Dead Kennedys: Jello Biafra hospitalized after suffering a stroke

Jello Biafra, singer and founder of the Dead Kennedys, has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke. The news was announced by his record label, Alternative Tentacles, which released a statement with updates on the condition of the American musician, now sixty-seven years old.

In the statement, the label explained: "On Saturday, March 7, Jello Biafra suffered a hemorrhagic stroke caused by hypertension. He is currently in the hospital, but his condition is stable. On behalf of the Alternative Tentacles family, we're all very grateful that he's doing well and receiving the care he needs. We'll update you as soon as possible."

Biafra himself, whose real name is Eric Reed Boucher, described the episode: "I jumped out of bed because I had to go to the bathroom, but my left leg gave out and I fell to the ground. I couldn't even brace the fall with my left arm because it wasn't responding anymore. I tried to get up, but I couldn't. That's when I realized what was happening and thought: 'Oh shit, I'm having a stroke!'. I've still got a lot of great things left in me, but now I'll have to go through a lot of rehab."

Violent and furious but never nihilistic; brilliant musical wreckers, yet never for a moment crudely simplistic, both in their songwriting and in their execution, Jello Biafra's Dead Kennedys – formed in 1978 – were the other face of punk, no less furious and iconoclastic, but more mature and self-aware. They were the turning point between punk and hardcore.

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