NANCY REAGAN ON CRACK
Tommy Afterbirth has surprising connections to the Republican Party and actually served as an official delegate to the 1976 and 1980 Republican National Conventions. Although he and his family were on the receiving end of some of his band’s songs – such as “Ron and Nancy”, “Young Ron” and “Nancy Reagan on Crack” – Tommy Afterbirth boasted of having shaken hands with future President Ronald Reagan on two occasions; and, while at the 1976 Republican National Convention, he bought a beer for future President George H. W. Bush. The name of their third release, Kinder, Gentler Nation (1989) is taken from Bush’s acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. For one album cover, they even went so far as to paste Nancy Reagan’s head on . . . oh, never mind. Then again, their feelings about the other party are apparent in their song, “Democrats Suck Donkey Dicks”.
The vinyl album by the Gynecologists that I have, Bukkake Hit Parade (2002) – “bukkake” is a term used in Japanese pornography that is appropriate, but I will let you look it up if you wish – has a different name for the drummer, Pippy Longstocking. (Pippi Longstocking is a popular character in children’s literature having unusual pigtails who was created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren). Despite the apparently comprehensive Hoosier Psychopaths, and unless some of their songs have multiple titles, the 13 cuts on Bukkake Hit Parade include more than a few songs that aren’t on the CD: “Nancy Reagan on Crack”, “M.A.S.H.E.R”, “Dahmer’s Diner”, “Across 110th Street”, and “Sally Struthers’ Tears”.
(June 2016)
