Friday, September 24, 2010

Dead Kennedys: A Skateboad Party


My first bootleg, wasn't Dylan, wasn't even the Clash but rather San Francisco anarcho-punks the Dead Kennedys. The D.K.'s, intelligent, shocking and surprisingly musically sophisticated, owned North American punk in the early eighties. Sure, there may have been a touch of mad megalomania to lead singer Jello Biafra but I grew fascinated with his skewed worldview. (I'll always remember this interview with Jello and Frank Discussion of the Feederz, where Jello came off as the calm, rational one while Frank raved about blowing up phone booths as an art form.). I'd already gobbled up all their material then available on Alternative Tentacles; the singles, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, In God We Trust Inc. and Plastic Surgery Disaster; there had to be more...



Then, amongst the records of my friend, The Curator, I found this blue record, a live German (semi) bootleg of a Dead Kennedys show from 1982 . All the songs were familiar but the lengthy diatribes that erupted before, during and after the songs were definitely not. Early punk rock had tried to kill off the then-calcified tradition of the live solo, once best exemplified in the performances of The Who, Jimi Hendrix or a thousand jazz performers I'm not qualified to list. But during DK's shows Jello took vocal solos, not scat-singing like Ella Fitzgerald but extemporizing like a motor-mouthed Lenny Bruce! Soon enough I'd have memorized those bits of banter as if they were carefully-crafted lyrics.


(Not from this show but indicative of Jello's logorrhoea.)

Jello's impromptu battling with the German crowd is especially sharp, when one woman yells "Autograph Goddammit!" he says "I'll autograph it with my dental chart". Jello just cannot shut up, whether he's indicting Alexander Haig, mocking German rocker Heino or lecturing the crowd on the side effects of kepone. It's no shock that Jello's post Dead Kennedys work has been dominated by his spoken word work.



A Skateboard Party link is in the comments (but scroll down a bit)

Speaking of comments, there's always room for Jello-related thoughts.



23 comments:

  1. gotta love skewed. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Yeah he's like a comic at time s(You know what I don't like about Alexander Haig?")
    Thanks for commenting!

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  3. There was a copy of this album floating around our town in mid '84; I think at least three guys bfought it off each other. Whatever, I always enjoyed the intro and the first two songs..."shock treatment, part two!"/

    thanka

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  4. j weber
    The glories of a small city/town you can tell exactly who's broke or changing their musical tastes just the albums that show up in the used bin.

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  5. Ahhh, classic JB rants...when I was 14, I thought I was hearing the gospel straight from Jesus' mouth...now it just sounds like nails on a blackboard...but the muzak still rocks, obs....thanks for puttin' it up there!

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  6. They are almost as grating as nails on chalkboard (but in certain moods and at certain times that's part of their charm).

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  7. HERE'S THE LINK, DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR VIEW ON JELLO & CO. BEFORE YOU GO.


    http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fy9aw2t9w5a00j3

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  8. Thanks for this. I fucking love DKs but am not sure what to make of the split between them these days. Was Jello ripping them off or are the rest of them really just in it for the cash? Anyways, I won't let it besmirch their legacy.

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  9. Ahhh, DK! There have been two editions of the bootleg (the first edition being issued in a white sleeve which was "legit" and the second edition that came in a blue jacket was "not legit" anymore). Peopel can say what they want about Biafra. Truth is, every person has certain flaws but as a vocalist and artist you can't touch him. And remember the Frankenchrist trial: Biafra is not just a loudmouth, he has guts & integrity too...!

    DD

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  10. DD
    Yeah from what i remember Jello okayed the initial version on Starving Missile as a limited edition fund-raising thing and then it just never ended.

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  11. Right, Mike Just of Starving Missile was the ever-reliable dude behind it. Then Thomas Ziegler of Mulleimer Records came in and pressed up to 10,000 more units which weren't legit. I still have the sheet (i think) where Biafra explained the whole situation.

    DD

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  12. Also, don't forget what Starving Missile Records put out back then - there was simply no bad or cheap album there - he did Appliance-SFB too, one of my all-time favorites, regardless of genre or era.

    (Just for the record!)

    DD

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  13. DD
    I vaguely knew about this but you've got the situation fuly sussed out. I've never even heard Appliance-SFB!

    P.S. YOU SHUT DOWN! Damn take-downs. Don't tell me that Metafilter post (which I thought was so cool)got you noticed. That sucks! You've got broad taste, I hope you'll start a new blog.

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  14. Well, i can only guess what got me noticed because Metafilter wasn't the only place my blog got a mention.

    DD

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  15. DD
    A victim of success,I suppose. I don't see why TBC can't continue (or undergo a name change) - you've got lots to say about music beyond SST.

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  16. Thank you Jeffen! That's why i didn't delete the blog after i recieved the takedown notice. I am toying with some ideas so i will stick around.

    DD

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  17. Me
    That whole lawsuit was a mystery, but many bands devolve into that and we can't let it taint the music.

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  18. The whole lawsuit was unholy but Biafra explained that well on i think two of his spoken word cd's. One of the funniest thing that happened was that he befriended with Zappa and while he stayed at the Zappa house they both watch christian aerobic videos... Good times...!

    DD

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  19. Jeffen

    For your interest:

    http://www.straight.com/article-353027/vancouver/reinvigorated-jello-biafra-his-game

    Cheers

    Doug

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  20. I bought this back in the mid 80's and still have it...great post.

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  21. glad i had a root through your back posts, this record was a white whale for me for a long time. i bought it in portugal a long time ago in a tiny little record shop way in the south, in lagos or some other small town. it was a white label though, and the b-side was totally blank so half the tracks were missing. it was cheap as hell though, and the guy who ran the shop (which also sold general hardware and fishing supplies) had stacks of bewildering records that he had no knowledge of. i left this one in europe along with most of the others after transferring what i could to cassette and haven't seen it since. thanks!

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  22. Postbear
    I love when a post brings out great stories full of twist and turns!

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