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80-518: D.R.I. had only existed for about four months, in which time they practiced every night and played a few shows in the Houston area. Dirty Rotten was recorded and produced by the band in the Brecht's parents' home which had a room walled with egg cartons as soundproofing where the band practiced. The original cover was a photo of the back of drummer Eric Brecht's head. The record was originally released by

160-406: A cowpunk tune. Iconoclastic punk rock cartoonist John Crawford, an outspoken critic of the band, was cynical in his assessment of the alteration of the band's initial name, which he characterized as "stupid" and "inflammatory." Crawford intimated that the name change had been opportunistic: It was like they thought there was something to be gained politically from cops busting the heads of kids,

240-508: A roadie for a local band called The Ravers (who later changed their name to The Nails ), helping set up their equipment at shows, including as an opener for the Ramones . The job ended shortly after the Ramones show, when The Ravers were offered a record contract and left Colorado. Boucher credits seeing Joey Ramone as inspiration to become a singer, and the Ramones lyrics for inspiring

320-405: A Nazi" backed with "Born to Die". Both songs were later released on the debut MDC album. Dave Dictor cited Black Flag and D.O.A. as early influences of the band: "We saw [Black Flag and D.O.A.] in 1980 when they came out to Texas and they were cookin'. We said 'Man. . . They're feelin it'" By 1982 the band had relocated to San Francisco, California, and renamed themselves MDC. By this point

400-536: A campaign platform, Biafra later wrote his platform on a napkin while attending a Pere Ubu concert where Dead Kennedys drummer Ted told Biafra, "Biafra, you have such a big mouth that you should run for Mayor." As he campaigned, Biafra wore campaign T-shirts from his opponent Quentin Kopp 's previous campaign and at one point vacuumed leaves off the front lawn of another opponent, Dianne Feinstein , to mock her publicity stunt of sweeping streets in downtown San Francisco for

480-658: A cover of the Cream song "Politician". Themes again included intervention in Central America and criticism of the Reagan Administration . MDC toured Europe in 1988, where the live album Elvis – In the Rhineland was recorded. The band released the album Metal Devil Cokes in 1989 with guitar player Eric Calhoun and bassist Joe Strom. The 1990s opened with a number of lineup changes, swiftly followed by

560-547: A few hours. He also made a whistlestop campaign tour along the BART line. Supporters committed equally odd actions; two well-known signs held by supporters said "If he doesn't win I'll kill myself" and "What if he does win?" At the time, in San Francisco, any individual could legally run for mayor if a petition was signed by 1500 people or if $ 1500 was paid. Biafra paid $ 900 and got signatures over time and eventually became

640-436: A legal candidate, meaning he received statements put in voters' pamphlets and equal news coverage. His platform included unconventional points such as forcing businessmen to wear clown suits within city limits, erecting statues of Dan White , who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978, around the city and allowing the parks department to sell eggs and tomatoes with which people could pelt

720-441: A lull in the band's activity. The lack of new recorded material, other than a 7-inch release on Slap-a-Ham Records , and live performances after 1994, plus personal problems of band members, pointed to an informal break-up of the band. MDC's singer, Dave Dictor , returned with an entirely new backing line-up in 2000, which included Long Island musicians Matt Van Cura (bass), Erik Mischo (guitar), and John Soldo (Drums). MDC released

800-585: A mention on Top of the Pops . However, the single peaked at number 31 in the charts. The EP In God We Trust, Inc. contained the song " Nazi Punks Fuck Off! " as well as "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now", a rewritten version of "California über alles" about Ronald Reagan . Punk musician and scholar Vic Bondi considers the latter song to be the song that "defined the lyrical agenda of much of hardcore music, and represented its break with punk". The band's most controversial album, Frankenchrist , brought with it

880-612: A new album, Magnus Dominus Corpus , in 2004. They took part in a 25th anniversary world tour in 2005, with an all-original lineup. Following the death of Mikey Donaldson in September 2007, MDC has been touring the U.S. and Europe extensively with the Dictor/Posner/Smith/Schvitz lineup. Recently, the band has been based in Portland, Oregon . In November 2016, MDC released a video for the forthcoming release of

