Jello Biafra Quotes

Jello Biafra is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. He is currently both a musician and spoken word artist. After he left the Dead Kennedys, he took over the influential independent record label Alternative Tentacles, which he had co-founded in 1979 with Dead Kennedys bandmate East Bay Ray. Although now focused primarily on spoken word, he has continued as a musician in numerous collaborations.

Politically, Biafra is a member of the Green Party of the United States and actively supports various political causes. He ran for the party's Presidential nomination in the 2000 United States Presidential Election, finishing a distant second to Ralph Nader. He is a staunch believer in a free society, and utilizes shock value and advocates direct action and pranksterism in the name of political causes. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics, in the leftist tradition of the Yippies, to highlight issues of civil rights and social justice.

✵ 17. June 1958

Jello Biafra photo

Diftong / CC-BY-SA-3.0

Jello Biafra: 22 quotes3 likes

Famous Jello Biafra Quotes

“Our biggest national security threat is the environmental destruction of our planet and the arms race with ourselves.”

Address to the US Green Party

“Jimi Hendrix once said, 'You will never hear surf music again.' Well, tonight, you will hear 'serf' music again -- S-E-R-F music.”

Introducing the song "New Feudalism" with The No WTO Combo on (30 November 1999)

“Condoleezza Rice - "CondolSleazea Rice"”

ibid.
Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“We don't need a flat tax, but a flattening tax, to truly level the playing field.”

Address to the US Green Party

“Don't hate the media, become the media.”

Address to the US Green Party
Source: Become the Media

“Bill Clinton - "Mr. Bill" - ibid.”

Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

Jello Biafra Quotes about people

“Some day, even the experts will figure out, that crime is not caused by rap music…or even my music, but by a power structure of self-absorbed property owners so brain dead and stupid they won't even see that if you're too goddamn greedy to pay taxes for schools and services, they're not going to be any good any more! And that uneducated time bombs are a very poor investment as a future work force. And if you go on teaching people that life is cheap, and leave them to rot in ghettos and jails, they may one day feel justified in coming back to rob and kill you. Duh!”

"Rob Now, Pay Later", Home Alive: The Art of Self Defense (1996)

“What does it say about our country when people are so desperate for an alternative to our one-party state masquerading as a two-party state that they'll even elect a professional wrestler governor?”

Address to the US Green Party

“Here we are at the gates of the great and powerful OZ! And we have come for your children! We are the REAL Politically Incorrect! Our lives are not Charmed! We WORK for a living! When was the last time [network television] admitted we even EXIST? Roseanne? Sanford and Son? Taxi? [disgusted] Jerry Springer! Our young people are NOT Teenage Witches! Nor are they Clueless! Fact is, they neither have NOR WANT ANYTHING in common with Dawson's Creek, Popular or Spoiled White Rich BABIES 90210!”

"Become the Media" (Track 10)
Become the Media (2000)

“When people are asleep, we must all become alarm clocks.”

Jello Biafra Quotes about the trip

“I am Emperor Ronald Reagan
Born again with fascist cravings
Still, you made me president

Human rights will soon go 'way
I am now your Shah today
Now I command all of you
Now you're going to pray in school
I'll make sure they're Christian too
…
You'll go quitely to boot camp
They'll shoot you dead, make you a man
Don't you worry, it's for a cause
Feeding global corporations' claws

Die on our brand new poison gas
El Salvador or Afghanistan
Making money for President Reagan
And all the friends of President Reagan”

We've Got a Bigger Problem Now, In God We Trust, Inc. (1981).

“I am an anarchist in my personal life. I try to live my life in a way that I don't need cops or baby-sitters to keep me from infringing on others. But I don't feel we have evolved far enough as a species to make anarchy work in society itself.”

Address to the US Green Party
Context: I am an anarchist in my personal life. I try to live my life in a way that I don't need cops or baby-sitters to keep me from infringing on others. But I don't feel we have evolved far enough as a species to make anarchy work in society itself. We still need government to transfer the wealth from those who have too much to those who have too little, to make sure important projects get done, and keep territorial humans from screwing over and killing each other.

“Come, on, EMPTY-V!! [As] far as I'm concerned, Beavis and Butt-head and Dora (sic) are the only two good things you ever DID! [wild applause from audience] But can't you think of a better way to raise audience awareness of domestic violence, than to make it look COOL?”

On the "Irene Getting Smashmouthed" incident on The Real World)"Become the Media" (Track 10)
Become the Media (2000)

Jello Biafra Quotes

“George H. W. Bush - "King George the 1st" - Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police”

Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“John Ashcroft - "John Ashcrack" - ibid.”

Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“Al Gore - "Prince Albert" - Become the Media”

Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“George W. Bush - "King George the 2nd", "Cowboy 'Peabrain' Cornholio" - In the Grip of Official Treason”

Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“Donald Rumsfeld - "Ronald Dumbsfeld"”

ibid.
Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“And we will NOT let Campbell's Soup, Old Navy, or anybody ELSE, HAMMER into the minds of girls as YOUNG as SIX YEARS OLD that they should ALWAYS hate their bodies and ALWAYS be on a diet!”

"Become the Media" (Track 10)
Become the Media (2000)

“Shut up, be happy. Obey all orders without question. The happiness you have demanded is now mandatory.”

"Message From Our Sponsor", No More Cocoons (1987) (Also appears in Ice-T's track "Shut Up, Be Happy" on Freedom of Speech, Just Watch What You Say)

“Ronald Reagan - "Grandpa Caligula"; "Ronald McReagan" - No More Coccoons”

Biafra's Nicknames for Various Political Figures

“"Buy my soda!" said the Moose Diarrhea Salesman. And we did. We all did. But when we got it home and opened up the package, it was not what they said it was. And rather than chucking it all and searching for something better, we're content with looking for another Moose Diarrhea Salesman.”

"Eric Meets the Moose Diarrhea Salesman", Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police, in an allegory on the current state of politics.

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