Week of Living Danzig-ly: Monday

In 2009 and 2010, I dedicated a week in October to Danzig.  Like Shark Week, it was a highlight of many people's lives, and certainly a Top 5 moment for this blog

Like Celebrity Deathmatch, Bud Bowl, and other cultural moments it was something that arrived at the precise moment to grab hearts and minds, but knew when to call it a day.

Fourteen posts of near perfection dedicated to Lodi's favorite son.

So, we thought we would bring it back for a quick reprise.

Starting off the week with something that is as legendary as Glenn's trip to the store to buy cat food or his duet with Shakira. 

The Ramones vs Misfits meme.




The Ramones want the airwaves, shock treatment, sniff some glue, and steal from the rich and give to the poor (Howling at the Mooon) among other things.  Whereas, the Misfits want your skulls.

Credit to Grayhood, whose image has appeared on Beware of the Blog, Huffington Post, and all over the internet.

Brilliant.

On the Shelf 102: Michael Monroe

My teenage years coincided with the high tide of glam metal. I could probably talk about this here at great length (and have), but I will give you the usual takeaways: For the most part, I wasn't a fan. There were a lot of terrible nth-generation bands that by 1990 were closer in style to Billie Ray Cyrus or Michael Bolton than Too Fast For Love or Van Halen II. I, of course, peferred the modern rock of the day- Pixies, Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, etc, which isn't to say I was always perfect (Madchester).

In any case, not all 'glam bands' were terrible either. Some like the London Quireboys and Black Crowes took queues from the Faces and the Stones, while some bands were just good hard rock bands trying to sell albums. (As an aside, I always considered Tom Keifer a notch ahead of the crowd based on the bluesy Heartbreak Station. His 2013 solo album has got quite a bit of airplay, though sadly, it isn't very good- too slow and trying too hard to be authentic.)

In any case, during those years which I spent much time with metal fans (and by that I mean true metal and the glam stars of the day both), and one of my favorite bands became the by-then defunct Hanoi Rocks.

I still see interviews which Michael Monroe claims the band wasn't glam, but they undoubtedly were. They just drew heavier from the New York Dolls, Alice Cooper Band, Mott the Hoople and T Rex than most. Their failed shot at the big time- the big budget Two Steps from the Move is like a blueprint for Guns N Roses.

So I played those albums to death. The band reunited in 2001, stayed together for nearly a decade, made three studio albums, and no one could blame them after years of seeing bands they pre-dated like the Poisons, Warrants and Wingers of the world make truckloads of money.

The thing is the reunion albums picked up where the band left off. While it's seemingly hard to match the excitement of youth when you are in your late 40s, the band put together songs that might not have been the classics, but were deserving of the band's title. While McCoy and Monroe did call it a day with Hanoi Rocks Mk 2, Monroe has used that momentum into his solo career. 2011's Sensory Overdrive was Classic Rock magazine's album of the year.

So it continues with Horns and Halos. Nothing that would probably sway anyone over who didn't like Hanoi in the first place, but some pretty solid sleaze and blues rock that still manages to be a bit better than his competition.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

"" (Watch on YouTube)

The Love that Dare Not Speak Its name

It seems like they are always going on about equal rights and acceptance, and being outcasts.

They say that in every other way they are like everyone else, but it's that thing that is different.

They are always making grandiose statements and wearing flamboyant garb.

..and DC comics has a problem with them being married.

Yep, that's right.

Super heroes.

Things started with DC redlighting the same-sex marriage of Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer in Batwoman, which lead to the creative of team of JH Williams III and Haden Blackman leaving the book.

Okay, so you think where this is going, but you might be wrong.  It did inevitably lead to Huffington Post, Daily Mail, the Guardian, Entertainment Weekly and others running with the story; and it probably not surprisingly led fans to go on social media and threaten violence against DC employees.

DC has had a rather spotty record with the LGBT community, and moves such as giving Orson Scott Card a steady paycheck haven't helped.

So, DC's explanation for why the nupitals could not go through.

According to Dan DiDio, DC Comics Co-Publisher, it's because superheroes don't get married.

So if you been reading DC's New 52, Aquaman and Mera are not married, never were, and you won't see Geoff Johns making references to bride, spouse, or any similar terms anytime soon.

There's no Lois and Clark, no Apollo and Midnighter.  Flash and Green Lantern are single, Black Canary and Green Arrow no longer married- they don't even know each other, and the list goes on.  

The only married character in the New 52 appears to be Buddy Baker (Animal Man) and things don't look good for him.

The explanation DiDio gave at a Comics Convention in Baltimore was that being gay was part of who Batwoman is, but that heroes should not be married.

She’s clearly a member of the Bat family, and that as a result she shouldn’t have a happy personal life. That she’s committed to defending others at the sacrifice of personal instincts and personal lives.

So there's that.

DiDio doesn't haven't problems with sexuality, but if you follow his logic- fire fighters, police, and doctors shouldn't be married either.

Of course, bad publicity aside, comics are comics and we will see if this has any effect on sales (DiDio is also bringing in openly gay writer Marc Andreyko to the Batwoman title, so there is that), but at least last month when DC rolled out it's 3-d Covers and Villain Month, it was crushing the competition.