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jello biafra by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - December 16, 2000 |
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| Born Eric Boucher, Jello Biafra is best known as the front-person for San Francisco based punk legends The Dead Kennedys, whose debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980) included such classics as California Uber Alles and Holiday in Cambodia. The Dead Kennedys played a formative role in the U.S. punk scene, invigorating independent releases. Biafra's brillian juxtaposition of mass-produced plastic food (Jello) with a famous 1970s African famine induced by Western imperialism (Biafra) ignited political debate at a time when the populace had been burnt-out by scandals. Biafra's next surprise move was to run for San Francisco Mayor in 1979, on a very unique political platform. He polled 4% of the total vote, fourth out of ten candidates, indicating a more intelligent punk ethos than the Sex Pistols or The Exploited. Now in the limelight, Biafra and The Dead Kennedys toured constantly, releasing the classic albums Plastic Surgery Disasters (1981) and In God We Trust, Inc (1983). On June 2 1986, Biafra's house was raided and the Dead Kennedys were charged by Los Angeles police with distributing material that was harmful to minors. The allegations centred around Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger's painting Landscape #20: Where Are We Coming From (Penis Landscape), which was included on the Frankenchrist (1985) album. The case became a fundamental First Amendement battle regarding obscenity and artistic freedom, and resulted in a hung jury. The Dead Kennedys broke up under the emotional and financial stress, after releasing Bedtime For Democracy (1986). Biafra continued to fight - alongside Howard Bloom, Frank Zappa and others - against the Parental Music Resource Center (PMRC), and to speak out on other social issues. These rants are immortalised on spoken word albums like I Blow Minds For A Living (1991). During the early 1990s, Biafra continued his vigilant campaigns, highlighting the corporate predators and mercantile capitalist mechanisms that cause pandemic crime-poverty cycles, and the resulting inward-focused censorship and free-speech suppressions which are clothed in 'family values' or 'community standards' rhetoric. The most recent manifestation of this campaign has been the F.S.U Foundation ('Friends Shall Unite') formed with The Offspring singer Dexter Holland. On the music front, Biafra collaborated with Lard, No Means No, Sepultura and Mojo Nixon, was covered by Faith No More and Disposeable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy. But Biafra's high profile has had its drawbacks: he and the Alternative Tentacles record label have been accused of deserting their DIY roots and punk ethos, desiring more mainstream credibility. Consequently, Biafra has been blamed for punk's failure to overthrow the commodification of creativity, and he has been censored by 'fundamentalist punk' publications (Maximum Rock & Roll). In an incident at the Berkeley-based Gilman Street club on May 7th, 1994, Biafra sustained head and leg injuries after being beaten by jeering slam-dancers who labelled him a 'sell-out' and 'rich rock-star'. Other critics have appreciated his de-construction and unceasing exposure of social violations, but wished that he had more constructive guidance. In 1998, a further bomb-shell hit Biafra's life when his former Dead Kennedys band-members East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, and D.H. Peligroa decided to terminate their relationship with Alternative Tentacles. Ray (who owned DK Songs), claimed that the dispute was over wholesale price CD royalties, whilst Biafra counter-claimed that he was being marginalised for refusing Dead Kennedys songs to be used in a planned Levi Jeans advertisement campaign. The acrimonious dispute killed off any future reunion, and a planned archival live album. Like or loath him, he is more than just punk's certified Elder Statesman to Green Day or The Offspring: he remains at the cutting edge of both independent music and global activism. |
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