Sunday, February 8, 2009

Elvis + Jim Morrison + Evil = DANZIG!



Glenn Danzig (born Glenn Anzalone on June 23rd 1955) is a super talented man also referred to as "Evil Elvis" and "The Other Man In Black". He is the founder of the bands "Misfits" and "Samhain" (who eventually changed their name to Danzig and so is sometimes referred to as a 3rd band simply entitled "Danzig"). In addition to this he owns his own record label "Evilive" and also founded "Plan 9 Records"(1977-1995) which got it's name from the Edward D. Wood Jr. Sci-Fi movie "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Danzig was born to a New Jersey Protestant family of Italian, German and Scottish-American heritage. He graduated from Lodi High School in 1973 hoping to become a comic book writer and/or photographer. He later became a comic book writer and has his own adult comic book publishing company, Verotik (www.danzig-verotik.com). He was introduced to metal by one of his brothers who showed him "Blue Cheer" and influenced him. He got involved in the music business as a drum roadie and local bass player at the age of 11. Then one day he tried out his vocals and impressed everyone. He then played in several local bands as vocalist, including "Talus", "Whodat" and "Boojang", covering Black Sabbath songs and also doing originals. He started "Misfits" aged 21. He has written countless brilliant songs over the years and even wrote "Life Fades Away" for Roy Orbison and the song "Thirteen" for Johnny Cash (He also wrote "Come to Silver" for Cash but he left American Records and couldn't give Cash the song). Danzig is one of my favourite artists because of his style, range and lyrical content. From the horror punk/fiendcore sound of "Misfits" to the gothic, heavier sound of "Samhain" to the heavy metal and blues style of "Danzig". He even created an industrial rock album called Blackacidevil under the band "Danzig"(which some fans love and some hate since it's very unusual to hear this sort of sound from Danzig). Danzig eventually broke into the mainstream in 1993-1994 when MTV played his video for "Mother" even though the song had been recorded originally 6 years earlier! I believe Danzig is a legend because he has created some of the best music ever heard (although rumours and evidence from many sources including youtube and split up with bandmates shows that he is probably an asshole even though I believe him to be awesome no matter what). Most recently, "Mother" was played over the adverts for the new terminator movie with Christian Bale in America. Please check out my recommendations:
1. Misfits....."see previous post" but also : "Skulls", "20 Eyes", "Nike-A-Go-Go", "Astro Zombies"
2. Samhain....."Archangel" and "All Murder, All Guts, All Fun"
3. Danzig....."Mother", "Am I Demon", "She Rides", "I'm The One" (Think about Evil Elvis now), "Twist of Cain", "Blood and Tears"

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