The Dead Kennedys may have just been the most revolution-inspiring comedy group that ever was. Making a fun of world aflame and writing unusual, catchy songs around Jello Biafra’s sardonic humour, The Dead Kennedys became loved by some, and hated by everyone in the American establishment. The Dead Kennedys is one of the greatest punk-rock bands of all time.

But I don’t want to some tunes to a face, plug some reality to the mythos machine. These are, in my opinion, the 10 greatest songs by The Dead Kennedys.

Greatest 10 Songs by The Dead Kennedys

10. “The Man With the Dog”

There’s never been a band quite like The Dead Kennedys. Not even the modern version of the group (regretfully), nor the imitators, can measure up.

I, like many others, was amazed by Jello Biafra’s humour and by the band’s appetite for risk. The musicians knew how to make enemies of people holding the whip, and “The Man With the Dog” is one of the band’s great, anti-authority songs.

9. “Kinky Sex Makes the World Go ‘Round”

I’m sure that there were other Misfits (pun intended) making music concurrently with The Dead Kennedys. Many of them were in punk-rock groups. But all of that seemed like a style. What Biafra represented was anti-style.

“Kinky Sex Makes the World Go ‘Round” is, like other songs of Biafra’s, perfectly worded. It’s what artists like Prince spent a lifetime trying to name.

8. “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”

The Dead Kennedys just missed the first punk-rock wave. In its aftermath, hardcore, a faster, more aggressive form of the same music began to develop. While much of the music was great, the aggressive tone of it, I’m sure, attracted people lured by the possibility of violence.

I’m proud of the fact that The Dead Kennedys didn’t use this interest for self-gain. Instead, the group produced one of the greatest anti-right-wing songs of all time, “Nazi Punks Fuck Off.”

7. “Take This Job and Shove It”

Listen, I entirely believe that Jello Biafra’s earliest songs were the work of a brilliant poet. He was to punk what Morrissey was to British indie-rock, and both men would end up cranky and distrustful of the world, of course.

Biafra, however, could also be direct. On the band’s final studio album, “Bedtime for Democracy,” the singer uses a country cover to take aim at the minimum wage job system into which the world wanted to push him and his bandmates. “Take this Job and Shove It” are the memorable last words, albeit not penned by Biafra himself.

6. “Let’s Lynch The Landlord”

The Dead Kennedys were (one of) the first bands that sold records based on song titles alone. These were funny, violent, clever, and nobody knew how the band could get away with them.

“Let’s Lynch The Landlord” is, at its heart, a song against oppression. It’s also a marvellously over-the-top punk rock comedy.

5. “Too Drunk to Fuck”

The Dead Kennedys looked around at the rock scene that still existed and saw only cliches. Fortunately, this also gave Jello Biafra the opportunity to crack mean jokes and make enemies.

“Too Drunk to Funk” contains one of the best instrumentals of any of the band’s songs. East Bay Ray’s riffs are essentials for any new punk-rock guitarist. Can you imagine that the U.K. had to deal with this becoming a genuine hit single?

4. “California Uber Alles”

Jello Biafra didn’t mince words. He just made them funny, and mean. The world he was growing up in, he believed, was one that favoured violent extremists. On “California Uber Alles”, Biafra has the guts to compare his U.S. home to the Third Reich. He does it in such a way, however, that he ensures the protection of virtually every punk-rock fan who heard this.

3. “Police Truck”

The threat of violence was always something that The Dead Kennedys had to deal with. It was also something that they invited, turning themselves into a spectacle while defending civil rights.

The lyrics to “Police Truck” are harrowing and make for brilliant poetry. The words describe a regular night out for violent, crooked cops. No other punk band of the time had smarter songs.

2. “Holiday in Cambodia”

Rock n’ roll, let’s face it, has usually been the hobby of the rich upper classes. The Dead Kennedys sought to create a career out of writing raucous, humorous, and honest punk songs.

“Holiday in Cambodia,” one of the genuinely great punk songs, is a song about rich kids flirting with real-world issues for the purpose of virtue signalling. It contains a frankly memorable chorus.

1. “Kill the Poor”

The Dead Kennedys never skirted around the issues. Jello Biafra knew what he wanted to say. And because the original band line-up didn’t stay together for too long, the group never repeated itself.

The band’s manifesto was one against authority that they saw as nothing but criminal. I think that “Kill the Poor” is the greatest song by The Dead Kennedys because it manages to say what punk-rock songs always try to say.

Those at the bottom are the victims of endless crimes by those at the top. And, worse of all, I think, is that both categories know it. This is the pinnacle of the career of The Dead Kennedys.