MDC is an American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band formed in 1979 in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, subsequently based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and currently

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Among the first wave of bands to define the sound and style of American

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

, MDC originally formed as The Stains; they have periodically changed the meaning of "MDC", the most frequent being Millions of Dead Cops. The band's lyrical content expresses radical left political views and has proven influential within the punk subculture. MDC released material through ex-

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Initially consisting of lead guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fl ...

singer

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Init ...

's independent label

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 by Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist East Bay Ray in San Francisco, California, with the intention to release the Dead Kennedys' self-produced single " C ...

. In the 1990s, vocalist Dave Dictor published editorials for the internationally distributed fanzine ''

Maximumrocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

''. MDC's initial run ended in 1995, and the band spent five years on hiatus, before returning in 2000 with some new band members.

History

Early years

Formed in the late 1970s as The Stains and playing their first gig under this name in August 1980, MDC were one of three pioneering

bands in

, in the early '80s, alongside

The Dicks Dicks were an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1980 and initially disbanded in 1986. After the first breakup, singer Gary Floyd formed the band Sister Double Happiness, with drummer Lynn Perko, then later fronted a project ...

and Big Boys. These bands frequently played together and established the Austin hardcore scene. They released one single as The Stains in 1981, featuring a slower version of the future MDC song "John Wayne Was a Nazi" backed with "Born to Die". Both songs were later released on the debut MDC album.

1980s

Dave Dictor cited Black Flag and D.O.A. as early influences of the band: "We saw lack Flag and D.O.A.in 1980 when they came out to Texas and they were cookin'. We said 'Man. . . They're feelin it'" By 1982 the band had relocated to San Francisco, California, and renamed themselves MDC. By this point the band were active participants in the growing hardcore scene and released their debut LP ''

Millions of Dead Cops MDC is an American punk rock band formed in 1979 in Austin, Texas, subsequently based in San Francisco, and currently Portland, Oregon. Among the first wave of bands to define the sound and style of American hardcore punk, MDC originally formed ...

'' on their own label, R Radical;

helped with distribution. The album is now widely considered a punk classic, and features songs such as "John Wayne Was a Nazi", "Dick for Brains", and the harsh criticism of the police, "I Remember". Other targets of criticism devoid of irony included

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

("Corporate Death Burger"),

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

("America's So Straight"), and American culture ("Violent Rednecks"). During the summer of 1982 they became involved in the Rock Against Reagan Tour, during which time they fell out with the band

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American punk rock band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an ade ...

when

Rastafarian Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

singer H.R. learned that Big Boys' singer, Randy Turner, was gay. H.R. and MDC's Dave Dictor had an intense confrontation. Upon Bad Brains' departure from the bill, they refused to return a loan owed to Big Boys and instead left a note that reportedly read "burn in hell bloodclot faggot". The incident resulted in the MDC song "Pay to Come Along".Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins, ''Dance of Days.'' Akashic Books, 2003; pg. 108. For MDC, 1982 ended with a tour of Europe with the Dead Kennedys which brought the band greater exposure in the punk scene outside of the U.S., especially in the UK.

Name change

In 1983 the band began to deemphasize the "Dead Cops" aspect of its name, as drummer Al Schvitz noted in a '' Flipside'' interview: Their involvement in the Rock Against Reagan activities continued through 1983 and they returned to recording with the EP "Multi-Death Corporations" which was distributed in the UK by British

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, ha ...

label

Crass Records Crass Records was an independent record label that was set up by the anarchist Punk rock, punk band Crass. Overview and history Prior to the formation of Crass, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher had published their creative works via their own D ...

and R Radical in the U.S. The EP broke new ground by addressing, in the lengthy

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

and artwork, the growth of corporations and the violent suppression of

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. In 1984 they released another EP, '' Millions of Dead Children'' (also known as ''Chicken Squawk''), this time dealing with

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

issues via a

cowpunk Cowpunk (or country punk) is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or new wave with country, folk, and blues in its sound, lyrical subject mat ...

tune. Iconoclastic punk rock cartoonist John Crawford, an outspoken critic of the band, was cynical in his assessment of the alteration of the band's initial name, which he characterized as "stupid" and "inflammatory"."John Crawford," ''Flipside,'' whole no. 40 (Dec. 1983), pp. 44–45. Crawford intimated that the name change had been opportunistic: ''Smoke Signals'' was released in 1986, their second album featuring a more diverse style than previously, with a foray into '70s rock with the song "South Africa Is Free". This album also saw Gordon Fraser's first appearance as main guitarist. In the same year, MDC backed

Michelle Shocked Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston; February 24, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and received an award ...

on a version of her song "Fogtown" that appears as a hidden track on her breakthrough album, '' Short Sharp Shocked''. Their third album, ''This Blood's for You'', followed in 1987 and saw them continuing to showcase orthodox hardcore punk style and classic rock, including a cover of the

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

song "Politician". Themes again included intervention in Central America and criticism of the

Reagan Administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...

. MDC toured Europe in 1988, where the live album ''Elvis – In the Rhineland'' was recorded. The band released the album ''Metal Devil Cokes'' in 1989 with guitar player Eric Calhoun and bassist Joe Strom.

1990s

The 1990s opened with a number of lineup changes, swiftly followed by the 1991 album ''Hey Cop! If I Had a Face Like Yours ... '', featuring Bill Collins (formerly of

Fang A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fangs, ...

, Special Forces, Intensified Chaos) on guitar and Matt Freeman (of

Operation Ivy Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall I ...

and Rancid) on bass. Collins wrote all the music on the album and sang three of the songs. This lineup toured the US and Europe. The acclaimed ''Shades of Brown'' album appeared in 1993, released by New Red Archives in the U.S. and We Bite in Europe. The album featured the

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

vegetarian song "Real Food, Real People, Real Bullets". MDC, now with guitarist Chris Wilder (formerly of

Stikky {{Infobox musical artist , name = Stikky , image = , caption = Stikky at Santa Clara Catholic Cemetery in San Jose, California in 1987. From left to right: Chris Wilder, Todd Wilder and Chris Dodge. , background = group_or_band , origin = Sa ...

) and bassist Erica Liss, marked the album with a tour of the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, making MDC the first American punk band to tour Russia. This was followed by two more European tours and several U.S. tours until 1995, where began a lull in the band's activity. The lack of new recorded material, other than a 7-inch release on

Slap-a-Ham Records Slap a Ham Records was an independent record label, label from San Francisco owned and operated by Chris Dodge. The label lasted for about 13 years, officially shutting down in 2002. According to Dodge, this was due because of the September 11 atta ...

, and live performances after 1994, plus personal problems of band members, pointed to an informal break-up of the band.

2000s

MDC's singer, Dave Dictor, returned with an entirely new backing line-up in 2000, which included Long Island musicians Matt Van Cura (bass), Erik Mischo (guitar), and John Soldo (Drums). MDC released a new album, ''Magnus Dominus Corpus'', in 2004. They took part in a 25th anniversary world tour in 2005, with an all-original lineup. Following the death of Mikey Donaldson in September 2007, MDC has been touring the U.S. and Europe extensively with the Dictor/Posner/Smith/Schvitz lineup. Recently, the band has been based in

. In November 2016, MDC released a video for the forthcoming release of a new recording of "Born to Die", made to protest the Donald Trump presidential campaign. The song's slogan "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA" was reported to be heard at anti-Trump demonstrations, at The Women's March in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2017, and in Chicago. At the 2016 American Music Awards on November 20, the band

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

adopted the anti-Trump slogan for a controversial impromptu chant during their live on-air performance, which Dictor applauded and encouraged. The media spotlight Green Day's action put on MDC inspired the band to create new material based around the current political climate. The album, entitled ''Mein Trumpf'', was released in 2017.

Members

Current lineup

*Vocals – Dave Dictor (1979–1995, since 2000) *Guitar – Russ Kalita (since 2008) *Guitar – Barry d'live Ward (since 2017) *Bass – Mike Smith (since 2007) *Bass – Erica Liss (1992–1995, since 2023) *Drums – Adam Crisis (since 2023)

Former members

*Drums – Al Schvitz (1979–2022) *Guitar – Ron Posner (1979–1986) and (2002–2016) *Guitar – Gordon Fraser (1986–1987) *Guitar – Eric Calhoun (1987–1990) *Guitar – Bill Collins (1990–1992) and (2016–2017) *Guitar – Chris Wilder (1992–1995) *Guitar – Erik Mischo (2000) *Guitar – Brendan Bekowies (2001–2002) *Bass – Michael Donaldson (1979–1982, 2003–2007; died 2007) *Bass – Franco Mares (1982–1990) *Bass – Matt Freeman (1990–1992) *Bass – Erica Liss (1992–1995) *Bass – Matt Van Cura (2000–2002) *Drums – Al Batross (2000–2002) *Drums – Mike Pride (2002–2005) *Drums – Dejan Podobnik (2006–2007) *Drums – Felix Griffin (2008)

