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Popular Culture Review
of being stupid.... ‘I will one day fall in love. I will one day
have a job that I like’... they’ll either just quietly try to ride it
out until they crack up or they’ll turn into a John Hinckley....
We glorify the vacant stranger as one outlet to mental freedom
(30).
The vacant stranger theory serves as an overarching theme for the songs
contained in their five records: the disturbing notion that nothing will
fundamentally change in the United States—that no true happiness or fulfillment
will be attained—until the system itself is dismantled. In a punk-rock variation of
the “name the system” philosophy of the 1960s civil rights and anti-Vietnam War
protesters (Gitlin 171-192), Dead Kennedys contended that fascism, racism,
economic imbalance, and violence had become institutionalized, and that
Americans have been brainwashed from birth into believing in the integrity and
moral worth of a system of advanced capitalism. It was Joan Didion who most
eloquently stated that “people tell themselves stories in order to live” (11); the
philosophy that emerged from the music of Dead Kennedys was that Americans
need to arise from their narcotized states (the stories—or lies—they tell
themselves) and creatively construct counterarguments that directly challenge the
capitalistic status quo.
By calling upon art, music, literature, and political and social activism,
the members of Dead Kennedys maintained that a revolution was possible. Not a
bloody revolution, because violence would simply emulate the fascistic impulse
of American institutions; instead, a revolution of ideas, in which art and activism
awaken people from their sleep of blind obedience by offering an alternative lens
for viewing reality and the American experience.
According to Biafra, the real criminals are not the vacant strangers who
continue to buy into status quo America, but rather the “mindless authoritarians”
who run the country by default. And in his lyrics and interviews, Biafra, in true
conspiratorial fashion, believed that the authoritarians are capable of anything—
even murder—to hold onto their power and wealth. As Biafra once said, “Mark
my words. If any member of the Dead Kennedys is found dead of a drug overdose
or a car crash—a government agency is behind it” (Fitzgerald, 1983, 38). This
conspiratorial bent also expressed itself in the band’s belief that the use of harder
drugs available on the street stemmed from a government plot to n arcotize
Americans into submission. The idea apparently was influenced by a 1978
interview with the late Michael Kowalsky, founder of the legendary punk band
UXA (United Experiments of America), who was quoted as saying: “Don’t you
think punk rock is one of the first trends in America that isn’t directly
manipulated by the government? After all, they did give LSD away, 1964 was
when the CIA experimented at Stanford with LSD, and 1964 was when it
exploded on the streets” (37). Although a stridently antidrug band, the members