Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys
General information
origin	San Francisco (United States)
Genre (s)	Punk , hardcore punk
founding	1978
resolution	1986
Website	www.deadkennedys.com
Founding members
singing	Jello Biafra
guitar	East Bay Ray
Electric bass	Klaus Flouride
guitar	6025
Drums	Bruce Schlesinger aka. Ted
Last occupation
singing	Ron "Skip" Greer
guitar	East Bay Ray
bass	Klaus Flouride
Drums	DH Peligro

The Dead Kennedys ( English "the dead Kennedys " ) are a US punk band from San Francisco , California , which existed from 1978 to 1986. Since 2001 the band has existed without singer Jello Biafra . Her texts comment on the standpoints of left and right politics with biting humor , sometimes also quite offensive in their choice of words. Musically they combine the artistic elements of “classic” UK punk with the energy and speed of US punk rock . Singer Jello Biafra played an important role as a stepping stone for other groups with his label Alternative Tentacles .

history

Jello Biafra (2006)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables   UK 33  gold 09/13/1980 (6 weeks) Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death   UK 84  silver 07/04/1987 (2 weeks)

Singles

Kill the poor   UK 49 11/01/1980 (3 weeks) Too Drunk to Fuck   UK 36 05/30/1981 (6 weeks)

The Dead Kennedys (2009)

The Dead Kennedys formed in June 1978. The band consisted of Jello Biafra (singer), East Bay Ray (guitarist), Klaus Flouride (bassist) and Bruce Schlesinger aka. Ted (drummer). In the beginning the guitarist 6025 (Carlos Cadona) was also there, but he left the band a little later. They played some concerts in San Francisco and released their first single California About Everything on Alternative Tentacles in June 1979 . On their following tour along the US east coast, they shook up the local punk scene again with their energetic appearances, about which it had already become quieter there by then.

In the fall of 1980 they released their first LP , Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables . At the end of the year, the band split from drummer Ted for musical reasons and found a successor in DH Peligro. They toured the United States and Europe throughout the 1980s, creating a worldwide following in the underground scene. Their music, but especially their lyrics, attacked the religious right and Ronald Reagan with evil sarcasm . The band renounced the personality cult , withheld private information about the members and did not print any band photos on the album covers.

The release of the album Frankenchrist (1985) called the then newly founded Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) on the scene, and the organization sued the band in 1986 for distributing content harmful to minors to minors. It was about a poster with the drawing "Penis Landscape" by the Swiss artist HR Giger that was enclosed with the record . The prosecution called for each member of the band to be sentenced to one year in prison and a $ 20,000 fine. In 1987, charges against the band were dropped after a three-week trial. However, the album almost completely disappeared from record stores in the United States.

After the LP Bedtime for Democracy was released in late 1986, the Dead Kennedys declared themselves dissolved. Jello Biafra remained active in the punk movement, maintained the Alternative Tentacles label, founded the band Lard , among other things, and released a few spoken word albums.

The remaining part of the band, consisting of East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride and the owner of this label, DH Peligro, began a reunion tour under the name DK Kennedys in 2001 and replaced Biafra with the singer Brandon Cruz. On October 9, 2007, a best-of album called Milking the Sacred Cow was released. It includes two unreleased versions of Soup Is Good Food and Jock-O-Rama . Cruz 'successor Jeff Penalty left the band in March 2008. He was replaced by former Wynona Riders singer Ron "Skip" Greer.

reception

The song lines "Because they have you scheduled, you can do nothing else than get out and think" are quoted in the well-known short story Im Spiegel by Margret Steenfatt.

Die Toten Hosen released a cover version of the song California über alles in 2017 with Jello Biafra as a guest singer. This song is included on the Learning English Lesson 2 album .

Discography

The compilation Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death (Decay) offers an overview of the musical work of the Dead Kennedys , which contains well-known songs such as California über alles and Holiday in Cambodia , but also rare songs.

Albums

• 1980: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables ( Cherry Red Records )
• 1981: In God We Trust, Inc. ( EP , Alternative Tentacles , UK:gold)
• 1982: Plastic Surgery Disasters (Alternative Tentacles, UK:gold)
• 1983: A Skateboard Party (Live album, Starving Missile)
• 1985: Frankenchrist (Alternative Tentacles, UK:silver)
• 1986: Bedtime for Democracy (Alternative Tentacles, UK:silver)
• 1987: Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death ( Compilation , Alternative Tentacles, US:gold)
• 2001: Mutiny on the Bay (Live album, Manifesto)
• 2004: Live at the Deaf Club (Live album, Decay Music)
• 2007: Milking the Sacred Cow (compilation, manifesto)
• 2018: Iguana Studios Rehearsal Tape - San Francisco 1978 (test recordings, Manifesto)
• 2019: DK 40 (compilation of three live albums, Manifesto)

Singles

• 1979: California above everything
• 1980: Holiday in Cambodia
• 1980: Kill the Poor
• 1981: Nazi Punks Fuck Off!
• 1981: Too Drunk to Fuck
• 1982: Bleed for Me
• 1982: Halloween

Web links

Commons : Dead Kennedys  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Dead Kennedys at laut.de
• Dead Kennedys at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: UK
2. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US UK
3. ↑ Alex Ogg: California over everything. Ventil Verlag 2015, p. 170
4. ↑ Sterneck.net: The Dead Kennedys and the Nightmare. Retrieved October 5, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Jeff Penalty leaves the Dead Kennedys punknews.org of February 4, 2012
6. ↑ Margret Steenfatt: In the mirror. Quoted from: Praxis Sprach 9. Speaking - writing - reading. Edited by Wolfgang Menzel. Braunschweig 2007, p. 27.
7. ↑ Die Toten Hosen: "Learning English Lesson 2" tracklist, cover artwork and guests published . In: Rock Hard . Rock Hard Verlags- und Handels- GmbH, April 5, 2017, accessed on April 24, 2017 .