Jello Biafra

Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), better known by the stage name Jello Biafra, is an American punk rock musician and political activist best known as the former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. In the wake of the band's disbandment, he has become a solo musician and spoken word artist. In his political life, he is an active member of the Green Party and has participated in activism relating to his progressive political beliefs. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist (though not a promoter of anarchy), and advocates civil disobedience and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra himself has been known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.

Music

Biafra has been a prominent member of the Californian punk rock scene and, while a member of the Dead Kennedys, was one of the founding members of the San Francisco hardcore punk scene. The Dead Kennedys was one of the first U.S. punk bands to write politically themed songs (possibly inspired by Black Flag, another major Californian punk rock band of the era). The lyrics Biafra wrote with the Dead Kennedys helped popularize the use of humorous lyrics in punk rock. Many later punk rock bands would cite the Dead Kennedys as a major influence.{{ref|influence}}

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Biafra's initial attempts to compose music were done on guitar, but his inexperience on 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 was envisioning to the band. The end result, artistically, is that Biafra's musical compositions end up being free of the cliches and comfort zones many instrumentalists fall into. Biafra's composing method has led to some critics claiming that Biafra is untalented; however, fans of Biafra claim that his talent is shown in the lyrics that he writes, while other musicians that Biafra has worked with (D.O.A.'s Joe Keithley and The Melvins' Buzz Osborne in particular) have had nothing but nice things to say about the quality of his musical compositions.

Related Topics:
Klaus Flouride - Joe Keithley - The Melvins - Buzz Osborne

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Biafra's first popular song was the first single by the Dead Kennedys, "California Über Alles". The song, which spoofed California governor Jerry Brown, would be the first of many political songs by the group and Biafra. Not long afterward, the Dead Kennedys made a second and possibly bigger hit with "Holiday in Cambodia", a song about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, from their debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Minor hits from the album included "Kill the Poor" (about potential abuse of the then-new neutron bomb) and a satirical cover of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas".

Related Topics:
Jerry Brown - Khmer Rouge - Cambodia - Kill the Poor - Neutron bomb - Elvis Presley - Viva Las Vegas

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The Dead Kennedys received some controversy in the spring of 1981 over the single "Too Drunk to Fuck". The song became a big 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 them to play a performance of the song on Top of the Pops. However, the single's popularity was slightly less than what was required, peaking at the 31st position.{{ref|altten}}

Related Topics:
1981 - Britain - BBC - Top of the Pops

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Later albums would also contain memorable songs, but with less popularity than the earlier ones. The EP album 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. The band's most controversial album, Frankenchrist, brought with it the song "MTV Get Off the Air", which accused MTV of promoting poor quality music and sedating the public.

Related Topics:
In God We Trust, Inc. - Ronald Reagan - MTV

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After the disbandment of the Dead Kennedys, Biafra's new songs would be recorded with other bands, releasing only spoken word albums as solo projects. These collaborations were met with less popularity. However, his song "That's Progress", originally recorded with D.O.A. for the album Last Scream Of The Missing Neighbors, would receive considerable exposure when it appeared on the album Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1.

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Biafra is an ardent collector of unusual vinyl records of all kinds, from 50's and 60's ethno-pop recordings by the likes of Les Baxter and Esquivel to vanity pressings that have circulated regionally, to infamous German crooner Heino; 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. His heavy interest in such recordings eventually led to Biafra discovering the prolific (and schizophrenic) singer/songwriter/artist Wesley Willis, who he signed to Alternative Tentacles in 1994, precluding Willis' major label deal with American Recordings. His collection grew so large that on October 1, 2005, Biafra donated a portion of his collection to a an annual yard sale co-promoted by Alternative Tentacles and held at their warehouse in Emeryville, California.

Related Topics:
Les Baxter - Esquivel - Heino - 1993 - RE/Search Publications - Wesley Willis - 1994 - American Recordings - October 1 - 2005 - Emeryville, California

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