Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra (June 17, 1958) is an American punk rock singer, spoken word artist and record company executive who became famous in the 1980s as the leader of the San Francisco band The Dead Kennedys.

The offending insert

In 1985 Biafra, as head of the record company, was prosecuted for distributing harmful matter to minors after they included a poster by H.R. Giger featuring penises and vulvae with their album Frankenchrist. The original painting had been show in art galleries in Europe and the USA. The album carried a sticker warning about the contents:

The inside foldout to this record cover is a work of art by H. R. Giger that some people may find shocking, repulsive, or offensive. Life can sometimes be that way.

The prosecution had been initiated after 15 year-old Tammy Schwarth's mother found the poster in the record sleeve and complained to California’s Attorney General’s office. She was surprised by the resulting legal case:

“I thought I’d just have to complain and it would all be taken care of. . . . I didn’t realize it would all go to court and be a big to-do.”
Her daughter commented: "I thought it was gross--it wasn’t harmful.”

Zappa offered advice to them during their legal battle.

Jello Biafra and Frank Zappa, 1985.

Biafra later declared:

Meeting Frank Zappa was one of the few silver linings to come out of the trial. He got a hold of me and the helpers of the No More Censorship Defense Fund rather than us having to find him. He gave me some very valuable advice very early on; something that anybody subjected to that kind of harassment should remember: You are the victim. You have to constantly frame yourself that way in the mass media so you don't get branded some kind of outlaw simply because of your beliefs and the way you express your art. The outlaws are the police. I got to visit Frank two or three more times at his house in Los Angeles and those were very special times. He showed me a hilarious Christian aerobics video. The women were in their skintight leotards doing jumping jacks. 'One-two, two-two, three-two, praise the Lord!' And of course the bustiest one was in a striped spandex suit dead front center of the screen!

Quotes by Jello Biafra about Zappa

"I don't think my generation has produced anybody the caliber of a Frank Zappa or Jim Morrison and part of the reason for that, per capita there weren't as many young people, it's post baby boom, also, it was the Reagan era. The best and the brightest of the young minds, instead of going into music or resistance leadership, go into making money. Nobody seems to ask themselves 'Will this wealth, this distribution, suddenly seeing my name in crappy mall record stores, make me happy?' If the Dead Kennedys had gotten one tenth the size of Nirvana, I would've jumped off the Golden Gate bridge from pressure alone. Any creative, hard working person can't be bled of their talents forever and not be given any love in return — or they turn into either suicides or monsters." — Jello Biafra, quoted from: Positive Cultural Terrorism, interview by Joshua Berger, Plazm #8, 1995.

"Humor can be very effective both to inspire, and as a weapon. Just ask Frank Zappa and Charlie Chaplin." (Quoted from Jello Biafra Interview by Jodi Vander Molen, The Progressive, February 2002.)

See also

• Blood On The Canvas
• Dead Kennedys