Biografia

80s punk band Dead Kennedys are best known for their underground hit singles "California Über Alles" and "Holiday in Cambodia", from their debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980) and the 1981 single entitled "Too Drunk to Fuck", which reached the top forty in the UK charts. In 1985 the Kennedys third album Frankenchrist came with a poster of H.R. Giger's controversial painting Penis Landscape. This landed the band with criminal obscenity charges for "distribution of harmful matter to minors". Under the California Penal Code, conviction carried a maximum penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. The resulting trial ended with a hung jury and the judge would not allow prosecutors to re-file the charges. The pressure of the trial caused the early break-up of the Dead Kennedys although they would partially reform in early 2000 and after several rounds of lawsuits over royalties, licensing and copyrights they began touring again in 2001.