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960-730: A new recording of "Born to Die", made to protest the Donald Trump presidential campaign . The song's slogan "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA" was reported to be heard at anti-Trump demonstrations, at The Women's March in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2017, and in Chicago. At the 2016 American Music Awards on November 20, the band Green Day adopted the anti-Trump slogan for a controversial impromptu chant during their live on-air performance, which Dictor applauded and encouraged. The media spotlight Green Day's action put on MDC inspired

1040-515: A portion of his collection to an annual yard sale co-promoted by Alternative Tentacles and held at their warehouse in Emeryville, California . In 2006, along with Alternative Tentacles employee and The Frisk lead singer Jesse Luscious, Biafra began co-hosting The Alternative Tentacles Batcast , a downloadable podcast hosted by alternativetentacles.com. The show primarily focuses on interviews with artists and bands that are currently signed to

1120-458: A publicity stunt or a joke, they should keep in mind that it is no more of a joke, and no less of a joke, than anyone else they care to name. —Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys: The Early Years In the autumn of 1979 , Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco, using the Jell-O ad campaign catchphrase, "There's always room for Jello", as his campaign slogan. Having entered the race before creating

1200-588: A real prick ... Biafra was a visionary, incendiary [performer]." After the Dead Kennedys disbanded, Biafra's new songs were recorded with other bands, and he released only spoken word albums as solo projects. These collaborations had less popularity than Biafra's earlier work. However, his song "That's Progress", originally recorded with D.O.A. for the album Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors , received considerable exposure when it appeared on

1280-703: A short set the following night at the Showbox in downtown Seattle (outside the designated area), along with the hip-hop group Spearhead . No WTO Combo later released a CD of recordings from the concert, entitled Live from the Battle in Seattle . As of late 2005, Biafra was performing with the band The Melvins under the name "Jello Biafra and the Melvins", though fans sometimes refer to them as "The Jelvins". Together they have released two albums, and worked on material for

1360-730: A singular concert event with an all-star cast of Southern musicians including members from Cowboy Mouth , Dash Rip Rock , Mojo Nixon, and Down entitled, "Jello Biafra and the New Orleans Raunch & Soul All Stars" who performed an array of classic Soul covers to a packed house at the 12-Bar in New Orleans, Louisiana. He would later reunite with many of the same musicians during the Carnival season 2014 to revisit many of these classics in Siberia, New Orleans. A live album from

1440-484: A socialist or let alone a libertarian or something like that," In a 2012 interview, Biafra said "I'm very pro-tax as long as it goes for the right things. I don't mind paying more money as long as it's going to provide shelter for people sleeping in the street or getting the schools fixed back up, getting the infrastructure up to the standards of other countries, including a high-speed rail system. I'm totally down with that." For those of them who have seen my candidacy as

1520-419: A store by guitarist East Bay Ray , stating "guitarist wants to form punk band", and together they formed the Dead Kennedys. He began performing with the band under the stage name Occupant, but soon began to use the stage name Jello Biafra, a combination of the brand name Jell-O and the short-lived African state of Biafra . Biafra initially attempted to compose music on guitar, but his lack of experience on

1600-808: A third collaborative release, much of which was premiered live at two concerts at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco during an event called Biafra Five-O, commemorating Biafra's 50th birthday, the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Dead Kennedys, and the beginning of legalized same-sex marriage in California. Biafra was also working with a band known as Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine , which included Ralph Spight of Victims Family on guitar and Billy Gould of Faith No More on bass. This group debuted during Biafra Five-O. In 2011, Biafra appeared in

1680-432: A two-part episode of Fuse TV 's program Crate Diggers on the same subject. His interest in such recordings, often categorized as outsider music , led to his discovery of the prolific (and schizophrenic) singer/songwriter/artist Wesley Willis , whom he signed to Alternative Tentacles in 1994, preceding Willis' major label deal with American Recordings . His collection grew so large that on October 1, 2005, Biafra donated

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1760-405: A violent action of saying what to do. ... When we chose the name we really didn't figure on all the misinterpretation and we want to work around it and make our point clear and we don't want to have to talk through the name Millions of Dead Cops to any political issue we want to talk about. It doesn't mean that we don't believe in everything that goes down on the first album ... Their involvement in

1840-558: A voice". When the band broke up in 1986, he took over the influential independent record label Alternative Tentacles , which he had founded in 1979 with Dead Kennedys bandmate East Bay Ray . In a 2000 lawsuit, upheld on appeal in 2003 by the California Supreme Court, Biafra was found liable for breach of contract, fraud, and malice in withholding a decade's worth of royalties from his former bandmates and ordered to pay over $ 200,000 in compensation and punitive damages;

