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COMMENTS
jello biafra's band may be dead but their meaning isnt i love the dead kennedys and jello biafra is my god ,i worship him there are now so little people that actually know what punk is and are punk and so many people that think that they know what punk is but dont ,they call themselves punk wen all they do is dress a little different and talk all rebelliant and defiant but whenever their in a situation where they have a choice of either doing something different and doing what people tell them to do they always go with what they think their supposed to do they think that they are supposed to do what everyone else is doing but just because people tell you to do something doesnt mean your supposed to do it beacause what everyone else is doing is almost never really right and never really what your supposed to do "punks not dead it just deserves to die"
[five minutes later:]
ok i just started really reading ur little review thing and i dont no wat the hell ur doin but y the hell are u giving like low points and high points on the dead kennedys albums and songs if u dont agree with even one of jello biafras songs then u dont agree with his idea or that part of his teachings u cant rate ideas and u who ever u are ,are no one to judge jello biafra how dare u
I just want to go on record as saying that the two paragraphs above are the most hilarious reader comment ever written by anyone.
(chuckle) Anyhoo, this is. . . well, not an especially INTERESTING band, but one that does what they do well. They strike a nice balance between angry and eloquent. Unfortunately, they seem to only have two emotions on their mind: 1.) sarcasm and 2.) uber-sarcasm. If you're looking for pure aggression, heartbreak, and destructive hardcore despair, Black Flag and Husker Du can knock this band out of the ballpark any day. Plus, they're really not all that original--Biafra obviously learned most of his schtick from Johnny Rotten, and nearly all of Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables seems to be a musical rewrite of "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Protex Blue." Ah, well, there's still hope--I've only heard their first two and a half albums. But still, there's probably a reason why they're not considered in the foremost echelon of original punk rockers.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
HIGH POINTS: I Kill Children, Let's Lynch The Landlord, Kill The Poor, California Uber Alles, Holiday In Cambodia, Forward To Death, Funland At The Beach, Ill In The Head. LOW POINTS: Viva Los Vegas
One of the most important, influential hardcore punk albums of all time, it's not hard to see why this album is as widely regarded as it is. First of all, the innovation is unignorable. This is pretty much the first hardcore record ever made (though there are probably some similar bands that came out around the same time, so that's debatable), and the sound is uniformly harsh and agressive. While this could grate on some people, it's all done so well uniformly throughout that I have no complaints. Quite simply, there are no bad songs on the record. Even if one or two of the songs aren't quite as good as the others, there really aren't any low points (except, maybe, for the jokey cover of "Viva Los Vegas" tacked onto the end, which isn't bad, but almost feels like a cop out of a way to end the album).
Secondly, this record set the tone for punk politics for decades to come. Punk was previously very angry at authority and government, but the Kennedys were the first band to get explicitly political on nearly every track. Lead singer Jello Biafra doesn't like the right wing very much, and he doesn't hesitate to let you know it in the most impolite, direct, sarcastic way possible. His lyrics really do add some punch to tracks like "Kill The Poor" and "California Uber Alles", as Jello's rants are typically very, very funny. His voice, an odd, nearly cartoonish yell, fits the words and the music perfectly, which keeps the album interesting.
Finally, this leaves the music itself. Well, quite frankly, it's excellent. Straight through. Every song kicks ass. There's really no other way to put it. The songs all have killer riffs and awesome grooves, and they all know exactly how long they can stick around. So basically, every song rushes in, kicks your ass, and ends while it's ahead before plowing into yet another awesome tune. As I've said, just about every song here rules, but a few tracks in particular really stand out here. "Let's Lynch The Landlord", which is probably the slowest song here (though it's still a bit faster than what I'd call "mid-tempo") has a really killer riff and one of the most memorable choruses I've ever heard ("We caaaaaaaan, you know we CAAAAAAAAN... let's lynch the landlord, let's lynch the landlord, let's lynch the landlord, man!").
The two most well known songs here, "California Uber Alles" and "Holiday In Cambodia", fully deserve to be famous. Great riffs, great lyrics (my favorite: "The nazis won't come back you say/Mellow out or you will pay!" Or how about the opening "Kill The Poor", with its multiple sections and fantastic energy (this is one of the most energetic albums ever made). And... well, I could go on at great length about most of these songs. My favorite, though, may be the less-known "I Kill Children", which particularly bitter lyrics ("Ever wanted to die? Of course you have/But I won't till I get my revenge/I've been butt-fucked one to many ways/I don't want to see people anymore") and an awesome, threatening, absolutely viscious mid-section (which contains the preceding lyrics). Awesome stuff.
This is absolutely essential punk, every bit as essential to your punk rock collection as your Never Mind The Bollocks or your Ramones. A couple of awesome singles from this era (most notably the infamous "Too Drunk To Fuck") weren't included on this album for some reason, but thankfully, they're all available on the Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death compilation, so you're ok. Either way, this is an album you need in your collection if you have any interest in punk at all.
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COMMENTS
Not bad, but could've been better. One of the least diverse albums I've ever heard, which wouldn't be a problem if all the tracks were close to as good as "Chemical Warfare". Unfortunately, four or five gimpy little derivative throwaways spoil the flow in spots. Plus, they neglected to include "Police Truck" and "Too Drunk to Fuck", which would have helped the flow immensely. Still, like you said, powerful, energetic, and speedy fun all around. Damaged is better, though. Get it first. I give this one an 8.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
HIGH POINTS: Religious Vomit. LOW POINTS: Rawhide
Hmmmmm... how do I even rate this one? An 8 song ep released between Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables and Plastic Surgery Disasters, this one is barely even twelve minutes long. And one of the songs is nearly five minutes long. So, what does that say about the other songs? Well, they tend to be about an average of a minute long. The thing is, Jello doesn't have any less to say than he did on the last album. In fact, he may have MORE. As a result, these songs are REALLY REALLY REALLY fast. This may be the birth of hardcore as most people know it, as the songs all blast by at an unbelievably fast pace. The first side of the record (aka the first five songs) and the first song on the second side all fit this category very, very well. DAMN do these songs blur by. Hell, "Hyperactive Child" is only 37 seconds long! The longest one of these, "Moral Majority", starts with a slow, spoken part that lasts for about a minute before the actual SONG blows by in less than a minute. Sheesh.
Still, in spite of all this, I really can't give the album a very low rating, as these songs are all enjoyable in their brevity. I suppose I'll call "Religious Vomit" the highlight, as it manages to open the album with a suitable bang and manages to just have the best FEEL of all these songs (even though they all basically have the same melody). The rest are, well, the same song over and over, albeit with different lyrics. Well, not EXACTLY the same, but you get the point.
That leaves two more songs. One is a stupid cover of "Rawhide" used to finish the record, thus repeating the mistake of their last album that isn't nearly as funny as the band thinks it is. Again, it's not AWFUL. It's just pointless. The other is a hilarious reworking of "California Uber Alles", this time called "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now" with new lyrics. While the first was about the danger of Jerry Brown getting elected president, this one portrays the very VERY danger of just elected president Ronald Reagan. Funny as hell. Still, it's almost the exact same song as before, albeit with some goofy lounge jazz bits thrown in.
So basically, this record manages to snag a 7. It can't go higher, as much of it sounds exactly the same and it ends on a lame note, but it can't go lower, because it really is an entertaining little EP that I really enjoy while it's on. You can't even buy it by itself anymore (though I do actually have an original vinyl copy of this) - you get it tacked onto the CD reissue of Plastic Surgery Disasters, which is worth getting. So this is just a fun little bonus nowadays. Still, a worthwhile excursion into the realm of hardcore.
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