This page contains Dead Kennedys songs, albums and video links. Music profile for Dead Kennedys with events, tracks, videos, pictures, lyrics and band information.
Dead Kennedys was an United States|American hardcore punk band from San Francisco, California. During the 1980s, the band gained a large Underground music|underground following in the international punk music scene.
The music of the Dead Kennedys mixed the more experimental elements of British 1970s punk rock|punk with the raw energy of the 1980s American hardcore punk scene. Dead Kennedys' songs mix the deliberately shocking lyrics of punk with a humorous, :wiktionary:acerbity|acerbic, satirical, and sarcastic left-wing commentary on current social and political issues. Many of the band's songs criticize the right-wing politics|right-wing ideologies of the Christian right|religious right and the Ronald Reagan administration.
In the late 1980s, the band was embroiled in an obscenity trial in the US over the 1985 ''Frankenchrist'' album, which included a poster with art that depicted penises (''Penis Landscape'' by H. R. Giger). The band was charged criminally with distribution of harmful matter to minors, but the trial ended with a hung jury. The band officially disbanded in 1986. From 1998-2004, the band was embroiled in an acrimonious lawsuit over royalties and rights to the band's music. In 2001, the band re-formed and began touring with a new vocalist over the objections of former lead singer Jello Biafra, who, after losing the lawsuit and being found liable for fraud, file... read all