1920-552: Is Godzilla" for Sepultura's 1993 album Chaos A.D. . In 1999, Biafra and other members of the anti-globalization movement protested the WTO Meeting of 1999 in Seattle . Along with other prominent West Coast musicians, he formed the short-lived band No WTO Combo to help promote the movement's cause. The band was originally scheduled to play during the protest, but the performance was canceled due to riots. The band performed

2000-586: Is an American punk rock band formed in 1979 in Austin , Texas , subsequently based in San Francisco , and currently Portland, Oregon . Among the first wave of bands to define the sound and style of American hardcore punk , MDC originally formed as The Stains; they have periodically changed the meaning of "MDC", the most frequent being Millions of Dead Cops . The band's lyrical content expresses radical left political views and has proven influential within

2080-405: Is not a conventionally skilled musician, though he and his collaborators ( Joey Shithead of D.O.A. in particular) attest that he is a skilled composer and his work, particularly with the Dead Kennedys, is highly respected by punk-oriented critics and fans. The first single by Dead Kennedys was their version of " California Über Alles ". The song, which spoofed California governor Jerry Brown ,

2160-492: The 924 Gilman Street club in Berkeley, California . Biafra claims that he was attacked by a man nicknamed Cretin, who crashed into him while moshing . The crash injured Biafra's leg, causing an argument between the two men. During the argument, Cretin pushed Biafra to the floor and five or six friends of Cretin assaulted Biafra while he was down, yelling "Sellout rock star, kick him", and attempting to pull out his hair. Biafra

2240-517: The Whisky a Go Go ), but eventually they moved to major clubs across the country, including CBGB in New York. Later, they played to larger audiences such as at the 1980 Bay Area Music Awards (where they played the notorious " Pull My Strings " for the only time), and headlined the 1983 Rock Against Reagan festival. On May 7, 1994, punk rock fans who believed Biafra was a " sell out " attacked him at

2320-537: The party's presidential nomination in the 2000 presidential election , finishing a distant second to Ralph Nader . In 1979 he ran for mayor of San Francisco , California. He is a supporter of a free society and utilizes shock value and advocates direct action and pranksterism in the name of political causes. Biafra uses absurdist media tactics, in the leftist tradition of the Yippies , to highlight issues of civil rights and social justice . Eric Reed Boucher

2400-455: The 1991 album Hey Cop! If I Had a Face Like Yours ... , featuring Bill Collins (formerly of Fang , Special Forces, Intensified Chaos) on guitar and Matt Freeman (of Operation Ivy and Rancid ) on bass. Collins wrote all the music on the album and sang three of the songs. This lineup toured the US and Europe. The acclaimed Shades of Brown album appeared in 1993, released by New Red Archives in

2480-439: The 2011 performance, Walk on Jindal's Splinters , and a companion single, Fannie May / Just a Little Bit , were released in 2015. In June 1979, Biafra co-founded the record label Alternative Tentacles, with which the Dead Kennedys released their first single, "California über alles". The label was created to allow the band to release albums without having to deal with pressure from major labels to change their music, although

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2560-613: The Alternative Tentacles label, although there are also occasional episodes where Biafra devoted the show to answering fan questions. Biafra became a spoken word artist in January 1986 with a performance at University of California, Los Angeles . In his performance, he combined humor with his political beliefs, much in the same way that he did with the lyrics to his songs. Despite his continued spoken word performances, he did not begin recording spoken word albums until after

2640-503: The Californian punk scene and was one of the third-generation members of the San Francisco punk community. Many later hardcore bands have cited the Dead Kennedys as a major influence. Hardcore punk author Steven Blush describes Biafra as hardcore's "biggest star" who was a "powerful presence whose political insurgence and rabid fandom made him the father figure of a burgeoning subculture [and an] inspirational force [who] could also be

2720-570: The DJ for playing music that is "not thrash," while he puts on Einstürzende Neubauten . Spin called the album, "A great mud puddle of a sound with noisy droning guitar and ranted vocals. What made the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles more than the sum of their sledgehammering were their unexpected forays into gentle, lulling music and their sudden, hundred-chord-a-second assaults on that deceptively alluring calm." MDC (band) MDC

