left anarchism are mutually exclusive. DKs "Where Do Ya Draw the Line" is evidence that "liberal" is just an incorrect adjective to apply to DKs or Biafra. As is "Let's Lynch the Landlord" "Cesspools in Eden" and "Police Truck." Biden true believers will hate all of those songs.
San Francisco punk (at least until the late 80's and 90's) was very different from any other punk music i can think of at that time. Very avant-guard, noise rock and post-punk. You'll find most of these bands on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. They heavily influenced bands like the Melvins, which, in turn, was added to the mixing bowl of what became Grunge in the mid to late 80's.
Lead Singer for The Dead Kennedys Jello Biafra had one of the great lines in a song ever. "Give me convenience or give me death". As sentenced03 says below, the next DK's song for you guys should be "California Uber Alles".
"Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death" is the name of a compilation album on which this version of the song appeared, not a lyric from a song. The original version appeared on "Fresh Fruit For Rotten Vegetables".
A fantastic song. British Punk scene had long died out, but USA brought a hardcore punk scene featuring the likes of Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat etc. in the early 80's.
Cambodia, the killing fields Pol Pot was in charge. I was a roadie for UK Decay when they supported The Dead Kennedy's on some parts of their UK tour in 1981/2. Different kind of energy in those days.
Smokey said it best about punk rock. Back when I was a teen, if you were in a band that you considered punk rock, you had to sound like this song to be considered authentic punk. I remember watching the movie Salt Lake City punk back in the day. It's such a great movie about the lives of punk rock music. I've rewatched it many times over the last 20 some years.
My most favourite Punk Band in my teens in the 80ties...Great you did react to that, gave me old man lots of nostalgia...and believe me when I say they had much deep stuff released in the 80ties as long as they had their original line up. They weren´t before Sex Pistols but quite right after..this track got very first released in 78/79ish where the remembrance to the Vietnam war was still fresh in the people´s mind (there were also illegal secret operations in Cambodia as well during the Vietnam war because "Charlie" often crossed the border and took the Cambodian jungle as their hiding spot and often operated from there as well) But the song got recorded + realeased again several times later as well which they did with some few other tracks as well where you then had 2 to 3 slightly different performed versions, you heard the 1980 release and not the very first release
This logo was the most drawn everywhere. By peeps who had no clue what it was! But , with that said, we all also drew that. Cursed. S that looked like a figure 8... and pointy. What is the origin of this? There are historical peeps who will pay lots to figure this one out! 😂
I haven't tuned into this show in forever but the moment I saw this, I had to see how they reacted to the unapologetic hard N-word They did not disappoint. It left the impression an anarchist punk band would have wanted it to, but they also kept bopping to it because it was just as sharp as it needed to be; one sudden vicious cut in a sea of flaming intense political commentary backed by some of the most pleasantly menacing bass riffs possible
Using the N word sort of ironically wasn't too uncommon in these times, it's like they're ridiculing people with those views. Elvis Costello used the word in his biggest hit too.
Yes, but the phrase in Elvis Costello's song "Oliver's Army" was a derogatory term used by the British to mean the Irish. At least, that's what Elvis Costello said in an interview clip I saw. That makes sense with the song lyrics talking about working-class boys being sent off to war.
I'm so glad you guys understand the song. It's from the album "Give me Convenience or Give me Death" which is a play on the French revolution slogan "Give me Liberty or Give me Death", which is basically saying that western society has devolved to convenience being the privilege prized experience. Like those degenerated beings who liked intellectual and physical ease above everything else in WALL.E Like people arguing about their fast food meal not being fast enough, and this attitude that the Dead Kennedy's saw in US culture that they felt could precipitate a society which is more fascistic and has decreasing rights. As they say, in fascist countries at least the trains run on time. You have convenience but at the cost of genuine personal; autonomy and liberty. The song is a cautionary tale to wish for convenience over democracy. And how that will create fascism like in Cambodia at the time.
Actually, Give me convenience was more of a compilation album. Holiday was a 45 before it was put on an album. It was put on Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. That came out in 1980. Convenience, came out in the late 1980s. Convenience had songs that were played live and not on albums. One of those was Pull my strings.
Another good one that uses *that* word in the most satirical way possible is Romeo's Distress by Christian Death, which is about the hypocrisy of fundamentalist Christians.
