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Dead Kennedys - Bedtime for Democracy Audio CD

A fair review of the Dead Kennedys "Bedtime for Democracy" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Dead Kennedys reviews here, or go back to the Dead Kennedys tabs.

Dead Kennedys Band: Dead Kennedys
Title: Bedtime for Democracy
Rating:
Release Date: 2001-04-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Take This Job and Shove It 2: Hop With the Jet Set 3: Dear Abby 4: Rambozo the Clown 5: Fleshdunce 6: The Great Wall 7: Shrink 8: Triumph of the Swill 9: Macho Insecurity 10: I Spy 11: Cesspools in Eden 12: One Way Ticket to Pluto 13: Do the Slag 14: A Commercial 15: Gone With My Wind 16: Anarchy for Sale 17: Chickenshit Conformist 18: Where Do Ya Draw the Line 19: Potshot Heard Round the World 20: D.M.S.O. 21: Lie Detector

1986 Dead Kennedys
All their records were pretty good though. This is one of their best records, but sounds even better remastered. As usual the lyrics are witty, the songs fast, taking punk rock into new directions.


Add another one...
. . to the list of good albums by the DK's. Get them, listen to them, enjoy the special goodness that is the Dead Kennedys.


Another DKs masterpiece
In my mind there is no such thing as a weak Dead Kennedys album. I was prompted to write a review of "Bedtime For Democracy" mainly due to all of the other reviews on Amazon deeming it to be a weak album. They are all classics in my book. And furthermore, I would even elevate "Bedtime. . . " a little bit above the "In God We Trust, Inc. " EP and even "Plastic Surgery Disasters. " It's that good. I feel that this album was pretty much the last glimmer of light at the end of the original punk era.

There is always a backlash from longtime fans when an underground band begins to get popular, and the previous year's "Frankenchrist" did get the DKs the attention of a lot of mainstream, otherwise non-punk fans, causing many hardcore "purists" to label the band "sell-outs" or that they had lost their original vision. All of us who know and love "Frankenchrist" know better, but the album did deviate from many "rules" of hardcore in that it featured only 10 songs and generally longer ones (though the band had already started to lean in this direction on "Plastic Surgery Disasters"). I feel that "Bedtime. . . " was created in many ways in response to these naysayers. This album after all featured 21 songs, most short and to the point in the hardcore tradition.

And unlike the trend of 1986 for hardcore bands to go metal (they called it "crossover"), there is not a trace of metal to be found on "Bedtime. . . " or any other DKs record for that matter.

Now, to go into the songs themselves, things get off to a brilliant, high speed start with opener "Take This Job and Shove It. " I am blown away! Classic Dead Kennedys. The pace never lets up from there.

Some of the most exhilarating tracks are to be found on side 2 of the original LP -- you get classics like "One-Way Ticket To Pluto," "Do The Slag," and "Chickens**t Conformist," Jello Biafra's commentary on the hypocrisy of the punk scene ("Harder core than thou for a year or two/Then it's time to get a real job"), which starts off slow and erupts into brilliant punk fury. "Potshot Heard 'Round The World" continues in similar fashion. One of the absolute crown jewels of the album though, and right up there with the best DKs songs of all time, is "Where Do Ya Draw The Line," a song so good that it is healing to the soul. I got up and danced around the room during it when previewing the album as preparation for this review.

All in all, another classic for the DKs and way unfairly maligned by many, including many fellow Amazon reviewers. The only thing disappointing about "Bedtime For Democracy" is that it was the DKs' last album. Who knows what more great music they could have still made, but with this album they sure exited in top form.


Not their best, but still good


This was my first introduction to the DK's. Political, but good humored, crusty punk. Many people say that this is their least favorite DK album, but since it was my first, I still love it.



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Widow twankey rides again!

The first Kennedys album I bought as a school kid. Something like Dickens and the Marquis de sade having a speed session on a heironimous bosch garden in space. I loved it and would say in hindsight its there fourth best album after Fresh fruit, Frankenchrist and Plastic surgery.
Its a choice listen with great humour and much better than some of the live album rubbish that has been distributed more recently. Strangly though from watching you-tube footage its clear they were a great live band. . The Big Boys were also great fun and worth checking out.
We built your ticky tacky houses on landfill soil to cover up a gift we left ya years before!!.


You can see a complete list of all Dead Kennedys discography, or go back to the Dead Kennedys tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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