Jello Biafra comments on Michael Savage.

We doubt that anyone would be ignorant enough to think that Savage is anything approximating an actual Jello Biafra fan, nor that anyone would be silly enough to think that Jello Biafra was in any way supportive of Savage. But we wanted to get Jello's thoughts on the matter anyway, so Phoenix Editor Lance Gould raised him on the phone. Here's what Jello had to say:

I haven't read the details yet, but I'm aware of what Michael Savage did. Obviously he took my song way the hell out of context and did it deliberately. But the bigger issue is Savage himself and how the hell he gets away with stuff like saying this, and saying that people with AIDS should be put in concentration camps. And then when people protest at the station, he calls on his own listeners to come down and beat them up.

It scares the shit out of me that the most popular radio talk-show hosts are all foaming-at-the-mouth, ultra-bigoted blabbermongers whom only North Korea or the Nazis could love.

But like it or not, Savage is the third-most popular radio-talk show host in this country behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Nobody from the other side is represented or promoted well enough by the big right-wing-owned radio networks to compete. That's one of the ways they mindfuck the country into being so dumb they vote for people like George Bush, Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The real issue here is why aren't the big candidates calling for media reform? Once upon a time there was a law on the books called the Fairness Doctrine, and it said that if somebody like Savage or Limbaugh or that skull woman Ann Coulter said something completely fucked up and dishonest on the air, somebody else was allowed to come on the air and reply to them without being told to shut up every 15 seconds by a power clown like Bill O'Reilly. That law was on the books for 50 years but was allowed to expire in the late '80s when a Democratic-controlled congress failed to override President Reagan's veto of the law.

The damage was further compounded when your friend and mine Bill Clinton rammed through the Telecommunications Act of 1996, further deregulating how many radio stations and media outlets one corporation can own and what they can do with them and they greenlighted their long-held agenda to throw public interest out the window. And the volume and impact of the Rush Limbaughs and Michael Savages multiplied exponentially with nobody on the other side being allowed to reply. In large areas of rural and small town America, this is the only radio anyone is exposed to. That's the problem. We need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. John Kerry had a golden opportunity to fire back at the Swift Boat liars and use that as a platform to rally the public to demand media reform. But true to form, he was too chickenshit to do it.

http://thephoenix.com/onthedownload/2008/05/22/ExclusiveJelloBiafraRespondsToMichaelSavagesDeadTedKennedysRant.aspx
-----

There's always room for Jello!

ans the Weiner would be scraping up roadkill for the highway dept.

He is pure scum.

Only rampant insanity and misanthropy can support the screed vomited into microphones.

If Mr. Weiner couldn't make a living and support his self-absorbed cynicism in this fashion, he wouldn't turn to work.
He'd be a pimp; or more likely, a low rent gigolo.

Good to hear from Jello!

:thumbsup:

I'll now go listen to an album I haven't heard since High School. Thanks for the reminder.

nt

half hour of whatever he wants ... music politics society

He recorded two CDs with the Melvins and toured with them (fucking awesome show!!!). And he's just formed a band with Ralph Spight from Victim's Family, Jon Weiss from Sharkbait, and Bob Gould from Faith No More.

And he still does his spoken word stuff all over the place.

which, ironically, is a lot like the Dead Kennedys...
www.arlo.net
www.clearwater.org

Different style, same spirit. :)

Jello has a song with the Melvins where he talks about meeting Ginsberg. There's another one with the same spirit.

peace and low stress

At one point they were supposedly very close. And yet the Weiner didn't seem to learn much.

It's a funny ole world.

:thumbsup:

Damnit...I wanted to say that! (There's always room for Jello)

lol

I was always into punk rock, but never had any desire to spike my hair or get any piercings or anything that would give me the typical "punk" look.

So, I always liked it when they sang, "you ain't hardcore if you spike your hair" and "punk means thinking for yourself."

...well, in Hicks' case, they were redneck "Christians."

I was a teenager in the 80s, and very much adopted the long hair/metalhead/hippie thing, which was a joke among the "punk" crowd...but that shit doesn't matter, Dead Kennedy's were fuckin outstanding. My friends and I had quite a record collection/cross section of all kinds of underground music, be it punk or metal or whatever. I still have my long hair :hippie:

Damn, that is depressing.

What kind of disgusting piece of human waste is this man? God, I want to vomit. :puke:

and unfortunately, was ignored by the media when responding.

He should have been screaming about it from day one. IMO, he waited too long, made the issue become several news cycles old, and now his reply became old news. Old news is not covered by MSM in this day and age.

The Professor

months before the ads even came out, and then he responded again when the ads did come out. Somebody else had an exhaustive timeline on it here on DU...

The NY Times also immediately debunked just about every claim made by the Swift-Boaters, but all the networks kept carrying them like they had legitimate claims.