Love that you React to stuff like this! I am from the "older generation", and actually saw the Dk's live! They wrote music as powerful and "speaking Truth to power" like, as Bob Dylan, tho, in a vastly different Genera of course. In my youth, them ( The Dk's) and the Sex Pistols were my favs... now that I am in my 60's.. my fave tends to be Rammstein, whom I also have seen live. ;)
10:00 Punk, like metal, had many different styes. You had speed punk, hardcore punk, glam punk, protopunk, political punk, skate punk... There were as many varieties of punk as Bubba had of shrimp.
Well, they have a song with the other n-bomb, plus an f straight in the title called "Nazi punks fuck off", how about that one? 😂 If you were uncertain if Holiday in Cambodia is punk, this one is straight up hardcore punk. One minute of aggression 😊
You might be thinking of the singer Jello Biafra's solo stuff. You did Werewolves Of Wall Street. Glad you got onto some Dead Kennedys and good pick from the Patreons.
I didn't get into the dead Kennedys until the late 80s. They came up 2 years before I was born. A lot of bands in the late 80s, 90s, and 2000s got started because they were fans of the dead Kennedys. If only I had a really good working time machine. I would go back in time and see all the great concerts of the past. Of course I would come back to the present time.
The Dead Kennedy’s were a part of the Rock Against Reagan tour in the 80’s that was a protest against the conservative right wing administration of Ronald Reagan, the great Midwest punk band Nil8 from my hometown of Springfield Illinois was apart of the Springfield show in the 80’’s when they first started
Pol Pot was very evil. Leader of Cambodia. Dead Kennedys was punk and very political. All amazing musicians. Jello a great lead man, super smart. The song Government Flu was totally about covid but years before. Check it out.
So awesome that you guys came across this band. They are legends of American punk. If you feel so inclined to dive into more DK .. then California Uber Alles is a must listen!!
DK had a lot of fantastic songs, here are some suggestions: California Über Alles, Police Truck, Nazi Punks Fuck Off, MTV Get Off the Air, Too Drunk to Fuck, Kill the Poor
10:02 punk and hip hop are two twin forks of the same road. its no coincidence they were born at the same time and incubated just a hundred blocks apart,, a few artists swam in both pools- the Beasties, ESG, Velvet Underground, Patio Smith I believe,, maybe Basquiat & co,, Blondie for sure,, I wonder who else on the hip hop side?? Anybody know about any MCs, DJs, graff writers or BBoys who went downtown to check it out??? Im thinking about maybe doing a series about it,,
the dead kennedys are my favorite band and everytime i see some react to one of their songs it makes me really happy basically this song draws a juxtaposition from rich american yuppies who think they have the answeres to the universe and think they know it all but they dont it shows how their rose tinted glasses could lead to a socity similar to that of the khemer rouge in cambodia
This song live smacks hard af!! I watched them live in 2016 here in Santiago, Chile and it was hella fun. Now guys you gotta do either California Uber Alles or Police Truck, any will do the trick!
PS, you got a remember to that when the Dead Kennedys were out and about this was just after Vietnam and the genocide in Cambodia, so it was very fresh on America’s mind
The song is along with California Uber alles and Too Drunk to Fuck the most iconic song of the Dead Kennedy. Try to watch one of their live performances from the early 80s. The singer Jello Biafra is a manic beast on stage.
Pol Pot was the evil dictator of Cambodia, they were using him to bring to light the horrors he committed without going into great detail. Other songs of theirs that are worth a listen, Soup is good food, california uber alles, lets lynch the landlord, really all songs off the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.
As a side note regarding "California Uber Alles", which a lot of people have (correctly, imho) recommended, I'll note that there's also a rap cover (with updated lyrics) of "California Uber Alles" made by The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, a group fronted by Michael Franti.
I had a factory job around 2016 and there were a ton of Cambodian immigrants that worked there. One of my coworkers was a young boy under Pol Pot. He had some horrific stories, and I never met a man that worked so fucking hard for almost nothing. It was inspiring in a really raw and fucked up way.
I was a huge fan of Dead Kennedys back int he day, for reasons that should be obvious. They have all the edge of punk rock in terms of lyrics with musical talent that few other punk bands had. They were just great musicians with a fresh message that wasn't just anti-government or anti-society that some punk bands had; they were political, but in an intelligent and libertarian that set them apart. The whole n-word thing was just an attack on the liberal view many college intellectuals have that they understand the plight of minorities from their comfortable places free from strife. Their lyrics have edge and a really, really dark sense of ironic humor. The reference to Cambodia is (again) a jab at college liberals who think they support communism, as Pol Pot led a communist revolution there that killed millions... they repeated Mao's revolution decades later with much the same lethal results.
