The Dead Kennedys - 'Live At The Deaf Club' (Manifesto)
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
'There's a lot of people that think America is all about Los Angeles, Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles, all that kind of stuff ...we know different in here...so we're gonna prove it to the world by recording an album live at The Deaf Club...and we're doing the first one tonight with the Dead Kennedys.'
So begins DJ Johnny Walker's introduction to this pivotal performance by the Republican-baiting granddaddies of hardcore and kindred spirits of the UK's politicised punk movement. It's a Saturday night in early 1979 at San Francisco's influential Deaf Club, and the sound being captured for posterity here is of unfeasibly angry, unfeasibly opinionated young men. The Dead Kennedys are captured at a critical time in their belligerent ascendancy; 'Live at the Deaf Club' was recorded the year after the band was formed, and before the release of classic debut LP 'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables'. The band hasn't released any new studio material in the last 18 years, making this 15-track recording a real treat for long-time fans.
Fittingly, it's a painstakingly prepared package, including an eight-page booklet of vicious, highly topical satire on U.S. state-surveillance. The influence of Jello Biafra's superficially clownish onstage demeanour masking deceptively angry, biting social critiques can be felt to this day, most saliently in the likes of Green Day. But Biafra's theatrical showmanship doesn't eclipse the serious political critiques offered by the savage 'Kill The Poor', 'California Uber Alles' or the still-startling 'Holiday in Cambodia'.
George Dub'ya certainly wouldn't like it. Discerning rock fans ought to, though.
Artists in this article: The Dead Kennedys
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