Unfortunately, Kerry's initial responses and the NY Times debunking got no air play at all. Kerry should have responded differently and gone on Meet the Press, Hardball and Larry King and all the other shows. And, when his initial responses got no traction, he should have tried something different.

To some, it seems like damage control, even when there is no damage to control.

To others, it will be tuned out because they wouldn't know yet what he was talking about. When the attacks did occur, they will have already forgotten about the pre-emptive debunking.

I agree that he should have gone on every show and insisted that the first topic to be discussed was the liars who were attacking him. But i think it needed to be done AFTER the attacks, and i mean RIGHT after. And relentlessly so.

I do think Kerry and his people thought the thing would go away, and it didn't.

So, we disagree on the details, but not on the overall point.
The Professor

While I think Jello's term is a bit much, Kerry wasn't overly forceful in his counter attacks. I like Kerry a lot, but he ran a very timid campaign. One of the few things I like about Obama is that he meets these things quickly and aggressively, as I'm sure he learned from Kerry mistakes (and I suspect Kerry himself may have helped in advising Obama to stay in front of these things).

:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGtZlNsB1-U

i think America was dumb and bigoted FIRST and that is why Hannity, Savage and Rush are so popular. Jello has the cause and effect wrong. If a leftist voice could get an audience in rural areas, they would. This country is more capitalist then right wing - profit trumps ideology every time. News Corp is a dream come true for conservatives, as it provides both profit AND ideology.

:thumbsup:

the rest of us are not represented anymore in the media. The media is owned by conservatives and has been for sometime. What makes you claim America was bigoted (true only in a general sense) is part of the perception these right wing nazis want us all to believe, just as they wanted us to believe Bush had a fucking mandate and that America was a religiously conservative right wing nation. It's not.... only part of it. A small extremist faction that has too much power.

What's interesting to read about are the trappings of 20th century, European fascism, and how it was spearheaded by very ambitious minority groups who were able to impact and guide a majority.

but part of what they try to do is convince a larger majority that they are the minority and vice versa....

My point was not to underestimate, but to realize they are a minority and to feel empowered by that fact. Use it against them, turn the tables.... they want us to believe they are winning and out numbering us all. It's the same trick used in ancient warfare: fool the otherside into thinking they are outnumbered so that they just give up out of intimidation.

:bounce:
Jello!
:bounce:

I recall back in the early 80's, I had gone to see the DK's at a dump in alphabet city in manhattan call the world. It was probably the most intense show I had ever gone to.

Well, as usual everyone was slam dancing. Well, one guy pulls out a knife and stabs someone.

Jello stops the show. and yells, "what is the fucking matter with you morons? do you even listen to my lyrics? You just come here and use your pent up anger on each other instead of the establishment!! don't you get it?"

At that point the cops came in in riot gear (this was before they all became wanna-be mercs) and started busting head with their clubs (no tasers yet). My friends and I high tailed it out of there.

Jello was right. From that point on, I redirected my anger and properly channeled it toward reagen and his room full of dopes.

peace.

I thought the world would end when Raygun beat Carter...

Basically, he's the most responsible for me becoming responsible. :)

that I wouldn't walk across the street to see them for free.

That has more to do with being in that environment than the particular personality.

But, my son having made me aware of Jello's politics, I DID walk across the street to hear him. He was freaking brilliant! Of course. He thinks just like me. Why wouldn't he be?

He's got it exactly right.

He's gone through enough legal troubles what with being sued by the PMRC and by his former DK bandmates. The legal fees wont be worth the hassle.

I bet he does write a song about Savage though. :D

Ha ha ha!!

:headbang:

he exposes hypocrisy on both sides.

glad to see he did.

Go Jello!

"And then when people protest at the station, he calls on his own listeners to come down and beat them up."

What is the story behind that?

I can't believe he's actually number three. His stuff isn't just disagreeable, it's extreme. And the good fine folks boostin' Family Values listen to that day after day?

There's a reason why dictators seize the airwaves and media first. That's where the power is.

Oh, Bill O will now be a 'Power Clown' in my mind. So fitting an image. Someone with some photoshop capabilities needs to get on that.

"Kinky Sex Makes the World Go 'Round" is more relevant now than it was 25 years ago.

like this. Boy, he nailed it. Dead on.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1433000

Just as relevant and eerily similar now as it was in 1992.

should be the national anthem. GO JELLO...GET ON THE AIR...NOW!!!!

"It's so easy not to base our lives on how much we can scam. And you know, it's feels good to lift that monkey off our back!"

:toast:

right here at DU.

Jello supported DK in the '04 primaries.

I'm not sure when the picture was taken.

:hi:

That was when DK (dennis kucinich) refused to sell Cleveland's power company to a private corporation. Something along those lines.

as he did this year when he introduced articles of impeachment without the support of the Speaker.

One of the many reasons he's earned my respect.