This just in... the members' REAL names...
East Bay Ray - Ray
Peppernell,
Klaus Flouride - Geoffrey Lyall, D.H. Peligro - Darren Henley, Jello Biafra -
Eric Boucher... Now, on to the feature presentation...
It all began when
East Bay Ray placed an ad in a music paper. It was responded to by non other
than Jello Biafra (Eric Boucher), who was seeking a job and wanted to be the
vocalist for the band.
They were soon joined by bassist Klaus Fluoride,
drummer Bruce Slesinger, and another guitarist known as 6025. He left in March
of '79 and Slesinger was replaced by D.H. Peligro in 1981.
The British
punk scene had yet to impact America fully, mainly because of the large size of
the country, compared to the much smaller England. Bands with little money
couldn't travel abroad. The Sex Pistols toured in late '77, but fell apart after
a show in San Francisco, and Biafra was there to witness the occasion. Fueled by
this and a trip to Britain in 1977, in the middle of full blown punk, Biafra
began to feel a need to spread it in the States. America was primed for punk,
aided with the unique culture of the time. The Dead Kennedys played their first
performance in July 1978, and that set a precedent for what was to come. It was
clear from the start that the Dead Kennedys were not your average band. Biafra's
lyrical themes were mainly poltical, attacking the Government under the control
of Ronald Reagan, the Klan, big business, and such. All songs had a glorious
sense of sarcasm, from "Let's Lynch the Landlord" to "Chemical Warfare". The
band remained special, backed up by the incredible way that Biafra sang, truly,
never has been duplicated, and the strong political viewpoints of the band. But
they weren't just talk. Most notably was Biafra's run for mayor of San Francisco
in 1979. This began as a prank, but turned into a serious campaign, where he
received the votes of those that were fed up with the current candidates. Key
platforms included the clown suit wearing of business men, and, remarkably, he
placed fourth out of ten. Imagine what the bottom six felt
like.
Obviously, even the name of the band was designed to offend people,
or at least gain notice. To the delight of the band, they got the attention of
far right groups, which led to problems, namely they're difficult relationship
with authorities, and the abundance of police at typical concerts. (Don't the
police have anything better to do? They probably thought moshes were riots in
the makings.)
The Dead Kennedys formed their own label, Alternative
Tentacles, headed by Biafra, in 1979 to publish their releases. Some of their
works were put out on independent labels like Fast and Cherry Red. "California
�ber Alles" of 1979 was their first- an attack on Jerry Brown, the then Governor
of California. "Holiday in Cambodia" of June, 1980 was the band's breakthrough
song, a momement of definition that made them stand out, a mix of hilarious
lyrics and evil sounding music. "Kill The Poor" and "Too Drunk to Fuck", 1980
and 1981, completed the quartet of singles that are compared to the most
important early punk records.
With the release of Fresh Fruit for Rotting
Vegetables in September 1980, the band toured Britain, now desperate for
something new in the punk scene. Biafra also used this as a time to introduce
stage diving to British audiences.
During each of the band's three visits
to the United Kingdom, they took part in a series of interviews that presented
that sharp intellects were behind the intentionally harsh and crude smokescreen.
The brutality was taken further with In God We Trust Inc. of December 1981.
Other punk bands could no longer compete with their unintelligent style, and the
focus was brought upon other bands like Black Flag and the like in the
US.
In November one year later a new album was released, Plastic Surgery
Disasters, the band's overall best collection of songs, marked by its wit and
satire, and brought surprises, like Fluoride on the clarinet. They played the US
and toured Australia and New Zealand, but remained quiet in the UK until 1985,
broken by the release of Frankenchrist, an LP that would eventually lead to the
band's end. It showed once more the band's profound ability to annoy people,
caused by the inclusion of the infamous "Penis Landscape" poster by H.R. Giger.
(The Swiss must be a little more tolerant.) At the time, only Klaus raised the
question of whether there would be some backlash, but Biafra continued at the
time, saying "What do you mean, this is 1985, why would anybody be that dumb?
Nobody prosecutes people over things like that anymore. . ."
The
San Fransisco police raided his residence and tore it apart, and Biafra, head of
Alternative Tentacles, chose to take his charge of "Distributing Harmful
Material to Minors" to court instead of paying a $2,000 fine and spending a year
in prison. Surprisingly, considering the long trial, the band managed to produce
"Bedtime for Democracy", but it was clear that the band was losing its edge.
Biafra was acquitted, but the whole incident, not to mention the lack of support
from the music industry (Except Frank Zappa. . .), caused the band to fall
apart, and they each split their seperate ways. Klaus made some bizarre releases
himself, Ray has a recording project called Scrapyard, and Peligro has a new
band and album called Peligro. Biafra went into the world of spoken word, and
collaborated with DOA, NoMeansNo, and a country album with Mojo Nixon (Praire Home Invasion), as well as a new band, Lard, formed with with former
members of Ministry (Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker), most
recently.
Released in 1987, Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death is a
good collection of songs, including some of the early recordings and a mix of
odds and ends. Assured a place in music history, with their impact on bands to
come, the Dead Kennedys left their mark. As I analyze, the idea behind the band
was brilliant. Superficially, the Dead Kennedys were designed to shock and most
importantly get attention, from the name to the seemingly evil lyrics. Once
attention was gained, some would just be ignorant and persecute them, but others
would begin to look into the band. Once you read into the lyrics, you realize
that this band isn't just a bunch of vulgar loud-mouths, but that there was some
substance to them. The were speaking out politically, and they had found an
audience on so many different levels.
Text
courtesy of www.dead-kennedys.com. |
