Mythbusted // Blog metal // Tao of Glenn

here's to myth explosion... the good prof Drew LeDrew just wrote to let me know that my anecdote below about Kaoru Abe pissing off Milford Graves, paraphrased from the "Wire" article i cited, is apparently completely unfounded. he had posted a similar tidbit on "Destination Out" and none other than Graves himself posted this comment:

" 'During an engagement with Milford Graves in 1977, Kaoru so enraged Graves that he demanded Abe be dropped from the tour.'

This is not TRUE. I never said anything like this. This is historically incorrect.

MILFORD GRAVES"

go here for the whole post.

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well, this is sort of hilarious: underground black metal dude Xasthur has a blog. black metal is funny. i've never really gotten into it. it continues to strike me as something that's cooler to like than to listen to. i love extreme shit as much as anyone but the monotony of black metal and this whole idea of "shitty production equals cultness" is really lame to me. people fetishize free jazz in the same way, i guess. anyway, yeah... Xasthur has a blog.

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Glenn Danzig is a poet. did you know this?

i've been fascinated with him since i was about 15. in high school, several friends and i had a contest to see who could construct the largest Danzig wall, i.e., a wall filled with posters, clippings and other memorabilia related to the man and his various projects. i had, among like 7000 other things, an autographed ticket stub and a pick thrown to me from onstage by Danzig guitarist John Christ. i was in the front row, singing along to every word; Christ spotted me and tossed me a pick in the middle of the set. righteous.

anyway, so yeah, Glenn is a poet. i believe this with all my heart. have you ever actually read and pondered Misfits lyrics? you have no idea.

it's been a longstanding concern at Stay Fucked central. we're all about it. the other day Joe kicked off another Misfits phase--it don't take much, believe me--by recounting a humorous moment from "Evilive," when Glenn says to the crowd, "We gotta tune up--we pound these fuckin' guitars like fuckin' jackhammers. What do you think, we're lightweights?" whoa.

and we were watching a Samhain video the other day--yes, i own a Samhain video--and before "Unholy Passion," Glenn goes, "This song is about fuckin'."

there you have it.

anyway, but the lyrics. where to start? there are the obvious gems, i.e., the "Hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall" refrain from "Skulls" or the section in the JFK-assasination paean "Bullet" when he addresses Jackie O. thusly:

My cum be your life source
And the only way to get it
Is to suck or fuck
Or be poor and devoid
And masturbate me, masturbate me
Then slurp it from your palm
Like a dry desert soaking up rain
Soaking up sun

so there's that. as for the more obscure stuff, Stay Fucked used to cover "Hybrid Moments," and in researching the composition, one line in particular became immortal: "When do creatures rape your face? / Hybrids opened up the door."

"Horror Hotel" is another favorite. Glenn makes constant reference to being "down the hall with my vampire girlfriend." in "Devils Whorehouse," he implores you to "Come alive in the house that screams." in "Angelfuck" he laments, "Little Angelfuck / I see you going down on a fireplug." any idea what this means? i think i read an interpretation where someone thought it was "firebug," i.e., "arsonist."

another poignant moment is "Some Kinda Hate": "There's some kinda love / And there's some kinda hate / The maggots in the iron lung / Won't copulate." the amazing thing about lines like this is that in context, they sounds as logical and straightforward as the blues. you're like, "yeah, those damn maggots; they just won't frickin' copulate!"

and who could forget "Return of the Fly." this song is pretty straightforward; Glenn just basically rattles off the names of the actors in said film:

RETURN OF THE FLY
-----------------
Return of the fly
Return of the fly
With Vincent Price
Yeah, return of the fly

Helene Delambre, Helene Delambre
Francois, Francois

Return of the fly
You guinea pig
Human hands and feet
Yeah, you guinea pig

Helene Delambre, Helene Delambre
Francois, Francois

Cecile, Cecile
Cecile, Cecile

The return of the fly
With Vincent Price
You guinea pig
Yeah, return of the fly

Return of the fly
With Vincent Price
You guinea pig
Yeah, return of the fly
---------------

but what about that "human hands and feet" part? "You guinea pig?" this is some weird shit. occasionally he goes on that free-association tip.

the surreal technophobic rant "TV Casualty" is another staple. it begins with the couplet, "There are paint smears on everything I own / The vapor rub is lying on a table of filth." and then later we have this spooky string of images: "Jaguars at the cemetery / Cadillacs grazing at your grave / Zeniths grazing at your grave / Sonys grazing at your grave."

"Theme for a Jackal"? that's a crazy-ass song. the lyrics are one thing, but musically it's fucking incredible. it's like this awesome jivey piano boogie thing. i take it for granted that people know every word to every Misfits song b/c most of my friends do, but have people actually heard that song? it's a total motherfucker.

btw, all lyrics quoted here are taken directly from this godsend document, a text file of the official lyric sheet that came w/ the Misfits box set. it's all freakin' verified, in other words.

here are a few mp3s. i'd recommend moseying over to that document and reading along (you can just do a text search on the page for the song you want to find). you won't be disappointed. aside from the humor value, the Misfits fucking destroy musically. i have said time and again that their songbook--solely the work of Glenn--rivals that of Lennon and McCartney for sheer concentrated melodic brilliance. i really can't think of another band that has as many good songs; it's just like hit after fucking hit. for one thing, no other punk band even comes close. i had a soft spot for Bad Religion back in the day, but nah. hail Misifts. i love Samhain too, but that's a really different story.

anyway,

The Misfits - Theme for a Jackal
[listen for "Dead daughter in the river / Entrance gained by her liver / Play, theme for a jackal play...." and for the fucked-up piano solo obvi.]

The Misfits - Hybrid Moments

The Misfits - Horror Hotel

The Misfits - TV Casualty

The Misfits - In the Doorway
[no one knows this one. not on "Collection" or any of the other easy-to-find albums. only on "Static Age." it's so. fucking. good. spooky and gorgeous. Danzig at his most emotional and elliptical.]