Die! Die! My Darling!
December 1, 2010 1:53 PM   Subscribe

Few bands have undergone as many reinventions as the Misfits (no, not those Misfits). Formed in New Jersey in 1977 by Glenn Danzig (vocals and keyboard), Jerry Only (bass) and Manny Martinez (drums), the original lineup played at CBGB and released one unclassifiable guitar-less rock single. In late '77 guitarist Franché Coma was brought on and Martinez was kicked out of the band in favor of a drummer named Mr. Jim. With this lineup, their sound began to take on a more defined sound, merging with the developing second wave of North American punk rock.

Both Coma and Mr. Jim left the band in 1978, to be replaced by Joey Image and Bobby Steele. It was with this lineup that the Misfits began to develop their own "horror punk" mythos and sound. The devilock, the ubiquitous crimson ghost logo and the Fiend Club all first appeared in this era.

In 1979, Image quit the band in the middle of a disastrous UK tour to be replaced by Arthur Googy and then in 1980 Steele was kicked out in favor of Jerry's sixteen-year-old younger brother Doyle. With this line-up, they finally released their first full length album, Walk Among Us, consisting mostly of songs about classic horror films, including Night of the Living Dead and Astro Zombies.

In November 1981, during a show in San Francisco, Black Flag vocalist and long-time Misfits fan Henry Rollins joined the band on stage in a performance that can be seen as an early indication of an imminent change in their sound. When Googy was kicked out the band in 1982 because of personality clashes with Danzig, Rollins recommended former Black Flag drummer Robo. With this new lineup, they released Earth A.D. which showed considerable influence from hardcore punk rock and heavy metal.

In 1983, Robo left the band and was replaced with Brian Damage who only made it one song into his first show before being kicked out of the band. Having finally had enough, Danzig dissolved the band after the show. And so ends the first chapter in the Misfits saga.

Danzig went on to form an occult-and-pagan-themed deathrock band called Samhain while Jerry and Doyle returned to New Jersey, rediscovered their Christian faith and, honest to god, started a barbarian-themed Christian metal band called Kryst the Conqueror (with Jeff Scott Soto on vocals) to stand in opposition.

Meanwhile, the early work of the Misfits began to garner a degree of attention it had never received while the band was actually together. Glenn Danzig had released several albums of remastered Misfits songs (often with some instrument tracks overdubbed to avoid paying royalties to other members) and Samhain (now known simply as Danzig) had gone on to become a pretty big deal in its own right. Misfits songs were coverered by both Metallica (I guess I should warn about infanticide, necrophilia and rape-themed lyrics) and Guns N' Roses.

In the early nineties, a legal battle began between Jerry Only and Glen Danzig about royalties and use of the Misfits name and imagery. In 1995, an out of court agreement was reached and The Misfits reformed with Jerry Only (the only remaining original member), Doyle, drummer Dr. Chud and vocalist Michale Graves. The sound of the new lineup was much poppier, while retaining to the horror movie themes of the earlier incarnation.

In the same year as the new Misfits released their first album, a tribute album to the old Misfits was released including covers by Pennywise, NOFX (same song as the Metallica cover, so the same warnings stand), Sick of it All and Goldfinger (warning: they're really phoning it in).

In 1999, for the first time ever, the Misfits released a second full length album with the same line up. George Romero directed the music video for the "Scream!", the album's only radio single. The Misfits did a stint wrestling in WCW (yes, seriously) and filmed cameos in several Hollywood and independent films. It looked like the Misfits had finally, after 22 years, found their groove. Then, on October 25th 2000, Graves and Dr. Chud walked off stage in the middle of a show and quit the band. Afterwards, Doyle also took an indefinite leave of absence, leaving Jerry as a one-man band.

Not content to let the band die, Jerry recruited Dez Cardena of Black Flag and Marky Ramone of The Ramones (yes, those Ramones) and began a three-year long tour with Jerry on vocals. This same lineup then, in one of the strangest turns of Misfits history yet, then released an album consisting entirely of covers of songs from the 1950s and '60s.

In 2005 (that's right, this isn't over yet) Marky Ramone left the band and Robo returned long enough to record one single before being kicked out and replaced with Eric Arce from Murphy's Law. The Misfits latest album "The Devil's Rain" is due out as early as later this month.

