Dead Kennedys

A San Francisco punk band formed in 1978 around Jello Biafra's satirical lyrics, who made one landmark debut, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, and three more studio albums before ending in 1986.

Origin: San Francisco, California, United States
Years active: 1978-1986, 2001-present
Genres: punk rock, hardcore punk
Labels: Optional Music, Cherry Red, I.R.S., Alternative Tentacles, Manifesto
Also known as: DK Kennedys, The DKs

San Francisco, 1978

Dead Kennedys formed in June 1978, when the guitarist East Bay Ray, born Raymond Pepperell, advertised for bandmates in the newspaper The Recycler. The first line-up was Ray, the bassist Klaus Flouride, the singer Jello Biafra, the drummer Ted and the rhythm guitarist 6025. They played their first show on 19 July 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco. Because of the provocative name, they sometimes played under pseudonyms, including The Creamsicles and The Pink Twinkies. That November the San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote that they would play Mabuhay Gardens on the 15th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Ray said later that the name was an homage to the American Dream.

6025 left in March 1979. In June 1979 the band put out its first single, California Über Alles, a satire sung from the point of view of California's governor Jerry Brown.

Fresh Fruit

In 1980 came a second single, Holiday in Cambodia, backed with Police Truck. The band recorded their debut album in June and Cherry Red released Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables that September. It reached number 33 on the UK albums chart. The cover photograph shows police cars burning during the White Night riots of 1979, and Kill the Poor opens it. Jon Young of Trouser Press called it possibly the only legitimate companion piece to the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, while Robert Christgau gave it a C plus in 1981.

Ted left in February 1981 to pursue architecture and was replaced by D. H. Peligro. That May the band released Too Drunk to Fuck, which reached number 36 in the UK despite a radio ban from the BBC.

Harder and stranger

Peligro's first record was the EP In God We Trust, Inc. (1981), a faster set that included Nazi Punks Fuck Off and a rewrite of the first single aimed at Ronald Reagan. Plastic Surgery Disasters followed in 1982, recorded in San Francisco in June and still Biafra's favorite of their albums. They kept touring across the United States, Europe and Australia, and released most of their records on Alternative Tentacles, the label Biafra and Ray had founded. The artist Winston Smith, who created the band's logo, also made cover artwork for this record, the EP before it, Frankenchrist and Bedtime for Democracy.

Frankenchrist (1985) was slower and longer, with trumpets and synthesizers, and it came with a poster of H. R. Giger's Landscape XX. The poster led to Biafra being tried for distributing harmful matter to minors. The case ended with a hung jury, split 7 to 5 for acquittal, and Alternative Tentacles was almost driven to bankruptcy. Around the time of the album, Flouride also released an experimental solo EP, Cha Cha Cha With Mr. Flouride, and the band kept poking fun at mainstream America in songs such as Jock-O-Rama (Invasion of the Beef Patrol).

The end and after

Their last studio album, Bedtime for Democracy, opens with a cover of David Allan Coe's Take This Job and Shove It, and the original line-up split in 1986. After the split Biafra went on running Alternative Tentacles and recorded with other acts, including D.O.A., NoMeansNo, Lard and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, as well as releasing spoken-word albums. Ray, Flouride and Peligro also made solo records, and in 2001 they re-formed Dead Kennedys without Biafra, with a series of other singers, and have kept touring. Peligro died on 28 October 2022.

Manifesto issued a remix of Fresh Fruit by Chris Lord-Alge in 2022, with essays by Billie Joe Armstrong and Dave Grohl, and in December 2023 the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album gold for 500,000 US copies. Biafra said anyone wanting to hear it at its best probably already had. Bands the group has influenced include System of a Down, Green Day, Bad Religion and Slayer.

Members

Jello Biafra vocals (1978-1986)
East Bay Ray guitar (1978-1986, 2001-present)
Klaus Flouride bass, backing vocals (1978-1986, 2001-present)
Ted drums (1978-1981)
6025 rhythm guitar (1978-1979)
D. H. Peligro drums (1981-1986, 2001-2022)

Records

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables 1980 · Cherry Red
The 1980 debut: fourteen songs of political satire in about half an hour, from Kill the Poor to Viva Las Vegas.
In God We Trust, Inc. 1981 · ep · Alternative Tentacles
The 1981 EP and Peligro's first record: eight short songs, a Reagan-era rewrite of the first single and a Rawhide cover to close.
Plastic Surgery Disasters 1982 · Alternative Tentacles
The 1982 second album, darker and more hardcore than the debut, with a famine photograph on the cover.
Frankenchrist 1985 · Alternative Tentacles
The 1985 third album: horns, synthesizers and slower songs, packaged with the Giger poster that brought a trial.
Bedtime for Democracy 1986 · Alternative Tentacles
The 1986 final studio album, opening with a cover of Take This Job and Shove It.

Songs

California Über Alles Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables · 1979
The debut single, a satire of Governor Jerry Brown sung from his own point of view.
Holiday in Cambodia Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables · 1980
The 1980 single that satirizes privileged Western students against the backdrop of the Khmer Rouge.
Kill the Poor Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables · 1980
The opening track of the debut album, a satire in which the elite use neutron bombs on the poor to preserve property.
Too Drunk to Fuck 1981
The 1981 single whose title kept it off the BBC and still took it to number 36 in the UK.
Police Truck 1980
The B-side of Holiday in Cambodia, a surf-rock satire told from the point of view of the police.
Nazi Punks Fuck Off In God We Trust, Inc. · 1981
A 1981 single from the In God We Trust, Inc. sessions that came with an anti-Nazi armband.

Jello Biafra, Melvins, Bad Religion, Descendents, Sex Pistols

Where to go next

Official

Dead Kennedys official site The band's own site with member profiles, music, history and tour news.
Alternative Tentacles The label founded by Biafra and East Bay Ray that released most of the band's records.

Reference

Dead Kennedys on Wikipedia Band history, line-up changes and the discography.
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables on Wikipedia Credits, cover story, release variations and critical reception for the debut album.

Writing and criticism

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables reissue review Pitchfork's 2005 review of the 25th anniversary edition.
25th Anniversary Edition review PopMatters on the 2005 reissue and its documentary DVD.
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables review A 2006 Tiny Mix Tapes review of the debut.
Consumer Guide, May 4, 1981 Robert Christgau's contemporary capsule review of the debut.
Fresh Fruit achieves gold status after 43 years San Francisco Chronicle on the 2023 RIAA gold certification.
Dead Kennedys announce 40th anniversary reissue Pitchfork on the 2022 Chris Lord-Alge remix and its essays.
D.H. Peligro, Dead Kennedys Drummer, Dies at 63 Pitchfork's October 2022 report with a short biography of the drummer.
Dead Kennedys in the West Literary Hub excerpt on the band in 1970s San Francisco, with interviews.

Sources

Dead Kennedys, Wikipedia
Dead Kennedys official site, Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys in the West, Literary Hub
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (reissue review), Pitchfork (2005-11-09)
Consumer Guide, May 4, 1981, Robert Christgau (1981-05-04)
Dead Kennedys' punk classic Fresh Fruit achieves gold status after 43 years, San Francisco Chronicle (2023-12-18)
D.H. Peligro, Dead Kennedys Drummer, Dies at 63, Pitchfork (2022-10-29)