Song · Dead Kennedys
“California Uber Alles” by Dead Kennedys
From the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)
“California Uber Alles” by Dead Kennedys appears on 11 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1979 and 2023. It was first released in 1980 on the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Its best result is #31 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,764 alternative song of all time.
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"California Über Alles" is where Dead Kennedys started: their first recording and debut single, pressed on Optional Music in June 1979 with "The Man with the Dogs" on the flip, then cut again in 1980 for their first album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Jello Biafra and John Greenway wrote the words for an earlier band of theirs, the Healers, and Biafra worked out the music on bass, something he rarely tried.
The title swipes the opening of Germany's old national anthem, the stanza that got dropped after 1945 because of its Nazi baggage, and the band wields it like a cattle prod. East Bay Ray's guitar sneers and slithers, Klaus Flouride and drummer Ted keep up a creeping, goose-stepping march, and Biafra plays the demented barker on top, all quavering menace and bug-eyed glee. The 1979 original resurfaced on the 1987 collection Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 33 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1979) | 50 |
| 1980 | 31 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980) | 50 |
| 1981 | 42 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1981) | 50 |
| 2002 | 703 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 214 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2007 | 1900 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1869 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1899 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1957 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2019 | 412 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2023 | 537 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places | 800 |
Also listed as: California über Alles.
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