Quoth Jerry Only: "It's really nice. I think we've finally reached a level of tranquility when it comes to personnel."

--

BONUS - A list of bands (in addition to those mentioned above) spun off from, or otherwise directly descended from, The Misfits: The Undead, Son of Sam, Dr. Chud's X-Ward, Gorgeous Frankenstein, Graves, Gotham Road and, indirectly, AFI.
posted by 256 (57 comments total) 47 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't give a damn about this music, but I couldn't stop reading your awesome narrative.
posted by lattiboy at 2:01 PM on December 1, 2010


Classic Misfits (with Danzig on vox, before his nose jobs) were a vital part of my youth and burgeoning musical explorations... some fantastic punk rocking times were had to that constant soundtrack.
posted by FatherDagon at 2:04 PM on December 1, 2010


Once you've gotten through all those links, enjoy this photograph of Glenn Danzig buying kitty litter.
posted by theodolite at 2:05 PM on December 1, 2010 [8 favorites]


I saw the original band play in 1982. Contrary to popular belief, they weren't really that well liked back then. Early 80s punk/hardcore was very political and liking the Misfits was on par with liking KISS. I dug them though, this new incarnation, not that much.
posted by cazoo at 2:05 PM on December 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


I was never a huge Misfits fan back in the day, but spiky-haired girls in Misfits t-shirts and smeared eyeliner? Fuck yeah.

Also: Glenn Danzig is only thirteen inches tall, but he looks much larger when standing on his penis.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:09 PM on December 1, 2010 [11 favorites]


I have a tall, attractive friend who works a beer garden in Los Angeles. She has received several offers of marriage from the bass player for Danzig.
posted by starvingartist at 2:11 PM on December 1, 2010


I always act as if the Misfits were a fake band made up to sell T-shirts.
posted by Yakuman at 2:14 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


Several years before I actually heard the Misfits I was familiar with their logo because it was stenciled all over the Southern Illinois University campus in the mid 80's. Several people had it on their jackets and one guy had it painted on the gas tank of his motorcycle.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 2:14 PM on December 1, 2010


The first time I got to 2nd base with a girl, I was on a vinyl covered couch in a wood-paneled suburban basement, and 20 Eyes was blaring in the background.

Not my proudest moment.

Probably not hers either.
posted by chillmost at 2:15 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


cazoo: liking the Misfits was on par with liking KISS

I never thought of it that way, but you're pretty spot on with that observation. The two biggest advocates of Walk Among Us era Misfits that I know are also two of the biggest Kiss fans I know.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Nice post. Liking the Misfits was always sort of déclassé, but dammit...they're so fun!

I've never seen the Misfits (by the time I liked them I figured there wasn't much point in seeing them live) but I've got to mention The Crimson Ghosts as a superb surf-rock Misfits experience like no other.
posted by JoanArkham at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2010


Love it...Glenn shows off his library...is one of my favorite Danzig related videos.
posted by Jazz.bot at 2:22 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]




that danzig book club video is hilarious! as a metal and punk fan i find it impossible to dislike the misfits. this post is great. thanks 256.
posted by rainperimeter at 2:45 PM on December 1, 2010


I saw the original band play in 1982. Contrary to popular belief, they weren't really that well liked back then. Early 80s punk/hardcore was very political and liking the Misfits was on par with liking KISS.

Beg to differ. Not everyone was "political." Besides, what's wrong with liking Kiss?

So anyway, I heard some of that "new Misfits" stuff recently, having successfully avoided it for many years, and man does it fucking blow. I knew it would, but this was more than I'd even thought possible. I'd sooner listen to Faster Pussycat.
posted by scratch at 2:45 PM on December 1, 2010


So it's three p.m., I'm in my townhouse, with my media center (milk crates + plywood + thirteen inch TV + VCR + an okay stereo), I've got my Danzig VHS in, and there's a knock on the door.

I open up and there is this hungry-looking brunet who begins mumbling. He is giving me this awful spiel about magazines and then looks under my shoulder (he wasn't overly tall) to see what are some very stoned-looking metal girls sort of flopping about in time to "She Rides" and he begins hopping up and down, eyes wide. "Danzig? DANZIG?! I fucking LOVE Danzig!" he screams, then whirls around and yanks his shirt over his head, losing buttons in the process, revealing the classic Danzig skull logo, stretched from shoulder to shoulder, above a highly-detailed tattoo of an enraged (or possibly pleased) red demon, nailed to an inverted cross, long enough to end in the small of his back.