Oh fark yeh boys! Soon as I saw this reaction I yelled with joy! You know The Clash were wrong...punk is not dead. Check Amyl and The Sniffers, a Skippy band blowing people away worldwide and then tell me punk no longer matters, Amy the lead singer is a deadset adorable nutjob, even if you don't film it you gotta check em out! Guided By Angels is a perfect song to start with!
A little context on Pol Pot: He became disillusioned in college with what he considered an outdated society. The Khmer Rouge consisted of recruited youth. Pol Pot's mission was to rewrite Cambodia's history by eliminating anyone elderly, intellectual, or in a position of authority. Countless numbers were massacred by the Khmer Rouge and buried in a mass grave, which came to be known as The Killing Fields. Sadly, this atrocity tends to be forgotten, given the remoteness of the location and the lack of USA involvement.
Great fun! So glad you were finally able to do this song! DK has a lot of songs that would definitely entertain! As rappers you should check out the cover/remakeof California Uber Alles by the Disposable Hero’s of Hiphopocrosy ( lead singer later forms Spearhead which I hear were somewhat known in the 90s).
Quintessential punk track. If there was a band that influenced the Dead Kennedy's, it'd be the band from Australia called 'The Saints'. Here's a brief video of Henry Rollins (front man of Black Flag, similar time period) talking about The Saints: ruclips.net/video/Ot_I55vCaZk/видео.htmlsi=alVe8PfWKT_BA6AX I'd say check them out in your own time 👍
To answer your question about Pol Pot, "What's that?" Pol Pot was the leader of a group called the Khmer Rouge, which was a pro-Communist paramilitary army, that was responsible for a genocide called "The Killing Fields". Almost 1/3 of Cambodia's population was murdered during this time. "The Killing Fields" was also the title of a movie about this very tragic episode.
You have to remember than in the age when this came out, the truth about what had happened in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge reign had only just come out, so it was pretty topical. The graphic record sleeve for this song was actually from an incident in neighbouring Thailand, where students advocating communism for the country were brutally suppressed. As it happens, Cambodia is a great place for a holiday now.
aaahhh, the next song was really good too, ' Terrapin Station' by the Grateful Dead...Also, LOVE DK This whole album is great, there's a song on this album called 'Kinky Sex Makes the World Round' that is still apropos today it's not about what you think lol
Was in Cambodia in 87. There will still bullet holes in the walls. A generation of people from 30-50 were virtually non existent. The population were either young or old, very few middle aged people. The city had the stench of atrocity everywhere.
Great tune. Love the surfer guitars. Cambodia is really humid so that's the "Right Guard" deoderant comment and mail order brides came from there back in the day. Pol Pot was a dictator in Cambodia. Movie you need to see "The Killing Fields".
I have to say I was SHOCKED that anyone could possibly fail to understand what the lyrics of 'Holiday in Cambodia' were about. They are NOT subtle. BUT the algorithm sees people pointing this fact out as 'engagement' so I have to wonder if those two guys really didn't know OR, as Clancey's Law states 'On every social media platform, lies will produce more engagement than the truth'.
So happy to see yall doing this one. I feel like this song and ‘Uber Alles’ should be required for students, so they understand the horrors of totalitarian regimes.
Oh and when you do ‘Uber Alles’ they are using another historical reference to fascism, because the beginning of the Naz- national anthem goes: Uber Alles Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles unt verld (not exact on the spelling). But it means:
‘Above all, Germany, Germany above all the world’ And once you read the lyrics, it will make sense the message they are conveying
For clarity's sake, the title is "California Uber Alles"
@@mikethemotormouth I knew I was close😅
So glad you gave us our first intro into DK and we will definitely get to more. Thank you so much for all your love and support on Patreon.
The words of this poem were written in 1841 and were considered revolutionary at the time. The author lost his job shortly after its publication. They were sung to the tune of Haydn's 1797 composition, which was the anthem of the Austrian monarchy.
Over time, the song grew in popularity, especially during World War I, and in 1922 it became the anthem of Germany (Weimar Republic), more than 10 years before the National Socialists came to power.
Currently, only the third stanza of the poem is the anthem of Germany. The melody has remained the same.
I'll give you the background of the lyrics: Dead Kennedys were an anarcho-punk band, they were left-libertarians essentially. They were known to lampoon what they thought were dumb, hypocritical takes from all political leanings. This included the "champagne socialists", those who had great standards of living under capitalist countries but romanticized communist regimes in the third world. This song basically lampoons those people, those who romanticized across the board equality, "being one" under brutal communist regimes like the Khmer Rouge, when in reality it was absolute hell to live under those repressive regimes. Why did they choose Cambodia in particular? Probably because it was basically communist ideals driven to absolute extremes, the regime got rid of all intellectuals that it deemed to be anti-revolutionary, got rid of all private ownership, forced people who lived in urban areas to move to rural areas to work on farms and fields to support an agriculture-based economy, where they were overworked to death or killed when they tried to resist forced labor.
