Dead Kennedys

The debut album by San Francisco's Dead Kennedys, "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables", was released in 1980 by the English label Cherry Red. The band had struggled to find commercial partners in the US because of the name they'd chosen, and had been forced to turn to the English label, with whom they'd only ever communicated by mail. With two long years already spent in the East Bay punk scene behind them, the lineup at the time consisted of Jello Biafra on vocals, Bruce "Ted" Slesinger on drums, Klaus Flouride on bass, and East Bay Ray on guitar. While the latter was the most experienced musician and also the producer, Biafra was already a notable figure in the punk world (punk in the broadest sense, without drawing rigid distinctions). Although he'd only arrived from Colorado a few years earlier, presumably not strictly for musical reasons — otherwise he'd have headed to the opposite coast — he'd already made headlines by running for mayor of San Francisco on a decidedly anarchist platform, placing an impressive fourth, first among the independents.

In the years straddling the late 70s and early 80s, once the disruptive thrust of punk and new wave had spent itself, rock'n'roll underwent one of the many overhauls it has enjoyed throughout its history. The last one dated back to the Ramones; the new one would be just as valid but, coming with a revolution as routine as it was effective in terms of image and graphics, would prove far more commercially incisive.

In these years, though, before definitively morphing from a tender young chick into one of the many broody hens hatching cash machines to exploit teenage rebellion and gullibility, punk'n'roll, or proto-hardcore, lived through its golden age. Not an age of innocence, though, because while these little punks — more inclined to machismo than to "loser-ism", and fond of comic books — drew a decisive line under the masters of the fading era, they still absorbed their experience and art, and so their own music was born already mature and disenchanted, born grown-up, and therefore destined to last only briefly.

It's hard to find another mature, disenchanted musical genre capable of spawning a mass movement the way hardcore did. Whatever style manages to draw together more than a dozen people carries within it a more or less significant dose of naivety, and hardcore is no exception to the rule. But the first Dead Kennedys album, the debut by Black Flag and a handful of neighbouring records stand apart: they aren't albums made for teenagers alone, and they resist easy classification. They aren't the first hardcore records, but rather rock'n'roll records whose influence gave rise to hardcore.

A striking confirmation of what's been said about this historical period and the changes it witnessed can be found without even bringing the music into it, simply by taking a look at the handsome packaging of "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables", and perhaps comparing it with that of another fine Californian record released almost simultaneously, "Los Angeles" by X.

The two bands are close in time and belong to two neighbouring, tightly-knit punk communities, yet the two records couldn't look more different. Not on the cover, though: both feature white flames against a black background. Beneath "Dead Kennedys", written in green, cars are burning; beneath "Los Angeles", in red, an X burns.

But then you open the lyric booklets: the X ones are laid out in the most classic punk lettering, lifted straight from Sex Pistols sleeves. In the photos, the clothing of both musicians and audience is no different from that seen at a Patti Smith Group or Ramones show. Without even reading the lyrics, singer Exene Cervenka's poses give off that arty fragrance typical of all 1970s American punk. Reading them, however, you spot references to Eliot, confirming exactly what you'd have guessed all along. An imagery that is, if not second-hand, at least second-generation. None of which stops "Los Angeles" from being a great record, though.

The Dead Kennedys' lyrics are printed in fairly small type, at the bottom of a giant poster credited to Jello Biafra. A collage of photos, drawings and writing. The largest cutouts portray the band members one by one: Ted with his hands in the air a split second before hitting the drums, East Bay Ray hunched over his guitar, Biafra with the microphone in his mouth and his arm outstretched in a theatrical gesture, Flouride staring at something beyond the lens, bass held at knee height — already every inch the seasoned kid. The other cutouts don't give off a single molecule of arty fragrance: posters for popular films, comic strips, photos from housewives' magazines, images of war and protest, adverts (including one for the Kiss pay-per-call phone line: "Listen to a special message from Gene, Paul, Ace or Peter. Call 999-2222"), slogans, newspaper headlines, photos of the powerful suitably defaced with a marker. The overall effect is pop. Needless to say, these are ideas that have been endlessly reworked ever since, on the covers, ads and posters of more or less underground bands on more or less alternative labels. This may not be the first time such graphic devices were used for a rock'n'roll record, but "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" deserves the credit for the outsized fortune they've enjoyed in the years since. An imagery that is, if not brand new, at least first-generation, that of the Dead Kennedys' debut. For this alone, it's already earned its place in history. The half hour or so it takes to listen to it can only reinforce the point.

"Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" runs about 33 minutes, and contains thirteen original tracks plus a cover of "Viva Las Vegas", the Elvis Presley hit. It isn't what you'd call a "varied" record in today's sense of the word. It's no offspring of "London Calling", even though it's musically rock'n'roll and thematically political. The sound isn't overly distorted, but it is very dark, and the songs, averaging under three minutes, all rush by in a single breath, because there's simply no physical room to spare for another. Fourteen possessed rhythms separated only by the second it takes to forget the old one and launch into the next. The vocals swing between hysterical and preacher-like, and the guitar, clearly rooted in garage-surf, still grinds out the most classic tempos and melodies, but with unheard-of fury and speed. The utter weightlessness — or rather the complete absence of it — in the sound, the attitude and the harshly denunciatory themes is balanced not only by the classicism of the harmonies but by lyrics delivered in a manner that's nothing short of theatrical and ironic. If you had to file this record somewhere, you could place it right alongside Chuck Berry without fear or hesitation.

The records that followed would feature a band unquestionably more mature both in performance and songwriting, but "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" carries greater historical weight and boasts some of the band's finest songs on its tracklist. "California Über Alles", an attack on the — let's say at the very least questionable — methods of California governor Jerry Brown, covered an astonishing number of times since, is a perfect example of how attitude can be backed by solid creativity: a simple, jittery riff that loses and regains speed lifts from the dust the lines screamed by one of the most influential vocalists of recent decades. "Holiday In Cambodia" is one of the greatest protest songs ever written, precisely because it doesn't just push past the genre's limits, it tears its conventions to shreds. The furious denunciation turns sarcastic and spills over into the blackest satire. Over a possessed backing track, as ever, Biafra proves himself, even by punk standards, an extreme performer. Biafra has the same swagger Lou Reed had when he walked on the "wild side", just with a hefty extra dose of showmanship.

Generally the record steers clear of sounding like a sermon, but even when he's chanting slogans, Jello is the most cynical, ruthless soapbox preacher you're ever likely to hear. If anyone who takes up social causes is by definition a moralist, and doesn't deny it, then the Dead Kennedys are the funniest moralists around. Just listen to the dark verve of "Let's Lynch The Landlord", or "Chemical Warfare", where a ghost with hair slicked back in brilliantine takes possession of the band.

"I Kill Children" ("I kill children/ I love to see them die/ And make their mammas cry/ Crush 'em under my car/ I wanna hear they scream/ Feed 'em poison candy/ To spoil their Halloween") and "Stealing Peoples Mail", a synthesis of fury and both grim and farcical tones, showcase the band's distinctive communicative flair, one that lesser imitators would try and fail to replicate in the years to come. "Drug Me" and "Ill In The Head" stand out for their deconstruction and hysteria, another fundamental component of East Bay Ray and co.'s musical vision.

Despite the genres invoked to pin down this vision, "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" wasn't a retro record in 1980, and it isn't one today either. It hasn't aged a day, not even in the arrangements, enriched on a couple of tracks by highly effective keyboards. It represents an evolution of rock'n'roll, one that would allow it to survive intact the deconstruction and cross-contamination carried out in those same years by the Clash of the post-"London Calling" era. The fact that it also spawned unworthy heirs is hardly something to hold against it directly.

There's still plenty to say about the Dead Kennedys: they never signed to a major label and ran their affairs independently, benefiting the very scene that had spawned them; they were driven to break up by the legal troubles piled up over just six years in the public eye; Biafra and the others met up again years later in court, over the catalogue, hurling the worst accusations at each other... But none of that would add anything to the record discussed above. A shining episode in the long history of rock'n'roll.

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27/10/2006