Summer does not officially end in this hemisphere until September 22, still a hair over a month to go. But the unofficial summer season does end in the latter part of August when kids go back to school. I don’t have any kids so school time isn’t some massive issue to me, but it is a bit depressing when “true summer” is over as I live in a city with a ton of schools in it. Summer time is fairly peaceful around here with less traffic and snarls of people, but now we’re back into massive traffic and people being idiots about where they drive, park and everything else.
But summer isn’t actually over yet, so let’s pull out this Danzig single from 1992. This was the lead single from the album III: How The Gods Kill. The album did decently well in its time, hitting 24 on the Billboard 200. While Danzig had a bit of a run with success, that actually came a year later with the re-release of Mother. This year prior was not obscure by any means, Danzig was a fixture on MTV by this point and his stuff fit right in with the alternative metal thing going on at the time. But true sales success was another year off.
The first defining feature of the song is actually near silence for 40 seconds. If this comes up on a playlist set to shuffle, you might think the playback died or something, especially if you’re only half paying attention or listening on a more lo-fi bluetooth device. There is a bit of atmospheric noise going on but it’s totally minimal and not always detectable. But then John Christ comes in with a divebomb note on the guitar and the song proper kicks off.
And it’s clear that the song lives up to the title – this is hot, dark and dirty. The song does have a slower pace to it, which is perfect to let the winding riff conjure up demons and dust devils and shit like that, and the drums and bass hit with extra results. And it’s all brought together by the familiar bellow of Glenn Danzig, the “evil Elvis” of heavy metal.
There isn’t much to dissect here lyrically, this song is all vibes. In this 2022 interview with Revolver, Danzig recounts how the song was simply about his memories of summer as a teenager – running around, getting into trouble, not having anything noteworthy to do. I love a good concept album as much as the next nerd, but sometimes keeping it simple is the more effective approach and it works splendidly here.
The song was a huge part of the soundtrack to my own dirty black summers in 1992 and beyond, I was 15 at the time and I enjoyed the same vibes through my vacations from school. And even all these years later, 32 of them in fact, I still dial this song up when I want to feel some good (evil) vibes during the small, hot and far too short quieter time of year.
Gonna go quick and dirty for this week’s song, this one popped up on a playlist of mine recently and I hadn’t heard it in quite some time so I figured I’d get into it. I also haven’t talked about The Misifts since my third-ever Album of the Week post back nearly three years ago, which covered this very album.
Astro Zombies comes from The Misfits’ only “real” studio album Walk Among Us, which was released in 1982. Noting here was released as a single or given any promotional status, the band didn’t even have the money to release the album at first. There is nothing statistically to offer for this one, but The Misfits have gone on to become a cult classic punk rock act.
Astro Zombies is the second to last song on the album. It clocks in at a handy 2:14, which seems very quick compared to most conventional music but is also the third-longest song on the album.
This bashes through at a pretty good pace, there’s a lot going on with all the of instruments that Jerry Only, Doyle and Arthur Googy are playing here. And of course present is the voice of Glenn Danzig, who is packing a lot of words into this song at a quick clip. Danzig did also play some guitar on this song.
Like the rest of the album, Astro Zombies is a horror romp, this time a group of zombies are out under the command of Danzig and are looking to destroy the world. The song is based on a 1968 movie The Astro-Zombies. The plot of the movie is pretty well like the song – a fired scientist creates zombies to terrorize the world. The film is generally hailed as one of the worst movies of all time, I personally have not watched it but am curious to maybe check it out.
But the song is fantastic, a true highlight from the album and my favorite track of the record. The Misfits were firing on all cylinders here, the song is quick and catchy and fully developed. While The Misfits had quite a few very awe-inspiring songs, they also had a few more sloppy performances and were also massively constrained by a shoestring budget.
Astro Zombies is a great song to get the blood flowing and the energy up, and who doesn’t want to destroy the world after a crappy day at work or whatever? Let the zombies get the show on the road.
This week I’ll take a look at an EP that had both some live and studio tracks on it. One of the songs would gain hold on MTV and launch the commercial peak of “Evil Elvis.”
Danzig – Thrall-Demonsweatlive
Released May 25, 1993 via Def American Records
Glenn Danzig was in a pretty good spot entering 1993 – his profile had risen considerably on the back of three strong albums and the music environment was accepting of a lot of alternative metal that probably wouldn’t have gotten the time of day in the ’80’s. Danzig would become one of the flagship acts of this “alt-metal” movement with the hit contained here.
The cover art was done by renowned comics artist Simon Bisley. This was the first of many collaborations between Bisley and Danzig, as Bisley would soon join Danzig’s new comic book company Verotik as an artist.
