The Crucifucks

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The Crucifucks were a Lansing, Michigan-based punk rock band formed in 1981^[1].

Throughout their career, the band had a revolving-door line-up, the only constant member being lyricist and frontman Doc Corbin Dart. Other members of the original line up included Dart's cousin Joe on guitar, Scott Begerston on bass, and drummer Steve Shelley, who went on to play with Sonic Youth.

History

The band's debut LP The Crucifucks -- recorded in 1984 by Doc, Steve, guitarist Gus Varner, and Marc Hauser on bass—was released in 1985 on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. Wisconsin followed in 1987, also on Alternative Tentacles. Between that album and 1996's L.D. Eye, Dart recorded two solo projects, Patricia, on Alternative Tentacles in 1990, and Black Tuesday, a self-released cassette, in 1991.

A Crucifucks compilation album entitled Our Will Be Done was issued in 1992, combining the band's first two LPs with a non-LP song, "Annual Report," also featured on Maximum Rock 'n' Roll's compilation Welcome To 1984. A picture of a Philadelphia police officer posing as shot—originally part of a public relations campaign ^[2] to obtain wage concessions from the city ^[3] -- was used on the album's back cover. Four years later, its discovery by the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police led to a lawsuit against the Crucifucks, which was eventually dismissed ^[4].

According to Dart, the Crucifucks never "officially" broke up, but rather drifted apart due to a variety of reasons. By the mid 1990s, Dart had formed a new group called The L.D. Eye. When the group had prepared a full-length record, Alternative Tentacles agreed to release it under the stipulation that it be credited to The Crucifucks. Thus, the group changed its name to The Crucifucks, "reuniting" the band (although no former members other than Dart were involved with The L.D. Eye) and used their former moniker as the record title. The L.D. Eye was released in 1996. The band played a in number of concerts during this period, including a 1998 performance at Alternative Tentacles' twentieth anniversary party at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California, before sinking back into inactivity permanently.

The band was known for its anti-authoritarian lyrics, often rife with obscure and perverse humor. The band sought to go beyond the pale in terms of lyrical content, attempting to be as offensive as possible. Their lack of mainstream success likely saved them from substantial legal action and high-profile controversy, particularly in light of Ice T's controversial "Cop Killer" many years later. The Crucifucks' own song "Cops for Fertilizer" does not mince words: "So kill the next policeman who gets in your way/ It'll set a good example for the children today". Many of their other songs are similarly harsh, attacking the American government (and America in general), and religion, particularly Christianity in an effort to drive home the point that blind faith in anything, be it patriotism or religion, is bad. Their song "Hinckley had a Vision" advocated the murder of then-President Ronald Reagan.

As recently as 2006, Dart has begun identifying himself by the name 26 (dropping his entire given name of Doc Corbin Dart) and renounces swear words, such as his former group's moniker^[1].

Discography

• The Crucifucks - 1985
• Wisconsin - 1987
• Our Will Be Done - 1995
• L.D. Eye - 1996

External links

• Crucifucks Biography at the Alternative Tentacles website.^[5]
• video Live in Akron, OH 1983^[6]

References