|
As Dead Kennedys vocalist, Jello Biafra had a razor-sharp wit and relentless political fervor that positioned him as a hero to intellectual rebels and an affront to religious-right zealots. After the group disbanded, Biafra evolved into a slyly humorous complement to Noam Chomsky, dissecting the machinations of power, censorship and corruption through spoken-word performances. Biafra spoke to WW by phone from his San Francisco apartment, his distinctive, lisping voice slipping through the wires like a sharp-tongued snake. Willamette Week: It seems idealism is being progressively marginalized in this country. Can you suggest how to express radical ideals without being tarred-and-feathered as a hardline fanatic? Jello Biafra: Well, I guess that's kind of what I do for a living. But you've been tarred-and-feathered as a fanatic. So what? I don't care. I like to get in people's faces with what's going on. I enjoy it. It's nothing to feel guilty about. Having a clever and wise-ass sense of humor certainly helps. When I hear "Ban Everything" [Biafra's spoken-word piece about religious-right censorship], I'm reminded of peace punks. Yeah, but how many of them, percentage-wise, are there in the country? How much money do they have compared to the Christian Coalition and the OCA? You have to put this in perspective. Granted, the harder-core-than-thou element of the punk crowd just asks to be made fun of, and I happily respond. Underground movements that used to be obscure are becoming commodified at an incredible rate; advertisers are appropriating underground music and turning it into jingles. Do you see any way that can be avoided? The way to avoid that if you're an artist is to just not allow yourself to get bought out by those motherfuckers to begin with. I mean, no signing with major labels, no allowing your music to be in TV commercials.... Step one is to consciously separate yourself from corporate culture as much as possible. Try to buy as few of their products as you can. Try to patronize as few corporate chain stores as you can. Nobody can be 100 percent pure--unless they want to be Ted Kaczynski--but there are ways to avoid most of the corporate octopus. One may quickly discover that the independent store that sells organic food has a hell of a lot tastier produce than Theftway. One may quickly discover that there's far more interesting videos to rent at the independent specialty store than at Blockbuster. So if, say, Rolling Stone asked you to do an interview--would you go through channels like that? I always have, yeah, I have no problem with that.... Allowing myself to be interviewed by mass media is not the same as sucking up to mass media. I've never made a video clip for MTV, I've never endorsed anybody's tennis shoes or stupid-ass clothing. Some would say having your face in a magazine next to a cognac ad would be an implicit endorsement of that. I'd say they're as deeply fucked-up as fundamentalist Christians. I despise punk fundamentalism. There's all kinds of pockets of fundamentalism on what many people call the left wing that have done more harm to our side of the political spectrum than Phil Knight could ever hope to. Does it annoy you that people go through a "punk" phase, then grow up to be just another conformist cog? I admit I'm not quite sure how to react--or even to be polite--when people say, "God, I really loved your stuff when I was in high school!" It's like, "Well, what about now...?" Yes, that frustrates me. But at the same time it means far more when somebody comes up to me and says, "You inspired me to get off my ass and do something else with my life...." You're often labeled, by those who want to sweep you under the carpet, as a paranoid, bomb-throwing, anti-government freak. What's wrong with being paranoid if one's worst nightmares keep coming true, both on a personal and a political level? I guess it's a question of whether you control it or it controls you. People say the same thing about militia types. Are you secretly stockpiling M-16s? Absolutely not. I have a real deep contempt for gun freaks. I've been in too many other countries on the globe that don't let people...trot down to Wal-Mart and buy guns, the way they can here. And their societies are much more peaceful. Finally, what do you have to say to college liberals who become self-serving yuppies in their 30s and 40s? Burn, baby, burn! May your SUV roll off the road into the canyon since you thought you were invincible and didn't have to learn how to drive.... I think some of the reason those giant "yuppie Cadillacs" are so popular is because of the bunker mentality growing with people who know they're making money off somebody else's back, know they've thrown somebody else out of a job and into the street by their own sheer greed. They figure they have to protect themselves...and they have these giant armored cars to drive around in. Some people are even having rhino bumpers put on the front. That way when you're picking up your precious artifact child from school, and you spot them talking to a suspected gang member...don't think twice: mow 'em down with the rhino bumper! Ask questions later! |
