television serial, 'The Crimson Ghost,' while the typeface is from the 1950s-'60s magazine, 'Famous Monsters of Filmland.']] The Misfits were a punk rock band formed in 1977 in the town of Lodi, New Jersey, and originally led by singer Glenn Danzig (nè Anzalone).
The band's name is from The Misfits, Marilyn Monroe's last movie. The early lyrical and graphical focus was on retro (1930s-'50s) science fiction, horror films, and B-movies.
The early Misfits were often quite melodic: Danzig's voice was extremely supple, with a style rooted in Italian tenors such as Mario Lanza, and in 1950's doo wop; and with songwriting including strong pop hooks and sing-along choruses -- but grafted onto a very loud, and often cruddy-sounding punk band. (The early Misfits were, in both good and bad ways, a notably aggressive and untrained ensemble.)
By the original band's last album, Earth A.D., they had become a hardcore punk band, with Danzig's standout vocal tone floating over a torrent of thrashing guitar, bass, and drums, courtesy of Jerry Only, brother Doyle, and pal Robo, formerly of Black Flag. "Last Caress" was a very rare track for years, and is now commonly regarded as the prototypical early-Misfits song, with blaring instruments and Danzig's melodic vocals putting the rendition somewhere on the crude median between Frank Sinatra and the Sex Pistols (whose bassist, Sid Vicious, at one point offered the rest of the band to back him as a solo artist). The track is quite noteworthy, with aggressively sloppy punk instrumentation and a soaring, Italian-tenor vocal line. However, many other early songs are just as interesting, with the recently-released "Static Age" LP (of '78 studio sessions) filling all such accounts.
Members came and went, with bassist Jerry Only (nè Caiafa) holding down the fort in terms of other instrumental players. It is useful to think of the early Misfits as a band of Jersey-Italians (like The Sopranos, but more working-class) who were strangely attracted to punk due to the trends of the time, rather than as a simple 'punk band.' While Danzig lived with his mother (in Lodi), and was supported by her during the band's early career, Jerry and Doyle Caiafa helped finance the band by working long shifts at the family lumberyard, later founding a knife factory in rural Vernon Township (which often employed later members such as Robo, a citizen of Colombia). The Misfits seldom mixed with other NJ punk bands, creating their own small scene locally, while holding early acclaim in NY and expanding it nationally -- via tireless work with mailing lists and other networking, including their once-small, later-considerable 'Fiend Club'.
The original Misfits broke up in 1983, having released several 7" singles and 12" records, in DIY limited-edition (most were hand-assembled by the band), that have long been considered prime collectors' items. Epigones (i.e. imitators) from Lodi, New Jersey, include the bands Mourning Noise and Rosemary's Babies, both of whom released records.
The band often wore ghoulish makeup when performing, and bassist Jerry Only invented a hairstyle called the devilock which is still worn by fans today. This later became quite influential. A very different incarnation of the band plays and records today as a Jerry Only project, with rotating members.
History
In January of 1977, after singing in several garage bands that mostly played Black Sabbath songs, twenty one year old Glenn Danzig decided it was finally time to create something serious and original. As a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, he named his musical project after her final movie, The Misfits. For weeks, Glenn wrote songs and practiced with friends and old band mates, trying to find a suitable lineup of musicians to bring his vision to life. The first complete Misfits lineup consisted of Jimmy Battle on guitar, his old band mate Manny Martinez on drums, Diane DiPiaza on bass, and himself on electric piano and vocals. However, after only about a month of practicing, both Jimmy and Diane left the band. In need of new band mates, Manny suggested that his friend, Jerry Caiafa, should audition for bass. Jerry, a young football jock who had been voted most popular in his senior class at Lodi High School, had just received a bass guitar that Christmas and had only been practicing with it for two months. Despite Jerry's fledgling bass talents, Glenn accepted him into the band and offered to teach him how to play. After three months of practicing, the trio headed into the studio to record their first single, entitled Cough/Cool. The single contained two keyboard driven art rock songs which were quite different from the music the Misfits would later become known for. The title track was somber and poetic, and very reminiscent of The Doors. The band released the single themselves through their own label which they dubbed Blank records.Over the next several months, Glenn, Manny, and Jerry (who had adopted the stage name Jerry Only) played a handful of gigs (their first two at CBGB in New York City) as they continued to practice and forge their own sound. Their experimental art rock style was met mostly with confusion. By October 1977, British punk bands such as The Damned and New York punk bands like The Ramones began to have an influence on The Misfits. They decided to take the band in a more punk direction by adding guitarist Franchė Coma to the band and ditching the keyboards, freeing up Danzig to go crazy on stage. As 1977 drew to a close, Glenn and Jerry decided that Manny was too unreliable and asked him to leave the band. He was replaced by Jim Catania, or "Mr. Jim", who had played in a previous band with Glenn.
