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Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys were one of the mainly popular and significant American hardcore punk musical bands of the period around late 1970's and early 1980's. The band formed in 1978 when EAST BAY RAY placed an advertisement in a local music paper. Vocalist JELLO BIAFRA was the first to respond to it, and they both formed the band. Very soon they were joined by bassist KLAUS FLOURIDE, the famous drummer TED and then by a second guitarist who was known to posterity simply by the number 6025. The latter died in March 1979, and then Ted was replaced at the end of year 1980 by D.H.PELIGRO.
After a brief stint with rehearsals, the Dead Kennedys played their first performance in July 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. Serving as a hub for punk bands for nearly ten years was the "Fab Mab" which was a Filipino bistro in San Francisco's North Beach section. Not too long after that the band gained a substantial following in and around San Francisco. DKs, a short form for dead Kennedys, were a combination of theatrics and chaos. Their sound can be somewhat described as a cross between the Ventures and the Sex Pistols.
The band's early success led dead Kennedy's to record their very first single, "California Über Alles," in the year 1979. It was meant to be a sweltering attack on Jerry Brown, the then governor of California. The album was released on the band's own label in the United States of America, Alternative Tentacles Records. The label was set up by East Bay Ray. The single was later released in United Kingdom on the indie label, Fast Products. Following that in year 1980 was "Holiday in Cambodia" and was perhaps the band's most definitive moment. It was a perfect mix of hilarious lyrics and evil sounding music. Similarly famous were their later albums "Kill the Poor" in the year 1980 and "Too Drunk to Fuck" (which was a British Top 40 single) in the year 1981. The debut LP, FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES in the year 1980 was also very successful and went on to be awarded with a Gold Record in Britain.
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Although underpinned by an acute sense of humor, the early songs of the band such as "Let's Lynch the Landlord" and "I Kill Children" satirized on the twin elements of extreme aggression and conservatism that typify much of a normal American life. The band's inflammatory name and offensive behavior managed to attract the attention of a number of people and groups. 
