This isn’t a single I bought back in 1981, but I was more than happy to pick up via the second hand market when my love for vinyl was rekindled by the advent of this blog.
Dead Kennedys were one of many loud, noisy and fast bands from that era whose music caught my attention, but I was never completely taken by the way Jello Biafra sang his lyrics, and as this was a time when there were only so many singles and albums that could be bought from the money earned from delivering newspapers, then it would be glanced at in the record shop, but the cash wouldn’t be handed over. Besides, I was now going out with my first serious girlfriend, and neither she, nor more importantly her church-going parents, would have been too happy if I mentioned that I’d bought a single of this name from a band with that name – I’ve a feeling that my potential in-laws would have quickly spat out the contents of their cups of tea and Kit-Kats while telling their daughter she was barred from seeing me ever again. On the plus side, a few prayers may have been said over the next few days and weeks in an effort to save my soul.
By the time my musical tastes had matured, thanks to being lucky enough to have been exposed to more Dead Kennedys songs through the collection of flatmates, the relationship with said girlfriend was long over. Many more years later, in what was one of my earliest forays onto Discogs, I picked up the 45 for a handful of pennies.
The details are still there on my Discogs dashboard – 16 items for a total of £14.85 plus postage, consisting of 7 x 7″ singles (The Stranglers (x2), The Ruts, Blondie, XTC, The Damned and The Dead Kennedys), 1 x 10″ single (His Latest Flame), 6 x 12″ singles (The Beloved, The Cure, Edwyn Collins, The Wonder Stuff, Associates and Pop Will Eat Itself), 1 x LP (Idlewild by Everything But The Girl) and 1 x CD (a 2004 NME compilation called Kurt’s Choice). It really was ridiculously cheap in those days.
mp3: Dead Kennedys – Too Drunk To Fuck
Unsurprisingly, this one was banned from radio play, but it still made it to #36 in the singles chart.
That’s your b-side. Great bit of guitar work early on before a really creepy and nasty lyric from the perspective of the person carrying out the violent mugging follows over a minimalist tune. Not easy to like.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 