21st Century Wire says…
“With jaded eyes and features you think they really care.” – The Misfits (Where Eagles Dare)
Glenn Danzig, singer, lyricist and founding member of the horror punk band the Misfits, sounds off about liberal hypocrisy in America…
Another celebrated figure in the music industry is speaking out about the current political climate in America. Danzig joins the likes of Jello Biafra, Billy Corgan, Lauryn Hill and American music legend Charlie Daniels, as a voice for individual sovereignty.
In May of this year, 21WIRE covered a court case involving singer Lauryn Hill, Hill was then subsequently ordered by the court to receive re-education for her “political conspiracies” in addition to the tax related charges she faced.
Will more artists be subject to political re-education?
Danzig’s interview can be read below…
City Pages
Kory Grow
The name Glenn Danzig has lived in metal and punk fans’ vocabularies since 1977, when he started the legendary horror-punk group Misfits. But to music fans who didn’t dwell in the underground, Danzig became Danzig in 1988, with the release of his eponymous band’s self-titled debut. That album was a direct punch in the face to all hair metal bands, and a departure from the reverb-heavy goth punk of Samhain, Glenn’s band between the Misfits and Danzig — thanks to some crisp, direct production by producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin and a focused, bluesy metal sound. It featured the irrepressible “Mother,” which didn’t become a hit until MTV put the 1993 live version of the song in its Buzz Bin. Thanks to heavy touring and Metallica talking about the band, having just covered Misfits’ “Last Caress,” Danzig became an unstoppable force that year.
Now, Danzig is celebrating the milestone of their 25th anniversary with a special tour that stops at Myth on Saturday. “When you go onstage, the energy from the people and from the audience changes a lot of it,” he explains. “When I go out there, I just take their energy and send it back fiftyfold.” Gimme Noise caught up with Danzig to talk about his legacy and his forthcoming covers record, which features a duet he did with Cherie Currie of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s “Some Velvet Morning.” Luckily for us, he didn’t mind looking back.
What do you remember about the beginning of Danzig?
There wasn’t really bands like Danzig. There were a lot of big poofy, poseury hair bands. And Danzig was just, like, T-shirts with cut-off sleeves. [Laughs] We had no poofy hair. And we were loud, like metal-punk, I guess you would call it. And most people just said, “This is going to be gone in a week.” And here I am 25 years later. It’s great. [Laughs] And all the hair bands are pretty much a joke, so that’s great, too.
The first Danzig album sounded pretty different from your previous band, Samhain. Why did you tighten it up?
Rick [Rubin] was probably important in that. He helped focus some of my ideas. Of course he had his own ideas about producing. Half those tracks were songs I was writing for Samhain anyway.
What songs evolved from the Samhain demos?
“Twist of Cain” was pretty different. “Mother” was a song I wrote about the PMRC [the Parents Music Resource Center, spearheaded by Tipper Gore]. But I think we’d already been working with Rick when I wrote it. So it was much different. We tore it apart and put it back together.
Metallica’s James Hetfield made some uncredited appearances on the album. How did that come about?
He was hanging out with us in L.A. I had to go back to the studio. He said he wanted to come along. I was like, “Oh, sure! Don’t worry about it.” [Laughs] It was much different then. Because everybody hung out a lot. As bands get bigger and stuff, I don’t think there’s enough time, or people get families and things. And they don’t hang out as much anymore.
I’ve read that he did some howling on “Possession.” Is that what you asked him to do?
I’m pretty sure he just sang the “possession” parts. [Laughs] Yeah, he’s on “Possession,” “Twist of Cain” and probably one other one. He’s not on “Mother.” But he’s on probably one other track.
You mentioned that “Mother” was about the PMRC. Were they a problem for you specifically?
Yeah, you know, Al Gore wanted to tell people what they could listen to and what they couldn’t, what they could record. It was basically coming down to the idea that he wouldn’t let anybody record any music that he didn’t think you should be doing. There was going to be an organization that would tell you what you could and couldn’t record. And certainly if you couldn’t record it, you couldn’t put it out. It was really fascist.
My view on Democrats is that they’re fascists disguised as liberals, or liberal moderates. You’re not allowed to say anything that they don’t agree with. You’re not allowed to do anything. Also, the whole Obama, “I can kill anybody with a drone with no trial,” is kind of disturbing. I’m surprised that more people who are supposedly liberal aren’t more disturbed by it. I think whatever Obama does is OK with them, because he’s Obama. It’s bullshit.
It’s the same thing with the PMRC telling you, “Bands can go on trial for their music.” What’s next, Wagner is going to get arrested? What? He’s dead. [Laughs]
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