Indeed. This was a man who fucking loved Danzig. There is only one thing to do: invite him in for lunch and musical discussions.

That's how I ended up sitting in a townhouse with a shirtless man, watching Danzig videos, listening to Misfits, talking about how "Misery Tomb" is a great way to piss off your roommates, eating sandwiches, and sewing his buttons back on. I didn't buy any magazines, though.

Misfits fans: there's only about a hundred thirty-eight of us, but we make up for it in intensity.
posted by adipocere at 2:50 PM on December 1, 2010 [11 favorites]


Static Age is undeniably awesome despite how silly Glenn Danzig may have become in the years since. I find it hard not to think of Beavis and Butthead watching "Mother" when I hear his "woah-oh-oh-oh"s and "woah woah"s these days, and even harder to distinguish which is the cartoon. Somewhere along the line it's like he forgot how to have (be?) fun, but on Static Age and Walk Among Us they take themselves about as seriously as horror B-movies while rocking hard and being as offensive as possible. Guilty pleasure.
posted by Hoopo at 2:57 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Postscript: Danzig teams up with Shakira.
posted by ignignokt at 2:59 PM on December 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Oh the Misfits. Where to start.

I got into them in '93, through Metallica, like many others. Last Caress was one of the best songs I'd ever heard and although it took my never-heard-of-punk catholic high school self a LONG time to get used to the production quality on Walk Among Us, Skulls instantly got me. Before long Astro Zombies and I Turned Into A Martian were closing in and I realized how much I liked them. Collection I followed, but that's all I could get at Woodbridge Mall's Sam Goody.

At that same mall, I met a girl—two actually—and she introduced me to two of her friends...who lived right by Vintage Vinyl. We both expressed love of the Misfits and then they started dropping the bombs: (apologies to Justin and Mike for sharing their story)

They had gone to an industrial convention—maybe Raritan Center—with one of their fathers. Justin wearing a Misfits shirt (VVinyl). At a X-Acto (but not X-Acto) blade type booth, one of the guys working it goes: "oh you like the Misfits? Hold on one second" and out from the back walks Jerry Only. In a sweatshirt. And a pony tail. They proceeded to shoot the shit, they exchange numbers and addresses and life goes on. At various times over the next few years, Jerry sent them the Kryst the Conquerer tape (it was terrible), signed stickers, and even left them an answering machine message on New Years Day (or maybe Eve). I never heard the message but I saw the rest of it.

Buoyed by this influx of new information, and bootleg CD copies of all the 7", the Misfits grew to be my favorite band. In '95 when I got a Compaq Presario and AOL, the first thing I searched for was the Misfits and the first thing I found was Misfits Central and it became the first online community I was ever a (tiny) part of.

Collection II came out while I was in Oklahoma for my sister's wedding. I kept gleefully rewinding to listen to my pristine copy of Last Caress and hating side 2 (which mostly had echoey, poorly produced Samhain covers of Misfits songs). I got my first job so that I could buy the box set, and listen for the first time to Static Age which goes down as the finest punk album to be chopped up for a bunch of singles and redubbed for a terrible sounding collection of great songs (Legacy of Brutality).

The Misfits reunited and I was there, the day before my SATs at the Stony Pony singing along with Michale Graves, just like Justin and Mike and our friend John and I sang along in our original band that mostly played Misfits covers in my room while my parents sat bemused in the floor below us and watched TV. Justin and Mike wanted no part of the Misfits reunion and I could understand it but I just wanted it so bad I was willing to pretend.

I started running into Bobby Steele on the streets of NYC, whose band the Undead is WOEFULLY absent from this amazing post. He was easy to recognize: Alice Cooper with a cane. I got him to sign my Pushead t shirt. He's still easy to find actually, The Undead are on Facebook. Just watch out for "demoKKKrat" heavy musings. I started to realize the difference between "The Misfits" and "Misfits" logo when American Psycho came out.

