Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, The Early Years

Very prompt, recommended.

Not enough substance. Too many pictures / cartoons(!!!) & it's lighter than my wallet is now after buying it.The author seems to have to hand each member a compliment or a negative in equal measure. Probably something that had to be done so the warring Kennedys agreed to the text.It's a shame the book doesn't go beyond the one album. Surely there's a DK story beyond 1980? Maybe it's too messy looking for it?

The only complaint I could make about this book is that it ends when it does. I can appreciate "Fresh Fruit" is the classic album, but with something as well written as this, its just a shame it couldn't cover the rest of the bands recording career.Never mind, about time someone paid written respect to one of the great Punk bands.Thank you Mr Ogg

A gift so I'll have to see what he says but I think he'll be glued to it for a while!

Very good book tells from the start to finish of the dk loved it

A detailed account of DK's early years and 1st LP. Found it to be heavy going in places with far to much name-dropping and references to irrelevant people which the author knows and not enough on the band members themselves.

I'm a couple of chapters in at this point and i have noticed some stuff already. Firstly, i like this book - its good to have all ex-members involved and interviewed and is filled with stuff that i didn't know. It's nicely researched in terms of graphics and photos and interesting to see representations of all the various early DK releases. Now the bad bit, the author Alex Ogg obviously likes to fill in the gaps himself on facts where information is sketchy. A prime example of this is in regard to his writting on the original 1978 DK demo tape. He mentions a song 'Take Down' - this song does not exist, he is actually referring to the song 'Kidnap'. It makes me think - if he is wrong about this (which he is), what other things has he also got wrong? I bet this is not an isolated case within this book. I like my facts correct, anything else is bulls***.

Books outlining the history of punk rock are seemingly ten-a-penny these days, but you will find fewer more satisfying, interesting and downright readable as Alex Oggs’ forensic examination of the Dead Kennedys’ formative years.A book that started out as a shelved interview for a long forgotten music magazine over two decades ago finally comes to fruition via independent publisher PM Press in the ‘States and we should be very happy that it did.Anyone with even a passing interest in the DKs will know that the animosity between singer Jello Biafra and the rest of the band - guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fluoride and drummer Ted - has been at Defcon 5 since the royalties lawsuits of the late 90s, and exacerbated by numerous issues over song licensing and use of the band name ever since.Ogg negotiates all these tribulations to deliver a fascinating insight into one of the most influential US punk bands via dozens of interviews with those who were there on the ground at the time, including the five founding members (Carlos Cadona aka 6025 was the bands temporary second guitarist).With wildly contradictory takes on their own history, the author deftly lets the conflicting parties tell their story in their own words to deliver a funny, informative yet critical review of a band who really did make a difference to the punk landscape.Lavishly illustrated with artwork by the band’s chief visualiser Winston Smith and with contemporary photographs by Ruby Ray this is an essential read for DK fans and a worthy celebration of a significant album. As the author says “If we can set aside the bickerfest… we can remember what a cool, funny, savage little record Fresh Fruit was.”