Artist · chart history · #224 in alternative artist polls · #444 in indie & aaa artist polls
Dead Kennedys
Band San Francisco United States Active 1978–1986 American punk rock band
Dead Kennedys formed in 1978 in San Francisco, United States and was active until 1986. Dead Kennedys has 74 chart appearances on 58 radio countdowns from 19 stations on RockLists, spanning 1979–2024. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Holiday In Cambodia”, which appears on 50 lists with a best position of #6. The station that charted Dead Kennedys most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 14 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1980.
Dead Kennedys came howling out of San Francisco in 1978 with a sense of humor sharp enough to draw blood. Jello Biafra sang, if that is the word for his quavering, sneering bray; East Bay Ray played lead guitar with a surf-twanged menace; Klaus Flouride held down the bass; and a drummer called Ted and a rhythm guitarist called 6025 filled out the first lineup. 6025 was gone in 1979, and Ted left after the band cut Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables in 1980, the debut that unleashed "Holiday In Cambodia", "California Uber Alles" and "Kill The Poor".
The targets were everybody: politicians, authority of every stripe, pop culture, even the punk scene itself. D.H. Peligro took over behind the kit and became their longest-serving drummer, and most of the records came out on Alternative Tentacles, the independent label Biafra and East Bay Ray started themselves. The EP In God We Trust Inc. and the albums Plastic Surgery Disasters and Frankenchrist kept the satire coming, and the provocations piled up. Stores refused to carry the records, Biafra threw himself into the fight against the Parents Music Resource Center, and an obscenity trial dragged on into 1986 before ending in a hung jury.
That trial helped finish them. Bedtime for Democracy came out just after they announced the breakup in 1986. The other members later beat Biafra in court over songwriting credits and royalties, and from 2001 they carried on without him, with a string of other singers at the microphone.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Dead Kennedys on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Holiday In Cambodia | 50 | #6 | – | 1980 | |
| 2 | California Uber Alles | 11 | #31 | – | – | |
| 3 | Viva Las Vegas | 4 | #440 | – | – | |
| 4 | I Fought The Law | 1 | #228 | – | – | |
| 5 | Kill The Poor | 1 | #246 | – | – | |
| 6 | Police Truck | 1 | #253 | – | – | |
| 7 | This Could be Anywhere | 1 | #1763 | – | – | |
| 8 | Chemical Warfare | 1 | #2030 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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