Justin, Mike, John and I listened to it at our friend JP's house noticing how many of the songs started off like bad covers of classic Misfits tracks before veering off into sub-par lyrics ("They eat your guts out, now you're the living dead?") Say what you will about the man, but Danzig at least had style. Still, the album became a fixture in my car and we sang along and laughed at the same time, making up our own lyrics, cheeks hurting from smiling. Those were some of the best times of my life. I had my friends, I had my band, I was a fan of something and I knew what it was like to care deeply about the intricacies of something nobody else might and to discover what it was like to see in high resolution.

My band fell apart and turned into a new band. We all loved the classic Misfits but the new ones were ruining it for us. No, not ruining it for us. Changing what it meant to love the Misfits. Go to Irving Plaza, watch Jerry and his crew writing songs about the NY Rangers, ask anybody there if they noticed that one chorus in Skulls where Doyle missed the lower note in the D power chord and only hits the high one. Ask them if a repeated listen had revealed that the lyrics book was wrong and it's not "I want to stand in your spinal remains" it's "I want to savage your spinal remains." I came to understand that one of the things I'd loved was the mystery. There was no internet, I knew nothing of the Misfits until I found like-minded people. All I had were the sacred tomes and badly photocopied inserts of reprints to go over with a fine toothed comb and mine for tiny new references, clues to what Danzig and Jerry and whoever else was there at the time had actually meant.

Walk Among Us is still one of the albums I can listen to all the way through, even though Static Ave overshadows it (understandably) to the generation who grew up with a Static Age that existed. But to me Walk Among Us is the peak, the pinnacle. With Static Age they were too new, the songwriting was there but the horror imagery wasn't yet. The closest they come is the sociopathic tendencies of Last Caress and Spinal Remains. Earth AD is too late, they were falling apart and the songwriting was terrible unless you liked your band to sound like everybody's howling at once and the guitar player plays every chord for one beat—or one chord for every beat. But Walk Among Us...it's just perfect.
posted by Brainy at 3:00 PM on December 1, 2010 [15 favorites]


NN2S Strip
posted by stuartmm at 3:05 PM on December 1, 2010


Ha, the Undead! Saw them a bunch of times and they always put on a good show. But what does "'demoKKKrat' heavy musings" mean?
posted by scratch at 3:10 PM on December 1, 2010


Things I forgot:

My religion teacher was an ex-punk who, for my graduation, gave me the crimson ghost painted volume knob from one of Doyle's guitars from the last show they played in NYC before they broke up. He also had a copy of Fuck You Heroes in his desk with him onstage next to Ian from Minor Threat.

The Newfits (as we came to call them) had a song called "The Crimson Ghost" where Graves sings "You're never gonna get me, never gonna get me, never gonna get me, I'm the Crimson Ghost." which he said in an interview the drummer Dr. Chud wrote while watching the original Crimson Ghost serial. Justin mentioned to me that in that serial, they caught him. Dr. Chud later said "I didn't get to the end."

The Misfits are a surprisingly good source of theory. Almost all of their pre-Earth AD songs stay in key and react well to Roman Numeral Analysis.

Walk Among Us has an amazing guitar tone and it's from a strange thing: two guitars each panned hard to one side. If you have the album mess with the panning. There's two entirely different performances, one by Doyle (and sloppy) and the other by the session engineer I believe.

Also absent in this post is that in recent years, Doyle and his band Electric Frankenstein have been touring with Danzig and Doyle comes out and they do Misfits songs together—what I consider to be the closest thing to an actual reunion. Although I'd prefer Franche Coma.

And another event of note. 12 Hits From Hell, an old recording with both Bobby and Doyle on guitar that Jerry cancelled last minute because of Bobby's inclusion. Worth torrenting.
posted by Brainy at 3:14 PM on December 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Ha, the Undead! Saw them a bunch of times and they always put on a good show. But what does "'demoKKKrat' heavy musings" mean?

Bobby Steele is a hard-core, no messing around, hates what this country is coming to, republican. Although none of the recent posts seem to mention that, it was a lot more active pre-election.
posted by Brainy at 3:18 PM on December 1, 2010


The early misfits were one of those bands that I think were on to something really really great without having a clue to how great it was. They recorded a bout half a dozen tracks that are just knock-your-head-off great, then promptly started taking themselves way too seriously and the magic was gone.

