Dead Kennedys rocker Jello Biafra was born Eric Reed Boucher in Boulder, Colorado, on June 17, 1958. His father, Stanley Boucher, was a poet who worked as a psychiatric social worker and his mother, Virginia Boucher, was a librarian. Biafra’s first foray into the music business came in 1977 when he started working as a roadie with an earlier incarnation of the band the Nails. While attending California’s Santa Cruz State University, he co-founded the Dead Kennedys after responding to an ad in a local newspaper seeking a guitarist for a punk band. The band booked and performed their first concert in San Francisco on July 19, 1978, just one week after forming. They soon rose to the forefront of the political punk movement and Biafra became especially well known for his political views. In 1979, he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and came in fourth place, forcing a runoff between the two top contenders.