''In God We Trust, Inc.'' is an EP by

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

band

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

and the first of the group's releases with drummer

D.H. Peligro DH, Dh, dh, or dH may refer to: Places * DH postcode area, in the United Kingdom for the area of Durham and surrounding towns * Diamond Head, Hawaii, a volcanic tuff cone on Oʻahu Organisations * D+H, a Canadian financial services company * Dep ...

. The record is a screed against things ranging from

organized religion Organized religion, also known as institutional religion, is religion in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established. Organized religion is typically characterized by an official doctrine (or dogma), a ...

and Neo-Nazis, to the

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

Kepone Chlordecone, better known in the United States under the brand name Kepone, is an organochlorine compound and a colourless solid. It is an obsolete insecticide, now prohibited in the western world, but only after many thousands of tonnes had bee ...

and government indifference that worsened the effects of

Minamata disease Minamata disease is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cas ...

catastrophes. ''In God We Trust, Inc.'' is also the first Dead Kennedys album released after the presidential election of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and features the band's first references to Reagan, for which they—and hardcore punk as a genre—would become notorious.

Background

During 1980 and 1981 the American punk scene saw an influx of 7" EPs from Washington D.C.'s

Dischord Records Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idle ...

from bands like

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...

and

Teen Idles The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and the 1980 '' Minor Distur ...

. These little high-tempo records packed in as many as 10 songs each and helped define the 1980s genre of

. In wanting to pay tribute to this faster form of punk rock, and to showcase the talents of their new drummer

, Dead Kennedys put together some new material and sped up a few songs that had only been heard on their 1978 demo and in early live shows. These songs became the basis for ''In God We Trust, Inc.'' Keeping with the rough-hewn style of D.C. hardcore, bits of tape leads announcing the take number and including drumstick clicks and count-offs precede many of the record's songs.

Songs

Much of the material on the EP was left over from earlier in the Dead Kennedys' career. Second guitarist 6025, who'd left the band in 1979, wrote the lead track, "Religious Vomit". The song "Kepone Factory" is a reworking of "Kepone Kids", which appeared on the group's 1978

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

. Alternate versions of "Moral Majority" and "

Nazi Punks Fuck Off "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" is the fifth single by Dead Kennedys. It was released in 1981 on Alternative Tentacles with "Moral Majority" as the B-side. Both are from the '' In God We Trust, Inc.'' EP, although the EP version is a different recordi ...

" were on a single packaged with an anti-fascist armband. "

We've Got a Bigger Problem Now A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds. In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with crasis, abbreviations ...

" is a rewritten version of the band's early single "California über alles". Originally a dig at California governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

, the band reworked the song to be about newly elected president

and added an element of

lounge music Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The rang ...

in contrast with the fast-tempo hardcore punk music on the rest of the record. The EP closes with a cover of the theme from the 1960s TV show '' Rawhide''.

Recording

Dead Kennedys entered tiny Subterranean Studios to record eight songs on June 19, 1981. All tracks were recorded live without overdubs to ½" 8-track reel and with the band determining some of the songs' arrangements between takes. The session was videotaped by Joe Rees of

Target Video Target Video (aka TargetVideo77) is a San Francisco-based studio, founded by artist Joe Rees, who collaborating with Jackie Sharp, Jill Hoffman, Sam Edwards and others, archived early art performance, punk and hardcore bands on video and film. Per ...

with Mike Fox, the session engineer, sending the rough mix to the video feed. When the group took the tracks to be mixed, they discovered that the

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...

used for the recording was defective—the

oxide An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. with oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the E ...

surface of the tape began to peel during playback, thereby destroying the recordings. The band then re-recorded all eight songs on August 22 at Mobius Music, and these recordings were released on the EP. Years later, enhanced restoration techniques allowed for five tracks to be recovered from the master tapes from the earlier Subterranean sessions. These, along with the rough video mixes of the remaining three songs, appear on the DVD '' The Lost Tapes''.

Artwork and releases

DKbonds1982.jpg, Dead Kennedys at Bond's NYC early 80's The album cover depicts a golden Jesus crucified on a cross of dollar bills, with a background of a shiny metal material. The band released the record internationally in 1981 on their own

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single " California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, t ...

label, in partnership with various other independent record labels in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The original vinyl version's A-side comprised tracks 1–5, and Side B tracks 6–8. The original cassette version compiled all 8 songs on Side A and left Side B intentionally devoid of any sound. Printed on the cassette's second side was the explanation, " Home taping is killing record industry profits! We left this side blank so you can help." ''In God We Trust, Inc.'' first appeared on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

in 1985 as bonus material added to the Dead Kennedys' 1982 LP ''

Plastic Surgery Disasters ''Plastic Surgery Disasters'' is the second full-length album released by punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Recorded in San Francisco during June 1982, it was produced by the band and punk record producer Thom Wilson, with Geza X getting a "special ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

;Dead Kennedys * Jello Biafra – lead vocals, artwork *

East Bay Ray Raymond John Pepperell (born November 17, 1958), better known by his stage name East Bay Ray, is an American musician best known as the guitarist for the San Francisco Bay area-based punk band Dead Kennedys. His guitar work was heavily influence ...

– guitar, backing vocals on "Moral Majority", producer * Klaus Flouride – bass, backing vocals *

– drums with: * Ninotchka (Therese Soder) – backing vocals on "Moral Majority" * Annette Olesen – backing vocals on "Moral Majority" * HyJean – backing vocals on "Moral Majority" * Darvon – backing vocals on "Moral Majority" * Siobhan – backing vocals on "Moral Majority" ;Production * Norm – producer, mixer * Oliver Dicicco – engineer * Annette Olesen – 2nd engineer *

Winston Smith Winston Smith may refer to: People * Winston Smith (artist) (born 1952), American artist * Winston Smith (athlete) (born 1982), Olympic track and field athlete * Winston Boogie Smith (born ), American man killed by law enforcement in 2021 * Winst ...

– artwork

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1981 debut EPs Dead Kennedys albums Alternative Tentacles EPs Songs about Ronald Reagan