For your consideration:
Teenagers From Mars
Horror Business
Night of the Living Dead
Astro Zombies
London Dungeon
Hatebreeders

"This ain't no love-in
This ain't no happening
This ain't no feeling in my arm"
posted by jetsetsc at 3:19 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


another thing: Metallica messes up their cover of Last Caress in a very large way. Franche played the chorus as F Sweet Lovely G Death, I am C waiting for E your A breath, whereas Metallica substitues a B instead of the E: meaning where there should be a complex and evocative 3rd, there is instead a stupid passing tone of the 7th. What was once a Strum both choruses out on an acoustic guitar and listen to how open and gorgeous the Misfits progression is, and how closed and simple Metallica's is.
posted by Brainy at 3:25 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


The two biggest advocates of Walk Among Us era Misfits that I know are also two of the biggest Kiss fans I know.

Indeed. MeFi's own govegan, started the Misfits fan site that eventually became the official Misfits site. He also owned just about the complete vinyl discography of KISS, including their German concert album where the live cover photo has been mysteriously altered to change the shape of the SS to be something...a little less reminiscent of something else.

govegan is also one of the founders of the Band to Band website.
posted by LionIndex at 3:32 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


In the 'Scream' era (or what I like to think of as "OH MY GOD! STOP CALLING THAT THE MISFITS") I had a friend who was gigging around NY and had an amazing deep voice.

He got a call from Jerry that went something like this:

Jerry: "Hi this is Jerry from the Misfits, we're wondering if you'd be interested in singing for us"

Friend: "Wow" (Thinkiing: "god they suck now, but still, saying you played with the Misfits...")

Jerry: "Let me ask you this, do you work out?"

Friend: "Uh, no"

Jerry: "Would you be willing to start?"

Friend: "Uh, probably not, no."

Jerry: "Okay man, thanks for your time"
posted by lumpenprole at 3:41 PM on December 1, 2010 [8 favorites]


Nice post!

(Quick, without looking it up, which band has more former members, The Misfits or The Fall?)
posted by klangklangston at 3:44 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'd guess the Fall since they've put out more albums than I've had hot dinners.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:48 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'd also like to mention that 'Where Eagles Dare' was the song my wife and I danced to at our wedding.

(albeit a surf version since we had a live surf band, but still)
posted by lumpenprole at 4:08 PM on December 1, 2010 [4 favorites]


Great post. The only thing that might make it better is if your username was 138 instead of 256.
posted by Sailormom at 4:20 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh man, I love all the stories so far in the comments. Obviously, I avoided including my own in the OP, but the Misfits were a pretty big part of my life for a while. My real introduction to the Misfits came with the tribute album Violent World. I was in high school at the time it came out and I was a big Pennywise and Sick of it All fan, so I bought the album on that alone. I was of course familiar with the existence of the Misfits, but I'd never really listened to them. But then I listened All Hell Breaks Loose and it was the best Sick of it All song I'd ever heard. I think I bought the Earth A.D. and Walk Among Us CDs used the very next day.

Because I was first getting into the Misfits at just the time that Jerry Only was getting the band back together, I didn't really have anything against the idea of a Danzig-less lineup. American Psycho was the very first vinyl LP I bought after finding a beautiful old turntable at a yard sale. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I loved it.

Without a doubt, Glenn Danzig was the musical talent of the original misfits. But it's just as clear to me that Jerry Only was the soul. Samhain and Danzig played music that I could recognize as being very competent, but I just didn't care. Every single album that the new Misfits have put out makes me nod my head and smile. When Jerry recruited Dez and Marky for the 25th anniversary tour, I bought my ticket immediately and convinced all my skeptical punker friends to join me. I was at the show that's linked in the "three-year long tour" link in the OP. It was a blast.

My band, SMUT (you can find some of our stuff in my MefiMusic posts), is probably the only band in existence that cites the post-Danzig Misfits as one of our influences.

How can you listen to Jerry Only singing "This Magic Moment" and not smile?

I just found this picture of me (in the background) from 2001. Awesome.
posted by 256 at 4:21 PM on December 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Oh, and I didn't forget The Undead. They're linked in the BONUS section at the bottom. Think how much longer this post would have been if I had gone into detail on all the spinoff bands...
posted by 256 at 4:22 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]



I'd also like to mention that 'Where Eagles Dare' was the song my wife and I danced to at our wedding.

(albeit a surf version since we had a live surf band, but still)


I went and looked this up and it's pretty damn awesome.
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 4:23 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


Hey that is awesome! That's not the band, but thanks for that! I'm going to get that album!
posted by lumpenprole at 4:29 PM on December 1, 2010


Thank you so much for putting together this fantastic post.