At this time The Misfits caught their first big break. Mercury Records wanted to use the name Blank Records for a sub division, but Glenn Danzig had a head for business and had been smart enough to copyright the name. They contacted Glenn and offered him thirty hours of free time in a professional studio, in exchange for full use of the Black Records title. Glenn accepted the offer and in January of 1978, The Misfits headed into the New York studio to record their first full length album.
Seventeen songs were recorded, featuring a unique combination of their early art rock material and the hard driving punk direction they had begun to adopt. Once the album was complete, the band shopped it around to various labels but no one was interested in releasing it. With no one interested in their album, they decided to take four tracks from it and release it themselves as an E.P.. In June 1978, the Bullet EP was released on their new label, Plan 9, which Danzig had named after the infamous Ed Wood movie "Plan 9 From Outer Space".
Around this time, both Glenn and Jerry decided they wanted to take the band in a more horror themed direction. Glenn began to write more songs inspired by low grade horror and sci-fi movies, and both he and Jerry began to adopt ghoulish appearances, with Jerry applying dark makeup around his eyes and Glenn painting bone designs on his clothes. The band started to play more frequently and began to go on small tours in support of the Bullet EP. In October of 1978, during a small tour through Canada, Franchė Coma decided he couldn't handle touring and quit the band before the tour was even complete. Guitarist Rick Riley stepped in to fill out guitar duties for the rest of the tour. Mr. Jim wasn't fond of the horror direction the band was heading in and opted to leave the band once the tour was over.
Within two months, Glenn and Jerry had recruited two new band members, drummer Joey Image, and guitarist Bobby Steele. Around this time, Jerry Only began to comb his hair in what would later become The Misfits signature hair style, known as the devilock. In December of 1978, after less than two months, the new Misfits lineup began playing shows together. Over the course of 1979, The Misfits further evolved the horror elements of their music and their imagery, effectively creating a new genre of music that would come to be known as Horror Punk. Glenn and Jerry adopted a skull mascot for the band from an old poster they'd come across for a 1946 television serial called "The Crimson Ghost". The Misfits released two more records on their Plan 9 label, the "Horror Business" EP and the "Night of the Living Dead" single, respectively. They began to establish a small but loyal fan base and decided to start their own fan club, which they called the Fiend Club. Glenn operated the Fiend Club from his mother's basement, where he would print out t-shirts, assemble records, mail out merchandise catalogs, book gigs, and respond to fan mail, making the Misfits exemplary practitioners of the DIY ethic.
As their popularity slowly began to incease, many people started to consider The Misfits to be the American equivilant of the British punk rock band, The Damned, who's front man, Dave Vanian, adopted the look of a classic vampire and sang in a brooding baritone. In June 26th, 1979, The Misfits opened for The Damned at a gig in New York City. Before the show, Jerry spoke with Dave Vanian about the possibility of The Misfits doing a tour of the UK in support of The Damned.
