Kill the Poor

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"Kill The Poor"

Single by Dead Kennedys
from the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Released	October 1980
Format	7 inch
Recorded	1980
Genre	Hardcore punk
Length	03:02
Label	Alternative Tentacles
Writer(s)	Jello Biafra
Dead Kennedys singles chronology
Holiday In Cambodia	Kill The Poor	Too Drunk To Fuck

"Kill the Poor" (B-side "Insight") is a single by the hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys released in October of 1980. A barely different version of it was released as the title track of their debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. The song is from the point of view of government officials, who want to use the neutron bomb to rid the country of its poorest inhabitants. One could infer that the government officials in the song are conservatives, as the song's storyline mentions at one point that Jane Fonda "convinced the liberals it's okay", hinting that the officials are not liberals. When "Kill the Poor" got a surprising amount of play in some third world countries, the band wondered if the government took the song literally and were actively promoting it.

A live version of the song was released later, but the lyrics "neutron bomb" were replaced with the lyrics "satellite-bomb", and the guitar solo reverted to the pre-1980's type.

Musically, the song mixed the early hardcore punk aesthetic (hard, distorted chords and a basic musical assault) with post-Ramones rockabilly riffs and an outrageous and ingenious chorus (based around the Ramones "You're Gonna Kill that Girl," and probably meant as a parody of that song). "Kill the Poor" was the leadoff track to the 1980's classic Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables and is considered a classic of the early punk era and one of the Kennedys' best-known and most-loved songs.

"Kill the Poor" reached #49 in the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks on the chart.

Dead Kennedys

Jello Biafra | East Bay Ray | Klaus Flouride | D.H. Peligro

Former members: Ted | 6025 | Brandon Cruz | Jeff Penalty

Discography