Punk'd

I've been a punk fan since I can even remember listening to music. It was always so raw, loud, energetic, rude, and anti-everything. Basically, it was perfect for teen me. Dead Kennedys were always a personal favorite, so this project has a bit of personal touch to it as well. The vinyl album will be based on Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, a compilation album put together by the band shortly before they broke up. The songs on this album really exemplify what DK is about - that whole anti-consumerism/anti-Reagan era style - and yells as loud as it can. Continuing with that motif, I plan to make a collage of sorts on the front cover of many shopping bags/brands/etc all dirtied up, with some typography all over it. Opened up, the two-fold inside cover unveils a large image of zombies in the supermarket, pushing their way through each other just to give in to their consumerist desires, ignoring everything and everyone else. The woman behind the counter looks tired, old, but smiles (or else she'd be fired, ya know?). She might also be a robot. Haven't decided yet. Either way, the idea behind this is slightly illustrated (focusing on vectors) in that cheesy old 80s punk look. It may be a bit straightforward, but sometimes, that's OK. The cassette tape is based off of In God We Trust, Inc., which was also fairly to-the-point. The original art had Jesus on the cross, of course, though the cross was made of dollar bills. Clever as hell actually. I wondered what the hell I was going to do, but then it just hit me - stick with the "corporation" idea, and have a firm handshake between two businessmen - although one hand will have a large, gaping hole in it, bleeding all over the other man's hand. The VHS tape is going to use the Dead Kennedys LIVE VHS from '91. The cover originally is a tad standard - screenshots from the film itself. My idea is to feature a large, blank TV under the logo on the cover, though the screen is cut out. The reason for this is due to the fact that the VHS will have a label featuring one of those screenshots, but will only appear on the TV when the VHS is inside the cover. I'm using Too Drunk to Fuck as my 45 (how quaint). Seriously though, it's one of the best DK songs out there, and the art is going to have to reflect what the song does - a bit melancholy and head-tilting awkwardness, but raw and dirty and downright disgusting (the song ends with a 5 second clip of someone puking their guts out). Images of a dirty toilet in some dive bar pop in my head. We'll see. Stay tuned for more concrete ideas.