Machine Gun in the Clown's Hand

by Jello Biafra

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Jello Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band the Dead Kennedys. After his time with the band concluded, he became a political activist and took over the influential record label, Alternative Tentacles, which was founded by him and East Bay Ray. He continued as a musician in numerous collaborations and as a spoken word artist. Politically, he is a member of the Green Party and actively supports progressive political causes. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist who advocates civil disobedience and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.

His stage name is a combination of the brand name Jell-O and the name of the short lived country of Biafra which attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1966. After four years of fighting and horrific starvation in Biafra, Nigeria regained control of the nascent Biafran state. Jello Biafra created his name as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation. He said he likes how two ideas clash in people's minds.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow - old JB really hits it out of the park here - the last angry punk. Some really interesting perspectives here; I think the bottom line is how JB ties money and influence together. I think as Americans we know that there is a connection, but we try so hard to look the other way when we see it. We are still waiting for someone to tell us it is not the case - kind of wishful thinking.

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to give this a listen since I haven't heard from Jello since the 2000 election. Some of it's interesting, some questionable, some obvious to us now, some interesting predictions (especially about Iraq), and some nice information about Al Gore and why people didn't want to vote for him. Most of all, it's very, very funny. Well worth picking up if you're into this kind of thing, or if you've liked his other spoken word albums.

[Lloyd Kerns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jella is hella entertaining and really gets me pumped to become a wiser and more critical (sometimes cynical) citizen of the modern world. This particular album dealt mostly about the Bush/Reagan war on terror (for financial gain) and the way it creates future generations of stronger radical fundamentalist Muslims (and probably the same can be said for Christians too). He spoke on several issues but this was the standout point for me. Deducted one star because some segments were repeated from previous spoken word shows, which is good for my studies but make it a little lesson enjoyable.