The Dickies - Eve of Destruction

Originally written for and rejected by The Byrds by one P.F. Sloan, "Eve of Destruction," which aimed for anthemic Cold War righteousness but landed closer to goofy, gloomy cheesiness, was first popularized by Barry McGuire and subsequently covered by scores of other artist, few of which succeeded in making it listenable. The Dickies did it best, in my opinion: playing at breakneck speed, slurring the half-baked Dylanisms of the lyrics into multi-syllabic and profanity-laced gibberish, and wrapping it all up in just over two minutes. Better yet, they often slotted it into their live set between theme songs from cartoons, further deflating the pretentious wind-baggery yet somehow still conveying the sense of impending catastrophe that perpetually looms over the head of our self-destructive, petty little race of monkeys.
Yeah, my blood's so mad feels like coagulatin'
I'm sitting here just contemplatin'