The First Band to Ever Be Criminally Charged for Their Album Art

When the Dead Kennedys released Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables in 1980, they became one of the most iconic, defining bands of the punk rock genre. When they released Frankenchrist five years later, they made history again as the first band ever to be criminally charged for their album art.

The Dead Kennedys’ controversial lawsuit was the perfect storm of 1980s culture clashes. As politicians were fighting to make musicians more responsible for censoring or warning against explicit content, the Dead Kennedys were pushing the envelope against cultural, societal, and religious norms.

Eventually, these opposing forces met in the courtroom.

The Album Artwork That Resulted in Criminal Charges

When Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra first discovered Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger’s “Landscape XX,” the punk rocker said he “was absolutely floored,” calling Giger’s work “the best stuff I’d seen since Bosch” (via Quartz). Giger, whom you might recognize from his work on the 1979 sci-fi thriller Alien, made “Work 219: Landscape XX,” also known as the less NSFW “Penis Landscape,” in 1973. The acrylic painting is a darkly surrealist series of penises entering vaginas.

After stumbling upon the piece, Biafra wanted to use “Landscape XX” as the cover artwork for the Dead Kennedys’ 1985 release, Frankenchrist. Unsurprisingly, the need to maintain some level of retail-ability foiled his initial plans. Instead, Biafra settled on using Giger’s artwork as a poster. Biafra included a warning on the album cover: “The inside fold out 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” (via New York Times).

The album might’ve lived on in underground ubiquity had it not been for a 14-year-old girl who bought the record as a gift for her even younger brother. After the girl’s mother discovered the poster, she contacted the California Attorney General’s office. Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Michael Guarino responded by charging Biafra for violating a California statute that, the Times reported, “makes it illegal to distribute, exhibit, or send harmful material to a minor.”

An Infamously Controversial Trial Ensues

Dead Kennedys’ frontman Jello Biafra faced up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine if the court found him guilty of violating the statute. Biafra’s attorneys argued it was inconsistent to criminalize material appropriate for adults just because a child happened upon it, citing the fact that beer manufacturers aren’t responsible for bartenders who sell alcohol to minors.

“The punishment has already been meted out very severely,” Biafra argued in court (via New York Times), “because I’ve had a year of my life completely disrupted, and I’ve been unable to perform any more music.” The Dead Kennedys singer also suggested the trial was merely a way to solidify recent censorship laws surrounding rock ‘n’ roll music. “They needed a pigeon,” Biafra said in a later interview (via Quartz). “They needed someone to actually charge with a crime.”

In the end, the judge presiding over the controversial proceedings declared a mistrial. While the Dead Kennedys pulled the original pressing of Frankenchrist from the shelves after the trial, it remained available through Biafra’s independent label, Alternative Tentacles, for years.

Even the prosecuting attorney, Michael Guarino, had a change of heart before the judge even had a chance to slam the gavel. “Midway through the trial, we realized that the lyrics of the album were in many ways socially responsible, very anti-drug and pro-individual,” Guarino recalled in a 1997 interview with the Washington Post. “We were a couple of young prima donna prosecutors.” He later added, “I just felt I was on the wrong side of history” (via Quartz).

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