The band’s lineup remained the same as it had since the group’s inception – Glenn Danzig on vocals, John Christ on guitar, Eerie Von on bass and Chuck Biscuits at the drums. This roster would remain for one more studio album after this then all three others besides Danzig would vacate their positions, marking the end of the “classic” era.
This EP comprises two parts, as well as a “hidden” track. The hidden song was on track 93 of the CD, leaving 86 tracks of silence between the listed songs and this bonus. This was a thing back in the CD days and not the last time Danzig would use the gimmick to place a hidden song. As a note to those hunting for this on Spotify, only the 7 listed tracks appear on that service.
Thrall
The first three songs are all new studio recordings, done in early 1993. All of the songs were knocked out in a day. Up first is the heavy banger It’s Coming Down. This is one of the heavier tracks the old Danzig lineup did. It is a very meat and potatoes metal song, with very few lyrics and just a bunch of heavy riffs and drumming. This one works pretty well and is the highlight of the new songs. There was a music video filmed for this but it contained a lot of bondage scenes in it so MTV said no. A less saucy version is linked up at the end of this post.
Up next is The Violet Fire, a bit more of a gothic vibe to this one but still a pretty heavy tune. The lyrics are about the dark arts of seduction, a Danzig staple. The last of the three studio cuts is Trouble, which is a cover song. In keeping with Danzig’s nickname and vocal styling, the song is an Elvis cover. The song is suitably spruced up for the atmosphere of a Danzig song and works pretty well. It’s fair to say that a lot of people listening to this EP in 1993 might not have been aware that this was an Elvis song.
Demonsweatlive
The four live tracks are from a 1992 Halloween concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in the Los Angeles area. The entire show was pretty available in bootleg form, though that boot probably came about as a result of this EP’s notoriety.
Up first is Snakes Of Christ from the album II – Lucifuge. Like everything here, this is an excellent live version that captures the raw and gritty sound of this music at its best. One of two cuts from the self-titled debut is up next. Am I Demon gets a whole new level of energy from the live outing and sounds like Danzig at the top of his demonic underworld. This could be considered the prime offering of the live cuts, though another one would go on to claim all of the glory.
The third song is Sistinas from III – How The Gods Kill. This is a bit of a different song, being a quiet ballad that fits Danzig’s style pretty well despite being well outside the usual heavy offerings. Even when I was a dumb 15 year old listening to this and only wanting heavy stuff I could appreciate a slower tune like this one.
Another song from the first album rounds out the live stuff – Mother was a single initially but did not move the needle back in 1988. Several years later, the song’s appearance on this EP would catapult it and Danzig into another layer of the atmosphere.
What appears first on the EP is the actual live cut from the Irvine show. It is certainly a live performance, it is a much more raw and open vocal outing from Danzig than any sort of studio track. It is a worthy live cut, as all four of these songs are, but it’s also not the version that actually got popular, even though footage from the same live performance is in the music video.
After letting the CD play for about seven minutes of silent tracks, track 93 hits with the Mother 93 mix of the song. This is a re-recorded version the band did in studio and is the single release that wound up getting so popular. The video was put with this new studio version and the release got huge traction on MTV.
Mother would hit the singles charts, getting to number 17 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart and just missing being a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, getting to 43. Sales of Thrall-Demonsweatlive and the original Danzig album would shoot up after the video’s explosion, netting the original a platinum cert and this EP at least a gold, its actual certification status is a bit murky and it may also be platinum.
Mother has lived on as a mainstream one-hit wonder and found use in many movies, video games and other places over the years. Danzig would depart his hard gothic metal sound a few years later, specifically citing the “MTV audience” as one he was happy to part ways with, though he did also appreciate his time in the sun.
While this is just an EP and the actual version of the song that got popular was an odd hidden track, Thrall-Demonsweatlive was a triumphant moment for the first iteration of the Danzig lineup. The breakout success of Mother can be attributed to the changed state of rock at the time, back when the song first came out it didn’t move the general music audience but did bring on some of Danzig’s core fans. This EP might not have been the touchstone moment it was without the single doing insane MTV business, but there are still several worthwhile cuts to check out here.
For this week I’m going back to the early 90’s and the practical genesis of the brief yet powerful “alt-metal” movement. This album was the second in a line of four that served as one alt-metal figurehead’s impressive body of work. And while every music artist is divisive to some degree, this dude really gets opinions flowing and tempers flaring.
Danzig – II: Lucifuge
Released June 26, 1990 via Def American Records
My Favorite Tracks – Snakes Of Christ, Her Black Wings, Tired Of Being Alive
Glenn Danzig had entered the scene as vocalist of punk group The Misfits, then entered metal territory with Samhain before evolving into his own-named outfit. The band took up a blues-based metal sound that explored the various facets of evil, a template still very much in place on Lucifuge.