In November of 1979, The Misfits flew over to England for their tour with The Damned. However, Dave Vanian had not taken Jerry serious and was surprised when Jerry showed up at his front door. Instead of turning The Misfits away, Dave tried his best to arrange for them to take part in the tour, but The Misfits weren't happy with the situation. After playing only two gigs, The Misfits dropped off the tour. Their return flight back to America wasn't until late in December, and so The Misfits were forced to kill time in England. Jerry spent some time with Sid Vicious' mother, who he had befriended after Sid's death. On December 2nd, Glenn and Bobby went to see a show in London, where they were harassed by skinheads while standing in line. Glenn broke off a piece of glass from a shattered window and used it to fend off the skinheads while Bobby ran to get help. However, when the cops arrived, they arrested Bobby and Glenn, for what they described as "threatening behavior". Glenn and Bobby spent two nights jailed up in the London district of Brixton, during which time Glenn wrote the lyrics to the future Misfits song, "London Dungeon". After the failed European tour, Joey Image decided to leave the band.
Upon their return to America, The Misfits released the "Beware EP" through Plan 9 records and decided to take a short hiatus from the band in order to recover from their bad experience in England. After a four month break, Author Googy was recruited as the new drummer. Around this time, Jerry's little brother, Doyle, who was a huge fan of band, started learning to play guitar with help from Glenn and Jerry. Jerry began to persuade Glenn that Doyle would fit into the band much better than Bobby Steele. Bobby has said that during this time period, Jerry would purposely neglect to inform him of practices, in order to make Bobby look bad. Jerry denies these accusations. Regardless, in October of 1980, shortly before the band's annual Halloween show, Jerry informed Bobby that he was being replaced by Doyle, who was only sixteen at the time. Bobby Steele went on to form his own punk band a few months later, called "The Undead". On Halloween of 1980, what many people consider to be the classic Misfits lineup, made its debut.
Afrer only playing a few shows with the new lineup, they took a six month break from the band, during which time they release the "3 Hits From Hell" EP. In 1981, Glenn wrote the song "Archangel" for The Damned vocalist Dave Vanian to sing with The Misfits backing him. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Dave never recorded vocals for the song and it was set aside until 1983, when Glenn decided to re-record it with his next band. Throughout the year of 1981, The Misfits worked on their full length album that would later be known as "Walk Among Us". They planned on releasing it through Plan 9, but got an unexpected offer from Slash Records to release the album. They accepted the offer and decided to rework the album before releasing it. On Halloween of 1981, The Misfits released the "Halloween" single through Plan 9.
In March of 1982, Slash Records released "Walk Among Us", the first full length Misfits album to be available to the public. "Walk Among Us" would later be considered by most fans to be the quintessential Misfits album. The band began playing shows again after nearly a year. They started to become notorious for their intense stage presence and brutal live performances. Doyle was a sports jock like his brother, and shared his linebacker physique, which, coupled with their ghoulish appearance, made for quite intimidating axemen. In between the musclebound brothers, Glenn Danzig would bellow out his morbid lyrics while thrashing around on stage or crawling around like a madman, often throwing and receiving punches from the crowd. Despite Glenn's smaller stature, he was able to hold his own in a fight, and enjoyed taunting the crowd, and instigating violence.
Perhaps the most infamously violent Misfits show took place in San Fransisco on April 10th, 1982. During the show some people in the crowd began to throw cans of beer at the stage. After Doyle was nearly hit in the head with a beer can, he smashed his guitar over a crowd member's head, instigating a full out riot. A couple days later, on April 15th, the band stopped at McDonalds for food. Author wanted to get two cheeseburgers, but Glenn told him they were too low on money and that he could only get one. Tensions started to rise and the two came close to exchanging blows. Author quit the band and The Misfits had to cancel their plans to record their next EP, which they planned on calling "Earth A.D.".
In need of a drummer, they offered the role to Doyle's friend and classmate, Eerie Von, who had served as a photographer for The Misfits. Eerie reluctantly turned down the offer because he had already committed to drumming for the local band Rosemarie's Babies. Black Flag vocalist, Henry Rollins, who had become great friends with The Misfits during their west coast gigs, informed ex-Black Flag drummer, Robo, that The Misfits were in need of a drummer. In July of 1982, Robo flew to the east coast and joined the band.