2800-541: The Decay Music partnership. Decay Music denied this charge and have posted what they say are his cashed royalty checks, written to his legal name of Eric Boucher. Biafra also complained about the songwriting credits in new reissues and archival live albums of songs, alleging that he was the sole composer of songs that were wrongly credited to the entire band. In May 2000, a jury found Biafra and Alternative Tentacles liable by not promptly informing his former bandmates of

2880-503: The MDC song "Pay to Come Along". For MDC, 1982 ended with a tour of Europe with the Dead Kennedys which brought the band greater exposure in the punk scene outside of the U.S., especially in the UK. In 1983 the band began to deemphasize the "Dead Cops" aspect of its name, as drummer Al Schvitz noted in a Flipside interview: It's a problem of people can't see the [name] concept, they take it as

2960-656: The Republican and Democratic conventions. After losing the 2000 nomination, Biafra became highly active in Nader's presidential campaign, as well as in 2004 and 2008 . During the 2008 campaign Jello played at rallies and answered questions for journalists in support of Nader. When gay rights activists accused Nader of costing Al Gore the 2000 election, Biafra reminded them that Tipper Gore 's Parents Music Resource Center wanted warning stickers on albums with content referencing homosexuality . After Barack Obama won

3040-755: The Rock Against Reagan activities continued through 1983 and they returned to recording with the EP "Multi-Death Corporations" which was distributed in the UK by British anarcho-punk label Crass Records and R Radical in the U.S. The EP broke new ground by addressing, in the lengthy liner notes and artwork, the growth of corporations and the violent suppression of left-wing politics in Central America . In 1984 they released another EP, Millions of Dead Children (also known as Chicken Squawk ), this time dealing with vegetarian and vegan issues via

3120-466: The U.S. and We Bite in Europe. The album featured the hip hop vegetarian song "Real Food, Real People, Real Bullets". MDC, now with guitarist Chris Wilder (formerly of Stikky ) and bassist Erica Liss, marked the album with a tour of the former Soviet Union , making MDC the first American punk band to tour Russia. This was followed by two more European tours and several U.S. tours until 1995, where began

3200-541: The accounting error and instead withholding the information during subsequent discussions and contractual negotiations. Biafra was ordered to pay $ 200,000, including $ 20,000 in punitive damages . After an appeal by Biafra's lawyers, in June 2003, the California Court of Appeals unanimously upheld all the conditions of the 2000 verdict against Biafra and Alternative Tentacles. Furthermore, the plaintiffs were awarded

3280-552: The album Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 . In April 1986, police officers raided Biafra's house in response to complaints by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). In June 1986, L.A. deputy city attorney Michael Guarino, working under City Attorney James Hahn , brought Biafra to trial in Los Angeles for distributing "harmful material to minors" in the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist . However,

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3360-463: The band Ministry , and Jeff Ward , formed Lard . The band became yet another side project for Ministry, with Biafra providing vocals and lyrics. According to a March 2009 interview with Jourgensen, he and Biafra are working on a new Lard album, which is being recorded in Jourgensen's El Paso studio. Jourgensen also claimed in 2021 that Biafra was in the works on a new Lard album. While working on

3440-418: The band on their own record label, also called Dirty Rotten. The original pressing was a 7", played at 33 RPM, titled Dirty Rotten EP . The Dirty Rotten EP sold out quickly and has since then been reissued many times with various track listings and bonus songs. Later in 1983 it was released as a 12" LP (with the two upper arms of EP in the album's title hastily scribbled out to make it Dirty Rotten LP ) with

3520-556: The band subsequently reformed without Biafra. Although now focused primarily on spoken word performances, Biafra has continued as a musician in numerous collaborations. From 1979 to 1981, he contributed to the San Francisco punk zine Damage . He has also occasionally appeared in cameo roles in films. Politically, Biafra is a member of the Green Party of the United States and supports various political causes. He ran for

3600-651: The band to create new material based around the current political climate. The album, entitled Mein Trumpf , was released in 2017. Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra , is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys . Initially active from 1979 to 1986, Dead Kennedys were known for rapid-fire music topped with Biafra's sardonic lyrics and biting social commentary, delivered in his "unique quiver of

