Boston Rock
 47th issue cover, December 1983. | |
| Editor in chief | Billie Best |
|---|---|
| Former editors | Greg A. Reibman |
| Categories | Music magazine |
| Format | Tabloid |
| Publisher | Michael Dreese |
| Founder | Michael Dreese |
| Year founded | 1980 |
| First issue | June 1980 |
| Final issue — Number | February 1987 83 |
| Company | Boston Rock Inc. |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0889-230X |
Boston Rock was a tabloid format entertainment magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts. Its focus, as stated on the cover was: fashion, style, and entertainment. The main focus was on the local music scene and indie rock.
History and profile[edit]
Mike Dreese founded Newbury Comics in Boston in 1978, and started selling music when a friend brought in his record collection to sell. Newbury Comics quickly became one of the region's leading record retail specialist during the punk and new wave movement; and by 1982 a second location was opened in Harvard Square. In early 1980, Dreese founded Boston Rock magazine and co-founded Modern Method Records, an imprint to Boston's emerging punk scene. Dreese now serves on the boards of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), as well as Berklee College of Music and is currently a partner in Subversion Media, a Boston-based High Definition music video production firm.[1]
The first issue of Boston Rock was published in June 1980, and the final was February 1987.[2] Through its history the magazine interviewed cutting-edge culture icons like Zippy comic's Bill Griffith, Ace of Hearts Records founder Rick Harte, The Cure's Robert Smith, Night Flight's Stuart Samuels, Spin magazine founder Bob Guccione, Jr., the first US new wave promotion company Rockpool and New Music Seminar founder Mark Josephson, The Cars' Ric Ocasek, The B-52's Kate Pierson, U2's Bono, The Clash's Joe Strummer and Bernie Rhodes, Greg Kihn, Plasmatics; as well as covering the music of John Lydon, Rich Parsons, Troggs, Suicide, Winter Hours, The Bodeans, Art of Noise, The Go-Go's, Nervous Eaters, Pere Ubu, Mission of Burma, Devo, Ramones, Mekons, Au Pairs, Billy Idol, OMD, The Cramps, Black Flag, The Pretenders; The Psychedelic Furs; Squeeze; Killing Joke; David Johansen; Tom Petty; Joan Jett, New Order Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, The Alarm, The Shaggs, til Tuesday, Rain Parade, Green On Red, Saccharine Trust, Run-D.M.C., Leaving Trains, and Tiny Tim; just to name a few.
Dead Kennedys
| Dead Kennedys | |
|---|---|
 From left to right: Klaus Flouride, Jello Biafra, D.H. Peligro and East Bay Ray | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Punk rock, hardcore punk |
| Years active | 1978–1986, 2001–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts |
|
| Website | www |
| Members | East Bay Ray Klaus Flouride D. H. Peligro Ron "Skip" Greer |
| Past members | Jello Biafra Brandon Cruz 6025 Ted Jeff Penalty Dave Scheff Greg Reeves |
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band was one of the first American hardcore bands to make a significant impact in the United Kingdom.
Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing establishment political figures (both liberal and conservative) and authority in general, as well as popular culture and even the punk movement itself. During their initial incarnation between 1978 and 1986, they attracted considerable controversy for their provocative lyrics and artwork. Several stores refused to stock their recordings, provoking debate about censorship in rock music; in the mid 80s vocalist and primary lyricist Jello Biafra became an active campaigner against the Parents Music Resource Center. This culminated in an obscenity trial between 1985 and 1986, which resulted in a hung jury. They released a total of four studio albums and one EP before disbanding in 1986. Following the band's dissolution, Biafra continued to collaborate and record with other artists including D.O.A., NoMeansNoand his own bands Lard and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, as well as releasing several spoken word performances.
In 2000 (upheld on appeal in 2003), Jello Biafra lost an acrimonious legal case initiated by his former Dead Kennedys band mates over songwriting credits and unpaid royalties. In 2001, the band reformed without Biafra; various singers have since been recruited for vocal duties.
Contents
[hide]- 1History
- 1.1Formation of the band (1978–79)
- 1.2Bay Area Music Awards show (1980)
- 1.3"Holiday in Cambodia" and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980–81)
- 1.4In God We Trust, Inc., Plastic Surgery Disasters and Alternative Tentacles Records (1981–85)
- 1.5Frankenchrist and obscenity trial (1985–86)
- 1.6Bedtime for Democracy and break-up (1986)
- 1.7Legal conflicts
- 1.8Reforming of new band line-up
- 1.9Break from touring
- 2Back on the road
- 3"DK" logo
- 4Music and lyrics
- 5Members
- 6Discography
- 7Bibliography
- 8See also
- 9References
- 10External links
History[edit]
Formation of the band (1978–79)[edit]
Dead Kennedys formed in June 1978 in San Francisco, California, when East Bay Ray (Raymond Pepperell) advertised for bandmates in the newspaper The Recycler, after seeing a ska-punk show at Mabuhay Gardensin San Francisco. The original band lineup consisted of Jello Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher) on vocals, East Bay Ray on guitar, Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall) on bass, and Ted (Bruce Slesinger) on drums and percussion. This lineup recorded their first demos. In early to mid July, the band recruited 6025 (Carlos Cadona) as a rhythm guitarist. Their first show was on July 19, 1978, at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, California.
