3. Dead Kennedys - Pull My Strings (Classic Punk)

Dead Kennedys - Pull My Strings (Classic Punk)

This is a live recording of "Pull My Strings", played by the classic punk rock band the Dead Kennedys at the San Francisco Bay Area Music Awards on the 25th of March, 1980. It was the first and only time the song was played.

Pretty awesome piece of music, yeah? Well, the story behind the song makes it all the more incredible: having had a runaway hit with "California Uber Alles" (which remains one of their more famous songs, alongside "Holiday in Cambodia"), the Dead Kennedys were invited to play the song in front of some music industry big-wigs at the Bay Area Music awards, to give the event some, in the organiser's words, "new wave credibility".

The Dead Kennedys did not like being called New Wave.

As a punk band, they abhorred New Wave bands as corporate sellouts, so, naturally, they were more than a little bit offended. So, what do they do?

They go up to the stage, wearing plain white shirts with the letter 'S' printed proudly on the fronts, and begin playing the first chords to "California Uber Alles". But then their lead singer, Jello Biafra, cries out: "Hold it! We've got to prove we're adults now... We're not a punk rock band, we're a New Wave band!", and pull ties from around their necks to form the dollar symbol.

The rest is history.

The lyrics (copy-pasted from azlyrics):

I'm tired of self respect I can't afford a car I wanna be a prefab superstar

I wanna be a tool Don't need no soul Wanna make big money Playing rock and roll

I'll make my music boring I'll play my music slow I ain't no artist, I'm a business man No ideas of my own

I won't offend Or rock the boat Just sex and drugs And rock and roll

Drool, drool, drool, drool, drool, drool My Payola! Drool, drool, drool, drool, drool, drool My Payola!

You'll pay ten bucks to see me On a fifteen foot high stage Fatass bouncers kick the shit Out of kids who try to dance

If my friends say I've lost my guts I'll laugh and say That's rock and roll

But there's just one problem

[Chorus] Is my cock big enough Is my brain small enough For you to make me a star Give me a toot, I'll sell you my soul Pull my strings and I'll go far

And when I'm rich And meet Bob Hope We'll shoot some golf And shoot some dope

Is my cock big enough Is my brain small enough For you to make me a star Give me a toot, I'll sell you my soul Pull my strings and I'll go far

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