Does Jello Biafra care more about music or politics? It is to wonder.
You’d almost have to assume the latter, given his fixation with social and political issues and the relatively minor musical developments since his formative work with the Dead Kennedys. The Audacity Of Hype, a subtlety-free poke at the promises of the Obama administration right down to the Shepard Fairey satire cover art (by Shepard Fairey!), can be seen as yet another set of bellyaching from the quixotic, nasal Green Party presidential would-be-nominee. It’s not bad, it’s not great, it’s a new coat of paint and a somewhat updated set of news articles to draw material from. Other than that, if you’ve heard Biafra’s work before, you’ll be unsurprised by the Guantanamo School Of Medicine.
Would that this was a Lard record.
But there’s still something endearing about Biafra all these years later, and I’m glad he’s out there and still doing this. If he wasn’t, well, they’re be some other shit fly buzzing around that I probably wouldn’t like as much. And who wants that? At least he meets expectations, unlike the politicians he frequently skewers.
As the record closes, “I Won’t Give Up.” He sure won’t. Science be praised.
In A Word: Surefire
