Jello Biafra>>>vocals...
East Bay Ray>>>guitars...
Klaus Floride>>>bass...
D.H. Peligro>>>drums
Biafra (vocals; born Eric Boucher) formed the Dead Kennedys in 1978 in San Francisco; the other members included guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride, and drummer Ted (born Bruce Slesinger). The band played locally for the first two years of their career, occasionally venturing outside the Bay Area. Within a year, the band released their first independent single, "California Uber Alles," an attack on the then-current governor, Jerry Brown. It was followed shortly afterward by their second single, "Holiday in Cambodia." In 1979, Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco; he finished fourth. By this time, the band had become quite popular in both the American and British underground. Finally, in 1980, the band released their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables on IRS Records. After its release, Ted left the band; he was replaced by drummer Darren H. Peligro.

Following the release of Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables , the Dead Kennedys formed their own independent record label, Alternative Tentacles, in 1981. The first release on the label was the Kennedy's EP, In God We Trust. That same year, the single "Too Drunk to Fuck" scraped the bottom of Britain's pop Top 40, despite being banned from airplay. In 1982, the Kennedys released their second full-length album, Plastic Surgery Disasters. After its release, the band took a hiatus, during which band members -- most notably Klaus Flouride -- performed with various side projects. During that time, Alternative Tentacles began to establish itself as a major force in the American underground.
The Dead Kennedys returned in 1985 with Frankenchrist , which was the record that earned the band its greatest notoriety. Included with the album was a poster of the Swiss artist H.R. Giger's Landscape #XX, a garish illustration of penises and anuses. A year after the release of the album, the Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles were prosecuted under revised Californian anti-obscenity laws for distributing pornography to minors because of the poster. For the next two years, the band was embroiled in a bitter legal battle, during which Biafra emerged as one of the most articulate advocates for free speech and vocal opponents of the PMRC. In the summer of 1987, the case ended with a hung jury and was dismissed.

Although the Dead Kennedys emerged victorious from the court battle, they didn't remain a band for much longer. Just before the prosecution began in 1986, the band released Bedtime for Democracy , which turned out to be their last official album. After the case was settled, the Kennedys split, releasing the posthumous compilation Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death in 1987. Biafra embarked on a solo career, releasing musical and spoken word recordings sporadically over the next decade and a half. Flouride returned to his fledgling solo career, releasing two albums in the late '80s and early '90s.
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