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| "Republican Party Reptile: The Confessions, Adventures, Essays, and (Other) Outrages of P. J. O'Rourke" was published in 1987 by Atlantic Monthly Press, and is a compilation of 21 satirical pieces written from a conservative perspective, covering politics, pop culture, and international reporting, for publications like the National Lampoon and The American Spectator. |
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What is the Republican Party Reptile? It is a creature of the eighties. It's neoconservatism with its pants down around its ankles, the Rehnquist Supreme Court on drugs, a disco Hobbes
living without shame or federally mandated safety regulations. The Republican Party Reptile supports a strong defense policy but sees no reason to conduct it whilst sober. The RPR believes
in minimum governmental interference in private affairs-unless the government brings over extra girls and some ice. In short, the RPR is the new label that our political spectrum has been
crying out for-the conservative with a sense of humor and a healthy dose of depravity. Here, in the twenty-one pieces collected in this book, P.J. O'Rourke, reactionary and humorist,
articulates this strange new philosophy and shows us the progenitor of the species-namely himself-in action. O'Rourke visits the Lebanese civil war and the Marcos election campaign, sees
Russia through the bottom of a vodka bottle, examines sundry aspects of Western civilization such as the great bicycle menace and the history of the last fifteen minutes, and even explains
how to drive a pickup truck into the woods at sixty miles an hour. Mean, outrageous, and always funny, O'Rourke is, as Christopher Buckley has said, "S.J. Perelman on acid." P.J. O'ROURKE was the editor of the National Lampoon during the late 1970s. His work has since appeared in Playboy, Esquire, Car and Driver, Vanity Fair, Parade, and many other magazines. He is currently "investigative humorist" for Rolling Stone. |
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The connection between the book and Big Country is that the lead single (the "Republican Party Reptile" EP) for their fifth studio album, "No Place Like Home", in 1991 is named directly after the book.
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The primary links include:
Direct Musical Adaptation: Stuart Adamson and guitarist Bruce Watson co-wrote the track. They explicitly lifted the title from O'Rourke's essay collection to craft a satirical song about corrupt, self-serving politicians. Lyrical References: The lyrics pay direct homage to O'Rourke and his essays. The opening line of the song references him directly ("My cousin BJ gets crazy just as much as he can / A real party reptile..."). It also references themes from O'Rourke's most famous essay in that collection, "How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink," with lines like "But he drives faster than I ever did". |
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Adamson's Political Fascination: Stuart Adamson was a committed socialist, but he admitted in contemporary interviews to having a "helpless attraction" to the sheer, unapologetic hedonism of O'Rourke's
right-wing "party reptile" persona. Adamson noted that while he completely disagreed with the politics, he found the concept of a politician who just "wants to get wasted and laid and wants a career in politics as well"
fascinatingly brilliant.).
A Shift in Band Sound: Reflecting O'Rourke's Americana roots, this era marked a massive sonic shift for Big Country. The press reported that they had stepped away from their famous "bagpipe guitar" sound to embrace bluegrass and Americana influences. |
| The "Republican Party Reptile" EP ultimately peaked at No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1991. |