A punk flips Kirk "the bird."
"I Hate You" was a punk rock song which was known on planet Earth in its year 1986. A rider on a San Francisco bus was playing this song at an excessive volume when he was neck pinched by Spock, a Vulcan time-traveler from the 23rd century, attempting to control the decibel level the bus's passengers were experiencing. The passengers were grateful. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Lyrics
Just where is our future, the things we've done and said!
Let's just push the button, we'd be better off dead!
'Cause I hate you!
And I berate you!
And I can't wait to get to you!
The sins of all our fathers, being dumped on us – the sons.
The only choice we're given is how many megatons?
And I eschew you!
And I say, screw you!
And I hope you're blue, too.
We're all bloody worthless,...
Background
According to the movie credits, the song was performed by the obscure band Edge of Etiquette (so obscure, in fact, that it is rather difficult to find anything about them, except that they did this song). The punk on the bus who flipped Kirk "the bird" was played by Star Trek IV associate producer Kirk Thatcher.
The lyrics were also written by Kirk Thatcher, and arranged by Mark Mangini. A game card, from the Star Trek Customizable Card Game released by Decipher, excerpted the lyrics of the song. Thatcher had complained that the music previously selected would not have been an accurate representative to what a 1980s punk would listen to, and offered to write "I Hate You" instead. The song was also heard in the 1987 Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party comedy Back To The Beach.
The reason Edge of Etiquette is so obscure is because they only existed for about a day and a half after the movie had gone into post-production. Thatcher provided the vocals as well as the lyrics for the song. The rest of the band was made up of a couple of guys from the sound department, including Mark Mangini, who turned the tune Thatcher had in mind for the song into something that could be played.
To achieve an "authentic" gritty punk sound they moved into the hallway of the sound studio where the post-production sound work was being done in order to record the song. They also used the lowest quality microphones and instruments they had available to enhance the illusion that the song had been recorded live at a punk club.
This was the only time Edge of Etiquette ever recorded anything or played anywhere. There is no recording of the song available for purchase anywhere. There are copies of the original recording floating around the internet. No royalties or licensing fees of any kind were ever paid to anyone for the use of the song "I Hate You" in Star Trek IV. Thatcher did get some royalties when the song was later used in the movie Back To The Beach, but the song was not included on the film's soundtrack album. [1]