weirdness of the Misfits 'Halloween' single

[Goldentony]

So The Misfits are a weird one really, I've loved them for years but only recently been thinking how they started off among the time of Blondie/Talking Heads/Max's Kansas City, morphed into a band that didn't play shows above ones they drove to themselves with hardcore bands of kids about 7 years younger than them playing twice as fast as everything they put out and then fucked off in 1983.

Anyway, this single - https://youtu.be/DtvIETxyGYY

title track is an extremely powerful moody as all fuck sounding goth power pop song that's good enough to be everything you want the title to be, and then the fucking extremely odd b-side sang entirely in latin with an off kilter PiL ish rhyhthm section, downtuned vocals growling underneath sprechensgang latin that turns the chorus into this morbid funeral march singalong. They've always been weird but I always found this particularly weird.

I was thinking about this because I found a tape this week over at my parents house I bought 20 years ago of the reformed band playing London in 1998, the show builds up with a video of tons of horror film gore moments over Halloween II. I remember at the time I got the video it clocked during that that the chorus of that weird sequel version fucking soars.

Maybe it's not miles away sonically from London Dungeon - first song here - https://youtu.be/I5S2NLbIkRQ - but it's almost like a dub version or some equivalent. Odd. PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS.

[thugler]

I love misfits, never found it particularly weird, but now that you mention it, it's quite a curious one. But then their very first single cough/cool is quite a weird one also, hints to me that they could have gone in quite a new wave direction. Love how they had power pop stuff, primitive synthy/atmospheric gothy songs, and straight up hardcore, all done really well. Danzig's voice was damn perfect for it and all. They were super cool and mysterious as well, all squandered by the following years of very public dumbassery by both the new misfits lineup and danzig himself.

[Goldentony]

yeah lyrically aswell, even all the way into the end just very very oddball, fascinated by the story of that old song that's never been released from the Cough Cool era called Marble Index, think Jerry sang the chorus in an interview once and it talks about having a bottle of windex inside your mind to polish marbles for your marble index???

[Famous Mortimer]

I told my mate, who plays bass in a Misfits cover band, that I quite liked "Scream", one of their 90s pop-punk songs with the new singer. I thought he'd never speak to me again (I do prefer the Danzig-era stuff, obviously).

Strongly agree with @thugler and it's quite odd that Misfits would namecheck Nico...unless I'm a huge idiot and they're both namechecking the same source.

[cosmic-hearse]

I love the She / Cough/Cool 7" - it's like they'd read about punk but not actually heard it, & this was their interpretation: a lo-fi gothic Doors / Seeds hybrid fronted by Roy Orbison & with an out of place but insanely effective jazz drummer who is determined to make these songs swing. I wish they'd recorded more in this time period.

Also those early line ups had such quality punk nom de plumes - Franché Coma! Joey Image!

[thugler]

I told my mate, who plays bass in a Misfits cover band, that I quite liked "Scream", one of their 90s pop-punk songs with the new singer. I thought he'd never speak to me again (I do prefer the Danzig-era stuff, obviously).

Strongly agree with @thugler and it's quite odd that Misfits would namecheck Nico...unless I'm a huge idiot and they're both namechecking the same source.

It's a reference to Wordsworth's 'the prelude', at least in Nico's case. A bit high brow for Glen probably

[iamcoop]

Obviously the Danzig era is fucking prime but I'll always have a soft spot for Famous Monsters due to it being one of the few cassettes my mate had in his car, so I've got lots of good memories of driving round in a battered Renault 5 belting out Dust to Dust.

I had the little coffin-shaped Danzig era box set years and years ago and stupidly sold it for nowt to get money to buy weed like a twat. They go for a decent price these days.

