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ENCORE OF THE MONTH
FEBRUARY, 2019 

Dead Kennedys

'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables' was the seminal first studio album from San Francisco's very own  Dead Kennedys. The band deserves an encore for producing some of the most confronting tunes of their time.  A case in point is 'Holiday in Cambodia'.  To fully appreciate this song you need some background. Be warned it is brutal. The Khmer Rogue led by Pol Pot took control of Cambodia, executing anyone with an education. The surviving population of 8 million people were marched into the killing fields and back to the Year 0. Two million people did not survive. I saw a heartbreaking documentary from a lady that came to this country as a refugee. She was 6 years old when the Khmer Rogue took over.  They placed her into a camp for children.  The Khmer Rogue would play a game with the children, 'Keep or Kill'. The lady recounts how her best friend was chosen for a minor indiscretion. The Khmer Rogue got the children to choose if they should keep or kill the girl.  The young children would scream keep, keep, keep. The lady details how the Khmer Rogue would manipulate the children into switching their chant from keep to kill.  She recalls vividly how her best friend was murdered in front of her eyes. 

If you didn't think it could get any more confronting, then the Dead Kennedys bring it closer to home with  "California ueber Alles". The band chronicles the slippery slope towards extermination camps.

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