I was doin some errands this morning, and ran into someone who looked familiar. Turns out he has a connection with the band Danzig, founded by Glenn Danzig. He's Glenn's son Jeff, and we got to talking about his Dad, and how things are. His Dad is still touring, and lives in Cali. Jeff lives in NJ, does promo work for his Dad, and has his own band together, trying to make a name for himself.
I had a great time tellin him how we used to go to Danzig shows all the time, and how people used to stage dive, even with broken bones, it was all good!!
After he left, some curious people asked me who he was. When I explained, it was like they had no clue. Damn, makes me feel old, it was only 20 yrs ago.
Some of the people there heard of bands like Biohazard, but Danzig was not familiar. I asked myself how could that be, has music really changed that much?
I guess it has, but I still rock to the old skool, those were the times when mosh pits ruled and people got bloody for the heck of it.
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.
Here's some Misfits songs for the people who never heard of 'em:
Devil's whorehouse.... it's kinda crude, but remember they were doin this 25 years ago, before the advent of computer graphics and CGI enhanced videos.
Bullet - Danzig with Henry Rollins
20 eyes...
"Walk Among Us", The Misfits' first album, was ment to released on Glenn Danzig's own label, called "Plan 9 Records", but they got a record deal with "Ruby Records". They forced them, to rerecord the song material they had for the album. The original release was meant to have a different sound and a different track list.
Parts of the recording session for the Plan 9 version were remastered and released on the third disc of "The Misfits Box Set". This is the first track of the original Plan 9 release of "Walk Among Us", recorded 1981.
All Images are from onethirtyeight.com and the7thhouse.com
Another Danzig project, Samhain. Glenn went on to do the Danzig thing and I think Ian went on to Minor Threat, another powerful icon from the 80's.
I liked Danzig, but thought he was better with the Misfits. More edgy, plus those were different times back then, like you said they were on the forefront. Good times and music, but a lot of it was a blurry drunk haze. Seems like I remember it better now than I did then.
Old Skool spotlight...Danzig!
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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. 
