* {{Anvilicious}}: Some listeners would like Music/JelloBiafra and crew better if they didn't punch you in the face with their messages.
* ArchivePanic: Not applicable to the band itself, who only have a handful of releases even if you don't consider the post-Jello ones to fall under FanonDiscontinuity, but if you want to combine their work with Music/JelloBiafra's post-Kennedys career this trope definitely becomes applicable, even if you just stick to the music albums where he's in a starring role. If you want to collect his spoken word albums and his guest appearances too, God help you.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Basically, everything the band released before UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan left office. Particular highlights include "California Über Alles", which has become so iconic that it's been rewritten dozens of times by various artists (its remake, "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now", also counts); "HolidayInCambodia"; "Police Truck"; "Stars and Stripes of Corruption"; "Moral Majority", an utterly scathing (and thoroughly deserved) attack on the MoralGuardians of the time; "Life Sentence"; "Lie Detector"; "Chickenshit Conformist"; "Riot"; "Terminal Preppie"; "Moon Over Marin"; "MTV - Get Off the Air"; "Soup Is Good Food"; "KillThePoor"; "Let's Lynch the Landlord"; and "Nazi Punks Fuck Off", which almost singlehandedly turned Nazi punk into a DiscreditedTrope. There are many, many others, though.
* BrokenBase: Between those who take Biafra's side and those who are behind the rest of the band.
* ChorusOnlySong: "I Like Short Songs". Justified, since it's literally not long enough to contain anything but a chorus.
* EpicRiff: Several, most notably "Holiday in Cambodia" and "California Über Alles".
* FandomEnragingMisconception: "KillThePoor" is a scathing satire of those among the elite who would rather eliminate poverty by [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin killing poor people]] than educating them or helping them in any way. It is ''not'' meant to be taken literally. This is a particularly contentious PoesLaw misconception due to a MisaimedFandom of neo-Nazis turning up at Dead Kennedys' concerts in TheEighties in support of their "advocating" killing poor people, infuriating the fans and band members alike.
* FanonDiscontinuity: No Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra. It just can't be!
* GeniusBonus: See the ShoutOut section on the main page.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** "Creator/{{MTV}} – Get off the Air" was a scathing satire about how a network centered on music videos would only help numb down the masses. Considering that MTV would later become subject to one of the most infamous cases of NetworkDecay, as its programming would stop being about music videos and instead steadly replace them with trash reality shows accused to appeal to the LowestCommonDenominator, you'd be more and more rooting for the song's message.
** Also, when UsefulNotes/JerryBrown became Governor of California again from 2011 to 2019, "California Über Alles" actually became relevant for the first time in 30 years. Ironically, by that point Biafra had disavowed the song, saying he's come around to appreciate Brown as a better politician than most, or at the very least that he had overexaggerated about him.
* MisaimedFandom:
** There were quite a few neo-Nazi fans who [[PoesLaw didn't realize "Kill the Poor" was supposed to be a sarcastic song]]. "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" was the direct result and was their way of telling the neo-Nazis and boneheads to get the fuck out of their shows. This succeeded not only at this goal but in making Nazi Punk as a whole basically a DiscreditedTrope. Although depending on differing accounts, it arguably made Nazi Punk (and by an extent [[BlackMetal NSBM]]) a much more continuing force due to said response.
** There have been more than a few people through the years who thought "Too Drunk to Fuck" was supposed to be serious.
* {{Narm}}: "Religious Vomit," Yes, it was supposed to be taken seriously. Ironically, 6025, who wrote it, later became a fundamentalist Christian.
* OvershadowedByControversy: "Kill the Poor" is difficult to talk about without mentioning the MisaimedFandom of neo-Nazis who turned up at Dead Kennedys' concerts back in TheEighties as a result of [[PoesLaw missing the song's satirical nature]] and thinking the band members were actually advocating killing poor people as the ideal "solution" to poverty, much to the anger of both the fans and band members, as the song is a scathing satire of those among the elite who think so, and is therefore advocating the complete opposite of that. "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" was written in direct response to make it clear that neo-Nazis are not welcome at their concerts, and to this day taking "Kill the Poor" literally is a major FandomEnragingMisconception.
* ReplacementScrappy: Every singer who isn't Music/JelloBiafra.
* SignatureSong: "Holiday in Cambodia" or "California Über Alles". "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" also became this in recent years for not just punk fans, but for metal heads as a rally cry against actual neo-Nazis in the scenes. Also, "Police Truck" for anybody who first learned about the band through VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater.
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