Dead Kennedys played numerous shows at local venues afterwards. Due to the provocative name of the band, they sometimes played under pseudonyms, including "The DK's", "The Sharks", "The Creamsicles" and "The Pink Twinkies". The band's real name generated controversy. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote in November 1978, "Just when you think tastelessness has reached its nadir, along comes a punk rock group called 'The Dead Kennedys', which will play at Mabuhay Gardens on Nov. 22, the 15th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination." Despite mounting protests, the owner of Mabuhay declared, "I can't cancel them NOW—there's a contract. Not, apparently, the kind of contract some people have in mind."[1] However, despite popular belief, the name was not meant to insult the Kennedy family, but according to Biafra, "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream".[2]
6025 left the band in March 1979 under somewhat unclear circumstances, generally considered to be musical differences. In June, the band released their first single, "California Über Alles", on Biafra and East Bay Ray's independent label, Alternative Tentacles. The band followed with a poorly attended East Coast tour, being a new and fairly unknown band at the time, without a full album release.
Bay Area Music Awards show (1980)[edit]
On March 25, 1980, Dead Kennedys were invited to perform at the Bay Area Music Awards in San Francisco to major record label artists to give the event some "new wave credibility", in the words of the organizers. The day of the performance was spent practicing the song they were asked to play, the underground hit, "California Über Alles". The band became the talking point of the ceremony when after about 15 seconds into the song, Biafra stopped the band—in a manner reminiscent of Elvis Costello's Saturday Night Liveappearance—and said, "Hold it! We've gotta prove that we're adults now. We're not a punk rock band, we're a new wave band."
The band, who all wore white shirts with a big, black S painted on the front, pulled black ties from around the backs of their necks to form a dollar sign, then started playing a new song titled "Pull My Strings", a barbed, satirical attack on the ethics of the mainstream music industry, which contained the lyrics, "Is my cock big enough, is my brain small enough, for you to make me a star?". The song also referenced The Knack's song "My Sharona". "Pull My Strings" was never recorded for a studio release, though the performance at the Bay Area Music Awards, which was the only time the song was ever performed, was released on the band's compilation album Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.
"Holiday in Cambodia" and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980–81)[edit]
In early 1980, they recorded and released the single "Holiday in Cambodia". In June, the band recorded their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, released in September of that year. The album reached number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. In January 1981, Ted announced that he wanted to leave to pursue a career in architecture and would help look for a replacement. He played his last concert in February 1981. His replacement was D.H. Peligro (Darren Henley).
Around the same time, East Bay Ray had tried to pressure the rest of the band to sign to the major record label Polydor Records; Biafra stated that he was prepared to leave the group if the rest of the band wanted to sign to the label,[3] though East Bay Ray asserts that he recommended against signing with Polydor. Polydor decided not to sign the band after they learned that Dead Kennedys' next single was to be entitled "Too Drunk to Fuck".
When "Too Drunk to Fuck" came out in May 1981, the song caused much controversy in the UK as the BBC feared the single would reach the Top 30; this would require a mention of the song on Top of the Pops. It was never played although it was called "'Too Drunk' by the Kennedys" by presenter Tony Blackburn.
In God We Trust, Inc., Plastic Surgery Disasters and Alternative Tentacles Records (1981–85)[edit]
After Peligro joined the band, the extended play In God We Trust, Inc. (1981) saw them move toward a more aggressive hardcore/thrash sound. In addition to the EP's controversial artwork depicting a gold Christ figure on a cross of dollar bills, the lyrics contained Biafra's most biting social and political commentary yet, and songs such as "Moral Majority", "Nazi Punks Fuck Off!" and "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now" placed Dead Kennedys as the spokesmen of social protest, while "Dog Bite", a cover version of Rawhide and various joke introductions showed a much more whimsical side. In 1982, they released their second studio album, Plastic Surgery Disasters. The album's cover features a withered starving African child's hand being held and dwarfed by a white man's hand, a picture that had won the World Press Photo award in 1980, taken in Karamoja district in Uganda by Mike Wells.
The band's music had evolved considerably in a short time, moving away from hardcore formulae toward a more innovative jazz-informed style, featuring musicianship and dynamics far beyond other bands in the genre (thus effectively removing the music from that genre). By now the group had become a de facto political force, pitting itself against rising elements of American social and political life such as the religious right, Ronald Reagan and the idle rich. The band continued touring all over the United States, as well as Europe and Australia, and gained a large underground following. While they continued to play live shows during 1983 and 1984, they took a break from releasing new records to concentrate on the Alternative Tentacles record label, which would become synonymous with DIY alternative culture. The band continued to write and perform new material during this time, which would appear on their next album (some of these early performances can be seen in the DMPO's on Broadway video, originally released by Dirk Dirksen and later reissued on Rhino).
The Vandals
| The Vandals | |
|---|---|
 Left to right: Escalante, Quackenbush, Freese, and Fitzgerald in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | S.N.I.V. (Stevo's New and Improved Vandals) Anarchy Taco[1] |
| Origin | Huntington Beach, California, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | Oingo Boingo |
| Website | vandals |
| Members | |
| Past members |
|
The Vandals are a punk rock band from the United States established in 1980 in Huntington Beach, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums and two live albums and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped Tour. They are well known for their use of humor, preferring to use their music as a vehicle for comedy and sarcasm rather than as a platform for more serious issues.[2] As of 2000, they have been signed to Kung Fu Records.
The band's lineup fluctuated significantly over their first nine years, though founding members Steven Ronald Jensen, guitarist Jan Nils Ackermann, and first consistent drummer Joe Escalante remained regular fixtures. Of the early members only Escalante has remained through all subsequent incarnations of the band. The current lineup of Escalante, Dave Quackenbush, Warren Fitzgerald, and Josh Freese has remained intact since 1990 and is generally considered far removed from the band's early 1980s incarnation. Since 2002 Escalante has released all of the band's albums through his Kung Fu Records label, with Fitzgerald generally producing.