Over Thanksgiving I was driving from one place to another in the area where my folks live, blasting The Static Age and singing along in my very best Danzig voice, and thinking "Wow, maybe I never really AM going to grow up."
posted by vortex genie 2 at 4:30 PM on December 1, 2010


How can you listen to Jerry Only singing "This Magic Moment" and not smile?

I quite like "Project 1950" but still can't stand 'American Psycho' but hey, agree to disagree.

I think we can all agree Kryst The Conqueror was the greatest band of all time.
posted by lumpenprole at 4:37 PM on December 1, 2010


It's true, they are aces for singing along in the car.


I'm also enjoying picturing Mr. & Mrs. Lumpenprole waltzing about while Danzig bellows, "I AIN'T NO GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH/YOU BETTER THINK ABOUT IT BABY!" (I hope the surf band had a basso profundo singer.)
posted by scratch at 4:37 PM on December 1, 2010


Sometime when I was in high school (this would be in the early '00s), my Dad and I were talking about his family. I didn't really know very much about them -- we were never really close to them growing up, because his parents had died when I was young and they had been his only real tie to the rest of his family. He had told us some stories about his parents, and stories of having to go to big, Italian-American family events in North Jersey, but not a whole lot more than that.

This time was a little bit different, because I was interested and I guess I kind of pushed him to go a little bit further. So we talked a bit more and he alluded to some of his relatives being "weird" and specifically mentioned one of his cousins, who "did some sort of occult music or something". Of course this interested me, so I asked who it was.

"Oh, just my cousin Glenn. He does some kind of devil music, I dunno. He changed his name a long time ago... it's Glenn Danzig now. I haven't seen him since he was a kid."

And that's the story of how, when I was a high schooler, I found out that Glenn Danzig was my first cousin once removed.

When pressed to describe him, my Dad just recalls him as "kind of annoying". They were six years apart so my Dad would have probably been a teenager the last time they saw each other, and thought of Glenn as an obnoxious kid.

I have still never met him, but a couple of years ago I went with my Dad to his aunt's funeral and I had the opportunity to meet his mother, who is a very sweet old lady.
posted by malthas at 5:48 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


Walk Among Us I discovered in college around 87 or 88. Still love it to this day.

And I can't help but contribute this vid of Glenn Danzig being a douchebag to Danny Marianinho, of the Northside Kings, starting shit... and getting dropped like 3rd period French with one punch. Here's Danny's take on what happened.
GLASS JAW, IN MY HEAD!
GLASS JAW, IN MY HEAD!
GLASS JAW, IN MY HEAD!
ONE PUNCH, IT BREAKS!
ONE PUNCH, IT BREAKS!

WHEN YOU'RE SEEING 5 FINGERS IN A FIST
WHOOPS, HERE COMES THE FLOOR
I'M A DARK ROCK STAR, I GOTTA START UP SOME SHIT
WHOOPS, HERE COMES THE FLOOR

THE NORTHSIDE KINGS
THEIR LEAD SINGER IS FUCKING HUGE
THE NORTHSIDE KINGS
WHY WAS I A DOUCHE?

GLASS JAW, IN MY HEAD!
GLASS JAW, IN MY HEAD!
GLASS JAW, IN MY HEAD!
ONE PUNCH, IT BREAKS!
ONE PUNCH, IT BREAKS!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 6:05 PM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Even though I've known better since I was a very young girl, I still hear "20 Eyes" as "Coney Island", and can't unhear it, ever.
posted by padraigin at 6:33 PM on December 1, 2010


Glenn Danzig Getting Knocked Out

To be fair I don't know if he's actually knocked out, but this video is hilarious to me.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 6:44 PM on December 1, 2010


When I was 14 I had two prized possessions: a hand-me-down VHS camcorder and an extra VCR (it was really a VCP -- it only played).

With this pro gear I recorded a video for "Mommy Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?" It was shot in my house, used up a whole bottle of ketchup, and stars my mother ("OK, mom, here's where you pretend to scream.")

I still have the tape, 23 years later.
posted by nev at 6:54 PM on December 1, 2010 [2 favorites]




I still have the tape, 23 years later.

