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Incongruous perhaps to my other tastes, I am a big Glenn Danzig fan.

The Misfits, of course, are hip, and Legacy of Brutality blew my mind from the first day I heard it; but I like the self-titled band as well.

They were a bit of an outlier in the 90s scene- neither glam nor grunge. Somewhat cheesy in retrospect, they seemed intellectual, a seemingly rarity in hard rock, as bands like Metallica and The Cult were starting to dumb their material down. Years later, the Danzig discography doesn't really hold up to the image I have of them.

I have always loved the second Danzig album (the bluesy Lucifuge), but besides it, I only rate the first and fourth albums- solidly put together by Rick Rubin, though I hardly revisit them these days. The fact is I follow every move the band has made.

I have practically given up on the band ever having a return of form. The closest they got was 2002's 777:I Lucerfi I which was a short lived partnership with Todd Youth (Murphy's Law/Warzone/Agnostic Front), Howie Pyro (D Generation) and long-time drummer Joey Castillo (QotSA/Mark Lanegan).

But the Danzig of the early 90s with guitarist John Christ and producer Rubin seemed poised for a long run. Danzig spoke of ambitious projects in those years, and we got them sometimes with 'Chinese Democracy' speed- a Misfits box set, a Samhain box set, an influences' covers album and lastly, an Elvis covers album.

Skeletons (the covers album) was released in 2015. It suffers from production values, that charitably make it sound like a 'bootleg'. It is another 'what if' in the career of a musician that seemingly has pushed away his biggest allies. It succeeds in bringing back Misfits-era Danzig to an extent, but feels like a disappointment.

Which brings us to 2020 and the unlikely arrival of Danzig Sings Elvis. Perhaps, the first thing one can say is that it is what it says on the cover.

Panned by many, it is certainly an unusual album. Elvis has cast a long shadow over Glenn's work- from the fantastic “American Nightmare” tune by the Misfits, to some of his latter day ballads to the perfectly themed cover of Elvis's “Trouble” from his 1993 live EP.

A good producer might have suggested a variety of tunes that fir in the mold of these previous successes. Instead, it's a ballad-heavy, sparsely accompanied set.

Less charitable critics will dismiss this album quite easily. Unfortunately, I wouldn't go that far, it just wasn't executed well. It's not that it's “cheesy”. It's just not that arresting.

These are largely lesser-known Elvis tunes. That's probably a good start. He probably should have avoided “Fever” which conjures up images of Peggy Lee and Madonna. “Always on My Mind” was probably a good pick, though it's been well-covered.

In short, too many ballads. The unlikely perfect “Pocket Full of Rainbows”, “Girl of My Best Friend” and the coda “Young and Beautiful” could probably hang on a stronger album. Why he didn't stick to more songs with accompaniment like “Girl”, I don't know. When he tries to rock, he picks the wrong material in “Baby Let's Play House”, though he had the right idea in indulging in a bit of rockabilly. The bluesy “When it Rains, It Pours” is too much of a throwaway at two minutes, and could probably have been fixed by a better collaborator.

In any case, I don't think anyone will be that impressed with a bunch of slow-tempo Danzig numbers with no rockers to offset. Danzig really isn't made to be a balladeer. Though surprisingly, his cover of the Everlys' “Crying in the Rain” was one of the best songs off Skeletons, he can't quite pull off the life of a Vegas lounge singer.

No Danzig compendium (and surely this is that) is complete without the Danzig appearance on Aqua teen Hunger Force.

Problem: You have a house where the walls bleed

Solution: Sell to Glenn Danzig



I have shared all or most of these, but if you need them, it's Jaded punk's 11 essential Danzig videos.

Snkkt!

There was a rumor in the 90s that Glen Danzig was going to play Wolverine.

It's hard to imagine anyone but Hugh Jackman as Wolverine now, and arguably he was the actor who helped make the franchise that is still growing.

Still, it's true, and at the time (we'll call him 20th Century Danzig), fans thought it would be cool.  He was one of the more vocal Wolverine fans in media, and at 5'4", he was the right size.



Of course, the X-Men movie had a bunch of false starts and Dougray Scott, Russel Crowe, Ed Norton, and even Bob Hoskins were in line at one point to play Wolverine.

Danzig had never acted in a movie at that point and was already committed to a 9-month tour with his band, but even still, that incarnation of the X-Men movie was never made.  IMDB has more

A common myth has it that he was offered a part in the movie, but this confusion occurs largely because Danzig was actually offered the role some ten years earlier - when Carolco held the rights to an X-Men film and was considering a low-budget production. However, due to the high-budget and status of the 2000 production, as well as Danzig's age and relative lack of acting experience, and the requirement that the Wolverine actor be signed to a multi-picture deal spanning several years, it is highly unlikely that Danzig could have won the role in bryam Singer's film. Regardless, a scheduling conflict prevented him from any subsequent pursuit of the role.

So there you have it. 

Last year, someone asked Danzig about it, and well, 21st Century Danzig is a far less likeable creature.

When LA Weekly asked how Danzig's Wolverine would differentiate from Jackman's.

His answer "Less gay".

And less terrible.

Early in the film's pre-production, you were in talks to play Wolverine in X-Men. How would you have played Logan/Wolverine differently than Hugh Jackman?
It wouldn't have been as gay. Actually, he wasn't the first choice. They hired Dougray Scott. He had a falling out with the director, and then they hired Hugh Jackman. I'm glad I didn't do it. It was terrible.

Clearly Glenn think he would have been a better choice, and..........he's probably the only one.

Danzig has always been a bit of a polarizing figure. The problem with self-assuredness can be that you walk into the realm of parody.

So I decided to return to this series because I am actually a huge fan but also because there's a lot of comedy here. I didn't realize that as I did it, Danzig was back in the news.

It's been awhile since non-fans have paid attention to Glen. His last studio albums were released in 2004 and 2010, but he's toured fairly extensively, and performed with Doyle of the Misfits, revisiting Samhain material; and releasing a bunch of unreleased Danzig and Samhain material. No, non-fans likely don't think much about Danzig unless he shows up on Fox news or his picture of wearing a Danzig shirt carrying cat litter to his car went viral.

But, here it is again.

Danzig tells audience to punch camera-phone wielding audience goer

90,000 people (and counting) have viewed said footage, which has nsfw language



Things didn't go as Danzig expected.

While everyone hates those guys and ye olde battle over artists' rights, it's become de rigueuer that you can grab a minute of footage to share with friends. 

Certainly, if you are going to fight that battle, you either need to be by-the-book (work with the security guards, ask politely) or at least go full Axl.  Danzig looks like a chump asking others to fight for him.  Some on twitter said Danzig acted like the guy was going to sell the footage for hundreds of dollars- a legitimate concern in the old bootleg days but outdated now.

In any case, whether you agree with Glen (or not)  and I tend to feel for him, it has been turned around on him to reinforce his image as an a--hole, and it's destined to go right there with the video of Danzig being punched out as part of his legacy.

The culprit even baited Danzig some more.

“I didn’t see those signs. There was no mention on the Groupon ticket about such a policy. Thank God I didn’t pay full price and even got a free drink out of it. I’m not sending another dime this asshole’s way. For the record, I didn’t miss the show. I got back in.”

Which of course adds the humor that there was a Danzig groupon as well.