Lead singer of the Dead Kennedys,
political activist, and
spoken-word artist. Born in
1959 as
Eric Boucher in
Boulder, Colorado, he moved to
San Francisco and changed his name to
Jello Biafra because he liked the way the names of the
gelatin dessert and the
war-torn African nation sounded together.
He formed the
Dead Kennedys in 1978 and, the band's highly
political lyrics, as well as Biafra's extremely
recognizable and not-entirely-
tuneful nasal voice, helped win the group a
record contract. Based on the difficulties the
band had distributing their
debut album ("
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables"), Biafra formed his own
label,
Alternative Tentacles, to handle the band's releases.
Prior to the
release of "Fresh Fruit", Biafra ran for
mayor of San Francisco in
1979 on a
platform calling for the formation of a
Board of Bribery to handle
liquor licenses and
building codes and
auctions to be held for high-ranking
city government positions. He also called for a
ban on
cars within the
city limits and for the
homeless to be allowed to live for free in
deserted buildings. He finished
fourth out of
ten candidates.
The Kennedys' 1985 album "
Frankenchrist" included a
poster of
surrealist H.R. Giger's
painting "
Landscape #20 (Penis Landscape)", and at the height of the
Parents Music Resource Center's power, the band was prosecuted for
obscenity. The
trial lasted for over a year and according to Biafra, focused mainly on the
lyrics of the band's
songs. In the end,
charges were dropped because the
jury couldn't agree on a
verdict, but the
financial and
emotional drain of the trial led to the Kennedys'
break-up soon afterwards.
Biafra
rebounded by hitting the
college lecture circuit talking about the
trial,
politics, and
free speech. He released several
angry but
very funny spoken word albums based on his
lectures, including "
No More Cocoons", "
High Priest of Harmful Matter: Tales from the Trial", "
I Blow Minds for a Living", and "
Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police".
Biafra has also
collaborated with other
artists, including
Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen (their band,
Lard, released "
The Power of Lard", "
The Last Temptation of Reid", and "
Pure Chewing Satisfaction"),
D.O.A ("
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors"), and
Mojo Nixon ("
Prairie Home Invasion" and "
Will the Fetus Be Aborted").
Jello was attacked by
angry skinheads in 1994 at a
club in Berkeley. He was
hospitalized for two
broken legs (both his own). Apparently, the
skinheads were under the
impression that Jello had
sold out for
fame and
money...
In 1998, Jello was
sued by his former DK bandmates when he nixed the use of the band's "
Holiday in Cambodia" for a
Levi's commercial. The
judge found that he had not been promoting the band's
back catalog properly and had mismanaged the band's royalties, causing his bandmates to lose
money.
In recent years, Jello has started to
irritate me quite a bit. He tells kids that it's wrong for them to plan a
career and that they should all be
artists--which is fine for a guy who's been able to make scads of cash playing in
punk rock bands, but just isn't
practical for every damn kid in the world. Most of his
political statements are designed solely to
shock and
agitate, with no serious thought behind them. And the way he's treated the other members of the Dead Kennedys--none of whom have made much money in the post-DK days--has been an
embarrassment. I suspect if Jello had any
money problems, he'd be hawking the DK's musical catalog to every
ad agency in the country...
Addendum: mat catastrophe sez:
"You've negelected to mention Senor Jello's contribution to the Tumor Circus release... Tumor Circus was a '91 Biafra thing with Steel Pole Bathtub and guitarist Charles Tolnay. It's noisy, slow and grind-y. It's worth a listen, but only once a year or so." Consider it mentioned--I haven't heard that one yet, but my brother seems to have every Biafra release ever, so I'll check with him...