Hardcore icon and Green Party politico Jello Biafra has lambasted his former bandmates for licensing “Too Drunk To Fuck” for Robert Rodriguez’s new zombie flick. His statement reveals a key plot point, so SPOILER ALERT as they say…
East Bay Ray and Co. have gone ahead and cleared a cover version of Dead Kennedys’ “Too Drunk to Fuck” for a brutal scene in Grindhouse, a ‘double-feature’ directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.This is their lowest point since Levi’s. I Like some of Tarantino’s work, another place in the film might have been fine. But this goes against everything the Dead Kennedys stands for in spades.
The scene is actually in the Planet Terror film directed by Rodriguez. Tarantino himself is pointing a gun at a disabled amputee woman’s head yelling “Dance, Bitch!” as the Nouvelle Vague cover of “Too Drunk To Fuck” plays from a boombox. The terrified woman later “wins” by killing Tarantino, but that excuse does not rescue this at all. I wrote every note of that song and this is not what it was meant for.
Some people will do anything for money. I can’t help but think back to how prudish Klaus Flouride was when he objected to H.R. Giger’s painting on the “Frankenstein” poster, saying he couldn’t bear to show it to his parents. I’d sure love to be a fly on the wall when he tries to explain putting a song in a rape scene for money to his teenage daughter.
The deal was pushed through by a new business manager the other three hired, Kevin Raleigh of Associated Talent Management in Hollywood (atmlosangeles.com).
-Jello Biafra
“Dance, Bitch”? Jeez. We sorta have to see that movie now. But we’ll plug our ears during the offending scene, JB!
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I can’t read this, there’s a SPOILER ALERT for what might be my favorite movie(s) of the year. Ugh, don’t tease me like that Stereogum!
That’s too bad. I really like Jello and Nouvelle Vague, and I even kind of like Tarantino too, but this whole thing is shitty. Dead Kennedys in a grimy horror movie seems wrong in the first place; to then have the writer of the song say so? Well.
Did NV have a say in the deal? I can’t imagine a couple of cute french girls and bossa nova guys being down for their musical interpertaion in a scene like that.
Boo. Fuck selling out. It’s NEVER a good idea! (see Of Montreal, The Postal Service, Common, etc.)
Could someone please explain the Frankenstein poster bit?
Jello can be entertaining to listen to, but he’d be better if he wasn’t wearing a tin-foil hat 24/7, screaming about conspiracies with half-assed and usually made-up “evidence,” this all while taking a break screaming about the latest person / persons to have it in for him.
It being a cover version, does whoever control the publishing rights really have any say so over whether it gets used? I mean, the Beatles don’t let the actual versions of their songs get used in movies (anymore – “Can’t Buy Me Love”), but it’s no problem to get a bunch of shitty cover versions (“I Am Sam” – not that I’ve seen it).
Re: Frankenchrist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape
No, really.
The “Frankenstein” comment refers to a poster by HR Giger that was included with the Dead Kennedy’s Frankenchrist record. I’m not sure why he didn’t say “Frankenchrist”, but the poster is a painting of a bunch of penises which can be found by searching for ‘frankenchrist’ on images.google.com
The poster caused a stir when it was released. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenchrist
DK has no control over whether the song appears so long as its a cover. They’ll get a mechanical songwriter royalty for the version, but all Tarantino is required to do is negotiate sync rights for the performance, and that would be through Nouvelle Vague. However the two versions are so different in tone I can’t imagine its a case where Tarantino chose the NV once because he couldn’t license the DK one. This is the case with I Am Sam and most horrible covers that are on soundtracks. Most covers that are used to avoid conflicts with the songwriters have to match the tempo of the original (that, most the time, the scene has already been shot and edited to)
I have to laugh at the “purists” who still bother to use the term “sell out.” I’ll be first to say I am a cynical old bastard, but that term seems laughable now. Isn’t the point to earn a living?
I have to laugh at the “purists” who still bother to use the term “sell out.” I’ll be first to say I am a cynical old bastard, but that term seems laughable now. Isn’t the point to earn a living?
I have to laugh at the cynics who think that art’s purpose is to make money. Funny.
