How did The Dead Kennedys get their name?
Dead Kennedys played numerous shows at local venues afterwards. Due to the band’s provocative name, they sometimes played under pseudonyms, including “The Sharks”, “The Creamsicles” and “The Pink Twinkies”. The name generated controversy. Wrote San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen in 1978, “Just when you think tastelessness has reached its nadir, along comes a punk rock group called The Dead Kennedys, which will play at Mabuhay Gardens on Nov. 22, the 15th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Despite mounting protests, the owner of Mabuhay says ‘I can’t cancel them NOW — there’s a contract.’ Not, apparently, the kind of contract some people have in mind.”[1]However, despite popular belief, the name was not meant to insult the assassinated Kennedy brothers, but to quote Biafra, “to bring attention to the end of the American Dream”.
