Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - Brossura

Foley, Michael Stewart

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1623567300 ISBN 13: 9781623567309

Casa editrice: Bloomsbury USA Academic, 2015

Riassunto

In 1978, San Francisco, a city that has seen more than its share of trauma, plunged from a summer of political tension into an autumn cascade of malevolence that so eluded human comprehension it seemed almost demonic. The battles over property taxes and a ballot initiative calling for a ban on homosexuals teaching in public schools gave way to the madness of the Jonestown massacre and the murders of Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk at the hands of their former colleague, Dan White.

In the year that followed this season of insanity, it made sense that a band called Dead Kennedys played Mabuhay Gardens in North Beach, referring to Governor Jerry Brown as a "zen fascist," calling for landlords to be lynched and yuppie gentrifiers to be sent to Cambodia to work for "a bowl of rice a day," critiquing government welfare and defense policies, and, at a time when each week seemed to bring news of a new serial killer or child abduction, commenting on dead and dying children. But it made sense only (or primarily) to those who were there, to those who experienced the heyday of "the Mab."

Most histories of the 1970s and 1980s ignore youth politics and subcultures. Drawing on Bay Area zines as well as new interviews with the band and many key figures from the early San Francisco punk scene, Michael Stewart Foley corrects that failing by treating Dead Kennedys' first record, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, as a critical historical document, one that not only qualified as political expression but, whether experienced on vinyl or from the stage of "the Mab," stimulated emotions and ideals that were, if you can believe it, utopian.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

An accomplished historian with an appreciation for the punk ethic, Foley sketches the social and political conditions of the late 1970s and the band's take-no-prisoners response to them. He's also alert to San Francisco's distinctive punk scene and its unapologetically political stance. His essay is a welcome complement to the extensive literature on the city's utopian mood and music of the 1960s. ... Very worthwhile.
- Peter Richardson,San Francisco State University

Wish all books dealing with 'Punk Rock were as well researched as this one!
- V. Vale, Editor, Search and Destroy

Author Michael Stewart Foley explores the band s genesis from two equally critical points of view in his eponymous book in the 33 1/3 series, the political and social factors alive in California at the time as well as the stew of underground creativity that fed punk s fetid blossom ... Foley s book does the album a good turn, his eye for the social inspirations behind Biafra and others, as well as the creative are essential to its understanding.
--- Bearded Magazine

Michael Stewart Foley's new book on Dead Kennedys' debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, rests a jarring assertion: 'By ... the summer of 1978, San Francisco had established itself as home to the most political punk scene in the country. His evidence a litany of benefit efforts, topical songs, and punks' steady solidarity with other marginalized groups is solid, so why does the statement leap off of the page? Perhaps because of how infrequently it's made ... the sort of retrospective historical works that would involve a claim such as Foley's are few and far between, all of which underscores the need for this book.
- East Bay Express

Well worth your time. Get the book, put the album on loud, and rejoice. -- - Thumped

Michael Stewart Foley's Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is a must read not only for punks young and old, but for anyone who has ever felt even the slightest revolutionary pang in their soul ... Through interviews with Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray, and Klaus Fluoride (as well as many other important figures close to, or in the scene at the time) and a mountain of research, Foley puts together a book that is academic, personal, informative, and most importantly, convincing. For those already familiar with Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, this book further solidifies its greatness among records in any genre. For those new to the album, this book provides an extensive and comprehensive look into a body of work whose release exploded on the scene because of the pressures caused by the era, events, and people that all came together to create it. -- - Matt Caltabiano, Under the Radar

L'autore:

Michael Stewart Foley is author of Front Porch Politics: The Forgotten Heyday of American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s (2013), among other books.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Bloomsbury USA Academic
• Data di pubblicazione: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1623567300
• ISBN 13: 9781623567309
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 177