»MindSlave's Favorite Band: The Misfits«
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 Just a little disclaimer: most of the information in this post comes from the only authorized biography of the Misfits I know of, the booklet that comes with their Box Set. There is a lot of conflicting information and mythology on the Web, so I wouldn't take anything you read online about this band too seriously. If you are not a Misfits fan, you might have heard of them or their members from several sources: Metallica's cover on Garage Days Revisited of the Misfits' early ultra-violent song "Last Caress"; Misfits lead singer Glenn Danzig's 'nineties radio hit "Mother," recorded with his metal band Danzig; or the ubiquitous "Misfits skull" t-shirts, a favorite of skateboarders and punks everywhere (unknown to most of them, the "skull" is actually the face of the the Crimson Ghost, the villain of a 1946 TV serial of the same name; see pic 1 below). Danzig's biggest claim to Internet fame is unfortunately a backstage video from July 2004 of him shoving the lead singer of a less well-known band, after which the guy comes back and knocks the muscular Danzig down with a single punch to the face. If you really want to see the video, it's here, but be warned, it's pretty violent stuff:  A lot of the Internet chatter about the Misfits tends to come around eventually to one stupid subject: is or is not Danzig an asshole? My take on this, as usual, is you can't really tell if someone is cool or not unless you meet them, but you can tell if you like what they produce or sell, and, for me, Danzig's early career with the Misfits is brilliant. Since then he has declined, like most artists, but he still retains a lot of fans wherever people listen to punk or metal. The Misfits, taking their name from the title of Marilyn Monroe's last film, were formed in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey, with Glenn Danzig on vocals and electric piano, and that year released a single which contained two keyboard-driven tracks, "Cough/Cool" and "She." The better of these, "She," was later re-recorded by the Misfits with guitar instead of piano, and it is actually a pretty good effort, with lyrics about 1960's legend Patty Hearst ♣. Danzig's vocal power is immediately evident even on this early single, though, and he would remain on vocals and songwriting duty until the demise of the original Misfits in 1983. The band's real debut with a punk sound (i.e. guitar instead of keyboard) was with the 1978 four-song EP "Bullet," which featured on the cover a gory picture of assassinated US President John F. Kennedy with blood exploding from his head. The title track, "Bullet," is a personal favorite of mine, with lyrics that start out graphically describing Kennedy's assassination but quickly degenerate into a bizarre sexual fantasy involving Kennedy's wife Jackie. I have a reprinted poster from this era of the Misfits advertising the "Bullet" single and tour and bearing the slogan "It started as a twisted dream, and ended with the world in heat..." With the next two EP's released by the band, 1979's "Horror Business" and "Night of the Living Dead," it became clear that they wanted to be seen as a "horror punk" band, and a distinctive horror-movie look began to emerge, including a hairstyle they would call the "devilock," which consisted of a shock of black hair slicked down to a point across the face, between the eyes; see pic 4 below. A lot of punk kids at my high school tried the devilock out even in the 'nineties. The music also got better, with such classic songs as "Night of the Living Dead," "Teenagers from Mars," and a later single, "Halloween." Danzig became one of the best voices in the punk genre, mixing the trademark vocal styles of Elvis and Jim Morrison with his own uniquely dark approach. A tour of England with the Damned around this time saw Danzig thrown in jail for a bar fight, and the band's goal of opening for the Clash never happened. In 1982 came the Misfits' most successful release, the Ruby Records full-length album Walk Among Us , which contained some previously unreleased songs and new recordings of favorites, all produced by the band. Some of the best songs of the band's career were on this album, including the twisted love-song "Skulls," the anthemic "Hatebreeders," and the strange "Astro Zombies." Also around this time a live record called Evilive was released, with Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins appearing on one track. In my opinion, this album is not that great compared to other live punk albums, probably because the Misfits were always more of a studio band than a live act. A lot of the songs are played too fast to really be appreciated, and Danzig's voice is not at its best, but it's still interesting to hear what they sounded like live. The next Misfits full-length release was Earth A.D. , which focused more on power and speed rather than the spooky melodies of the previous records. One excellent song from this record was "Green Hell," which was also later recorded by Metallica. A final release was the EP "Die Die My Darling," which was a bit of a return to form, and also contained a studio version of a live track from Walk Among Us , "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?" and one of my favorites, a warp-speed ode to vampirism called "We Bite." After that, Danzig left the Misfits, but went on to found the gothic metal band Samhain, who I don't think put out very good records except for one amazing song "Archangel", and the bluesy metal band Danzig, the first four albums of which are actually quite good as metal albums, if not as fast and raw as the Misfits were. The other Misfits have recently reformed with a new singer, and that might be fine for some, but I never thought there was anything special about the guitar and drum recordings of those guys, so when you hear them with the new singer, they might as well be a cover band. The best Misfits collection currently in print is the box set, their only one, which contains almost everything ever recorded by the Danzig-era Misfits except for the album Walk Among Us , but all the songs from that album are represented on the box set in alternate and usually better recordings. Every song on that 100-track set has the trademark Danzig zombie vocals combined with a kind of dark, deviant nostalgia that makes the Misfits really memorable. Definitely my favorite band of all time, if that means anything! [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by MindSlave |
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| in-my-opinion.orgEntertainment & SportsSongs / Groups you just gotta hear!MindSlave's Favorite Band: The Misfits |
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 MindSlave: A lot of the Internet chatter about the Misfits tends to come around eventually to one stupid subject: is or is not Danzig an asshole? Just go to any other band's site & you'll read the same argument about every singer seriously in the whole world. I'm so sick of it 
It sounds like an interesting band, the photos are very nice (nice: on a goth-metal way) 
posted by a |
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The occult-inspired fourth album of the band Danzig has 66 tracks, of which only the first twelve are actual songs, while tracks 13-65 are four seconds of silence each. The 66th track, called "Invocation," is a chant written by Glenn Danzig, and is very ominous and unique. Here is the full text of "Invocation:" The demon comes but must be called
Comes to all the sleeping homes He breaks the night and lifts their drones Demon comes but must be called The demon calls to me at length Demon has no other strength Except to end the stretching thighs For those whose fate it is to die The demon has but one mistake He lingers where he should not stay He should not stay but rather go Demon has no soul The demon has no soul of such His breath is cold as winter's touch His hair, the blackness of the night Demon offers up his bite The demon lives not life we know He lives but is the never-born His eyes are of the blackest coal Demon has no soul Many are the demon's face And many are the forms he takes Beware that you don't pleasure one The demon comes to anyone Who knows what the hell he's talking about, but it's interesting work nonetheless... [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by MindSlave |
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The misfits are also my favorite band af all time. they just kicked major ass! there just not the same without glen. posted by headtat |
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The time now is 12 February 2012, 09:39 php B.B. |