Who else loved the band DEAD KENNEDYS as much as me? These guys were extremely important to me while I was growing up... the lyrics were great and Biafra was largely responsible for helping me think about things in a different way, rather than being brainwashed by society and media. The music was fresh and exciting... still punk, but VERY different than any other punk band... Dead Kennedys were a truly original and important band.

I will write more about this later...

Dead Kennedys Bio:
---

DEAD KENNEDYS were one of the most popular and important American hardcore punk bands of the late '70s/early '80s. They formed in San Francisco in 1978 when EAST BAY RAY placed an ad in a music paper that vocalist JELLO BIAFRA responded to. They were soon joined by bassist KLAUS FLOURIDE, drummer TED and a second guitarist known to posterity simply as 6025. The latter departed in March 1979, while Ted was replaced at the very end of 1980 by D.H. PELIGRO.

After a brief rehearsal period, Dead Kennedys played their first gig at Mabuhay Gardens in July 1978. The "Fab Mab" was a Filipino restaurant in San Francisco's North Beach section that served as a home to punk bands for nearly ten years. It wasn't too long before the band gained a considerable following around San Francisco. Live, DKs were a combination of chaos and theatrics. Their sound could be described as a cross between the Sex Pistols and the Ventures.

Dead Kennedys' early success led them to record their first single, "California Über Alles," in 1979, a blistering attack on the then governor of California, Jerry Brown. It was released on their own label in the USA, Alternative Tentacles Records, set up by East Bay Ray. That single was later issued in Britain on the indie label Fast Products. "Holiday in Cambodia" (1980) followed and is perhaps the band's definitive moment - a perfect mix of hilarious yuppie-baiting lyrics and evil-sounding music. Almost as essential were "Kill the Poor" (1980) and "Too Drunk to Fuck" (remarkably, a British Top 40 single in 1981) and the debut LP, FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES (1980). That LP went on to be awarded a Gold Record in Britain.

Underpinned by an acute sense of humor, early songs such as "Let's Lynch the Landlord," "I Kill Children" and "Chemical Warfare" satirized the twin elements of extreme violence and conservatism that characterize much of American life. Dead Kennedys' inflammatory name and provocative behavior (in one 1979 prank, Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco - and came in fourth) attracted the attention of a number of far-right politico-religious groups. The band's problems with these self-appointed moral guardians were compounded by a confrontational relationship with US authorities, ensuring an aggressive police presence at most of their gigs. But the band continued to expand their audience by playing at a mix of underground venues in different corners of the USA and Canada. They did their first British tour in late 1980, which established the band there as a figurehead for an audience long deprived of the Pistols, Biafra stage-diving to great enthusiasm. Dead Kennedys went on to tour worldwide, covering the continents of North America, Europe and Australia.

The eight-track EP, IN GOD WE TRUST, INC. (1981), took things further, boasting a speed and power that left most reviewers nonplussed and contemporaries trailing. The EP included a wild cover of "Rawhide" and "Nazi Punks, Fuck Off," an anti-violence paean. The band then changed musical gears again when the PLASTIC SURGERY DISASTERS appeared in late 1982. Possibly their best album, this fine collection of songs retained the trademark savagery and satire, but the musical content had diversified, even including such unexpected moments as Klaus Flouride playing clarinet. Featured were the singles "Bleed for Me" and "Halloween," and it also included "Moon Over Marin," as close as Dead Kennedys ever came to a ballad, albeit with anti-pollution lyrics. After two years of touring, where they performed all over North America, Europe and Australia, the more melodic FRANKENCHRIST (1985) appeared, marked by a frantic sense of desperation that reflected America's increasingly right-wing political landscape and with songs like "MTV Get Off the Air." As ever, the group ran into controversy, this time with the LP's accompanying poster, "Penis Landscape," by Swiss artist H. R. Giger. Detailing several rows of copulating genitalia, it provoked a legal offensive against the band beginning in April 1986. As well as having his flat torn apart by the police, Biafra was charged with "distributing harmful matter to minors," a charge which he repulsed on the basis of the First Amendment right to free speech and which was dismissed the following year. But before the controversy, the band had already decided to disband in January 1986 and to complete the recording of BEDTIME FOR DEMOCRACY, which was released later that year. The band rocked as tight as ever, with Ray's voodoo/surf guitar, Flouride's thumping bass and Peligro's skin bashing providing the perfect "sturm und drang" for Biafra's words.

Dead Kennedys played their last show in March of 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they began. GIVE ME CONVENIENCE OR GIVE ME DEATH, a fantastic collection of their classic early singles and B sides, rare tracks and compilation tracks, was released in 1987.