By coincidence I was giving Static Age a spin the other day. Man, Danzig wrote some fucking killer tunes back in the day. Such a good band to sing along to.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I love the She / Cough/Cool 7" - it's like they'd read about punk but not actually heard it, & this was their interpretation

Cough/Cool is phenomenal

[Goldentony]

I had the little coffin-shaped Danzig era box set years and years ago and stupidly sold it for nowt to get money to buy weed like a twat. They go for a decent price these days.

got mine in Probe here about fifteen years ago but put the badge on a jacket that I wore while I went out getting pissed and then inevitably of course!!!!!!! coffin is still on display though with a smaller coffin on top

Yeah I reckon Marble Index is Glenn listening to VU and related because I don't think he reads anything that doesn't have werewolves or details occult nazi practices in. Story is theres a live recording and possible rehearsals?? from that time of the Cough Cool line up but Glenn either doesn't consider much of that stuff Misfits proper and doesn't want to do anything with it. Unable to really get my head around why he's so hesitant to make himself fucking tons of money in publishing by putting that stuff out. They're selling out arenas! FFS! put an official Misfits record out for the first time since the fucking box set please, it'll find your awful horror films you enjoy making mate if you're reading this

Here's an outtake of Some Kinda Hate that leaked last year out of nowhere, some crafty European had/found and then pressed to wax a load of Static Age and Horror Business outtakes and surprised everyone, again released by fans because Glenn is busy with his hit films -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NmZhWvwmtw

they're SO ODD I love them

[JesusAndYourBush]

Here's an outtake of Some Kinda Hate that leaked last year out of nowhere, some crafty European had/found and then pressed to wax a load of Static Age and Horror Business outtakes and surprised everyone, again released by fans because Glenn is busy with his hit films -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NmZhWvwmtw

they're SO ODD I love them

After comparing that (and the other 2 tracks on that youtube account) with what I already had I'm wondering if it might be a remix or "AI Demix" rather than anything "new".  It's definitely the same takes, but maybe with less overdubs?

[Goldentony]

After comparing that (and the other 2 tracks on that youtube account) with what I already had I'm wondering if it might be a remix or "AI Demix" rather than anything "new".  It's definitely the same takes, but maybe with less overdubs?

I thought this because the voice does have a bit of an odd almost digital quality when he goes YEAH HEY THERE'S SOME KINDA HATE but it seems to be legitimate. They're all from the same sessions but unmixed and no overdubs I believe???? They're also different to what was earlier listed as Static Age outtakes too, apparently??? it's very confusing, sorry! There's a take of Hybrid Moments that sounds like they've had to guess what it sounds like without vocals FAKE EDIT here we go - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJwwLHG57Yk and here's the Last Caress - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5-bVgUL5qY

FAKE EDIT II - oh I see this bloke had Hybrid Moments too!

[JesusAndYourBush]

I found links to the whole thing here, there's seperate links for side A and B (just saying that so you don't just grab one file and assume that's all there is!).
Sounds better without the added youtubiness.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

that Some Kinda Hate is bloody good, i want to it be real

[JesusAndYourBush]

They're also different to what was earlier listed as Static Age outtakes too, apparently??? it's very confusing, sorry!

It's a lot less confusing than it was!  I tried to collect the various demos/sessions in the 90's off of various bootlegs and cassettes and trying to compile them into some sort of coherent chronological order was next to impossible with absolutely no information at all. When I got on the net the misfitscentral site was a godsend!

[Queen Peach]

the most interesting band

[thugler]

It's a lot less confusing than it was!  I tried to collect the various demos/sessions in the 90's off of various bootlegs and cassettes and trying to compile them into some sort of coherent chronological order was next to impossible with absolutely no information at all. When I got on the net the misfitscentral site was a godsend!

It's a lot less confusing than it was!  I tried to collect the various demos/sessions in the 90's off of various bootlegs and cassettes and trying to compile them into some sort of coherent chronological order was next to impossible with absolutely no information at all. When I got on the net the misfitscentral site was a godsend!

I was wondering if the versions of songs with bobby steele they got rid of ever came out anywhere. Sure I've heard him saying somewhere that it was better.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I was wondering if the versions of songs with bobby steele they got rid of ever came out anywhere. Sure I've heard him saying somewhere that it was better.

I'm not aware of anything leaking out unofficially but there's disc 3 of the box set...
https://www.discogs.com/release/492132-The-Misfits-The-Misfits-Box-Set

As far as I can make out, the tracks with Bobby Steele and without Doyles extra overdubs are...

Tracks 3-03 - 3-07 (C.I. Recording Inc., NY, Jan 1979)
Tracks 3-08 - 3-14 (& 1-25) (The Song Shop, NY, June 1979)
Tracks 3-15 - 3-21 (& 1-07, 1-10, 1-11, 1-17, 2-12) (Master Sound Productions, Franklin Square, NY, Aug 1980)

[thugler]

Ah i have that. I was always just imagining another guitar track or something