Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables [MANIFESTO]

Why you'll love it

This Manifesto edition is remastered from the original studio tapes and comes with a double-sided poster. Trouser Press's Jon Young called it a true companion piece to the Sex Pistols' debut, crediting Jello Biafra as a distinctive and remarkable singer.

This edition

• Remastered from original studio tapes
• Double-sided poster included

About the album

The cover photo of burning police cars was taken in San Francisco in May 1979, and it tells you a fair bit about the temperature of the record inside. Dead Kennedys' first album arrived on September 2, 1980, through Cherry Red in the UK and I.R.S. in the US, before Jello Biafra's own Alternative Tentacles label took it over in the US and kept it in print.

"Kill The Poor" opens at full tilt, and "California Uber Alles" and "Holiday In Cambodia" became two of the defining songs of American hardcore. "Chemical Warfare," "Forward To Death" and "Stealing Peoples' Mail" fly past in a blur, with Bruce Slesinger on drums for his one album with the band. NME's Andy Gill praised their grasp of dynamics and their tightly ordered arrangements. Carlo Cadona plays guitar on one track, and "Funland At The Beach" and "Ill In The Head" keep the pace up on side two, with Biafra's quivering, theatrical voice riding on top.

"Viva Las Vegas" closes it out at a tempo Elvis never attempted, which is one way to make a weekend in Vegas go faster.

Also at Kops: more Dead Kennedys on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Manifesto (cat# MFO 42917), a reissue of the 1980 album.