Before Danzig, he was with the Misfits, arguably one of the iconic punk bands that made the crossover mix to thrash and alternative metal.

These were great times to be into thrash and hardcore music, kiddies, for any of ya's who were interested in this history.

This was the first transition or evolution of this stuff into a different vibe, after the US was shocked by the likes of the Sex Pistols, Dead Boys, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop, and Alice Cooper. Even Bootsy Collins and Parliament gave their contributions to this mix.

You also had the flashiness and raw sexuality of Wendy Williams and the Plasmatics, the almost theatre like stylings of the Tubes and the NY Dolls. You also had the British "oi" bands like the Exploited, Troops of Tomorrow, etc.

There was a vibrant but growing NY Hardcore scene that gave rise to the likes of Agnostic Front, Cause For Alarm, Jimmy Gestapo and Murphy's Law, Biohazard, Sick of it All, and many others.

There were also the California HC bands coming onto the scene, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, X & Exene Cervenka, Angry Samoans, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, Flipper, MDC, etc, which eventually inspired the skate punk bands like Suicidal Tendencies and lots of others.


You had the Meat Puppets and some others from the Midwest, and Canada even produced some semi-famous HC bands.

You also had Boston holding their own with bands like Gang Green and others, and NJ throwing it down with bands like Bedlam, American Standard, Stic-Ism band, and dozens of others.

It was effin crazy, so many times I almost got killed or robbed, just to see a dirty raw energy band in some basement club in NYC.

The adrenalin levels were off the chart!
That's probably why I liked it so much.

All these types and sounds had a way of blending and melting, so as the 80's came around there was a lot less "unique branding" of "punk" or "glam" and all the boundaries were being broken.

If I speak about this stuff with reverence, it's because it probably saved my life.

I had stopped drinking and using drugs at that time, and these were the groups that kept me alive, nourished my soul, and still gave me the thrill of sticking my finger in an electric outlet without the penalty of going to jail for the wild things I was doing, and all the crazy stage diving and moshing, and skanking we did.

There was a bad recession, interest rates were 22%, people felt poor as hell, but we had great times goin to the clubs and smashing against the walls for low dollars.

CBGB's Hardcore Sunday matinees were like $5 or $8 to get in, and you could mosh all afternoon!

It was a healthy, clean way to go out and forget about your worries and troubles for awhile. It was a great era, one that probably will never be repeated in American music history.

I'm so grateful that I lived through it, and got to experience it firsthand.