3680-576: The band were active participants in the growing hardcore scene and released their debut LP Millions of Dead Cops on their own label, R Radical; Jello Biafra 's Alternative Tentacles helped with distribution. The album is now widely considered a punk classic, and features songs such as "John Wayne Was a Nazi", "Dick for Brains", and the harsh criticism of the police, "I Remember". Other targets of criticism devoid of irony included capitalism ("Corporate Death Burger"), homophobia ("America's So Straight"), and American culture ("Violent Rednecks"). During

3760-486: The band's most well-known singles, " Holiday in Cambodia ", to be used in a commercial for Levi's Dockers; Biafra opposes Levi's because of his belief that they use unfair business practices and sweatshop labor . Biafra maintained that he had never denied them royalties and that he himself had not even received royalties for re-releases of their albums or "posthumous" live albums which had been licensed to other labels by

3840-566: The disbanding of the Dead Kennedys. His ninth spoken word album, In the Grip of Official Treason , was released in October 2006. Biafra was also featured in the British band Pitchshifter 's song As Seen on TV reciting the words of dystopian futuristic radio advertisements. Biafra has resisted identifying with any particular ideology, saying, "I don't label myself strictly an anarchist or

3920-410: The dispute was about neither the music nor the lyrics from the album, but rather the print of the H. R. Giger poster Landscape XX ( Penis Landscape ) included with the album. Music author Reebee Garofalo argued that Biafra and Alternative Tentacles may have been targeted because the label was a "small, self-managed and self-supported company that could ill afford a protracted legal battle." Facing

4000-411: The film Terminal City Ricochet in 1989, Biafra did a song for the film's soundtrack with D.O.A. . As a result, Biafra worked with D.O.A. on the album Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors . Biafra also worked with Nomeansno on the soundtrack, which led to their collaboration on the album The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy the following year. Biafra also provided lyrics for the song "Biotech

4080-570: The general election, Biafra wrote an open letter making suggestions on how to run his term as president. Biafra criticized Obama during his term, stating that "Obama even won the award for best advertising campaign of 2008." Biafra dubbed Obama "Barackstar O'Bummer". Biafra refused to support Obama in 2012. Biafra has stated that he feels that Obama continued many of George W. Bush 's policies, summarizing Obama's policies as containing "worse and worse laws against human rights and more and more illegal unconstitutional spying." On September 18, 2015, it

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4160-404: The head of Alternative Tentacles records, discovered an accounting error amounting to some $ 75,000 in unpaid royalties over almost a decade. Rather than informing his bandmates of this mistake, the suit alleged, Biafra knowingly concealed the information until a whistleblower employee at the record label notified the band. According to Biafra, the suit resulted from his refusal to allow one of

4240-425: The help of R Radical Records, fellow Houston punk band MDC's label. It was later remixed and re-released with new cover art, and with the songs that originally appeared on side one appearing on side two and vice versa, these would become the track listing and cover art for most subsequent re-releases. This album would also be combined with all four songs from their 1984 Violent Pacification EP. The Dirty Rotten LP

4320-478: The instrument and his own admission of being "a fumbler with my hands" led Dead Kennedys bassist Klaus Flouride to suggest that Biafra simply sing the parts he envisioned to the band. Biafra sang his riffs and melodies into a tape recorder, which he brought to the band's rehearsal and/or recording sessions. This later became a problem when the other members of the Dead Kennedys sued Biafra over royalties and publishing rights. By all accounts, including his own, Biafra

4400-522: The late 1970s as The Stains and playing their first gig under this name in August 1980, MDC were one of three pioneering hardcore punk bands in Austin, Texas , in the early '80s, alongside The Dicks and Big Boys . These bands frequently played together and established the Austin hardcore scene. They released one single as The Stains in 1981, featuring a slower version of the future MDC song "John Wayne Was

4480-452: The likes of Les Baxter and Esquivel to vanity pressings that have circulated regionally, to German crooner Heino (for whom he would later participate in the documentary Heino: Made In Germany ); he cites his always growing collection as one of his biggest musical influences. In 1993 he gave an interview to RE/Search Publications for their second Incredibly Strange Music book focusing primarily on these records, and later participated in

4560-403: The major labels were not willing to sign the band due to their songs being deemed too controversial. After dealing with Cherry Red in the UK and IRS Records in the US for their first album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables , the band released all later albums, and later pressings of Fresh Fruit on Alternative Tentacles. The exception was live albums released after the band's break-up, which

