Audio: The Dead Milkmen – “Grandpa’s Not A Racist (He Just Voted For One)”
From Quaker City Quiet Pills, out June 9 on Giving Groove.
You can’t even imagine how much I loved the Dead Milkmen when I was in high school. I remember seeing a flyer for a show and being immediately drawn to their name, their cow logo, the xeroxed photo of four scruffy, scrappy goofballs. The flyer boasted of “hits” like “Bitchin Camaro” and “The Thing That Only Eats Hippies” and “Taking [redacted] To The Zoo” and I was sold. I wanted to go so bad even though I had never yet heard a note by them, but I didn’t even ask my mom because I knew she wouldn’t let me go. Shortly before this she had flatly refused to let me go see the Violent Femmes because she was afraid of the type of crowd that would by attracted by a band with a name like that. I wasn’t old enough to drive.
A bit later I was at the record store in the mall — Tape World or Recordland or whatever — and saw a Dead Milkmen tape on the new releases rack. It was called Bucky Fellini and it had a bunch of funny song titles and a cover of the Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus” (or so I assumed…incorrectly it turned out). I bought it and listened to it nonstop. I soon picked up their back catalog (the other two albums), and finally got to see them in concert when they came back around on the Beelzebubba tour. They were awesome. I joined their fanclub and got their newsletter and even signed up for their “pen-pal parade” and received a bunch of letters and postcards from other Dead Milkmen fans. That’s how social media worked back then, kids! Strictly analog.
If you haven’t been paying attention to Dead Milkmen news for the past 30 years, here’s a short version: They broke up in 1995 and everybody went their own way. Bassist Dave Blood took his own life in 2004. The surviving members got together for a couple tribute shows and have pretty much been back together as a group since 2008. Throughout the pandemic they’ve posted weekly “Big Questions with The Dead Milkmen” zoom videos on YouTube, and now they’ve got a new single and an upcoming album.
Rodney Anonymous (who’s on Mastodon, by the way) told Consequence, “Considering the fact that 99.99% of all indie bands would rather have the entire Radiohead back catalog shoved up their asses than pen a political tune, I figured that someone outside of that genre should probably do it. If you go to eat breakfast only to discover that your grandfather has taken a dump in your oatmeal, would you say, ‘Well, that’s the way they used to do things back in Gramps’ day. I guess it’ll just take him some time to catch up with the rest of the world,’ or would you say, ‘Do it again, old man, and you won’t need that Jazzy to make it across the room. You’ll be doing it on the end of my foot!’ Well, the same principle applies when your grandfather votes for a racist.”
I still love these guys!