Nailed it
Yep, spot on.
I take it you’re gen x 🤘🏻
@@meganmbleed I'm late Millennial/early Gen Z, actually. I just read a lot. ☺️
Jello and dk are definitely not libertarian. They are anarchistic and socialist.
Rest in piece D.H. Peligro, one of my all-time favorite drummers.
Rest in Peace 🕊️ ✌🏻
rest in cambodia.........
This was the comment I was looking for!!! D.H. was not just a great punk drummer but a great all around drummer!! R.I. P D.H. PELIGRO
He was such a great drummer
I didn’t know he passed! Fuck man. I saw him in Austin about 6 years ago and he was still banging the fuck out if those drums like it was still 1984
You guys nailed the meaning. So many people hear this song and bulk at the use of that particular word without looking at the context in which it's being used. If you guys do dead kennedys again, california Uber alles would be an obvious song to do next.
balk
Romeo's Distress by Christian Death.
@@xerodelacroix5552 Totally different genre
@@xerodelacroix5552 But it's probably my favorite Christian's Death song
Yeah.. Everybody must disregard *that* word.. No matter what they're talking about.
Pol Pot was a revolutionary despot in Cambodia around 1975 to 1979. The revolution and the revolutionary government caused the deaths of more than one million people from forced labour, starvation, disease, torture, or execution while carrying out a program of radical social and agricultural reforms. I remember press reports at the time of anyone thought to be an intellectual or in any way educated being persecuted, tortured and executed. This even when as far as killing teachers and even people who wore spectacles. Cambodia was a nuts scary place to be so the Holiday in Cambodia title and lyrics refers
Damn bro you nailed it
There’s even more to it:
Very few people outside Cambodia even paid attention, but the United States was planning to recognize the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot’s party) as the legitimate government of Cambodia if they would foreswear Vietnam and the USSR and be a US ally in the region.
Meanwhile, one of the only countries that was paying attention was Vietnam-which invaded Cambodia, deposed Pol Pot, and put in place a non-genocidal socialist government before the US could officially recognize the Khmer Rouge.
One of the reasons the Dead Kennwdys wrote “Holiday In Cambodia” was to call attention to this situation in the West, the same way the intent of “The Killing Fields” was to bring attention to it.
@@cmhenator”non-genocidal socialist government” I see we’re engaging in headcanon today.
@@cmhenator There's also the detail that illegal bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war was a big factor in the rise of the Khmer Rouge.
Socialist isnt nazism @@maxterbait4438
Dead kennedy's one of the greatest punk bands of all time
Pol Pot was the Prime Minister of Cambodia his real name was Saloth Sar. Pol Pot is actually a acronym meaning Political Potential and he pretty much orchestrated the Cambodian genocide. There's you a dose of history for today guys lol 🤘🤘
A friend that was a death metal drummer for The Summoned was from Cambodia and told me about those stories. He was born a few years after but his parents were enslaved by him. He also told me stories about you don't walk off a path due to landmines.
You earn something new every day.
Jello was on Oprah (1986) blasting Tipper Gore about free speech and those awful "Parental Advisory" stickers on music
Original old school LA punk here. Saw the DK's live many times from 1980-84 and met Jello as well, back in the day.
One of the best!!
You mean SF punk.
This album is a masterpiece and should be in every collection. Definitely check out more Dead Kennedys. Jello is the truth.
Jello Biafra is amazing and still speaking out to power. When I had a radio show in the nineties, I would end my show either with The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen (Ren & Stimpy), or with Jello's Pledge of Allegiance with Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner playing underneath. The two matched up surprisingly well.
He's a communist dork. Maybe he should go live in Venezuela.
100%
The meanings actually a lot more harsh than and directed than what your interruption was. The songs directed at people who have never experienced or interacted with (in this case specifically black culture) acting like they know and understand that culture because of what they've read about it or have seen in the media.
They're basically saying alright you're so smart and you know everything about how to deal with and solve all these issues affecting the world, go to the single worst place on the planet (at the time) and experience that then figure out. An educated white person showing up there at that time would instantly be tortured and killed then have their body paraded around.