And while the debut album would hit platinum, we aren’t quite there yet. Danzig was on a major label but was still an emerging concern in 1990. It would be a few years before the hit would climb the charts, even though that hit had already been recorded and released.
The original CD packaging was also interesting – the booklet insert folded out into a huge upside-down cross. There are also a few versions of the album cover – the one I posted is the US CD version, while other variations feature headshot photos of the band. To my knowledge, the songs are the same across all versions.
Our album today weighs in with 11 songs over the course of 50 minutes. Several music videos were filmed for tracks, though nothing was technically “released” as a single. Note that some of the videos are not hosted on official channels for whatever reason and might not hang around for too long, I don’t know.
Long Way Back From Hell
The album opens with an epic riff fest that establishes the tone for the album. It is dirty blues straight out of a Louisiana swamp, and the opening lyrics place the song right there. The nasty riffs of John Christ meld with the distinct “Evil Elvis” bellow of Glenn Danzig to offer up some truly wicked metal. The song’s premise is simple – don’t do something you aren’t prepared to face the consequences for, it truly is a long way back from Hell.
Snakes Of Christ
Something super cool happens here, there is an abrupt transition between tracks 1 and 2. This is something almost obsolete now in the digital age, but it’s pretty cool to go from one banger straight into another. A very signature riff opens Snakes Of Christ, and the song moves on into a critical examination of how religious teachings have been perverted over the centuries.
On the subject of the song’s main riff – Danzig has stated in the past that he feels Stone Temple Pilots ripped off this song’s riff for their single Sex Type Thing. This 1997 interview, provided via archive, outlines his argument. The STP camp doesn’t seem to have ever addressed the issue.
Killer Wolf
This is a slower, very blues-based number that is really just about some old horn dog going out on the prowl for women. The song features Danzig’s vocal inflections to such a degree that Danzig detractors might call this song “Exhibit A.” I think it’s a pretty cool track, myself.
Tired Of Being Alive
Another banging tune with a monster riff. The title might indicate the same kind of desperate, crushing depression found in doom metal, but this song retains the “I am badass and evil” vibe while still expressing a similar feeling of being done with it all. Everyone gets sick of it all at some point.
I’m The One
An acoustic blues track about a little boy who discovers he’s the “one,” likely being the Antichrist or some other evil dude. The song was originally cut during sessions for the debut album but was saved for this one.
Her Black Wings
Often viewed as the signature song from the record, Her Black Wings goes beyond the “dark blues” and gets straight into heavy metal. The song is about some hot, powerful demon woman who shows up and does her thing. This song perfectly sums up the Danzig experience.
Devil’s Plaything
A bit of a departure from the blues here, this track offers up a preview for what the next album would sound like. This veers more into the gothic realm and offers a more quiet experience through a fair bit of the song before opening up in a powerful surge a bit later. Danzig did not always have to be loud, something that would come into play after this record.
777
It’s straight back into the bayou with this dark blues track. The song is apparently about apocalypse, though it’s expressed in vague terms. No matter, it is a powerful song and another highlight of the record.
Blood And Tears
It’s ballad time, this being a dark tune that explores someone coming out of a failed relationship. The song departs from the pure evil explored in other places and presents a more realistic version of things.
Girl
A very rocking tune with not many lyrics to it – “Girl, let’s fly too high” is about all you really need to know. The song works very well even without a great deal of exposition to it.
Pain In The World
The album ends with a heavy song that gets into the origin of evil and its arrival on the planet. While it’s more of a deep cut from the Danzig catalog, it is still a signature Danzig tune.
Lucifuge did not see massive mainstream success, but did initially chart on the US Billboard 200. It was well-received critically, with many writers calling it a huge leap forward from the debut. The album did spread through the metal network and Danzig became a more visible force, with a mainstream breakout a few years away.
In retrospect, Lucifuge has been hailed as one of the best albums of the band’s career. The evil blues sound wouldn’t be found on any future Danzig records and it stands out among the other releases. I haven’t entirely answered the question for myself yet, but this is a true contender for my favorite Danzig release.
Of course, with Glenn Danzig comes a lot of discussion. While he’s had his fans over the years, he’s also had plenty of haters. His singing style has been roundly dismissed and he has often been portrayed as an asshole. And maybe he is, I don’t really know.
It doesn’t affect my listening habits if people don’t like someone I do like, so it’s no huge deal. But it has been funny over the years to hear the outcry over Danzig, bringing up his name at all can lead to some interesting conversations.
But at the end of the day it’s the music that matters, and Lucifuge was a triumphant statement from Danzig. It came along at the right time for my young, impressionable self and it helped set the tone for the music of the early 1990’s. No amount of hang-wringing over what kind of person Glenn Danzig is can change that.
The Crooked Wanderer 