Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Hell yeah Jello

3.75

5 stars on attitude and politics alone, but the influence, variety, and performance clinches it.

5.0/5.0: Iconic

i've never really cared for jello's vocal delivery but this album is a classic

Personal favorite from my youth. Sadly, it is still relevant tonally if not always topically.

When ya get drafted made me think of system of a down.
Fun, good energy, maybe a little underproduced but that's on par for punk of the era. 3*

Classic early punk album

Look, I know it's from a different album, but since I don't know if that one will come up here I just want to make sure it gets said, because it needs saying:

Dear Nazi Punks (elected and otherwise): FUCK OFF.

This fills me with the desire to punch my senator and toss rocks at the windows of corporations. I won’t do those things, of course, but the energy is there. Really really great punk record.

Really great punk album. I had never listened to it before, but after hearing it, I can immediately say that even as someone who doesn't know much about music, it was obvious to me how some of my favorite bands were inspired by the Dead Kennedys (e.g. System of a Down). Definitely a 5-star album

Since Minor Threat was my first love in punk everything before always struck me as hokey and underpowered, this included. And Jello Biafra's voice was an immediate turn off so I really never gave this a chance. Big. Mistake. Like lots of early punk stuff this IS just basic rock-n-roll played harder faster and louder, they keep the surf rock style and guitar solos and everything, but it's blistering paced on the verge of chaos at all times, sped up so much that there's a qualitative transformation: it distorts into deforms itself something else entirely: like a band trying to reach escape velocity. Amazing to hear zero subtlety political satire that still feels super relevant - probably because it's full of righteous rage but also funny and direct and not milquetoast indie liberalism full of vague universals.

Certainly not a chore to listen to, but I'm not a huge punk fan. I normally like to hear distinctions between instruments instead of a wall of noise and yelling.

That said, Holiday in Cambodia is an excellent song. And Viva Las Vegas was an interesting choice. Not bad though

A straight-ahead rocker. Dead Kennedys might be a 'love them or hate them' band, I suppose that whole genre is kind of the same. I love this album. It's not perfect by any means but if it were perfect it wouldn't really be a punk album, would it? Yes, it's repetitive. No, the vocals are not fantastic (relative to other genres I suppose...). Yes, the music is simple. But it's a really raw and strong record and that’s all it is trying to be. Great political and social commentary. Like it or not, I think they nailed what they were trying to accomplish with this one. 4/5

Ticks all the punk boxes.

I used to read Sounds every week as a spotty youth and always remember an advert for Holiday in Cambodia by the Dead Kennedys, which I thought was a great name for a band and a great song title. Being a metal head at the time i never sought out neither song nor band. So here I am 45 years later finally hearing the Dead Kennedys.

Did they record it at the wrong speed? The Elvis cover of Viva Las Vegas is a massive improvement on the original.

"Kill kill kill kill kill the poor". Duidelijk. We krijgen punk in zijn meest kinderachtige vorm. En toch. Het is wel catchy. Toch even opletten dat ik straks aan tafel met de kids niet dit refrein zachtjes zing...

With refrains like "kill kill kill kill kill the poor" and "economy is looking bad, let's start a war / fan the fires of racist hatred, we want total war", just shows that time is a flat circle. What big business wants, big business gets...

Face kicking punk for you fuckers

One of the best hardcore punk records out there with biting lyrics that feel just as relevant today as they likely did back then. Every song is amazing, but especially stuff like Kill the Poor, Let's Lynch the Landlord, California Uber Alles, and Holiday in Cambodia.

East 5/5 for me.

A cheery punk dystopian album. Heck, it starts with a cheery song about killing the poor. If that's not genius, I don't know what is. Really fun, clever punk album, with a lot of surprisingly unusual guitar sounds and progressions (for punk, at least). Jello Biafra has a kind of insane way of singing, but I dig it. The whole album is a little too insane to call a 5, but I'd definitely revisit. Favorite tracks (but I liked pretty much all of them): Kill the Poor, When Ya Get Drafted, Let's Lynch the Landlord, Drug Me (really cool unusual chords in this one), Chemical Warfare, California Uber Alles (classic).

I liked a lot of this and want to check out more from them. 4/5