4640-559: The most successful single of the American hardcore scene" and Biafra counts it as his personal favorite Dead Kennedy's song. The Dead Kennedys received some controversy in the spring of 1981 over the single " Too Drunk to Fuck ". The song became a hit in Britain, and the BBC feared that it would manage to be a big enough hit to appear among the top 30 songs on the national charts, requiring

4720-413: The nuclear button is somebody connected to this extreme Christianist doomsday cult." On February 28, 2020, Jello announced that he would be supporting both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential election . "I personally like Warren slightly better than Bernie because: 1) She’s done her homework. Bernie too, but not to quite the same depth or degree. 2) Think about it—who really has

4800-501: The obscenity prosecution. On March 25, 2005, Biafra appeared on the U.S. radio program This American Life , "Episode 285: Know Your Enemy" , which featured a phone call between Jello Biafra and Michael Guarino, the prosecutor in the Frankenchrist trial. In October 1998, three former members of the Dead Kennedys sued Biafra for nonpayment of royalties. The other members of Dead Kennedys alleged that Biafra, in his capacity as

4880-474: The old Yippies routine. ... [C]onfrontational barricades politics are tactics that failed, only helped those they were intended to hurt. Now that was an awful thing for me to say right? But when MDC met with Crass in England, Crass told them they were bothered by the name Millions of Dead Cops and wouldn't include them on a compilation album they were plotting unless they changed it. So Mega Death Corporation

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4960-426: The other band members compiled from recordings in the band partnership's vaults without Biafra's input or endorsement. . Biafra has been the owner of the company since its founding, though he does not receive a salary for his position; Biafra has referred to his position in the company as "absentee thoughtlord". Biafra is an collector of unusual vinyl records of all kinds, from 1950s and 1960s ethno-pop recordings by

5040-531: The party's nominating convention in Denver, Colorado . Biafra chose death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal as his running mate. The party overwhelmingly chose Ralph Nader as the presidential candidate with 295 of the 319 delegate votes. Biafra received 10 votes. Biafra, along with a camera crew (dubbed by Biafra as "The Camcorder Truth Jihad"), later reported for the Independent Media Center at

5120-565: The people of the neighborhoods they patrol. Biafra finished fourth out of a field of ten in the first round of voting, receiving 3.79 percent of the vote (6,591 votes); he failed to advance to the runoff and Dianne Feinstein won the second round of the voting. In 2000 , the New York State Green Party drafted Biafra as a candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination, and a few supporters were elected to

5200-547: The possible sentence of a year in jail and a $ 2,000 fine, Biafra, Dirk Dirksen , and Suzanne Stefanac founded the No More Censorship Defense Fund, a benefit featuring several punk rock bands, to help pay for his legal fees, which neither he nor his record label could afford. The jury deadlocked 5 to 7 in favor of acquittal, prompting a mistrial; despite a motion to retry the case, the judge ordered all charges dropped. The Dead Kennedys disbanded during

5280-580: The public. Some of their music was made available on a 2009 compilation of late 1970s Colorado punk bands titled Rocky Mountain Low , including the original version of "California Über Alles", which Maximum Rocknroll described as experimental improv in their review. Boucher left Boulder to attend the University of California, Santa Cruz but dropped out after the first quarter of the school year. In June 1978, Boucher responded to an advertisement placed in

5360-403: The punk subculture. MDC released material through ex- Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra 's independent label Alternative Tentacles . In the 1990s, vocalist Dave Dictor published editorials for the internationally distributed fanzine Maximumrocknroll . MDC's initial run ended in 1995, and the band spent five years on hiatus, before returning in 2000 with some new band members. Formed in

5440-599: The rights to most of Dead Kennedys recorded works—which accounted for about half the sales for Alternative Tentacles. Now in control of the Dead Kennedys name, Biafra's former bandmates went on tour with a new lead vocalist. In the early 1980s, Biafra collaborated with musicians Christian Lunch and Adrian Borland (of The Sound ) and Morgan Fisher (of Mott the Hoople ) for the electropunk musical project The Witch Trials , releasing one self-titled EP in its lifetime. In 1988, Biafra, with Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker of

5520-533: The song "MTV Get Off the Air," which accused MTV of promoting poor quality music and sedating the public. The album also contained a controversial poster by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger entitled Penis Landscape . The Dead Kennedys toured widely during their career, starting in the late 1970s. They began playing at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens (their home base) and other Bay Area venues, later branching out to shows in southern Californian clubs (most notably

