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Dead Kennedys formed in San Francisco, California in June 1978, when East Bay Ray (Raymond Pepperell) advertised for bandmates after seeing a ska-punk show at the Mabuhay Gardens. They were heavily influenced by the bands they saw there. The original DK lineup consisted of Jello Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher) on vocals, East Bay Ray on guitar, Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall) on bass, and 6025 (Carlos Cadona) on drums. This lineup recorded their first demos. In early July, the band wanted a more experienced drummer, so they recruited Ted (Bruce Slesinger). Drummer 6025 left the band, but he was invited back as second guitarist. Their first show was on July 19, 1978, at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, California.Their music mixed the more experimental elements of British 1970s punk with the raw energy of the 1980s American hardcore punk scene.
Dead Kennedys' songs mixed deliberately shocking lyrics with satirical and sarcastic criticism of social and political issues of the Reagan era. Their name was not meant to insult the assassinated Kennedy brothers, but to quote Biafra, "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream". In June 1979, the band released their first single, "California Über Alles", on the Alternative Tentacles label. In early 1980, they recorded and released "Holiday in Cambodia". Later that year, the band released their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. It reached #33 in the UK Albums Chart. In January 1981, Ted announced that he wanted to leave to pursue a career in architecture, his replacement was D.H. Peligro (Darren Henley).
1981's In God We Trust, Inc. EP saw them moving toward full on hardcore/thrash. In addition to the EP's controversial artwork depicting a gold Christ figure on a cross of dollar bills, the lyrics contained Biafra's most biting social and political commentary yet. The following year (1982) they released a full album, Plastic Surgery Disasters. The album's cover (won the 1980 World Press Photo) features a withered starving African child's hand being held and dwarfed by a white man's hand. Musicwise the band had evolved much in a short time, moving away from hardcore formulas toward a more innovative jazz-informed style, featuring musicianship and dynamics far beyond other bands in the genre. By now the group had become a de-facto political force, pitting itself against rising elements of American social and political life such as the religious right, Ronald Reagan and the idle rich.
While they continued to play live shows during 1983 and 1984, they took a break from releasing new records to concentrate on the Alternative Tentacles record label, which would become synonymous with DIY alternative culture. The release of the album Frankenchrist in 1985 showed the band had grown in terms of musical proficiency and lyrical maturity. While there were still a number of loud/fast songs, much of the music featured an eclectic mix of instruments including trumpets and synthesizers. However, the band got embroiled in an obscenity trial in the US over the artwork of their album, Frankenchrist, which included the explicit titular subject of H. R. Giger's Penis Landscape. The band was charged with distribution of harmful matter to minors, but the trial ended with a hung jury. Nevertheless it all but ruined their recordlabel Alternative Tentakels and all so unnecessary 12 years earlier the album by E.L P. - Brain Salad Surgery had basicly the same poster added together with more wonderful album artwork by Giger..presedence like that should have thrown the case out or possibly kept the band from using it...
The Frankenchrist album got shunned by the shops fearful of recieving lawsuits..it hastened the end for the Dead Kennedys. In addition to the obscenity lawsuit and being ignored by the mainstream media (MTV and most radio stations gave such groups scant notice, not to mention airplay), the band became increasingly disillusioned with the "underground" as well. The band continued to work on songs, with Biafra penning songs such as "Chickenshit Conformist" and "Anarchy for Sale", which articulated their feelings about the "dumbing down" of punk rock. During the summer they recorded these songs for their final album, Bedtime for Democracy, which was released in November. The artwork, depicting a defaced Statue of Liberty overrun with Nazis, media, opportunists, Klan members, corrupt government officials, and religious zombies, echoed the idea that the punk scene was no longer a safe haven for "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". In December, the band announced their split
Dead Kennedys released five studio albums before officially disbanding in 1986. In 2001, the band reformed without original singer Jello Biafra, who had been in a legal dispute with the other members over royalties. The band will played three dates in October 2010. On one of the dates, they debuted two of their first new songs since 1986, "Area 51" and "You're Such a Fake".Since the dissolution of Dead Kennedys, Biafra has continued to collaborate and record with other artists, including Lard, Mojo Nixon, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, and The Melvins, and has gone on to be a spoken word performer, covering political topics in particular.
Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death (86 119mb)
01. Police Truck 2:23
02.Too Drunk To Fuck 2:38
03. California Über Alles 3:26
04. The Man With The Dogs 3:01
05. Insight 1:38
06. Life Sentence 2:38
07. A Child And His Lawnmower 0:54
08. Holiday In Cambodia 3:43
09. I Fought The Law 2:17
10. Saturday Night Holocaust 4:22
11. Pull My Strings 5:53
12. Short Songs 0:20
13. Straight A's 2:05
14. Kinky Sex Makes The World Go 'Round 4:17
15. The Prey 3:44
16. Night Of The Living Rednecks 5:10
17. Buzzbomb From Pasadena 2:20
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