"fresh fruit for rotting vegetables" 25yo

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I was driving home from the band meeting last night, and on the radio was this show where they play punk and hardcore. The DJ played a track from "fresh fruit for rotting vegetables", because there's some fancy 25th anniversary edition out now. I was weirded out a bit by the fact that the dj felt the need to explain to his listeners exactly who the dead kennedys were! What? Obviously I'm older, and the dead kennedys are kind of a big band in my mind, but I guess not any more to the, eh, current listener. Most of the stuff the DJ played was OK-ish, but it sounded more like it came from a black flag or minor threat type of background, more stereotypically "hardcore" and serious. He played "Viva Las Vegas", which seemed like a bit of a shit choice, especially when he could have played "Let's lynch the landlord". It sounded weird, tinny and out of place to me. Dead kennedys never had that kind of heavy sonic guitar power that minor threat or black flag had, but they had a lot more going for them, I think. I still enjoy the dks a lot more than any of their contremporaries, really. I like the driving feel of their music, the great surf-ish guitar solos, the way they threw different sounds and instruments into the mix. East Bay Ray is still one of my favourite guitar players. It's hard to tell a lot of other hardcore guitarists apart, to be honest.

I might pick up the anniversary issue on the way home tonight, because I don't have a copy of "fresh fruit for rotting vegetables" at the moment. It made a big impact on me when I was a kid, for all the usual punk rock = exciting type of reasons, but I still think the music is great, after all that has died away. Does this album & band mean shit to anyone else here, i wonder?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

Good band, wish I'd been young enough to see them live. I'm 30.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:19 (twenty years ago)

i thought i had the 'special edition', but i got it years ago. it has a 2nd disc with the 7" versions and 'to drunk to fuck'. maybe that was the 20th anniversary edition or something. i like it a lot. 'holiday in cambodia' was a big song at university.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:20 (twenty years ago)

My wife saw them in Providence in college. The drummer never showed up, so they were picking people out of the audience.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:28 (twenty years ago)

the dead kennedys are kind of a big band in my mind
kind of? their sax section was the swingingest, baby. Yeah. ;)

seriously - I own the same edn as Theorry. The first disc is fine, still just about stands up. But the DKs will always be a singles band for me.

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

HUGE classic. I still think Plastic Surgery Disasters is my fave, tho'.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 13:42 (twenty years ago)

i thought i had the 'special edition', but i got it years ago. it has a 2nd disc with the 7" versions and 'to drunk to fuck'.

This is a new one put together by the band sans Jello for rerelease on (in the States at least) Manifesto Records. The reason to check it out is that the 2nd disc is a DVD documentary about Them Times, though of course without you-know-who participating. I ended up with a promo copy so I'm not going to complain.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Hadn't heard it in years. Saw a friend had it on his server, grabbed it, played it, loved it all over again. I don't know Black Flag or any of that stuff, but the DKs are/were great. The idea of a special anniversary edition stinks though.

― 11V (11V), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 14:08 (twenty years ago)

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables is probably the easiest choice for fave DK's album--Let's Lynch The Landlord, I Kill Children, Holiday, California Uber Alles... most of da hits are there. And damn, yeah, it's too bad contemporary punk/hardcore didn't take its sonic lineage from the DK's. Tunefulness is important, sometimes.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

the dead kennedys are kind of a big band in my mind
kind of? their sax section was the swingingest, baby. Yeah. ;)

Hey, those cartoonish horn parts make "Terminal Preppie" one of the most fucked-up things I ever heard! Just plain absurd.

I can still enjoy about half of their first two LPs, altho (because?) they were more of a novelty act than most of their Californian peers. Their post-trial stuff was awful, but I suppose that's fairly understandable.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

The other day I saw a kid wearing a DKs shirt and it suddenly hit me "Holy shit! That kid wasn't even born when they were together" (he couldn't have been any more than 16).

― cf cät (chëshy f cat), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

The kids still love DKs! Its amazing how the punk stuff keeps itself alive.

-- Special Agent Dale Koopa (dr.carl.saga...), November 23rd, 2005

ian otm!