Doyle graduated High School and began working full time at his father's machine shop with Jerry. They used their earnings to purchase new instruments (because they tended to smash theirs on a weekly basis), and to fund The Misfits tours. While they provided funding for the band, Glenn would handle the Fiend Club and work on new songs. A common misconception is that Glenn only wrote lyrics and sang for The Misfits. In fact, Glenn was a multitalented musician that would write the music and the lyrics himself, and would later teach them to his band mates at practice, where the songs would become totally fleshed out. Practices where usually held in Jerry's garage, which they referred to as "The Pit".
In September of 1982, The Misfits embarked on a large scale tour with their friends, Necros opening for them. During the tour, The Misfits stopped by a studio to record the music for the "Earth A.D." EP. On October 17, the band was arrested in New Orleans on the charges of grave-robbing while in search of the burial place of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau. The Misfits denied the charges, and a witness reportedly attested that they had not even entered the cemetery gates. The band bailed themselves out of jail and skipped court to drive to their next performance in Florida. Upon returning from the tour, The Misfits released an album of live material called "Evilive".
During this time Glenn started to become unsatisfied with The Misfits. He thought his band mate's musicianship was lacking and he wasn't happy with the thrashy speed metal direction the Earth A.D. EP had taken. He began to write songs for a new band project, which he would later name "Samhain". In July of 1983, The Misfits went into the studio to finish working on Earth A.D. They decided to record and add two of their new songs to the album. In order to make it a full length album, Glenn decided to record two songs he had intended for Samhain: "Bloodfeast", and "Death Comes Ripping". The result was "Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood", a gritty, thrashy album of hardcore punk rock, which none of the members were quite satisfied with. In August, after a series of arguments with Glenn, Robo decided to leave the band. Glenn began to audition musicians for his new band project.
On October 29th, 1983 (see 1983 in music), The Misfits played their yearly Halloween show in Detroit, Michigan. Glenn had selected Brian Damage to be the new Misfits drummer. However, Brian got drunk before the show and continuously messed up the songs. After several songs Doyle escorted Brian off the stage and the drummer for the Necros filled in for the rest of the set. The band members were visibly upset with each other and Glenn informed the audience that it would be the last Misfits show ever. The next day the band members drove back home without saying a word to each other and went about their respective lives.
Legal Battle
After the demise of The Misfits, Glenn Danzig focused on his new band project, Samhain, which was much darker and occult oriented than The Misfits. Meanwhile, Jerry Only and his brother Doyle moved to Vernon, NJ, where they went to work full time in their father's machine parts factory. During this time, Jerry became more focused on his family and his baby daughter, Kathy. He became more serious about his Christian faith, and regretted some of the things he took part in during his time with The Misfits. He watched as Glenn continued to grow in popularity with Samhain, a band that Jerry viewed as evil and Satanic. In 1987, Jerry decided to start a new band, one that would oppose the "dark path" chosen by Glenn. Together with Doyle, Jerry (who changed his stage name to "Mo the Great") started writing songs for a Christian heavy metal band with barbarian imagery, called Kryst The Conqueror. They then created the Doyle fan club to help spread the word about their new band. During the writing and recording process for the album, they tweaked their instruments, in an attempt to design the ultimate bass and guitar. Once the music was recorded, they hired studio vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (who had done vocals for Yngwie Malmsteen) to record vocals for the album. Jeff was forced to remain anonymous due to contractual obligations. To hide his identity, he was credited on the album as Kryst. Despite Jerry's efforts, Kryst the Conqueror failed to gain a following. The album was never fully released and the band never played a single show.
By 1987, The Misfits had reached legendary status, and Glenn's band Samhian (later renamed to "Danzig"), was signed to a major label. The Misfits back catalog had been re-issued and was selling extremely well. Around this time, Jerry Only contacted Glenn about getting a cut of the Misfits royalties, beginning a legal battle that lasted several years. Jerry concedes that Danzig wrote nearly all the lyrics and most of the music, but he contended that he and Doyle "wrote 25% or maybe 30% of the music," http://www.citizinemag.com/music/music-0309_jerryonly.htm and deserved compensation. Danzig, on the other hand, insisted that all songs were written by him and that their creative input was minimal at best. Eventually Jerry decided to cease his pursuit of song credit and instead tried to reach an out of court settlement that would allow him to use The Misfits name and image.
