Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables [Vinyl]

1993 reissue on Alternative Tentacles of the hardcore punker's 1980 debut for the label. Hailing from San Francisco & led by Jello Biafra, the album features 14 tracks, including their amusing remake of 'Viva Las Vegas', plus 'Kill The Poor', 'Holiday In Cambodia', 'Let's Lynch The Landlord' and 'California Uber Alles'. The full title is'Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables'.

If you're going to own one DK's record, this is it. It's all here in raw, uncut form--Jello Biafra's sneering vocals, the satire that poked like a stick in the eye, and the instrumental blitz that joined East Bay Ray's surf guitar with slaughterhouse rhythm. Soon after this debut, Biafra would fall into Lenny Bruce's trap of parading his legal hassles instead of making art. On Fresh Fruit, though, he throws firebomb after firebomb, hitting every chosen target with "I Kill Children," "Holiday in Cambodia," "California Uber Alles," and "Let's Lynch the Landlord." Dated? A little, sure, but it remains a landmark of lefty politics and violent music. --Michael Ruby