I thought the point was to make music, not money (especially if you’re the Dead Kennedys). If you are in to making money, you sound (or end up sounding) like Britney. I mean, no great band ever got together becuase they were broke and thought that they could make some cash by playing music. Maybe that makes me a “purist” for thinking that art comes before money, and that art can still sell out.
Either way, all I’m saying it sucks that a very pretty version of a very funny song is being used in a very twised scene of a most-likely sub-par Tarantino movie and that the writer of the song is not okay with it. Actually, I guess it’s a Robert Rodriguez movie. Whatevs.
Yay for someone who actually has values and still has something to stand for.
Right on Colin. Art does come before money, and I (thankfully) know countless people who second that notion.
my art is better than your art.
There’s something very, very disturbing about that picture.
Dead Kennedys songs have appeared in Freddy Got Fingered, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Manchurian Candidate remake, and the first Tony Hawk game. And he’s whinning about a cover in a cool movie? We get it Jello, your bandmates are sellouts but this seems a little crazy to get that upset over a cover.
I agree landrew, violence against women in any media form is never worth discussing, let alone getting upset over.
“I mean, no great band ever got together becuase they were broke and thought that they could make some cash by playing music.”
Colin, that’s rich.
Sarah, get real, it’s a movie about a girl who has a machine gun for a leg. He’s using the violence in the scene as an excuse to bitch about his intellectual property rights, of which he has none, not for a cover song, and expecially not since his bandmates got the rights away from him. Dead Kennedys dosen’t stand for anything anymore.
Aside from the fact that this is going to be the coolest movie ever (my two favorite directors). I could care less that the Dead Kennedy’s dont want their song in the movie. I am a little surprised that Rodriguez isnt doing the soundtrack himself.
I am little fuzzy on what Jello actually said, what the writer of the blurb inferred from Jello, and where this news came from. Stereogum should do a better job of citing their sources.
there’s a reason why real artists with integrity and soul like jello biafra, arcade fire, fugazi, tom waits, g.g. allin, and fate by fire are the best of all time, and why sellouts like of montreal, feist (sold her soul to a bank), the buzzcocks, the postal service, common (sold his soul to gap), jay-z (sold his soul to budweiser), kanye west, green day (sold their souls to a major label), the decemberists (sold their souls to capitol records), kevin devine (see the decemberists), john legend (sold his soul to verizon), fall out boy (see john legend), lifetime (sold their souls to that douche in fall out boy), animal collective (sold their souls to crayola, r.i.p.), the misfits (sold their souls to hot topic), the shins (sold their souls to that douche in scrubs), the chemical brothers, aqualung, all the o.c. and grey’s anatomy artists, and countless others (maybe 98% of existing bands in both past and present) suck ass. the same reason why colin and ethan are more intelligent than all of you.
This coming from a guy who had a rant on a disc called “Why I’m Glad The Space Shuttle Blew Up.” The only thing that keeps Biafra from being a full tilt conservative is….well-what time is it?
Blah, blah, blah…. sellout…. Shut the fuck up. It’s art and it’s WORTHLESS. It isn’t food, clothing, shelter or love. It’s not real knowledge. It’s fucking bullshit. It’s a HOBBY.
I listened to the Dead Kennedys a lot back when I was in high school like a lot of other kids did. When I read shit like this it really takes away from the genius I once thought Jello had.
Jello’s the fucking sellout. I work at a REAL JOB for a living and play guitar to entertain myself. I’m the real artist. I don’t need to be heard by thousands of people to feel like I’m a cool person.
What has the motherfucker done with his life? He wrote some sub-par songs with C+ lyrics, bad vocals and generally poor musicianship. What’s he getting all worked up about? I could waste East Bay Ray on a guitar. How come people aren’t shoving money up my ass and sticking up for me on message boards?
You dumb punk rock kids will put yourselves behind anything. Fuck off, Jello. Twerp.
Shutup, you really could not be more wrong about anything. Anything. Look again at what you wrote. It’s silly. You’re not as good as East Bay Ray, and even if you were, it’s obviously at least partially because of him that you started playing.
You sound like the kind of loser that Jello so dearly loves to lampoon, and calling him a “twerp” only reinforces it.
@shutup: jello owns a record label, and advocates for hundreds of underground bands, and gives talks nationwide. your comment belies your knowledge.
and about the copyright, i think since the cover is most likely unauthorized, they don’t hold full copyright for stuff like this.