This is why YouTube was invented, nev.
posted by 256 at 7:06 PM on December 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


If you go into the right bar, on the right night, in the right shit-splat Ohio steel-town, you will find a bar full of interesting, funny people punching each other in the face(and on occasion, dancing) to "Where Eagles Dare". PM for deets.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 7:08 PM on December 1, 2010


256, digitizing now.
posted by nev at 7:27 PM on December 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


Ah I love the Misfits. Probably the only band from my middle school days that I still listen to fairly regularly. Dave Pajo did a pretty cool album of folk Misfit covers a few years back that's worth checking out.
posted by corey le fou at 1:42 AM on December 2, 2010


LOOK UPON 256's POST, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR. BEHOLD THE METAFILTER POST AGAINST WHICH ALL FUTURE POSTS MUST BE MEASURED.

(Seriously, this post is frakking awesome. The content of the post is informative in and of itself and serves as a travelogue to interesting content elsewhere. Bravo!)
posted by DWRoelands at 6:00 AM on December 2, 2010


Depressing. If my day starts with surf-rock Misfits tributes, there's nowhere to go but downhill.
posted by hafehd at 8:14 AM on December 2, 2010


Last week I went and saw the Misfits at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City. My son in law had done artwork for them before: posters and stuff, a few years back, I think he's the best artist I have ever seen, and he is the biggest misfits fan period. I think he has everything they ever recorded signed: I digress... OK I,m open minded: 52: had been listening to the collection 2 to gear up for this concert: I have always liked rock and metal but had never listened to or seen a punk show. I have always been a KISS fan though.. Anyway I took a set of ear plugs just in case. Hey the show was great the music was awesome and fast paced. Only ripped each song off fast saying the name and 123 go and went straight into it. People were moshing and having a great time . If they make this lap in the midwest again I'm in. After the show Jerry stayed there and signed anything people had brought and he couldn't have been more gracious. I even got a picture of him with me. He said he had driven 2 days to get to KC from New Orleans to do the show. I'm glad he did. Can't wait for the new cd.
posted by Upon Further Review at 8:49 AM on December 2, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Misfits hold a weird place in my social circle. All the other folks loved 'em as young teenagers, grew up and realized how amazingly idiotic and hilarious the lyrics are not to mention Danzig as a persona, and now listen to them with some fond nostalgia mixed with head-shaking laughter. (It helps that the music independent of the lyrics on the first few albums is actually pretty good as that kind of punk goes.)

Whenever my feisty little black cat jumps off the bed while we're in it I croon "come back little Raven and bite my face" and then my husband and I both break into a fit of giggles at how stupid a song that really is.

Props for naming themselves after a fantastic movie though. Still need to get my husband to watch it at some point...it's a shame the only motivator for him is this band.
posted by ifjuly at 10:06 AM on December 2, 2010


Also: Misfits badges and all that are brilliant indicators of someone who often has no idea about them or anything related really, but want to look edgy and punk 30+ years after the fact and saw cheap ways to at like, Hastings or something. Funny how that works.

That said, my husband talks shyly of one of the only times he was ever at a strip club and one lady who he thought was very attractive got dressed and packed up after her shift ended and he noticed she had a Misfits purse and that made his heart flutter even more. Cracks me up.
posted by ifjuly at 10:08 AM on December 2, 2010


> cazoo: liking the Misfits was on par with liking KISS

I never thought of it that way, but you're pretty spot on with that observation. The two biggest advocates of Walk Among Us era Misfits that I know are also two of the biggest Kiss fans I know


Me too. Ain't it funny?
posted by ifjuly at 10:10 AM on December 2, 2010


(Quick, without looking it up, which band has more former members, The Misfits or The Fall?)

Okay, using only the Wikipedia pages, here's what I came up with:

For The Misfits, not counting guest appearances on Project 1950, but counting the time The Necros drummer filled in - 21

For The Fall - 35

I'm actually suprised by how low the Fall number is.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:32 PM on December 2, 2010


"...and Goldfinger (warning: they're really phoning it in)."

Funniest thing overheard in the bathroom in high school?

"Goldfinger is the Vanilla Ice of ska."
posted by Eideteker at 12:35 PM on December 2, 2010


(I'm totally not worthy of this post, but I commented anyway!)
posted by Eideteker at 1:16 PM on December 2, 2010


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