DANZIG SINGS ELVIS

[alan nagsworth]

You thought Puddle of Mudd shitting on a Nirvana song was bad? How about Glenn pinching a stinky loaf on 14 - yes, FOURTEEN - Elvis Presley songs? You got it, motherfucker!

You Were Always On My Mind

Fever

This is atrocious, truly dreadful. His voice sounds completely fucked, and the instrumentation and production (almost all of which is credited to Danzig, LOL) including the way it's mixed, are just a fucking train wreck.

The liner notes allegedly state:

Guitar: Tommy Victor
& Glenn Danzig
Drums on Fever: Joey Castillo
All other instruments: Glenn Danzig
Produced by Glenn Danzig

Incredible. I don't think I could make it through the whole album if I tried.

[thugler]

Yikes!

This and the Verotika film (which looks too poor to even watch for a laugh based on the red letter media clips) in the same year.

Bit of a shame, always liked the original misfits stuff and the first few Danzig records as a teen.

[kngen]

Between this and Verotika, he's really determined to squander what little of his legacy (of brutality!) remains, isn't he?

I posted this on the RLM thread in Picture Box about Verotika, but it applies equally here (if not more so):

More evidence to add to my theory that Glenn Danzig suffered some kind of traumatic brain injury between Samhain splitting up and starting Danzig the band. There was a wit and intelligence to the Misfits (and all the surrounding lore) that you couldn't imagine popping up in modern-day Glenn's psyche in a million years.

[thugler]

Between this and Verotika, he's really determined to squander what little of his legacy (of brutality!) remains, isn't he?

I posted this on the RLM thread in Picture Box about Verotika, but it applies equally here (if not more so):

Don't quite agree with that, the initial few Danzig records are decent enough. His most famous song 'Mother' is a witty enough response to the PMRC debacle. It's Danzig 4 onwards when everything goes to shit.

[alan nagsworth]

Bit of a shame, always liked the original misfits stuff and the first few Danzig records as a teen.

Same, I adore "Static Age" and "Walk Among Us", but I'm not arsed. This sort of thing won't ever tarnish my love of that stuff, I just find it really funny.

[thugler]

I just remembered the video of him getting knocked out!

'Fuck you motherfucker!' BANG.

[kngen]

Don't quite agree with that, the initial few Danzig records are decent enough. His most famous song 'Mother' is a witty enough response to the PMRC debacle. It's Danzig 4 onwards when everything goes to shit.

I do like them, the first one especially (and Mother is a truly great song), but then there's the Danzig Home Movie that came out around the same time as Danzig – s/t. For many, it was the first time to really see Danzig speak in any meaningful sense, so was quite exciting - until you noticed that you'd gnawed your knuckles raw with embarrassment.

There are so, so many ridiculous bits in the video, but one that always stuck with me was Danzig's directorial debut - the video for She Rides - which is literally just a bird's arse on the screen for the first 30 seconds or so, then the band playing while a stripper gyrates beside them. Fucking Orson Welles ovah heyah!

Actually that's not too bad an analogy. A flash of youthful genius, then a slow descent into mediocrity. He'll be doing Carlsberg voiceovers soon enough.

[Albert Soviets]

I do like them, the first one especially (and Mother is a truly great song), but then there's the Danzig Home Movie that came out around the same time as Danzig – s/t. For many, it was the first time to really see Danzig speak in any meaningful sense, so was quite exciting - until you noticed that you'd gnawed your knuckles raw with embarrassment.

There are so, so many ridiculous bits in the video, but one that always stuck with me was Danzig's directorial debut - the video for She Rides - which is literally just a bird's arse on the screen for the first 30 seconds or so, then the band playing while a stripper gyrates beside them. Fucking Orson Welles ovah heyah!

Actually that's not too bad an analogy. A flash of youthful genius, then a slow descent into mediocrity. He'll be doing Carlsberg voiceovers soon enough.

That video looks like the anguished cry of a gay lad in denial. 'S quite sad. :|

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

He was always referred to as "Fonzig" in Kerrang in the 90s which used to tickle me.

[magval]

The song he wrote for Johnny Cash, "Thirteen", fuckin rules.

[thugler]

Danzig Home Movie

Fuck, don't think I'd ever seen this apart from the clip of him and his spooky books! It's difficult to believe they are to be taken seriously, the she rides video in particular. Enjoyed the bit of danzig refreshing himself back stage by downing the last bit of a calippo haha

The song he wrote for Johnny Cash, "Thirteen", fuckin rules.

Too right.

[PlanktonSideburns]

sounds like that alvin and the chipmunks slowed down album

[Famous Mortimer]

The Youtube show / podcast "Two Minutes To Late Night" did a whole series of reviews of later Danzig albums, and I listened along. He lost whatever he had, and hard.

I just popped on "Mother", and it's amazing to hear how bad his voice is on those Elvis covers, compared to this. He's not quite as bad as David Lee Roth's current run in Las Vegas, but...something must be motivating him to continue,  I guess.

[Famous Mortimer]

I just remembered the video of him getting knocked out!

