Appropriately, the next single after The Damned's New Rose is a punk single from the US.
The Dead Kennedys are fronted by the charismatic nutcase who is Jello Biafra (real name Eric Reed Boucher). The other members of this rocking beat combo on the single are East Bay Ray on guitars, Klaus Flouride on bass, and...Bruce Slesinger on drums. Bit anti-climactic that last name - you'd have thought he'd come up with something to rival Rat Scabies of The Damned, but no - it's Bruce!
Amazingly, the band were formed in the city of peace and love - San Francisco. A great city - it's hard to see why a band playing hardcore punk would be distilled from the vibe of SF but there you go.
Holidays...is a great song with a great message and a great driving momentum thanks to Klaus on bass and Jello's idiosyncratic and passionate vocal delivery.
All up, it's rather like Motorhead's Ace Of Spades - a hardcore song that somehow touched the general public's imagination without any sign of compromise.
Hidden gem: The B side is a similar slice of rock'n'roll vitriol - this time directed at lazy violent police people as in the famous LAPD Rodney King incident. Jello spits out the lyrics (literally). Gotta love the energy!
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