DEAD KENNEDYS

The Dead Kennedys

Any punk adherent worth their liberty spikes remembers the Dead Kennedys’ hard-driving opus “Frankenchrist,” with its instantly memorable album cover of old Shriners driving miniature cars, and the controversy that darkened its 1985 release.  Themes of war, xenophobia and dictatorships stuff its songs tighter than a compression sack, and especially in the angry single “Stars and Stripes of Corruption,” filled with mortarlike percussion and comparisons of the Washington Monument to “an eternal Klansman.” Always political-leaning and self-righteously moral, DK found no friends in the capitol, which is no doubt why their lyrics attracted attention from the Parents Music Resource Center, a committee of Washington wives (among its members: Tipper Gore) who fought for better warning labels on so-called “offensive” albums. Police officers raided ex-frontman Jello Biafra’s home (and DK’s label, Alternative Tentacles) and seized copies of “Frankenchrist,” which contained posters of illustrated pornography by artist H.R. Giger. (Shriners also filed a lawsuit against the band.) After a lengthy obs

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cenity trial and a nasty financial saga that finished with a hung jury in 1987, DK dissolved and reformed in 2001 minus Biafra, whom bandmates believed defrauded the group of unpaid royalties.

The seminal San Francisco punk quartet today maintains a very active touring schedule without Biafra, its original, hyperliterate frontman, with its lineup now led by singer Skip Greer (The Wynonna Ryders) and guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro. And although DK hasn’t recorded a new album since the Reagan years, their sound feels fresher and more furious than ever. “Holiday in Cambodia” is still a frantic satire of bougeouis college students, unpacked with creeping menace, “Kill the Poor” is a demented romp about homelessness and, not least, “California Uber Alles,” (off their debut album “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables”) attacks a sitting governor of California with biting wit and a seething rhythm reminiscent of surf rock. Recent tour setlists show DK tearing through these old standards, and given their longstanding politically punched hardcore, we’re eager to hear what new assaults they’ll hurl at the incoming administration.

Dead Kennedys with Reagan Youth will play 7-11 pm Sunday, Jan. 29, at the Kelsey Theater, 700 Park Ave., in Lake Park. All ages. $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Call 561-328-7481 or go to TheKelseyTheater.com and DeadKennedys.com.
~ Phillip Valys