High Priest of Harmful Matter: Tales from the Trial

High Priest of Harmful Matter: Tales From the Trial
Studio album by Jello Biafra
Released	1989
Genre	Spoken word
Length	96:16
Label	Alternative Tentacles
Producer	Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra chronology
No More Cocoons (1987) High Priest of Harmful Matter: Tales From the Trial (1989) Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (1989)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

High Priest of Harmful Matter: Tales From the Trial is the second spoken word album by Jello Biafra. Biafra summarizes the recent history of censorship in America, focusing on crusades to ban subjects such as evolution from school textbooks. He reveals that some court cases on the subject were made to appear local and as if brought by ordinary citizens (for example, Mozert v. Hawkins City Board of Education ^{[2] [3]}), but were in fact spearheaded and funded by televangelists such as Pat Robertson. He also explains the part that Christian fundamentalist groups played in the creation of the Parents Music Resource Center. The second part of the record is devoted to Biafra's lively description of his own experience with the court system after complaints to law enforcement by the PMRC over the Dead Kennedys' Frankenchrist album.

Track listing

1. "Intro - Love American Death Squad Style" – 11:46
2. "Talk on Censorship" – 44:06
3. "Tales From the Trial" – 43:24

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Mozert v. Hawkins City Board of Education. Webpage found 2009-06-30.
3. Philadelphia Inquirer, February 7, 1993, "A call for sanity on what Johnny can read", webpage found 2009-06-30.