Scattered Productions Presents: Reagan Songs
So today would mark the 100th birthday of America's 40th President, Ronald Reagan. To commemorate the occasion I've made a mix of songs simply titled Reagan Songs.
Joey "Shithead" Keithley of D.O.A. once asked the audience at a concert "Who was the person who did more for punk rock in the '80s than anyone else? And I ain't talking about Jello Biafra or John Lydon." He pauses for a moment then answers "...it was Ronald Reagan! Everyone got into punk because of him." I missed most of the "Reagan Bands" as some people call them, but some of the older kids in the scene filled me in on the influence The Gipper had on punk. Steven Blush, author of the book American Hardcore had this to say about him: “'Reagan' became the galvanizing force of Hardcore – an emeny of the arts, minorities, women, gays, liberals, the homeless, the working man, the inner city, et cetera. All ‘outsiders’ could agree they hated him.”
In 1982 M.D.C. got involved with the Rock Against Reagan Tour and continued that through 1984. Sponsored by the Yippies, they took the Dead Kennedys, Dicks, Crucifix, DRI and others around the country expousing the evils of capitalism, multinational corporations, meat-eating, and of course Reagan himself. The tour came to a head in Dallas Tx, during the 1984 Republican National Convention. Dallas, the city where JFK was assassinated, and who was the headliner? Dead Kennedys, who would play only blocks away from where JFK was shot. There is good article about this show at the Dallas Observer website.
In 1985, Reagan visited a German military cemetery in Bitburg to lay a wreath with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. It was determined that the cemetery held the graves of 49 members of the Waffen-SS. Reagan issued a statement that called the Nazi soldiers buried in that cemetery as themselves "victims," a designation which ignited a stir over whether Reagan had equated the SS men to Holocaust victims.
This became the inspiration for the Ramones song Bonzo Goes To Bitburg, which was later renamed My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down. Singer Joey Ramone explained that Reagan "sort of shit on everybody." Interviewed in 1986, he said "We had watched Reagan going to visit the SS cemetery on TV and were disgusted. We're all good Americans, but Reagan's thing was like forgive and forget. How can you forget six million people being gassed and roasted?"
In 1986 Reagan was responsible for (among other things) the Lybia bombing, the Immigration Reform And Control Act, & the Iran Contra Affair. All of which were highly publicized, and heated topics. On June 12, 1987 Reagan gave his "Tear Down This Wall" speech. By 1988 Reagan, and soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were well on their way to ending the Cold War. Then on Jan 20th 1989 former Vice President, George HW Bush was sworn in, succeeding Reagan. On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall finally fell, marking one of the last milestones associated with Reagan.
In August 1994, at the age of 83, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death. In November he informed the nation through a handwritten letter, writing in part: "I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease... At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done... I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you". As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed Reagan's mental capacity. Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California on the afternoon of June 5, 2004.
Scattered Productions Presents: Reagan Songs
