History Music / DeadKennedys

Their first single, "California Über Alles", was released in June 1979 on their Alternative Tentacles label. It was the song that [[ImageSong established]] their hallmarks: Ray's psycho-surf punk riffs, Biafra's biting, sarcastic lyrics (parodying California governor Jerry Brown as a hippie fascist) and a rejection of the StrictlyFormula loud-fast-short structure of hardcore punk. During their tour in support, they were invited to perform at the Bay Area Music Awards on 25 March 1980. In typical subversive fashion, the band started "California Über Alles" but stopped quickly and instead played the scathing "Pull My Strings", an attack on the music industry's practices.

* ShoutOut - To DrSeuss in "Holiday in Cambodia. ("You're a Star-Bellied Sneetch, you suck them like a leech, you want everyone to act like you.")

-->--"Pull My Strings"[[hottip:*:Considering they have a page here, the answer is apparently yes.]]

** As a measure of how the reunited DK "betrayed" their original ideals, at one of their shows in 2010 they played a rewritten version of "MTV - Get Off The Air" named "MP3 Get Off the Web".

* FanDumb - The ItsPopularNowItSucks kind gets blasted on "Do the Slag" and "Chickenshit Conformist".

** The song was later rewritten as "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now", with RonaldReagan as the new target. Later, Jello (accompanied by the Melvins) did a third version criticizing yet another California governor, ArnoldSchwarzenegger.

* ThePeteBest - Bruce Slesinger [a.k.a. "Ted"] on Drums and Carlos Cadona [a.k.a. "6025"] on Rhythm Guitar

* TakeThat - Boatloads.

* KillThePoor - Besides the TropeNamer, it's also implied in "The Great Wall" and "Shrink".

* ArtistDisillusionment - The band went through a big one after the HardcorePunk scene began to get increasingly violent and cliqueish, and it served as a factor in their decision to break up.

The same year, Jello Biafra ran for Mayor of San Francisco on a campaign that mixed serious proposals (banning cars within city limits in response to severe pollution problems, allowing neighbourhoods to elect police officers) with outlandish ones (forcing businessmen to wear clown suits), and using the commercial slogan "There's always room for Jello". He finished [[http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=130138 third with 3,79% of the votes]]. As he shared the ballot with a DragQueen candidate named Sister Boom Boom, the San Franciscan authorities responded by passing a law requiring all mayoral candidates in San Francisco to use their real names.

* ImTakingYouWithMe - "Gone With My Wind".

* TakeThat - natch.

* PoliceBrutality - "Police Truck" as well as "Goons Of Hazzard".

* SignatureSong: "Holiday in Cambodia" or "California Über Alles"

The Dead Kennedys were an important hardcore punk band from SanFrancisco, who became famous for aggressive songs and socially conscious, satirical lyrics.

The same year, Jello Biafra ran for Mayor of San Francisco on a campaign that mixed serious proposals (banning cars within city limits in response to severe pollution problems) with outlandish ones (forcing businessmen to wear clown suits), and using the commercial slogan "There's always room for Jello". He finished [[http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=130138 third with 3,79% of the votes]]. As he shared the ballot with a DragQueen candidate named Sister Boom Boom, the San Franciscan authorities responded by passing a law requiring all mayoral candidates in San Francisco to use their real names.

Dead Kennedys' first album, ''Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables'', was released in 1980, containing the famous songs "KillThePoor" and "HolidayInCambodia", plus a cover of "Viva Las Vegas". The album was a moderate chart success in the UK, boosted by the band's performances there. In May 1981 they issued the single "Too Drunk to Fuck", which reached #31 on the UK charts, giving radio programmers some headaches in the process.

* ShoutOut - To DrSuess in "Holiday in Cambodia. ("You're a Star-Bellied Sneetch, you suck them like a leech, you want everyone to act like you.")

The same year, Jello Biafra ran for Mayor of San Francisco on a campaign that mixed serious proposals (banning cars within city limits in response to severe pollution problems) with outlandish ones (forcing businessmen to wear clown suits), and using the commercial slogan "There's always room for Jello". He finished [[http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=130138 third with 3,79% of the votes]]. As he shared the ballot with a DragQueen candidate named Sister Boom Boom, the San Franciscan authorities responded by passing a law stating that all mayoral candidates in San Francisco must use their real names.

Dead Kennedys' first album, ''Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables'', was released in 1980, containing the famous songs "KillThePoor" and "HolidayInCambodia", plus a cover of "Viva Las Vegas". The album was a moderate chart success in the UK, boosted by the band's performances there. In May 1981 they issued the single "Too Drunk to Fuck", which reached #31 on the UK charts.

Around the same time, Jello Biafra ran for Mayor of San Francisco on a half-serious half-ironic campaign, and ended up in 4th place.

-->--"Pull My Strings"

* ThePeteBest - Bruce Slesinger [a.k.a. "Ted"] on Drums and Carlos Cadona [a.k.a. "6024"] on Rhythm Guitar

Jello Biafra went on to become a spoken word performer and political activist, sometimes also collaborating with other bands.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dkny.jpg
[[caption-width:341:Biafra, Ray, Flouride and Peligro]]

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth - So much.

* KillThePoor (Once the original name for NeutronBomb, has since come to be defined as ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin)