It’s strange that the Dead Kennedys are often categorized as hardcore punk. It’s true the San Francisco band sometimes employed the same bash n’ thrash tactics as contemporaries Black Flag and Minor Threat, but more often than not the DK’s songs were a strange brew of surf, jazz and the avant-garde. The flipside of the group’s first single, 1979’s “California Über Alles”, featured gratuitous amounts of echoplex—a device Johnny Ramone probably wouldn’t know how to turn on.

As if the dark, intricate riffing of the Dead Kennedys wasn’t weird enough for most leather jacketed cretins, there was front man, Jello Biafra. Carrying on about various social and political ills in a shrill, vibrato-laden voice, Biafra sounded like the result of a drunken tryst between Al Jolson and Mickey Mouse. Lyrically, the Dead Kennedys came off as conspiracy theorists and complete paranoids. They were certain the government would kill the poor, drug or draft the rest of us, and alleged leftist saviors like Jerry Brown would turn out to be power-hungry Fascists. So much for the American dream.

That same thought probably went through the DK’s heads the minute Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. At least the rise of the Republicans gave them plenty of material for their second album, Plastic Surgery Disasters. Washington-masterminded epidemics of disease and violence were predicted by Jello and Co. in a sea of turbulent drums and eerie guitars. It wasn’t all ominous power-bashing, though. The Kennedys offered up “Terminal Preppie”, an upbeat razz of brainless college kids whose only concerns were goofing off and getting laid. This wasn’t new territory for the band; a year earlier they released “Too Drunk to Fuck”, a party anthem parody about a frat house encounter gone wrong. That song climbed to #38 on the U.K. Singles Chart, the first record with “fuck” in the title to break that country’s Top 40.

Whatever musical milestone the group achieved on their third album, Frankenchrist, would be overshadowed by the biggest controversy of their career. Initially, a graphic depiction of endless vaginal penetration might have seemed like a good insert for the record. None of the Kennedys were chuckling, however, when the complaint of a suburban housewife landed them on trial for distributing harmful matter to minors. Although none of the band members were convicted, the legal proceedings bankrupted their record label, Alternative Tentacles, and wore down their creative drive. The decision to break up was made before the DK’s final album, Bedtime for Democracy, was released while the trial was still going on in 1986.

Numerous punk acts kept the spirit of the Dead Kennedys alive for years after their dissolution, but that unique blend of mind-bending guitar and political provocation lay dormant until an Armenian heavy metal band named System of a Down sprung up in the late ‘90s. Granted, both bands were polar opposites in terms of marketing. The fiercely independent DKs distributed their own records and actively avoided any mainstream support (they infamously sabotaged their own major label-packed showcase at the 1980 Bay Area Music Awards). Born and bred in L.A., System of a Down had no qualms about becoming an FM radio band, signing to Rick Rubin’s American label and riding their 1998 self-titled debut to success on the turn of the century nu-metal craze. It was evident almost immediately, though, that SOAD differed from the Korns and Limp Bizkits of the world. The quintet combined Metallica’s crunch with bebop time signatures, obtuse fret action, and politically-conscious lyrics bellowed by singer Serj Tankian, a charismatic fellow who was just as comfortable crooning as he was screaming.

System of a Down focused on many of the same evils their punk forefathers had two decades earlier, including organized religion, rapidly advancing technology, and (of course) corrupt governments. Fate dealt them a bizarre hand in 2001: SOAD found themselves in the unlikely position of being a Middle Eastern rock band with a chart-topping album (Toxicity, their second) the week of September 11. Two days after that national tragedy, Tankian posted an essay on the band’s website criticizing the United States for practicing a lousy foreign policy and putting the need for profit above the safety of its citizens. The backlash was instant and harsh; fortunately, SOAD was able to weather this “Frankenchrist”, due in part to the fact they were a major label band with the number one rock album in the country (whatever statements Jello Biafra made in the wake of the attacks went largely unnoticed, though one has to wonder if that would have been the case had 9/11 occurred 20 years earlier).

In 2005, System of a Down released the double album Mezmerize/Hypnotize, a smorgasbord of furious, sputtering diatribes directed at George W. Bush. The American War Machine was taken to task for wasting money and young lives in Iraq, most notably in “B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs)”, SOAD’s sarcastic single that cut between blazing indignation and a block-rockin’ jarhead dance hit (harkening back to the DK’s own “Terminal Preppie”). Mezmerize/Hypnotize may not have won SOAD any fans in the White House, yet there was no doubt the MP3 age’s favorite politico rockers were enjoying their greatest commercial and artistic success.

Naturally, it was around this time that rumors of tensions within SOAD began to surface. Separate dressing rooms, lyrical swipes in concert, and various other suggestive tidbits whizzed around the internet. The band claimed to merely be going on hiatus in 2006; Tankian stated more recently that he isn’t sure what’s up with his group. One thing’s for sure—if there are any problems, System of a Down better sort them out now. Apparently never fully on the same page, the Dead Kennedys grew distant and resentful as the years went by. In 2000, a simple accounting error blew up into a messy legal battle over writing credits, missing royalties, and song licensing. Nowadays the former punk heroes speak only through press releases and lawyers, sullying their musical and ethical legacy with each vindictive assault.

Watch: System Of a Down “Boom” [at youtube.com]

Watch: Dead Kennedys “Jello For Mayor” [at youtube.com]

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