Adapted from THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ROCK biography by Andy Lewis.

Thanks Ice, but since you're a healthy boy, I guess they didn't influence you too much:

Author: Dead Kennedys
Song: Too Drunk To Fuck

Went to a party
I danced all night
I drank 16 beers (it's for bkw hehe)
And I started up a fight

But now I am jaded
You're out of luck
I'm rolling down the stairs
Too drunk to fuck

Too drunk to fuck
Too drunk to fuck
Too drunk, to fuck
I'm too drunk, too drunk, too drunk
To fuck

I like your stories
I love your gun
Shooting out truck tires
Sounds like loads and loads of fun

But in my room
Wish you were dead
You ball like the baby
In Eraserhead

Too drunk to fuck
Too drunk to fuck
Too drunk, to fuck
It's all I need right now
Too drunk to fuck

Too drunk to fuck
Too drunk to fuck
Too drunk, to fuck
I'm sick soft gooey and cold
Too drunk to fuck

I'm about to drop
My head's a mess
The only salvation is
I'll never see you again

You give me head
It makes it worse
Take out your fuckin' retainer
Put it in your purse

I'm too drunk to fuck
You're to drunk to fuck
Too drunk to fuck
It's all I need right now Oh baby
I'm melting like an ice cream bar
Oh baby

And now I got diarrhea
Too drunk to fuck
Yeah, Yeah
Yeah, Yeah
Yeah, Yeah
Oooohhh

Yes! The DK's still get lots of play time in my Cd player after all these years. I still have the original Cherry Red vinyl album of Fresh Fruit with the photo on the back that shows the heads of the band.
Remember Claus Fluoride's first solo effort Cha Cha Cha?
How about the DH Peligro project Jungle Studs? DH was in the Chili Peppers for a while too. I have most of Jello's spoken word albums too. I am now in the process of purchasing the remastered CDs that came out just recently.


Take your social regulations and shove them up your ass...
[This message was edited Sat Jul 27 3:46:10 PDT 2002 by squirrelgrease]

jnoel said:

As you know, this song was making fun of people who engage in that particular activity and was totally sarcastic. There were a number of classic songs like that from Dead Kennedys.

Another great one was "A Child and His Lawnmower:"

Some clown in Sacramento was dragged into court
He shot his lawnmower
It disobeyed, it wouldn't start
Might makes right, it's the American way
They fined him $60 and sent him on his way

You know some people don't take no shit
Maybe if they did they'd have half a brain left

squirrelgrease said:

I have that old "Fresh Fruit" vinyl too! That one is hard to find now.

I never found out why Peligro left the RHCP either... wasn't he in the video for some song on "Mother's Milk" or something like that?

By the way, Jello Biafra doesn't get any of the proceeds from the re-mastered discs... his name has been removed from the writing credits for some reason and they have re-formed with a different singer... In short, the other members of Dead Kennedys have sold-out.

Jello was the heart and soul of the Dead Kennedys... how can they possibly think that they can call the band Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra?!!!

heh Too Drunk to fuck is ill, Butthole Surfers did a good cover too. MTV get off the Air kicked ass too,
By the way, I"m just thinking how their 'Kinky sex makes the world go round' is so relevant now.

"PLASTIC SURGERY DISASTERS ", someone could cover this one..
Is there a connection musically between Dead Kennedys & Seattle's grunge which emerged in the early 90s?

Hell Yeah.

[/quote]


I have that old "Fresh Fruit" vinyl too! That one is hard to find now.

I never found out why Peligro left the RHCP either... wasn't he in the video for some song on "Mother's Milk" or something like that?

By the way, Jello Biafra doesn't get any of the proceeds from the re-mastered discs... his name has been removed from the writing credits for some reason and they have re-formed with a different singer... In short, the other members of Dead Kennedys have sold-out.

Jello was the heart and soul of the Dead Kennedys... how can they possibly think that they can call the band Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra?!!![/quote]

I know that Jello does not get royalties from the new stuff.
I want better sound and the other band members gave me that.
He had an issue about the band members wanting to sell a song for a commercial, which I can agree with. But these discs needed to be remastered and have a better distribution system than he could provide. Trust me, Jello has received a lot of cash from me over the years. I buy CDs like No Means No, Causey Way, Comps, Iowaska, The Farts, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Wesley Willis, etc. All on Alternative Tentacles.

I think DH left the Peppers before Mother's Milk. I think that he just toured.

some bastards vote 0 to this thread

jnoel said:

It really doesn't matter... I don't understand why anyone votes on threads in the first place...

At least this thread is in the proper forum.