The song hits even harder today because people are so desensitized to the world that news of violence or genocide doesn't even register as a tragic to most young people now, it just gets flicked past. At the same time even the threat of physical violence, let alone actually getting in a fight is something that a lot of people who think they have the answers would struggle to handle emotionally and move on from because their space is usually so protected.
When I was in the Third Grade, in 1987, I got a walkman for my birthday. I went into my older brother's room to borrow a tape. I picked "Give Me Convenience, or, Give Me Death" by the Dead Kennedys. From the opening of "Police Truck" it was my "Road to Damascus" moment. 35 years later, I'm still a Punk!
You should also react to "California Uber Alles", "Halloween", "Kill the Poor", and, "Moon Over Marin".
One of my favourite albums. Remeber having it on tape and playing on my walk man while skating. 🤘
Bad brains big takeover. Was the song the lured me in.
Is kinky S makes the world go round on there I like that song very funny stuff
Back in the late 90's early 2000 nds I knew a girl who worked for Alternative Tentacle Records! She introduced me to The owner who was the lead singer from them! He was a great guy!
That’s pretty cool man.
Sepultura used to do an awesome cover of this song at their concerts!!
I'm a metalhead but I love old rough punk straight out in your face as dead Kennedy's among others in this particular punk era other than that you guys diving right into the disturbing real meaning of this song.
The Dead Kennedy’s were highly political but with a sense of humor too and spoke the truth harshly and were left wing liberal
They were not liberal at all. They were Anarchist.
@@DefinitelyNotBender most anarchists I’ve known have usually been on the liberal side so I tend to think of it that way, they rallied against the conservative administration in the 80’s
@@DarkAngel1985Mike Anarchist are true Left. Liberals are on the right in every country besides the US and Canada. They are not similar at all and the "Anarchist" you've known are not actual Anarchist if they were in any way NeoLiberal. Actual Anarchist despise Libs more than Conservatives. At least Conservatives are honest about who they are. The Left in the US/Canada died and co-opted by Liberals/"Progressives" in 2014 with the death of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Any actual Leftist still around are now considered Post-Left/Alt-Right/Populist.
I'm sorry, but you seem confused about what "liberalism" really is. Socially permissive does not mean the same thing as liberal, at least not in the sense of political ideologies like anarchism vs liberalism. Within that context, liberalism is a center right philosophy that is absolutely 100% capitalist. Liberalism and left anarchism are mutually exclusive. DKs "Where Do Ya Draw the Line" is evidence that "liberal" is just an incorrect adjective to apply to DKs or Biafra. As is "Let's Lynch the Landlord" "Cesspools in Eden" and "Police Truck." Biden true believers will hate all of those songs.
San Francisco punk (at least until the late 80's and 90's) was very different from any other punk music i can think of at that time. Very avant-guard, noise rock and post-punk. You'll find most of these bands on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. They heavily influenced bands like the Melvins, which, in turn, was added to the mixing bowl of what became Grunge in the mid to late 80's.
Lead Singer for The Dead Kennedys Jello Biafra had one of the great lines in a song ever. "Give me convenience or give me death". As sentenced03 says below, the next DK's song for you guys should be "California Uber Alles".
"Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death" is the name of a compilation album on which this version of the song appeared, not a lyric from a song. The original version appeared on "Fresh Fruit For Rotten Vegetables".
A fantastic song. British Punk scene had long died out, but USA brought a hardcore punk scene featuring the likes of Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat etc. in the early 80's.
I'd say the band that was the most influential for the Dead Kennedy's was 'The Saints' from Australia.
I grew up during the Boston hardcore scene: Gang green, DYS, Jerry's kids and so on.
the british punk scene had definitely NOT died out, check your history mate
@@DavidDArcy1975he forget about UK82✌️💆
@@DavidDArcy1975 Damn right!!!
Love to see you reacting to the DK's -- check out "Kill the Poor" or "Police Truck" next for some more social commentary!
Cambodia, the killing fields Pol Pot was in charge. I was a roadie for UK Decay when they supported The Dead Kennedy's on some parts of their UK tour in 1981/2. Different kind of energy in those days.
Smokey said it best about punk rock. Back when I was a teen, if you were in a band that you considered punk rock, you had to sound like this song to be considered authentic punk.
I remember watching the movie Salt Lake City punk back in the day. It's such a great movie about the lives of punk rock music. I've rewatched it many times over the last 20 some years.
My most favourite Punk Band in my teens in the 80ties...Great you did react to that, gave me old man lots of nostalgia...and believe me when I say they had much deep stuff released in the 80ties as long as they had their original line up.