In 1993, Glenn broke into the mainstream when the Danzig song, "Mother", became a hit on MTV, introducing thousands of new fans to Danzig's back catalog with Samhian and The Misfits. In 1995 (1995 in music), Jerry and Glenn were finally able to settle out of court. Only gained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits, although he shared joint merchandising rights with Glenn. Jerry and Doyle reformed the band immediately, recruiting Michale Graves on vocals and Dr. Chud of Sardonica on drums. The new incarnation of the Misfits (sometimes referred to as the "Newfits", "Resurrected Misfits", or "Misfits 95") released two full-length albums, American Psycho and Famous Monsters as well as a collection of rare and unreleased late Misfits tracks, until Michale Graves and Dr. Chud left the band on October 25, 2000 at a performance at the House of Blues in Orlando. Doyle then took an indefinite hiatus from performing. Jerry took over lead vocals in addition to his bass duties, and recruited punk veterans Dez Cadena of Black Flag, and Marky Ramone of The Ramones to undertake a Misfits 25th Anniversary Tour, which lasted about three years.
Freed from the Misfits' contractual obligations to Universal's Geffen and Roadrunner imprints, Only and Misfits confidant John Cafiero formed Misfits Records and launched their new label with two releases, the American debut of Balzac (a Japanese horror punk band strongly influenced by The Misfits and Samhain), and a new Misfits album featuring the band's retakes on ten 50's rock classics, Project 1950. The album featured not only the punk rock all-star Misfits lineup of Only, Cadena and Ramone, but prominent appearances from 60's pop chanteuse Ronnie Spector and Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri.
Meanwhile Michale Graves and Dr. Chud had formed their own band, Graves, which released a single album before breaking up. As of 2004, Michale Graves currently sings in Gotham Road and is one of the forces behind www.conservativepunk.com http://www.conservativepunk.com, while Dr. Chud is pursuing a solo career.
On February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd 2005, Glenn Danzig performed a half hour worth of classic Misfits tracks, in the middle of his Danzig set. Joining him on guitar was none other than Doyle. It was the first time the two have performed together in 20 years, and the first time Doyle has taken to the stage since he went on hiatus. These shows have prompted rumours of a reunification of Jerry, Doyle and Glenn, although Danzig has repeatedly made public statements shooting down such rumors. Glenn and Doyle plan on performing more shows together, and Glenn has stated that that is as close as anyone will ever get to seeing a true Misfits reunion.
Recently, Marky Ramone has left the Misfits 25 lineup, and the new lineup consists of none other then Robo, formerly of the Glenn Danzig days of the Misfits, and originally of seminal hardcore punk band Black Flag. A full European tour has been booked with this new lineup, and some select dates in the U.S. have been announced. Sadly the UK leg of the tour had to be called of due to a problem with Robo's visa and as a result the band could not play the City Invasion 2005 tour. According to misfits.com "All UK dates have been postponed and will be rescheduled as soon as possible".
As Well, Doyle will return to play with Danzig for the Blackest of the Black Tour this fall, Show dates have not yet been scheduled.
Legacy
The influence The Misfits have had on punk rock, and rock music in general, sometimes seems disproportionate to the publicity and critical attention they have received. Myriad bands have imitated The Misfits' style, such as Blitzkid, and these bands have become known as horror punk. Psychobilly has various similarities with horror punk. A number of bands have recently surfaced which, although in some cases less obviously horror punk, are still strongly visibly and audibly influenced by The Misfits. These include, most notably, bands such as AFI, Tiger Army, Alkaline Trio, Cradle of Filth, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Avenged Sevenfold and the Murderdolls. Many musical groups whose resemblance to The Misfits seems far removed also cite the band as crucial influences, such as Metallica and Guns 'N Roses. Other bands who hold The Misfits in high regard are Slayer, Pantera, NOFX and more recently, Slipknot.