'Fuck you motherfucker!' BANG.

Never watched it before, so I just popped it on - it's fun to read the discussion of it from some 2012 interview with Danzig, where he claims the guy was trying to get into a fight with him, and that the people around him were all the other guy's "people", neither of which appear to be borne out by the video.

[lankyguy95]

Been avoiding listening to this.

"Always On My Mind" is enough.

[kngen]

Never watched it before, so I just popped it on - it's fun to read the discussion of it from some 2012 interview with Danzig, where he claims the guy was trying to get into a fight with him, and that the people around him were all the other guy's "people", neither of which appear to be borne out by the video.

The guy that lamps him is a friend of a friend. My mate insists he's actually a pretty nice bloke, and would have accepted an apology if he had felt it was genuine. But Glenn had to get all 138 on him and the rest is history - rather embarrassing, legacy-squandering history. He just can't help himself.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

You thought Puddle of Mudd shitting on a Nirvana song was bad? How about Glenn pinching a stinky loaf on 14 - yes, FOURTEEN - Elvis Presley songs? You got it, motherfucker!

You Were Always On My Mind

Fever

This is atrocious, truly dreadful. His voice sounds completely fucked, and the instrumentation and production (almost all of which is credited to Danzig, LOL) including the way it's mixed, are just a fucking train wreck.

Jesus wept, that's awful. He sounds like me singing Elvis songs in the shower, and no one in their right mind would ever buy a recording of that. Not that I would ever record myself singing Elvis songs in the shower, obviously.

[alan nagsworth]

I've been enjoying the serious comments on the youtube uploads of these tracks, from the tone-deaf die-hard shithead fans who seem to genuinely think this is fucking great stuff.

What's particularly amusing about this project is that for decades people have made comparisons between Danzig and Elvis, with Glenn's singing style obviously owing a lot to the King's, and yet over all that time such a project never emerged, either because Danzig felt it beneath him, or that it would cheapen the legacy of Danzig or Misfits, or simply because no one could do it better than Presley (unless they were putting their own spin on it or attempting pastiche). And now, for fuck knows what reason - I'd say a combination of money and autumn years lack of dignity - he's finally decided to do it, and here it is, and it's absolute shit.

[kngen]

And now, for fuck knows what reason - I'd say a combination of money and autumn years lack of dignity - he's finally decided to do it, and here it is, and it's absolute shit.

I reckon he's skint. He put his house in Hollywood up for sale a couple of years ago. He's appeared on stage with Jerry Only for Misfits reunions (which he swore on his life he'd never do); and he's suing the publishers of a Misfits book (which is apparently quite good) for copyright infringement (which he hasn't a hope in hell of winning, but is probably hoping he might get some 'just go away' money).

The '500 Danzig Fans Can Be Wrong, And Are' project looks like barrel-scraping of the most desperate kind in that light, as - you rightly said - his crooning days are long gone.

I wonder if Rick Rubin even returns his calls these days. I bet he'd kill to team up with the beardy one for a Cash-style career renovation. Bit late now, though.

Oh well, He'll always have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RHz5oUDvPI

(Kind of blows my mind that he did this less than a year after November Coming Fire)

[Famous Mortimer]

I reckon he's skint. He put his house in Hollywood up for sale a couple of years ago. He's appeared on stage with Jerry Only for Misfits reunions (which he swore on his life he'd never do); and he's suing the publishers of a Misfits book (which is apparently quite good) for copyright infringement (which he hasn't a hope in hell of winning, but is probably hoping he might get some 'just go away' money).

The '500 Danzig Fans Can Be Wrong, And Are' project looks like barrel-scraping of the most desperate kind in that light, as - you rightly said - his crooning days are long gone.

I wonder if Rick Rubin even returns his calls these days. I bet he'd kill to team up with the beardy one for a Cash-style career renovation. Bit late now, though.

Oh well, He'll always have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RHz5oUDvPI

(Kind of blows my mind that he did this less than a year after November Coming Fire)

You're probably right about the skint thing, but I wonder what he's spending his money on? Is he buying super-expensive studio time for his records that sell a few thousand copies?

He was so good, is the real pisser. Misfits, Samhain, and those early Danzig albums are good as hell, but he'd dropped off to the point I wasn't even aware he'd done anything past Danzig 4 until a few weeks ago.

[kngen]

You're probably right about the skint thing, but I wonder what he's spending his money on? Is he buying super-expensive studio time for his records that sell a few thousand copies?

He was so good, is the real pisser. Misfits, Samhain, and those early Danzig albums are good as hell, but he'd dropped off to the point I wasn't even aware he'd done anything past Danzig 4 until a few weeks ago.

I think this might have something to do with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKmMRSTUeAs

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

or simply because no one could do it better than Presley (unless they were putting their own spin on it or attempting pastiche).

Exactly. Covers albums only ever work when the artist in question reinterprets someone else's work in an interesting/oddball way. That's why those Bryan Ferry albums from the '70s are so good.

Recording an entire album of Elvis songs in the style of a shit Elvis impersonator is such a pointless conceit. Unless it's a joke, which it isn't.