Frankenchrist trial

The jury deadlocked in favor of acquittal, and the judge declared a mistrial. A few of the younger jurors asked Biafra to autograph the poster. It was no longer included in the record after the trial, though it was available long afterward by mail order from Alternative Tentacles—with proof of age. The case reverberated for years. The trial was twice re-argued on the daytime talk show Oprah , with Biafra and Gore as sparring partners. Later, Biafra visited Giger at his home in Zurich.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor had a surprising change of heart. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. Discover Membership. Schnayerson said in his opening statement in the trial of Biafra, 29, whose real name is Eric Boucher. It is is one of the highest examples of people that are committed to social causes. Deputy City Atty. Michael Guarino, meanwhile, contended that the insertion of a byinch reproduction of a painting by well-known Swiss artist H.

Giger in the record album was clearly harmful to children. The surrealistic poster, which depicts in close-up 10 sets of male and female genitals engaged in sexual acts, will be reviewed by the jury next week after the defense rests its case. Later that year, the band released their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. The album reached number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. In January , Ted announced that he wanted to leave to pursue a career in architecture and would help look for a replacement.

He played his last concert in February His replacement was D. Peligro Darren Henley. Around the same time, East Bay Ray had tried to pressure the rest of the band to sign to the major record label Polydor Records ; Biafra stated that he was prepared to leave the group if the rest of the band wanted to sign to the label,though East Bay Ray asserts that he recommended against signing with Polydor. Polydor decided not to sign the band after they learned that the Dead Kennedys' next single was to be entitled " Too Drunk to Fuck ".

It was never played although it was called '"Too Drunk" by the Kennedys' by presenter Tony Blackburn. In addition to the EP's controversial artwork depicting a gold Christ figure on a cross of dollar bills, the lyrics contained Biafra's most biting social and political commentary yet, and songs such as " Moral Majority ", " Nazi Punks Fuck Off!

In , they released their second studio album, Plastic Surgery Disasters. The album's cover features a withered starving African child's hand being held and dwarfed by a white man's hand.

The band's music had evolved much in a short time, moving away from hardcore formulas toward a more innovative jazz-informed style, featuring musicianship and dynamics far beyond other bands in the genre thus effectively removing the music from that genre.

By now the group had become a de facto political force, pitting itself against rising elements of American social and political life such as the religious right, Ronald Reagan and the idle rich. The band continued touring all over the United States, as well as Europe and Australia, and gained a large underground following.

While they continued to play live shows during and , they took a break from releasing new records to concentrate on the Alternative Tentacles record label, which would become synonymous with DIY alternative culture. The band continued to write and perform new material during this time, which would appear on their next album some of these early performances can be seen in the Live at DMPO's on Broadway video, originally released by Dirk Dirksen and later reissued on Rhino.

The release of the album Frankenchrist in showed the band had grown in terms of musical proficiency and lyrical maturity. In some ways the album represented an artistic peak. However, the album also heralded in an era of prolonged legal trouble for the band. The girl's mother wrote letters of complaint to the California Attorney General and to Los Angeles prosecutors.

In members of the band, along with other parties involved in the distribution of Frankenchrist , were charged criminally with distribution of harmful matter to minors. The store where the teen actually purchased the album was never named in the lawsuit. The criminal charges focused on an illustration by H. Included as a poster with the album, Penis Landscape depicts nine copulating penises.

Biafra says that during this time government agents invaded and searched his home. The prosecution tried to present the poster to the jury in isolation for consideration as obscene material, but Judge Susan Isacoff ruled that the poster must be considered along with the music and lyrics. The charges against three of the original defendants, Ruth Schwartz owner of Mordam Records , Steve Boudreau a distributor involved in supplying Frankenchrist to the Los Angeles Wherehouse store , and Salvatore Alberti owner of the factory where the record was pressed , were dismissed for lack of evidence.

In August , the criminal trial was submitted to the jury with the two remaining defendants: Jello Biafra and Michael Bonanno former Alternative Tentacles label manager. The split on the jury was 7 to 5 in favor of acquittal for all of the defendants. The album, however, was banned from many record stores nationwide. Biafra was on the show with Tipper Gore as part of a panel discussion on the issues of "controversial music lyrics" and censorship.

In addition to the obscenity lawsuit and being ignored by the mainstream media MTV and most radio stations gave such groups scant notice, not to mention airplay , the band became increasingly disillusioned with the underground scene as well.

The hardcore scene, which had been a haven for free-thinking intellectuals and downtrodden nonconformists, was increasingly attracting hooligans who came to punk concerts looking only to slam dance and fight to violent music. In January , frustrated and alienated from their own scene, the DKs decided to break up to pursue other interests and played their last concert on February The band continued to work on songs, with Biafra penning songs such as " Chickenshit Conformist " and " Anarchy for Sale ", which articulated their feelings about the "dumbing down" of punk rock.

During the summer they recorded these songs for their final album, Bedtime for Democracy , which was released in November. The artwork, depicting a defaced Statue of Liberty overrun with Nazis, media, opportunists, Klan members, corrupt government officials, and religious zombies, echoed the idea that the punk scene was no longer a safe haven for "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".

In December, the band announced their split. Biafra went on to speak about his political beliefs on numerous television shows and he released a number of spoken-word albums. Ray, Flouride, and Peligro also went on to solo careers.

In the late s, former band members discovered problems with the amount of payments which each band member had received from their record label Alternative Tentacles.

Former band members claimed that Jello Biafra had conspired to pay lower royalty rates to the band members. Although both sides agreed that the failure to pay these royalties was an accounting mistake, they were upset that Biafra failed to inform the band of the mistake after he and his co-workers discovered it. Biafra claims that their lawyers had told him only to correspond through lawyers and not directly with the band, as the conflict over payment had apparently arisen before the accounting mistake was discovered.