Timeline

Discography

Singles/EPs

*Stains – "John Wayne was a Nazi" 7", R Radical Records, 1980 *Millions of Dead Cops – "John Wayne was a Nazi" 7", R Radical Records, 1981 *Multi-Death Corporations – "Multi-Death Corporations" EP,

, 1983 *Millions of Dead Children – "Chicken Squawk" EP, R Radical Records, 1984

Albums

*''

'' (1982) *'' Smoke Signals'' (1986) *''Millions of Damn Christians'' (1987) *''Metal Devil Cokes'' (1989) *''Hey Cop!!! If I Had a Face Like Yours...'' (1991) *''Shades of Brown'' (1993) *''Magnus Dominus Corpus'' (2004) *''Mein Trumpf'' (2017) *''Millions of Dead Cowboys'' (2020) *''War Is a Racket'' (2023) *''The Last War'' (2025)

Splits

*Millions of Dead Cops /

Capitalist Casualties Capitalist Casualties were an American powerviolence / hardcore punk, hardcore band. They formed in Rohnert Park, California around 1986 and had their first concert in 1987 in Santa Rosa, California. They have released multiple records, includi ...

''Liberty Gone'' EP Split 7", Slap a Ham, 1994 *Millions of Dead Cops / Pig Champion Split 7", Honest Don's, 1997 *MDC/

Poison Idea Poison Idea was an American punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1980. History Formation, 1980s, and 1990s Poison Idea was formed in 1980 by vocalist Jerry A. (aka Jerry Lang). The initial lineup consisted of Jerry A., Chris Ten ...

split, 2004 *Millions of Dead Cops / John The Baker Split (MDC EP), Millions of Dead Cops – John The Baker Acoustic Split 7", Tank Crimes, 2006 *Millions of Dead Cops / Potbelly Split 7", PB/Crash Assailant, 2008 *Millions of Dead Cops / Riot Cop Split CD, Malarie, 2008 *Millions of Dead Cops / The Restarts Split LP/CD, No Label Records, 2009 *Millions of Dead Cops / Carburetor Dung / The Bollocks – "MABUKKUASA" Split-CD, S.B.S/Jerk Off Records, 2011 *Millions of Dead Cops / Attentat Sonore Split 7", Guerilla Vinyl / Campary / Fillferro / Tupatutupa Records, October 2011. *MDC (Acoustic) / Naked Aggression / Raw Power / Som Hi Noise – "No More Borders", Split 7", Jailhouse/Sixty Nine Apples Records, 2012

Live recordings

*MDC – Elvis In The Rheinland: Live In Berlin LP, R Radical Records, 1989 *MDC – Live In Maribor LP, 1990 *MDC – Live At CBGB's 1983, Beer City Records BCR190-1, 2015 (Limited to 1000 copies, on translucent green vinyl)

Compilations

* ''

International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit Compilation The ''International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit Compilation'', commonly referred to as the ''P.E.A.C.E.'' compilation,

'' (R Radical Records, 1984) * ''Rat Music for Rat People, Vol. 2'' ( CD Presents, 1984) * ''Millions of Dead Cops –

More Dead Cops MDC is an American punk rock band formed in 1979 in Austin, Texas, subsequently based in San Francisco, and currently Portland, Oregon. Among the first wave of bands to define the sound and style of American hardcore punk, MDC originally formed ...

LP'', 1988 (Compilation of EPs) * '' Hardcore Breakout USA Volume 2'' ( New Red Archives, 1995) * '' The Punk, The Bad & The Ugly'' (

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

, 1997) * '' At War With Society'' ( New Red Archives, 1998) * '' At War With Society II'' ( New Red Archives, 1999) * ''Millions of Dead Cops – Now More Than Ever LP'', 2002 (Best Of Compilation) * ''Solid'' EP 7" (Crash Assailant, 2008) * ''Human'' EP 7" (Rodent Popsicle/ Crash Assailant, 2009) * '' Hardcore Breakout - Essential Punk'' ( New Red Archives, 2012) * ''Punk For Ukraine Vol. 1'' (Grimace, 2022) – "Mein Trumpf"

References

External links

MDC
on Facebook
MDC Punk website
*

– MDC interview from 1982

– MDC interview from 1983

– MDC interview from 1983 {{Authority control Hardcore punk groups from Texas Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Musical groups from Austin, Texas 1981 establishments in Texas American political music groups Boner Records artists