They weren´t before Sex Pistols but quite right after..this track got very first released in 78/79ish where the remembrance to the Vietnam war was still fresh in the people´s mind (there were also illegal secret operations in Cambodia as well during the Vietnam war because "Charlie" often crossed the border and took the Cambodian jungle as their hiding spot and often operated from there as well)
But the song got recorded + realeased again several times later as well which they did with some few other tracks as well where you then had 2 to 3 slightly different performed versions, you heard the 1980 release and not the very first release
This logo was the most drawn everywhere. By peeps who had no clue what it was! But , with that said, we all also drew that. Cursed. S that looked like a figure 8... and pointy. What is the origin of this? There are historical peeps who will pay lots to figure this one out! 😂
You need to see any live version of them, the energy that their singer has is amazing.
A great track, takes me right back to the 70's & early 80's
I haven't tuned into this show in forever but the moment I saw this, I had to see how they reacted to the unapologetic hard N-word
They did not disappoint. It left the impression an anarchist punk band would have wanted it to, but they also kept bopping to it because it was just as sharp as it needed to be; one sudden vicious cut in a sea of flaming intense political commentary backed by some of the most pleasantly menacing bass riffs possible
DK's were my favorite band as a teenager in Australia. They opened my eyes to the political corrupt
What is shocking how many know nothing about over 2 million dead 77-79 in one small country.
Using the N word sort of ironically wasn't too uncommon in these times, it's like they're ridiculing people with those views. Elvis Costello used the word in his biggest hit too.
Yes, but the phrase in Elvis Costello's song "Oliver's Army" was a derogatory term used by the British to mean the Irish. At least, that's what Elvis Costello said in an interview clip I saw. That makes sense with the song lyrics talking about working-class boys being sent off to war.
I'm so glad you guys understand the song. It's from the album "Give me Convenience or Give me Death" which is a play on the French revolution slogan "Give me Liberty or Give me Death", which is basically saying that western society has devolved to convenience being the privilege prized experience. Like those degenerated beings who liked intellectual and physical ease above everything else in WALL.E Like people arguing about their fast food meal not being fast enough, and this attitude that the Dead Kennedy's saw in US culture that they felt could precipitate a society which is more fascistic and has decreasing rights. As they say, in fascist countries at least the trains run on time. You have convenience but at the cost of genuine personal; autonomy and liberty. The song is a cautionary tale to wish for convenience over democracy. And how that will create fascism like in Cambodia at the time.
Actually, Give me convenience was more of a compilation album. Holiday was a 45 before it was put on an album. It was put on Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. That came out in 1980. Convenience, came out in the late 1980s. Convenience had songs that were played live and not on albums. One of those was Pull my strings.
Another good one that uses *that* word in the most satirical way possible is Romeo's Distress by Christian Death, which is about the hypocrisy of fundamentalist Christians.
Love that you React to stuff like this! I am from the "older generation", and actually saw the Dk's live! They wrote music as powerful and "speaking Truth to power" like, as Bob Dylan, tho, in a vastly different Genera of course. In my youth, them ( The Dk's) and the Sex Pistols were my favs... now that I am in my 60's.. my fave tends to be Rammstein, whom I also have seen live. ;)
10:00 Punk, like metal, had many different styes. You had speed punk, hardcore punk, glam punk, protopunk, political punk, skate punk...
There were as many varieties of punk as Bubba had of shrimp.
Well, they have a song with the other n-bomb, plus an f straight in the title called "Nazi punks fuck off", how about that one? 😂
If you were uncertain if Holiday in Cambodia is punk, this one is straight up hardcore punk. One minute of aggression 😊
Morning guys! Hadn't heard this song,enjoyed that punk! Lovin the guitar!!❤️🤓
I enjoyed watching y'all discover this!
Peace.
Dead Kennedys the kings of satire, great catalog of bangers ❤️
Surf inspired guitar.
Toats!
guys, love your channel.... and Smokey, I LOVE that shirt sir...lol.... truth spoken on them threads for sho :)
Love this track so I’m interested to hear what you make of it
They formed in 1978 in San Francisco...
Well reviewed. Watching your reactions was fun! (I grew up in the 80's on punk rock and speed metal. DK is one of my favorite all-timers)
You might be thinking of the singer Jello Biafra's solo stuff. You did Werewolves Of Wall Street. Glad you got onto some Dead Kennedys and good pick from the Patreons.
Aw yeah! More punk is always needed!
I didn't get into the dead Kennedys until the late 80s. They came up 2 years before I was born.
A lot of bands in the late 80s, 90s, and 2000s got started because they were fans of the dead Kennedys.
