10 Punk Bands You Must Listen To

6. Dead Kennedys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbOvCeufQ8Y The Dead Kennedys are a punk institution. They blasted into the American Hardcore Punk scene in the early 1980s and have pretty much been its poster-boy ever since. Incorporating elements of other genres, such as surf, rockabilly, and garage, the Dead Kennedys made hardcore more accessible without watering it down. Quite the opposite - singer Jello Biafra's lyrics were often more caustic, biting, and directed than most ('Nazi Punks F**k Off!' anyone?). The Dead Kennedys are representative of the downtrodden intellectual, but it was these smarts that drove their disillusion in both the underground and mainstream music scene. This probably wasn't helped by the obscenity court case that was put against them for artwork included in their 1985 album Frankenchrist. Whilst acquitted, the album was banned from many shops and led the band into a downward spiral concerning the state of modern music, its censorship, and violent skinheads that had started to try and take over the punk scene. The band split in 1986, but Biafra's acerbic wit carried on with his own spoken word projects.