Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

about this album

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is the debut album by the hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys, released initially on Cherry Red Records in the UK in 1980 and eventually through Faulty Products in the US (later by the DK's own Alternative Tentacles label). The best selling and generally the most critically acclaimed album by the Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables has become a major staple of American punk. Lead vocalist Jello Biafra's strong political statements on songs such as "California Über Alles" and "When Ya Get Drafted", launched the Dead Kennedys into the political arena. Musically, Fresh Fruit laid the blueprint for future Kennedy's releases: loud, noisy, fast, but with a sense of dynamics and musical individualism. The surf and rockabilly-inspired riffs owe something to the Ramones' most influential recordings, drawing from early American AM pop and rehashing it in the immediate, aggressive context of punk rock. The lyrics lend a significant bite to the breakthrough of the already strident musical assault. On the original vinyl version Side A was tracks 1-7 and Side B was tracks 8-14. The songs on Fresh Fruit were recorded live with minimal overdubs limited to vocals and the addition of rhythm guitar in places. The photo on the front cover, showing several police cars on fire, was taken during the "White Night Riots" of 21 May 1979, that resulted from the light sentence given to former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White for the murder of May

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