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In God We Trust, Inc.

The 1981 EP and Peligro's first record: eight short songs, a Reagan-era rewrite of the first single and a Rawhide cover to close.
Dead Kennedys, 1981

Released
1981
Recorded
22 August 1981
Studio
Mobius Music
Label
Alternative Tentacles
Producer
Norm, East Bay Ray
Type
ep

The EP was Peligro's first record with the band, made to showcase the new drummer and to pay tribute to the fast, short records then coming from Washington D.C.'s Dischord label. The band first recorded eight songs live at Subterranean Studios on 19 June 1981, but the magnetic tape turned out to be defective and the oxide peeled during playback. They re-recorded everything on 22 August at Mobius Music, and those recordings were released. Five of the lost Subterranean tracks were later recovered for the DVD The Lost Tapes.

Much of the material was older. 6025, who had left in 1979, wrote the opening Religious Vomit, and Kepone Factory reworks Kepone Kids from a 1978 demo. We've Got a Bigger Problem Now is a rewrite of California Über Alles, turning its target from Jerry Brown to the newly elected Ronald Reagan and adding lounge music. Nazi Punks Fuck Off is here too, and the EP closes with a cover of the Rawhide theme. The sleeve shows a golden Jesus on a cross of dollar bills. On the cassette, the second side was left blank, with the printed message: Home taping is killing record industry profits! We left this side blank so you can help.

Personnel

More from Dead Kennedys

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980), Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982), Frankenchrist (1985), Bedtime for Democracy (1986)

Sources

  1. In God We Trust, Inc., Wikipedia