The Graveyard Shifter

Just Say Nyet: Reagan-Era Punk Songs to Re-appropriate for the Trump Era

As has been well debated on the tonier Facebook pages (if your idea of “tony” is a middle-age dude with 1,000-plus LPs and at least one spilling-over box of 1987-91 fanzines), there’s a notion going around that Donald Trump’s Presidency (wait, did I type that right?) will mean a Great New Era of Punk Rock.

First off, that sentiment assumes that punk rock is predominantly about politics, a very misguided assumption; and two, that there hasn’t been any seethingly angry, political punk music being made the last 29 years. There has. It’s just that many old punks got older and stopped following punk, and less and less kids care about it, given the ebbs and tides of popular music. Oh, and punk was never very popular. When Amanda Palmer’s thoughts on this subject get the most internet traffic, you realise how silly this “great punk is nigh’” notion is.

That said, we are more than ready for a flood of anti-Trump tunes, and so we present a circle mosh of noise ripe for lyrical re-tweaking for all you aspiring anarchists. Here are some easy lyrical switcheroo tips for novices: Ronnie = Donnie; Nazi = Alt-Right; rich = well, stupid rich. And if you’re averse to gun violence, hitting Trump with pies or water balloons would be a suitable replacement.

Songs herein had to be released after the dawn of 1980. (And man was it hard to leave off the plethora of great ones from 1979, when we already knew Reagan was coming and Thatcher was in.) And this list is in alphabetical order by band. Speaking of which, after having noticed the extreme dearth in good band names lately, please use this too as a guide for how to land a great moniker! 

Dive in, but make sure your shoes are steel-toed!

Mucho thanks to the pals who chimed in on this list: Pat Dull, Jesse Fleury, Matt Reber, and Josh Styles. And please, if you know more of the many I’m sure I missed, let me know in the comments. It’s weirdly deficient in the J,K,L portion down there… 

Angry Samoans - “They Saved Hitler’s Cock”

Bobby Soxx - “Learn to Hate in the ‘80s”

Black Flag - “Police Story”

Chronic Sick - “Reagan Bands”

Cold Cock - “I Wanna Be Rich”

Cracked Actor - “Nazi School”

Cruckifucks - “Hinkley Had a Vision”

Dead Kennedys - The entirety of Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, oh shoot, the first three albums!

Descendents - “Unnational Anthem”

Direct Control - “Ronnie’s Dead”

D.O.A. - “Fucked Up Ronnie”

Dow Jones & the Industrials - “Can’t Stand the Midwest”

DRI - “Reaganomics”

Ebenezor & the Bludgeons - “Weekend Nazi”

Eddie and the Subtitles - “American Society”

Fallout - “Reagan Hysteria”

Filth - “Don’t Hide Your Hate”

Government Issue - “Hey, Ronnie”

Husker Du - “Divide and Conquer”

Inferno - “Ronald Reagan”

Injections - “Lies”

Mice - “Not Proud of the U.S.A.”

Minutemen - “Joe McCarthy’s Ghost”

Murphy’s Law - “California Pipeline”

N.O.T.A. - “This Country was Once Free”

Offs - “Everyone’s a Bigot”

Past - “Reagan”

Reagan Youth - “Reagan Youth”

Social Split - “Reagan Gun Klub”

Stains - “John Wayne was a Nazi”

Stiphnoyds - “Afraid of the Russians”

Suicidal Tendencies - “Two-Sided Politics”

TMA - “I’m In Love with Nancy Reagan”

Toxin III - “I Rock I Ran”

Voodoo Idols - “We Dig Nixon”

Wasted Youth - “Reagan’s In”

Geordie Walker played guitar, most memorably for Killing Joke throughout that band’s long and productive career; with Jaz Coleman, Walker was Killing Joke’s only permanent member. He died yesterday. For some listeners, nothing quite compares with the thrill of hearing that opening minute of “The Wait,” which transformed some of those same listeners’ ears in the early 1980s. Other players (Steve Albini, Justin Broadrick) may be hipper to talk about, but Walker’s icy, industrial tone and his ear for the riff that was simultaneously danceable and dirgey have proven hugely influential.

Put on that self-titled Killing Joke album today (I did, it still sounds great) and you’ll hear so, so much of the 1980s underground: Big Black, Head of David, Ministry, Helmet. It’s all in there, most of it in Walker’s guitar.