“Home taping is killing music”: the Dead Kennedys cassette that encouraged piracy
1963 was a truly revolutionary year for the music industry: it was the year that The Beatles took the world by storm, Andrew Loog Oldham signed a deal with The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan started to introduce elements of electricity into his folk sound. Perhaps the most important advancement in music during 1963, however, was the invention of the compact cassette. A cheap, abundant, and easily manipulated music format, cassettes changed everything, much to the fear and dismay of the music industry itself.
From the moment that cassette recorders became cheap enough for anybody to get their hands upon, some time around the late 1970s and early 1980s, the format proved itself to be ripe for piracy. Music fans across the world would often pirate their favourite songs onto blank cassettes from the radio, forgoing any need to pay money to record labels for those songs or albums. At risk of losing profits, the British music industry launched the ‘Home taping is killing music’ campaign.
That slogan was splashed on a lot of records, cassettes, magazines, and record stores throughout the 1980s, but it inspired a great deal of rebellion, too. San Francisco punk progenitors Dead Kennedys, for instance, rejoiced at the idea that home taping might be killing the traditional music industry, and felt as if it was their duty to continue that fight.
Led by Jello Biafra, the Dead Kennedys were famed as much for their publicity stunts as they were their hardcore brand of punk rock. For example, their album Frankenchrist led to a lengthy legal battle over the distribution of obscene material after initial copies included a poster of H. R. Giger’s Penis Landscape artwork. Even their band name, playing on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Bobby, outraged the musical establishment.
What’s more, Dead Kennedys – in their heyday – existed on Biafra’s own independent label, Alternative Tentacles. As with any self-respecting independent punk band, the Kennedys had a certain level of hatred and resentment for the traditional music industry. This rebellion against the industry was present throughout the band’s tenure but became particularly evident when the band released their 1981 EP In God We Trust, Inc.
A landmark release, arriving shortly after the election of Ronald Reagan to the American presidency, the EP tackled a wealth of topics, from the rise of Neo-Nazism to the use of pesticides within agriculture. At the heart of the release, however, was Dead Kennedys’ searing attack on the music industry itself. On the cassette release of In God We Trust, Inc, the band included a pastiche of the British Phonographic Industry’s infamous slogan, ‘Home taping is killing music’.
The B-side of the release was left entirely blank and came with the notice, “Home taping is killing record industry profits! We left this side blank so you can help.” Dead Kennedys were encouraging their fanbase to record something onto the cassette, either of their own material or something from the radio, to avoid making profits for the industry.
Their rallying cry for music fans to partake in piracy was not even the most controversial part of the In God We Trust, Inc release. Depicting Jesus crucified on a cross constructed of dollar bills, the EP’s artwork was just as rebellious as fans had come to expect from the San Francisco outfit. It is not clear exactly how much home-taping their cassette was responsible for, but leaving the B-side of their release blank was a testament to their unwaveringly subversive, independent operation as a band.
