Glenn and Spin

Today I noticed the word "Danzig" on the cover of the new issue of Spin magazine...so I read it. I couldn't find any online proof to share here (so don't ask) . I once interviewed Mr. Danzig back in '02 (there's no online proof because the Spectator doesn't exist and has no online archives that I know of so don't ask) and he went bonkers, like a 10 minute rant about how lame Spin magazine is when I asked him about a busted pile of bricks in his front yard.

Glenn: "Where'd you read that?"
Me: "Spin magazine."
Glenn: "Spin magazine is the biggest piece of psuedo-intellectual garbage....(and things didn't calm down until I changed the topic to comic books)

So with those comments made five years ago I read to see if he voiced similar views. He did not. Not only that, he talked openly about the Misfits!? He used to hang up on interviewers when that topic was broached.

This new spin interview was conducted in person, so maybe he's more inclined to be brash with phone interviewers?

At the end of 1990, Spin put Mr. Danzig on the cover and labeled him as the main dude to watch in 1991, i.e. the artist of the year. But a year later it was Nirvana of course and Danzig wasn't mentioned as much (although the 1988 song "Mother" got a nice boost in '93 on the live album and Beavis & Butthead of course). I don't know what was said about his kind of well received 1992 album, but when his 1994 album came out, it notched a brief Spin review wherein the writer stated, "I don't care about old punks who were into the Misfits, I only care about 12 year olds getting into Green Day." That inane statement obviously had nothing to do with music and certainly didn't mention the Danzig 4 album had some good stuff. So in 2002 I could kind of understand Danzig's sentiment towards the glossy Spin...but now it's all good with him and Spin?

The interview in this month's issue follows the usual subject trajectory of Danzig interviews (I've read a lot of them over the years). He mentions a few blues artists he likes, Elvis, religion, when he'll probably die, takes a dig at Green Day, takes a dig at nu-metal, and then some out of left field stuff that he used to avoid. The aforementioned Misfits of course, but he also talks about his family. He even answers a question about why he's never been married (I guess he didn't dig the gay rumors)...and of course the footage of the Northside Kings guy punching him (there is plenty of online footage of that). He actually gave a plausible reason regarding why he didn't swing first: "celebrities" punching someone on camera no matter the context, are likely to be sued.

It appears he has a new album of "lost tracks" from over the years being released (distributed technically, Danzig has always worked his own record label into these things) on Megaforce. That label has a bit more of a promotional budget unlike the distributor for his past few albums. It's also the label that released the early Metallica material among other seminal '80's thrash and speed metal, so their coffers run somewhat deeper.

So that's why you'll find him popping up in Spin magazine all of a sudden...with a good photo collage. I of course most enjoyed the photo of him standing next to Rollins in '84 (that was Rollins' long hair phase).