Kent State
1984 · Gravelvoice GVR-003 · Bloomington, Indiana
- Artist
- The Gynecologists
- Title
- Kent State
- Release
- A Goat...You Geek
- Year
- 1984
- Label
- Gravelvoice # GVR-003
- Format
- Cassette · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- Genre
- Rock · No Wave
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
The hardcore punk band The Gynecologist, from Bloomington, Indiana, released the song "Kent State" (Gravelvoice # GVR-003) on this 1983 cassette album. The lead singer Tommy Afterbirth wrote twisted, violent lyrics about sex, and his obsession with Republican politics - he was a delegate at the 1976 and 1980 Republican National Convention. (1) The opening track called "Ron and Nancy" focused on President Ronald Reagan and the first lady - in fact, the grotesque front cover featured a photo of Nancy Reagan's face superimposed onto a woman, with a dog mounted on her backside. In this song he rallied against left-wingers, and the "burn-out hippies...protesting the Vietnam War". He shouted that "it was funny when the commies got killed at Kent State" and brutally declared that the "traitors don't even deserve a burial". The song also brought in 1980s politics, criticising those that wanted the US to stay out of El Salvador.& Vietnam War: Punk Songs
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Kent / Jackson State Songs
The hardcore punk band The Gynecologist, from Bloomington, Indiana, released the song "Kent State" (Gravelvoice # GVR-003) on this 1983 cassette album. The lead singer Tommy Afterbirth wrote twisted, violent lyrics about sex, and his obsession with Republican politics - he was a delegate at the 1976 and 1980 Republican National Convention. (1) The opening track called "Ron and Nancy" focused on President Ronald Reagan and the first lady - in fact, the grotesque front cover featured a photo of Nancy Reagan's face superimposed onto a woman, with a dog mounted on her backside. In this song he rallied against left-wingers, and the "burn-out hippies...protesting the Vietnam War". He shouted that "it was funny when the commies got killed at Kent State" and brutally declared that the "traitors don't even deserve a burial". The song also brought in 1980s politics, criticising those that wanted the US to stay out of El Salvador.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
The Gynecologists were a punk/noise band from Bloomington, Indiana, active from the early 1980s into the mid-1990s, members performing under stage names (John Wilkesbooth, Kid Death, Pippy Longstocking, Tommy Afterbirth). "Kent State" (1:16) is track 17 on the 1984 Gravelvoice cassette "A Goat... You Geek" (GVR-003), reissued on Gulcher's "Hoosier Psychopaths 1981-1994" (2008). Date fact: 1984. [Source: Discogs]