If only I had a really good working time machine. I would go back in time and see all the great concerts of the past. Of course I would come back to the present time.
You definitely need to do Police Truck next
I’d love to see y’all react to some Violent Femmes. Kiss Off is their best song!
The Dead Kennedy’s were a part of the Rock Against Reagan tour in the 80’s that was a protest against the conservative right wing administration of Ronald Reagan, the great Midwest punk band Nil8 from my hometown of Springfield Illinois was apart of the Springfield show in the 80’’s when they first started
Pol Pot was very evil. Leader of Cambodia. Dead Kennedys was punk and very political. All amazing musicians. Jello a great lead man, super smart. The song Government Flu was totally about covid but years before. Check it out.
That show was at The Roxy on 4/8/98. Clutch was rowdy that night. Drove from Chattanooga, watched Clutch and hit the road.
So awesome that you guys came across this band. They are legends of American punk. If you feel so inclined to dive into more DK .. then California Uber Alles is a must listen!!
DK had a lot of fantastic songs, here are some suggestions: California Über Alles, Police Truck, Nazi Punks Fuck Off, MTV Get Off the Air, Too Drunk to Fuck, Kill the Poor
They were after the original NY scene yes and after Pistols but they were a very early punk band and had a huge impact
10:02 punk and hip hop are two twin forks of the same road. its no coincidence they were born at the same time and incubated just a hundred blocks apart,, a few artists swam in both pools- the Beasties, ESG, Velvet Underground, Patio Smith I believe,, maybe Basquiat & co,, Blondie for sure,, I wonder who else on the hip hop side?? Anybody know about any MCs, DJs, graff writers or BBoys who went downtown to check it out??? Im thinking about maybe doing a series about it,,
the dead kennedys are my favorite band and everytime i see some react to one of their songs it makes me really happy basically this song draws a juxtaposition from rich american yuppies who think they have the answeres to the universe and think they know it all but they dont it shows how their rose tinted glasses could lead to a socity similar to that of the khemer rouge in cambodia
I was 14 when this came out, absolutely love it
I can remember KROQ playing this in the early 80s
When the n dropped, your faces 🤣
Like they just saw a dog get hit by a car 😂😂
This song live smacks hard af!! I watched them live in 2016 here in Santiago, Chile and it was hella fun.
Now guys you gotta do either California Uber Alles or Police Truck, any will do the trick!
"POL POT"
"What's that mean ?!?!" ... oh, my sweet summer child, prepare to get scared, because here there are monsters.
San Francisco legends, met all of them many many times! RIP Darren.
Full metal jackoff by jello and doa is a must. Ten minute punk song with some amazing lyrics
There's always room for Jello.
RIP DH Peligro the baddest mf punk drummer… also, Jello Biafra warned us about the liberal fascist wasteland that California would become…
PS, you got a remember to that when the Dead Kennedys were out and about this was just after Vietnam and the genocide in Cambodia, so it was very fresh on America’s mind
One of the greatest punk band great live act fast and hard he was running for major of San Fran co and Green Party of American
You hit the nail on the head... Great job!
The dk logo also had a red circle. Looked like a bloody stick figure body. I had that patch on my backpack back in middle school.
The song is along with California Uber alles and Too Drunk to Fuck the most iconic song of the Dead Kennedy.
Try to watch one of their live performances from the early 80s. The singer Jello Biafra is a manic beast on stage.
Kill the Poor was pretty big too.
Pol Pot was the evil dictator of Cambodia, they were using him to bring to light the horrors he committed without going into great detail. Other songs of theirs that are worth a listen, Soup is good food, california uber alles, lets lynch the landlord, really all songs off the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.
So that dude in the opening clip sounds like the feeback I get when my guitar gets too close to my amp. Poor guy 😂
As a side note regarding "California Uber Alles", which a lot of people have (correctly, imho) recommended, I'll note that there's also a rap cover (with updated lyrics) of "California Uber Alles" made by The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, a group fronted by Michael Franti.
Love this stuff.
I had a factory job around 2016 and there were a ton of Cambodian immigrants that worked there. One of my coworkers was a young boy under Pol Pot. He had some horrific stories, and I never met a man that worked so fucking hard for almost nothing. It was inspiring in a really raw and fucked up way.