― latebloomer: Do I have a large frog in my hair? (latebloomer), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

I saw the DK's (again) a couple of years ago. Unsurprisingly they were crap without Jello.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

i will never forget hearing chemical warfare for the first time and falling off the couch laughing at the chorus. the power, the flippancy- y'all are right nobody has that kinda shit anymore, atleast that i know of. and stealing people's mail?? damn! and the crazy ass collages on the insides of the covers . . . and i think klaus flouride is one of the bombest bass players. and don't overlook frankenchrist: mtv get off the/mtv get off the/mtv get off the air! now! it's almost like they succeeded b/c now mtv doesn't even show music videos anymore.

― jdchurchill (jdchurchill), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, "Fresh Fruit" still means a lot to me. The hidden killer track for me is "Your Emotions", just perfect.

― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

One of my 20 favorite albums ever.

The color cover on the new version looks absolutely retarded. And the reissue sounds like chupacabra shit.

Not that I'm some luddite (I REALLY like the sound of the new Run-DMC reissues), but some things are best left untouched. Especially left untouched by the dudes currently touring around with some joker and calling themselves the Dead Kennedys.

The new-new-new version of California Uber Alles with the Melvins is fun stuff too. Jello is good at deliviering easy punchlines at easy targets in a very entertaining way. Unlike, say, Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

I kinda like all the records, but am I the only one that rates Frankenchrist and Bedtime For Democracy? There aren't as many "classics" on those records, but they certainly should muffle any complaints that the band just didn't have that Black Flag or Minor Threat intensity/speed. Bedtime For Democracy is especially hard, in a good way.

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 24 November 2005 00:29 (twenty years ago)

Will someone please put a gun to my head for not having this now on CD or any other form? I promise I used to have it on vinyl. With the big poster and everything. Please kill me now.

I think I'll have to send me mum US$50 for it since we're not really speaking to each other right now. But that's okay. Or I'll just remedy this situation otherwise. I did see it at the shop on CD maybe 2 or 3 years ago, just didn't quite make the leap. It'll happen one day. I'm not worried. I'm okay.

― Bimble happily opens the door of the motorcar for you (Bimble...), Thursday, 24 November 2005 03:50 (twenty years ago)

Searching his records frantically in sheer disbelief

― Bimble happily opens the door of the motorcar for you (Bimble...), Thursday, 24 November 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

Donut, you're not alone. I have everything they released and rate it all. Bedtime For Democracy isn't AMAZING or anything but it's still a good album.

My favourite is Plastic Surgery Disasters, I don't rate Fresh Fruit quite as high because the album version of California Uber Alles sucks compared to the single version (which is on Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death).

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 24 November 2005 09:50 (twenty years ago)

My favourite one is "Frankenchrist", out of all their albums, though I like them all. On "Frankenchrist", the tunes are a bit weaker than the ones on "Fresh Fruit..." but the band are burning, musically, and I really get off on cranking it up loud. The best bit is "A Growing Boy Need His Lunch"/"Chicken Farm" which kind of meld together into this one long fucking awesome track. East Bay Ray's guitar playing & tone on this album are great too. The whole band, in fact, are total rock power.

My main memory of "Fresh Fruit..." from when it came out was when some kid bought it, and we all real the lyrics on the poster at the back of the class. The teacher called us out, b/c we were laughing out loud at tem, then she read the lyrics, and she cracked up as well! that kind of stuff, extreme bad taste delivered in this goofy humorous way was pretty unusual back then, I guess.

The poster was something else as well. In the big format you got it in with the 12" vinyl, you could sit and study it for hours, all those bizarre, tasteless images, splattered all over 2 sides! Way, way better than any of the Crass posters!

This album, and the "Let Them Eat Jellybeans" comp really opened my mind, musically, at the time.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 24 November 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

i might be wrong, but i'm thinking that FF4RV is prolley the best hardcore LP...

― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 03:53 (fifteen years ago)

agree

― nog it out with (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:18 (fifteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

"2022 Mix"

https://www.discogs.com/release/24692120-Dead-Kennedys-Fresh-Fruit-For-Rotting-Vegetables-2022-Mix
https://www.discogs.com/release/24584756-Dead-Kennedys-Fresh-Fruit-For-Rotting-Vegetables-2022-Mix

― StanM, Sunday, 2 October 2022 07:40 (three years ago)

I mean.. yeah, of course it sounds better and more stereo and like there was a budget this time, but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6_ocM6cmno

― StanM, Sunday, 2 October 2022 07:49 (three years ago)

I listened to some of it on Tidal yesterday. It sounded louder and fuller and slightly clearer but it was still the album I remember from junior high.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 2 October 2022 11:54 (three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.