Dead Kennedys

Frankenchrist

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/9875228-Dead-Kennedys-Frankenchrist

Year Of Release: 1985

Review

Dead Kennedys was, and remains, one of my favourite bands. And Frankenchrist was my favourite album from them for most of my teens and twenties. It wasn’t until I got a working copy of Plastic Surgery Disasters that it slipped down to second on the list. Not that that really matters. Much was made of the inclusion of the Landscape #XX print by H. R. Giger. Interestingly, my CD copy includes a different insert.

This is an accomplished album, and not necessarily something that you would have expected musically from the Dead Kennedys. It’s not your father’s hardcore album, as the old timers might say, and the songs are a little longer, a little more melodic, and ultimately much scarier from a lyrical perspective than some of the hardcore albums released around that time. I remember thinking that This Could Be Anywhere (This Could Be Everywhere) sounded like an absolute nightmare, but as I got older, I realised it was the reality for some Americans.

I remember thinking when I was a little older that it was funny how Jello would talk a bit about the same issues over and over as the years went on. Not that he was super repetitive, but sometimes there were things that I’d heard before. And then I realised that he had to repeat things, because people weren’t learning from past mistakes. And nothing seemed to be changing. And now here we are. Dead Kennedys, for someone growing up in regional Queensland in the eighties, was an eye-opening experience, and considered quite dangerous too! And I continue to be thankful that I discovered them, almost despite where and when I grew up.

Standout tracks are the aforementioned This Could Be Anywhere (This Could Be Everywhere), Hellnation, A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch, Macho-Rama (Invasion Of The Beef Patrol), and Stars And Stripes Of Corruption. At My Job irritated me then, and irritates me now, probably because it was a little too real.

Rating: 9/10

Dead Kennedys

Plastic Surgery Disasters

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/1575148-Dead-Kennedys-Plastic-Surgery-Disasters

Year Of Release: 1982

Review

Dead Kennedys is one of my favourite punk bands of all time, and this is probably my favourite album from them. Which is unusual, as I owned copies of both Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables and the excellent compilation Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death before I owned this one, but this one is still my favourite. It might be a question of time passing and having some more opportunities to listen to the album. Dan, what are you on about? Let me explain. I first owned Plastic Surgery Disasters on cassette, and not long after I bought it, my cassette player chewed up some of the tape. Fortunately, I was able to unscrew the shell and cut out the chewed up tape and re-tape it. Whilst I was able to save the cassette, it did mean that Trust Your Mechanic always sounded messed up, as did Bleed For Me (on Side B). I’ve since purchased a copy on CD and a vinyl pressing and am thus able to listen to the album more frequently. The joys of fragile cassettes!

In any case, this is a brilliant hardcore punk album, and one that I think stands up well over forty years later. And I’m not the only one to think that – there’s a great (and gushing) review over here. Dead Kennedys is, and always has been, an absolutely fascinating band. And whilst I’m sad that Jello and the rest of the band could never work out the issues they had, I’m beyond stoked that they managed to put out what they did in the brief period they were making records together.

Standout tracks on this one are the aforementioned Trust Your Mechanic, Terminal Preppie, Halloween, and Riot. Special mention goes to Moon Over Marin, still one of my favourite DKs tracks, and one that I play at least once a week. I haven’t posted a photo of the cover – but you can see it here if you really want to.

Rating: 9.5/10