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Dead Kennedys from their live
appearance with "Pull my Strings"
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Dead Kennedys: is an American hardcore punk rock band formed Jun. 1978, San Francisco, USA, and disbanded in 1986. Members: East Bay Ray (aka Raymond John Pepperell Jr. [birth name], guitar), Klaus Flouride (aka Geoffrey V. Lyall [birth name], bass), Jello Biafra (aka Eric Reed Boucher [birth name], vocals), DH Peligro (aka Darren Eric Henley [birth name], drums, 1981-1986). This was the original or longest living line-up. Some members played shortly at the formation or on the first album only, and a bunch of other members have played under the name of Dead Kennedys from 2001. Other members: Ted (aka Bruce Mitchell Slesinger [birth name], drums, 1978-81), 6025 (guitar, 1978-79), Ron 'Skip' Greer (vocals, 2008-present), Brandon Cruz (vocals, 2001-03), Jeff Penalty [Jeff Alulis] (vocals, 2003-08). The band's name apparently (according to Biafra) hints at the American dream, as a poignant reference to its end (i.e. it died with the Kennedys), as opposed of being an insult against former Presidents. The band became known for its hardcore style with fast tempo and for the satirical lyrics of Jello Biafra, as well as being a band who criticized American culture, its influence around the world, US policy and (the Reagan) administration, and especially the moral majority of a primarily god-trusting America. Biafra may have been influenced by the satire of Frank Zappa and others but the band was a conglomerate of British and American anarcho-punk. The band released a total of four full-length studio albums, one ep, and two live albums. Biafra and the band raged against general consumerism, all religious beliefs, the American dream as such, and greed. Ironically, the original band members dragged Jello Biafra (the band's vocalist) through a lawsuit as they thought they weren't paid enough money in royalties and also wanted their share for publishing rights. Biafra had founded and owned the record label Alternative Tentacles that had issued all their material. Eventually, Biafra lost the case and the remaining band members reformed Dead Kennedys (and are probably still performing), naturally, without Biafra. It seemed almost absurd as the new formation released a new best of album titled
Milking the Sacred Cow (!) (2007), explicitly as an attempt to profit even more. After the split in 1986, Biafra went on to release a number of spoken word albums, and he became involved in national politics. Actually, he had run for mayor of San Francisco in 1979, and in 2000 he became a member of the Green Party for which he has been engaged in several campaigns since then. Musically, he has worked and released collaboration albums with other artists, e.g. The Melvins, NoMeansNo, Offspring, D.O.A., Mojo Nixon, and he is/was co-founder and member of the industrial metal band Lard (1988-). Dead Kennedys was one of my top favourite punk bands back in the 1980s, and I have never really stopped listening to the old albums. For me, DK, alongside The Ramones (who is foen said to have started punk rock in the first place), is the best American punk band ever.
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The Dead Kennedys logo
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