Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 by Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist East Bay Ray in San Francisco, California, with the intention to release the Dead Kennedys' self-produced single "California Über Alles".

They would go on to release albums by artists such as Dead Kennedys, NoMeansNo, D.O.A., Alice Donut, Lard, the Dicks, Butthole Surfers, 7 Seconds, Neurosis, Wesley Willis, Half Japanese, Blowfly, Subhumans (Canada), the Crucifucks, Victims Family, Pansy Division, Zolar X, Culture Shock, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Itchy-O, ArnoCorps, the Darts, Tsunami Bomb, and many more.

In true independent spirit, the band had saved their gig money for a year to produce their own record instead of waiting for an established label to sign them.

Jellybeans and Dead Kennedys' follow-up '81 European tour is credited with breaking open the still strong underground scenes in Finland, Italy, Germany, and even behind the Iron Curtain.

Alternative Tentacles U.S. was off and running with domestic releases of new albums by D.O.A., TSOL, Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers, the Dicks, the Crucifucks and many more.

The first office was in Dead Kennedys tour manager Mike Bonnano’s bedroom at the A-Hole, a punk rock household at Third and Bryant in San Francisco.

In 1995, Alternative Tentacles moved to their own office in the Noe Valley neighborhood in San Francisco, before relocating to Emeryville, California, across the Bay in October 2002 and the label has continued its operation there to present day.

[3] In 2009, following the closure of Lumberjack Mordam Music Group, Alternative Tentacles Records switched global distribution to San Francisco based Revolver/Mid-Heaven.

[4] In March 2020, Bandcamp ran a feature on their site entitled "The Lesser-Known Classics of Alternative Tentacles Records" as part of their label profile series.

[7] In the early 1980s, Alternative Tentacles opened an office in the UK (eventually settling at 64 Mountgrove Road in London) to release special editions of American punk records that were unavailable in Europe, many of which were licensed from other independent U.S. labels.

In 1985, Los Angeles prosecutors charged Biafra with "distributing harmful matter to minors" for artwork contained in the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist.

In 1994 in the wake of the punk zine Maximum Rocknroll taking Alternative Tentacles to task over Alternative Tentacles and Dead Kennedys working with EMI-owned distributor Caroline through Mordam, and banning ads and reviews from the label, Jello Biafra was assaulted at the Gilman St. in Berkeley, California, by a group of people chanting “Rich Rock Star”.

The result of the case saw the rights to the Dead Kennedys albums turned over to Decay Music, a partnership of all four members of the band (including Biafra himself), the majority of which voted to pull the records from Alternative Tentacles and license them to Manifesto Records in the United States (and to other labels in the rest of the world).