demetre Review of Everything You Know Is Wrong

Everything You Know Is Wrong (1975)

forget the film, get the record

[6 December 2006]

So much of the magic surrounding the recording has to do with the listener imagining how the unfolding events might appear. But the process is severely diminished by this clumsy, low-budget film. How could they hope to portray an RV full of nudists turning into crows, a group of cruise goers being transformed into aliens, and an apocalyptic stunt cycle-rider leading the human race into extinction? Don't get me wrong, I love these guys. When my high school friends were all going crazy for Monty Python, I was searching for used, out-of-print Firesign Theatre albums. "Everything You Know is Wrong" is still my favorite. Before mainstream culture had embraced alien abductions, new age spirituality, or counter-culture historical revisionism, FST was satirizing it all. The genre of the radio broadcast has never risen above their achievements, but the movie sucks.