“There are many paths
Dripping dark so dense
Do not enter here
Enter over there”
From “Ill In The Head” by Dead Kennedys
This week I had the pleasure of talking on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast with none other than the legendary Jello Biafra. Many people know Biafra – born Eric Reed Boucher — as the front man of the seminal hardcore punk group Dead Kennedys. Dead Kennedys are generally considered one of the greatest punk rock bands of all time, and both Rolling Stone and Revolver have called their album Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables one of the greatest punk rock records of all time. And Biafra is considered by many to be one of the greatest punk rock vocalists of all time, with Far Out Magazine succinctly concluding, “…Jello Biafra was truly one of a kind.” More recently Biafra has been working with his band, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, on their new album Tea Party Revenge Porn.
For many people, Biafra was not only a great vocalist, songwriter and performer, but also the living embodiment of the confrontation of authority. Starting with their lyrical content, songs like “Nazi Punks F*ck Off” instantly became a rallying cry everywhere for fighting racism. Further, Biafra challenged conventional norms by helping to develop underground hardcore punk rock culture by starting his own independent record label Alternative Tentacles. Alternative Tentacles became a vehicle for releasing Dead Kennedy’s music as well as music by some of the most important bands in punk rock, including The Melvins, Articles of Faith, and Bad Brains. Later, Biafra publicly challenged the censorship of the Parents Music Resource Center, who sought to censor Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist based on its cover art. Biafra even went on to run for mayor of San Francisco. Biafra’s confrontational spirit was perhaps best summarized when he told me, “… Batman came on … I would rather be the Riddler or the Penguin … Joker …These are my role models.” And whether it was the government, Nazis, whomever – Biafra took them on willingly and gladly to fight for what he believed.
Confronting authority artistically and politically often revealed one of Biafra’s gifts — to be able to take complex issues such as racism and censorship, and present his ideas in a way that are equal parts gut punch and head spinner. He can help us feel and think at the same time as we wrestle with tough issues. And often, as he confronted authority in many forms, he was able to point us in a direction that seemed ultimately straightforward: racism is wrong, free speech is important.
And yet, not all confrontations of authority can be so neatly divided into right and wrong, or good and evil. So I was very grateful to discuss with Biafra what is for many of us the most complicated confrontation – our understanding and connection with our parents. For many of us, our parents are our first authority figures. While organizations such as governments or groups such as Nazis may feel easier to challenge without question or hesitation, our relationship with our parents is often more nuanced. And how we resolve the confrontation with our parents’ authority can have an impact on how we see ourselves, the world, and how we approach future conflict.
Biafra and I spent a great deal of our conversation talking about his relationship with his father, the late Stanley Boucher. Stanley Boucher was a psychiatric social worker who among other things was truly committed to working towards improving community access to mental health care. And one of the interesting things that emerged from that conversation was that even for someone as bold and strident as Biafra, how we understand our parents can be confusing and complicated. Stanley Boucher was clearly a man who had achieved a great deal in his life, and Biafra’s pride was palpable when he said, “I sort of like realize what a pipsqueak I am compared to all the things he accomplished…” And yet at the same time, when it came to his relationship with his father, Biafra invoked a term loathsome to punk rockers everywhere. “You know, as a parent, he was kind of a fascist.”
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jello Biafra and find some insights that can be helpful in your life and in your relationships with your parents.