I was a huge fan of Dead Kennedys back int he day, for reasons that should be obvious. They have all the edge of punk rock in terms of lyrics with musical talent that few other punk bands had. They were just great musicians with a fresh message that wasn't just anti-government or anti-society that some punk bands had; they were political, but in an intelligent and libertarian that set them apart. The whole n-word thing was just an attack on the liberal view many college intellectuals have that they understand the plight of minorities from their comfortable places free from strife. Their lyrics have edge and a really, really dark sense of ironic humor. The reference to Cambodia is (again) a jab at college liberals who think they support communism, as Pol Pot led a communist revolution there that killed millions... they repeated Mao's revolution decades later with much the same lethal results.
Love Smokey's Kayfabe shirt. All I have to say on it. lol
Millions died in Cambodia; partly as a result of US policy. At the time, this was a very urgent and important song. And now here we all are.
Oh fark yeh boys! Soon as I saw this reaction I yelled with joy! You know The Clash were wrong...punk is not dead. Check Amyl and The Sniffers, a Skippy band blowing people away worldwide and then tell me punk no longer matters, Amy the lead singer is a deadset adorable nutjob, even if you don't film it you gotta check em out! Guided By Angels is a perfect song to start with!
D/K 80''s American punk hardcore 🎉🎉🎉
Follow up with Stars and Stripes of Corruption. Lyrically genius!
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables- what a poster that came with that LP.’.
"Wouldn't call this punk" 😂
Kids these days
I had a small stroke when he said that lmfao
A little context on Pol Pot: He became disillusioned in college with what he considered an outdated society. The Khmer Rouge consisted of recruited youth. Pol Pot's mission was to rewrite Cambodia's history by eliminating anyone elderly, intellectual, or in a position of authority. Countless numbers were massacred by the Khmer Rouge and buried in a mass grave, which came to be known as The Killing Fields.
Sadly, this atrocity tends to be forgotten, given the remoteness of the location and the lack of USA involvement.
Great fun! So glad you were finally able to do this song! DK has a lot of songs that would definitely entertain! As rappers you should check out the cover/remakeof California Uber Alles by the Disposable Hero’s of Hiphopocrosy ( lead singer later forms Spearhead which I hear were somewhat known in the 90s).
Quintessential punk track.
If there was a band that influenced the Dead Kennedy's, it'd be the band from Australia called 'The Saints'.
Here's a brief video of Henry Rollins (front man of Black Flag, similar time period) talking about The Saints: ruclips.net/video/Ot_I55vCaZk/видео.htmlsi=alVe8PfWKT_BA6AX
I'd say check them out in your own time 👍
“Los Angeles” by X is fire.
You dudes need to watch the movie The Killing Fields. All about the Khmer Rouge and its a true story.
To answer your question about Pol Pot, "What's that?" Pol Pot was the leader of a group called the Khmer Rouge, which was a pro-Communist paramilitary army, that was responsible for a genocide called "The Killing Fields". Almost 1/3 of Cambodia's population was murdered during this time. "The Killing Fields" was also the title of a movie about this very tragic episode.
wow ... 40y later you react to THIS? ^^ EPICONICAL ... as always :)
You have to remember than in the age when this came out, the truth about what had happened in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge reign had only just come out, so it was pretty topical. The graphic record sleeve for this song was actually from an incident in neighbouring Thailand, where students advocating communism for the country were brutally suppressed.
As it happens, Cambodia is a great place for a holiday now.
As a life long punk fan, I'm embarrassed to have never heard the Dead Kennedys before. This song is great.
I saw Terrapin Station as the suggested video at the end there… that means you gotta do that one next
aaahhh, the next song was really good too, ' Terrapin Station' by the Grateful Dead...Also, LOVE DK This whole album is great, there's a song on this album called 'Kinky Sex Makes the World Round' that is still apropos today it's not about what you think lol
Was in Cambodia in 87. There will still bullet holes in the walls. A generation of people from 30-50 were virtually non existent. The population were either young or old, very few middle aged people. The city had the stench of atrocity everywhere.
You do realize the 'The Dead Kennedy's' comes from the Kennedy family, don't you! 😁
Great tune. Love the surfer guitars. Cambodia is really humid so that's the "Right Guard" deoderant comment and mail order brides came from there back in the day. Pol Pot was a dictator in Cambodia. Movie you need to see "The Killing Fields".
I have to say I was SHOCKED that anyone could possibly fail to understand what the lyrics of 'Holiday in Cambodia' were about. They are NOT subtle.
BUT the algorithm sees people pointing this fact out as 'engagement' so I have to wonder if those two guys really didn't know OR, as Clancey's Law states 'On every social media platform, lies will produce more engagement than the truth'.
Great brakedown of the lyrics!
A yacht rock classic. You could get there via a yacht.