The chronically misunderstood Dead Kennedys song
Dead Kennedys were one of the defining American punk bands to emerge in the late 1970s, dominating San Francisco’s hardcore punk scene with their politically-charged and often shocking lyricism. The band’s name was enough to cause controversy, although guitarist Bay Ray once asserted, “When JFK was assassinated, when Martin Luther King was assassinated, when RFK was assassinated, the American Dream was assassinated. . . . Our name is actually homage to the American Dream.”
Their first single, ‘California Uber Alles’, was released in 1979 and used satire to launch an attack on the Governor of California, Jerry Brown. With lyrics such as “I will be Führer one day/ I will command all of you,” the song certainly confused certain listeners, as Brown’s politics were closely aligned with the left. However, lead vocalist Jello Biafra was critical of Brown’s liberalism being forced upon people with a fascist sensibility, making fun of hippie ideals with the lines “Your kids will meditate in school” and “You will jog for the master race.”
However, that is not the only time the Dead Kennedys confused their fans. The band have never been afraid to lean into controversial and shocking ideas; after all, their most famous album artwork features the hand of an incredibly malnourished Ugandan child being held by a European missionary. Two years before, Dead Kennedys released a song called ‘I Kill Children’, with Biafra singing from the cold perspective of a child murderer.
Of course, Biafra is not a child killer, but that didn’t stop the song from being considered an exercise in outrageous poor taste by many. The vocalist wrote the song when he was 18 while pondering why some people become serial killers. He took the startling opening line, “God told me to skin you alive,” from the Christian gospel comics created by Jack Chick, known as Chick tracts.
The song continues with a tirade of lyrics discussing the ways in which the speaker likes to kill children, which, for many fans, made for an uncomfortable listen. Biafra sings, “Crush ’em under my car/ I wanna hear them scream/ Feed ’em poison candy/ To spoil their Halloween,” which certainly lost the band a fan or two.
However, although the lyrics are genuinely provocative and bold, Biafra’s message is clear. He taps into the mind of a deranged killer seeking fame and notoriety (“Anyone can be king for a day…”), reflecting America’s obsession with serial killers and true crime, often turning murderers into celebrities. Biafra takes a confronting approach, using satire to poke fun at those who would actually believe their lyrics to be true.
Revisit the track below.
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