Police Truck

"Police Truck" is a song by the Dead Kennedys. The song was originally released in May, 1980, as the B-side of the "Holiday in Cambodia" single and later released in June 1987 as the opening track on their compilation album, Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death. The song is a satirical attack on the actions of two police officers, and takes a first person view from the authorities themselves.[1] The song was inspired by an incident that occurred in Oakland in the late 1970s.[2] It also functions more generally as an attack on police corruption and brutality and the police's support for a capitalist[3] system.

For the law-enforcement vehicle, see police truck.
"Police Truck"
Single by Dead Kennedys
A-side"Holiday in Cambodia"
ReleasedMay 1980
Length2:24
LabelCherry Red/Alternative Tentacles
Songwriter(s)Jello Biafra/East Bay Ray
Producer(s)Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys singles chronology
"California Über Alles"
(1979)		 "Police Truck"
(1980)		 "Kill the Poor"
(1980)

The song was one of the Kennedys' early popular songs. "Police Truck" is built around a surf rock beat (similar to ones heard in the early instrumental surf singles such as the Chantays' "Pipeline"), and highlighted by East Bay Ray's echoed guitar leads and the descending chorus "ride, ride, how we ride." "Police Truck", like many of the band's songs, serves as an example of the Dead Kennedys' ability to portray a disturbing scenario through humorous lyrics. The song appears in the 2020 movie, “The Babysitter: Killer Queen.

The song appeared in the soundtrack of the popular skateboarding video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, after being licensed by the former Dead Kennedys. This licensing caused criticism from many Dead Kennedys fans, who used it to assert that East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, and D.H. Peligro are no longer committed to the band's anti-corporate beliefs, unlike vocalist Jello Biafra; however, Alternative Tentacles gave approval for the song to appear in the game.[4] Biafra denies that this happened. The song appears as a cover in the game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s with altered lyrics (The word "drunks" at the beginning of the song is replaced by "punks", while "ass" is replaced by "butt", "shit" is replaced by "stool" and "suck my dick" is replaced by "take your pick"). This song is also available along with "California Über Alles" and "Holiday in Cambodia" for the Rock Band series as downloadable content.

References
  1. AV Club (2009). Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists. Simon and Schuster. p. 198.
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQ9IwrhwJY&list=PL636ABE10C3CCC992&index=85&t=0s
  3. Ruggles, Brock (2008). Not So Quiet on the Western Front: Punk Politics During the Conservative Ascendancy in the United States, 1980--2000. ProQuest. p164
  4. "Letter from Alternative Tentacles".
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