Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
There are certain parts of the punk rock canon that have been so reused, rehashed and recycled it’s hard to reappraise them objectively. Similarly, the likes of pre-weathered Ramones tees on the racks at high street fashion stores, Lady Gaga in a GISM jacket and the ugly memory of the Red Hot Chili Peppers maiming Nervous Breakdown have seen underground influence and iconography brought into popular parlance in a way many could never have imagined.
The Dead Kennedys, to a large extent, have fallen foul of such erosion. Whether it’s their entry-point status for legions of teen rebels who’ll be quick to seek more esoteric pleasures, lacklustre tributes from big-name acts or the years of legal squabbles since their split, it’s become hard to step back and see their debut album for what it was and what it still represents: a caustic, snide and fiercely intelligent statement of intent that well deserves its place in punk’s battered annals.
Born of a time when much of UK punk’s first wave had grown flabby, the Dead Kennedys stood alongside fellow upstarts MDC, Bad Brains and the Misfits in forging their own harder, wilder sounds and bringing the genre to its next logical stage of development. Fusing bright, slashing chords and hyperactive bass runs with frontman Jello Biafra’s acerbic yodel-cum-snarl the band mercilessly dispatched cruel, irreverent and unceremonious potshots at political corruption and large-scale human idiocy with a mixture of crackling ire and bleak, yellow-fanged comedy. Amid the white-knuckle pacing and spit-spattered vitriol of bona-fide genre classics like California Über Alles and Holiday in Cambodia are strewn curveballs and non sequiturs, from the Dick Dale surf licks leaving vapour trails through Let’s Lynch the Landlord to the whirligig upchuck of Chemical Warfare and the band’s sneering take on Viva Las Vegas.
While the music itself holds up impeccably to three decades’ worth of use and abuse, perhaps the greatest factor in its continued relevance is also the most disheartening: today’s wars, scandals and exploitative endeavours might well be different to those of 1980, but many of the curl-lipped jibes, criticisms and sentiments herein can still be just as readily applied.
--Alex Deller
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This may be one of the finest debut albums ever made. The Dead Kennedys were without a doubt the finest political punk band and this album shows why. Every track is a killer from the anti-war anthems "Kill the Poor", "When Ya Get Drafted", "Chemical Warfare" and the masterpiece "Holiday In Cambodia" to the teenage authority hating "Forward To Death", "Let's Lynch The Landlord", and "California Uber Alles".
What makes this album special though is the sheer genius of the lyrics. Although the titles don't give much away (in fact they sound retarded) the lyrics are cleverly constructed and observed though sadly overlooked. The instrumentation is also superb. East Bay Ray has the weirdest guitar sound in punk and the drums and bass never miss a beat.
From the beginning right up to the fading guitar chord of "Viva Las Vegas" (their best cover) this is fascinating exhilerating and essential listening. And it isn't even their best album!
What makes this album special though is the sheer genius of the lyrics. Although the titles don't give much away (in fact they sound retarded) the lyrics are cleverly constructed and observed though sadly overlooked. The instrumentation is also superb. East Bay Ray has the weirdest guitar sound in punk and the drums and bass never miss a beat.
From the beginning right up to the fading guitar chord of "Viva Las Vegas" (their best cover) this is fascinating exhilerating and essential listening. And it isn't even their best album!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I bought this on a CD shopping spree, because I'd heard the name many times and knew it was something to pick up. I don't really remember if I chose this one in particular because it was the first, but I think that may have been a factor. The important thing is that this album *rocks* with true punk spirit. It's still really really fresh as though it was written only last week, rather than decades ago. My personal favourite tracks are California Über Alles and Holiday In Cambodia. Biafra is a lyrical master and the whole band have so much energy, you can't help but bounce up and down while listening to it. You *need* this album in your collection, it's a seminal work of punk at its best.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Hilarious. Sublime. Pure Genuis, I could go on and on....
This is a true punk classic and your punk collection truly is rubbish if you don't have this one in there. Jello Biafra is a genius.
Great punk music and very funny. Stealing People's Mail, Chemical Warfare....side splitting stuff! Highly recommended.
This is a true punk classic and your punk collection truly is rubbish if you don't have this one in there. Jello Biafra is a genius.
Great punk music and very funny. Stealing People's Mail, Chemical Warfare....side splitting stuff! Highly recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Track Listing
1. Kill The Poor
2. Forward To Death
3. When Ya Get Drafted
4. Let's Lynch The Landlord
5. Drug Me
6. Your Emotions
7. Chemical Warfare
8. Read more
2. Forward To Death
3. When Ya Get Drafted
4. Let's Lynch The Landlord
5. Drug Me
6. Your Emotions
7. Chemical Warfare
8. Read more
Published 1 month ago by krbvet
Back in the day
I have been singing these songs since 1982/83, I had the cassette but it got stolen, why did I wait so long to get another copy. Awesome
Published 15 months ago by Back in the day
A post punk yeardstick.
There are lots of claims for the seminal sound of punk. In the UK we have the Clash, The Sex Pistols and the Damned who were trailblazers. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mr. M. L. Hawes
DEAD KENNEDYS STILL ROCK
This and the other Dead kennedys albums still sound fresh and are just as exciting now as when they were first produced, no other band comes close these days . Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2009 by Mr. G. K. Searle
Dead Kennedys Uber Alles
Well I first went to see the Dead Kennedys in 1980 at the Music Machine London not that long after this album came out and I loved it then as I love it now - nearly 30 years... Read more
Published on 4 April 2009 by uncle barbar
Classic US punk
Great album from the first authentic US punk band with a social conscience. Seminal and their influence can be heard in many US bands of today.
Published on 3 Feb 2009 by Mr. I. S. Waddell
vital like your heart i suppose !
after listening to this album 6 times in one day i cant give it any less than 5 stars,i truly cant,this is a masterpiece of political punk,an album that is dangerous,provactive,in... Read more
Published on 16 May 2007 by sean paul mccann
The finest must brutal punk album
Listen to this album if you dare. Then listen to it again. If you can't stand it then never mind. You will be missing out on one of the most powerful, enlightened and... Read more
Published on 20 April 2007 by Jonathan Austen
a scalpel in the funny bone
funny,clever,inspired and unlike any punk record you will hear, jello biafra never got close again to this,perfect wired adrenaline rush ,troubling and crazed,buy it.
Published on 26 Dec 2006 by motorhead
a quick guide to punk
So you have decided you want to be a punk but it has dawned on you that you have no idea about which albums to buy. Well here is a fantastic place to start. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2003 by "pigmees_are_cool"
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
