Dead Kennedys “Bedtime for Democracy” November 1986 and current mood if things don’t go well for today’s election day. Released on Alternative Tentacles Records, gatefold with “newspaper” insert, which is eerily current for 2018 with the title “Fuck Facts!” and the tagline “What You Don’t Know Helps Us Hurt You.”

Bedtime for Democracy was DK’s fourth and final studio LP; the band broke up soon after its release. It’s 80′s hyper-political hardcore punk that focuses on anti-Reaganism (“Gone With My Wind”), anti-militarism (“Rambozo the Clown”), anti-fascism (“Where Do You Draw the Line”), anti-capitalism (“Fleshdunce”) anti-censorship (“Triumph of the Swill”) and anti-conformity, particularly directed at the punk scene (“Chickenshit Conformist”). Though obviously 80′s focused, Jello Biafra had a knack for seeing into the future (or maybe not much has changed) – see the track “The Great Wall” with its chorus “We’ll build a Great Wall around our power” or the toxic masculinity and dishonesty that has been venerated to the highest levels of power in our land – see “Macho Insecurity” and “Lie Detector.”

Dead Kennedys’ Bedtime for Democracy certainly isn’t my favorite DK album, nor is it their best – though it did go to #1 on the UK Indie chart – but it certainly feels good to blast it very very loud today. Allmusic says about the record, “The Dead Kennedys go out in a blaze of snarling, defiant glory in their final studio release. They drub a bushel basket’s worth of entrenched interests, including scientists, the military, the power hungry, macho attitudes, classicism, lie detectors, Reagan and his economic policies, the press, the entertainment industry, and the commercialization of rock and revolutionary attitudes. The album’s manic speed punk style recalls In God We Trust Inc., particularly on the frenetic cover of Johnny Paycheck’s hit “Take This Job and Shove It.” When the tempo slows, a few songs resemble frantic rockabilly; of these, “Hop With the Jetset” lampoons the privileged classes, “I Spy” savages government agents, and “Where Do Ya Draw the Line” is a plea in favor of anarchy. The quiet, furtive “D.M.S.O.” is a highly atypical number strongly resembling the theme to The Pink Panther. The lengthy, anthemic “Cesspools in Eden” is a hard rock number with unusual chord changes and lyrics railing against toxic waste; similarly, “Chickenshit Conformist” alternates slow and hyperfast sections and sports wide-ranging verses that constitute a scathing indictment of the rock music industry. As usual, the rushed hardcore numbers often garble or swallow up the well-written lyrics (if you want people to follow you into revolution, your ideas need to be intelligible). The album cover sports witheringly disparaging artwork; also included in this release are two muckraking newspapers, one containing clip art, and the other written articles about the obscenity trial embroiling the band at that point. While it’s not totally successful, at least the Dead Kennedys had the satisfaction of going out on their own terms. It’s all well worth hearing.”