 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2010) |
| "Police Truck" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Dead Kennedys | ||||
| A-side | "Holiday in Cambodia" | |||
| Released | May 1980 | |||
| Genre | Hardcore punk,[1] surf punk | |||
| Length | 2:24 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Dead Kennedys | |||
| Dead Kennedys singles chronology | ||||
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"Police Truck" is a song by the American punk rock band Dead Kennedys. It 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 the band's 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] It 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.[3]
"Police Truck" was one of the Kennedys' early popular songs. The song 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ What Would Jello Do? Part 78: What Happens When The Government Riots? (Part 2). YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021.
- ^ Ruggles, Brock (2008). Not So Quiet on the Western Front: Punk Politics During the Conservative Ascendancy in the United States, 1980--2000. p164