Become the Media

by Jello Biafra

Become the Media includes special reflections on the "Battle of Seattle," e-issues, the Green Party, and post-Columbine High backlash.

Audio CD

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Jello Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band the Dead Kennedys. After his time with the band concluded, he became a political activist and took over the influential record label, Alternative Tentacles, which was founded by him and East Bay Ray. He continued as a musician in numerous collaborations and as a spoken word artist. Politically, he is a member of the Green Party and actively supports progressive political causes. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist who advocates civil disobedience and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.

His stage name is a combination of the brand name Jell-O and the name of the short lived country of Biafra which attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1966. After four years of fighting and horrific starvation in Biafra, Nigeria regained control of the nascent Biafran state. Jello Biafra created his name as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation. He said he likes how two ideas clash in people's minds.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

More 'Biafrian' philosophy that (strangely) seems to be coming full circle - love how JB just lets it hang out there! JB is the archetypal 'angry punk'; an outsider who further was further alienated because they pointed out institutional hypocrisy. Funny yet deeply cutting; really makes you think about the nature of governance.

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think anyone can truly appreciate the enthusiasm that was in the air in 2000 with the Nader Green Party candidacy unless you were a part of it. People later turned against Nader and became a bunch of obnoxious dickheads, but during that time, some people actually thought they could make a difference. Of course, they were proven wrong, and people on both ends still make cute little sound bite-worthy comments to discourage a third party candidate from running, but there was a bit of optimism in it, and I was proud to be a part of it. This CD captures some of it, along with Jello's usual bitter gripes about the state of the government. Pure nostalgia makes me rate it this high, as 2000 was the peak of my "political" phase, and the last time I bought one of Jello's spoken word albums.

[Lloyd Kerns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biafra is one of the few who goes mostly unnoticed while fighting for us all. Sure, he's famous but how many people do you know who's ever heard of him? Yet he's out doing spoken word, streaming, making music, and various other things to draw attention to the mass corruption we live under and have lived under for centuries.

[Joseph L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

jello is still the same.