Trivia / Dead Kennedys

• Artist Disillusionment:
  • The band went through a big one after the Hardcore Punk scene began to get increasingly violent and cliqueish, and it served as a factor in their decision to break up. Several of the songs from Bedtime for Democracy ("Do the Slag", "Anarchy for Sale", "Chickenshit Conformist") address this.
  • "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" was written in response to how neo-nazis started to attend their shows following their first album, seemingly not realizing the satirical nature of songs like "Kill the Poor".
• Creator Breakdown: Bedtime for Democracy was influenced by both the band's legal battle over the Frankenchrist album cover and their growing disillusionment with the hardcore punk scene.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Jello wrote the lyrics of "I Kill Children" when he was 15, and has since been embarrassed by their bad quality.
  • Jello has since changed his mind on his anti-Jerry Brown lyrics in "California Über Alles", stating that he thought that Brown wasn't nearly as bad as his successors (especially Ronald Reagan).
• The Other Darrin: Brandon Cruz, Jeff Penalty, Ron Greer, Skip, etc.
• The Pete Best : Bruce Slesinger [a.k.a. "Ted"] on drums and Carlos Cadona [a.k.a. "6025"] on rhythm guitar. While 6025 was with the band for about eight months, he wrote seven songs with the band, five of which appeared on proper albums. Also, despite not being an official member by that time, he did play rhythm guitar on the studio version of "Ill In The Head". The lineup that included both Ted and 6025 can be heard on Live at the Deaf Club, a 2004 release of a 1979 live performance.
• Throw It In!: "Night of the Living Rednecks" is a live recording from a show in Portland from 1979, starting with the end of "Chemical Warfare". Jello announces "Ray's guitar broke!", then Flouride and Peligro improvise some bebop to cover for Ray fixing his guitar strings. Simultaneously, Jello starts telling the audience a story from the last time the band played in Portland, where he was walking on the street at night and nearly got arrested after a group of jocks drove by in a truck and squirted Jello with water. Jello retaliated by throwing a rock at the truck, and Jello locked himself in a phone booth until the cops showed up.

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