5600-436: The statues, hiring workers who had lost their jobs due to a tax initiative to panhandle in wealthy neighborhoods (including Feinstein's), and a citywide ban on cars. Biafra has expressed irritation that these parts of his platform attained such notoriety, preferring instead to be remembered for serious proposals such as legalizing squatting in vacant, tax-delinquent buildings and requiring police officers to run for election by

5680-548: The summer of 1982 they became involved in the Rock Against Reagan Tour, during which time they fell out with the band Bad Brains when Rastafarian singer H.R. learned that Big Boys ' singer, Randy Turner , was gay. H.R. and MDC's Dave Dictor had an intense confrontation. Upon Bad Brains' departure from the bill, they refused to return a loan owed to Big Boys and instead left a note that reportedly read "burn in hell bloodclot faggot". The incident resulted in

5760-458: The trial, in December 1986, due to the mounting legal costs; in the wake of their disbandment, Biafra made a career of his spoken word performances. Biafra has a cameo role in the 1988 film Tapeheads . He plays an FBI agent who arrests the two protagonists (played by Tim Robbins and John Cusack ). While arresting them his character asks "Remember what we did to Jello Biafra?" lampooning

5840-443: The use of humor in his own songs. Shortly after graduating high school, he formed a band called The Healers, with John Greenway and an unknown third member. Boucher has described The Healers' music as "banging on instruments we didn't know how to play when our parents weren't home". While never playing a show, the band made recordings, including an early version of " California Über Alles ", but did not want any of it to be released to

5920-403: Was announced that Biafra would be supporting Bernie Sanders in his campaign for the 2016 presidential election . He has strongly criticized the political position of Donald Trump , saying "how can people be so fucking stupid" on hearing the election result. He also criticized Trump's cabinet picks, saying of then-Secretary of Energy Rick Perry , "The last person we want with their finger on

6000-622: Was born in Boulder, Colorado , the son of Virginia Boucher (née Parker), a librarian, and Stanley Wayne Boucher, a psychiatric social worker and poet. His sister, Julie J. Boucher, was Associate Director of the Library Research Service at the Colorado State Library; she died in a mountain-climbing accident on October 12, 1996. As a child, Boucher developed an interest in international politics that

6080-577: Was born. Smoke Signals was released in 1986, their second album featuring a more diverse style than previously, with a foray into '70s rock with the song "South Africa Is Free". This album also saw Gordon Fraser's first appearance as main guitarist. In the same year, MDC backed Michelle Shocked on a version of her song "Fogtown" that appears as a hidden track on her breakthrough album, Short Sharp Shocked . Their third album, This Blood's for You , followed in 1987 and saw them continuing to showcase orthodox hardcore punk style and classic rock, including

6160-462: Was encouraged by his parents. An avid news watcher, one of his earliest memories was of the John F. Kennedy assassination . Boucher became a fan of rock music after first hearing it in 1965 when his parents accidentally tuned in to a rock radio station. As a teenager, his high school guidance counselor advised him to spend his adolescence preparing to become a dental hygienist. In 1977, he worked as

6240-459: Was later hospitalized with serious injuries. The attack derailed Biafra's plans for both a Canadian spoken-word tour and an accompanying album, and the production of Pure Chewing Satisfaction was halted. However, Biafra returned to the Gilman club a few months after the incident to perform a spoken-word performance as an act of reconciliation with the club. Biafra has been a prominent figure in

6320-471: Was re-released yet again in 2003 as the Dirty Rotten CD , with 22 bonus tracks. The Dirty Rotten CD closes with two radio appearances by the band from around the time they recorded Dirty Rotten EP , when they were still known as U.S.D.R.I. In these appearances they discuss upcoming shows with The Dead Kennedys and Chron Gen as well as play some of their demos. The CD ends with the band chiding

6400-534: Was the first of many political songs by the group and Biafra. Its popularity resulted in being covered by other musicians, such as The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (who rewrote the lyrics to parody Pete Wilson ), John Linnell of They Might Be Giants and Six Feet Under on their Graveyard Classics album of cover versions. Not long after, the Dead Kennedys had a second and bigger hit with " Holiday in Cambodia " from their debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables . AllMusic cites this song as "possibly

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