The seminal favorite Godfathers of Horrorpunk- The Misfits, had a short but very memorable tenure, when Founder, Songwriter and frontman Glenn Danzig disbanded the group due to creative differences, and from out of nowhere formed a successor to the band, called Samhain which was also short-lived. Then came a new band that carried his namesake but that’s another story. After many years of litigation, both parties, Glenn Danzig and Bassist Jerry Only had reached a settlement and was granted the rights to use the band's name and iconic crimson ghost image to record and perform with the new Misfits lineup was ready to kick things off!
Among Only and his brother Doyle, there was Glenn’s “replacement," Michale Graves as the lead singer and drummer Dr. Chud.
In1997 the reconstructed band dropped their debut Album titled "American Psycho" loosely based on the Bret Easton Ellis 1991 novel which several years later was adapted into a movie. Despite some skepticism regarding Danzig’s omission, the album for the most part was a hit thanks in part to the fast riffing -Dig up her Bones. while many are quick to compare Graves to Danzig, each brought their very own style when performing but I have to keep it a buck, Danzig is obviously the more gifted singer and songwriter. He along with Jerry was The Misfits, not Graves.
Two years later The fits released their follow up album, appropriately titled Famous Monsters, which continued the tradition of songs based on horror films but this time, they were based during the 90s such as Scream, Pumpkinhead, Lost in Space, and their final song from the lineup Helena as in "Boxing Helena". Famous Monsters while was not as good as their previous album, as the songs were leaning more towards Pop Punk especially when listening to Fiend Club, Crying on a Saturday Night, and Forbidden Zone received very positive reviews.
However, the more metal aspects goes to Kong at the Gates which served as the album's intro. Then they dialed it back to the 50's era of Sci fi horror courtesy of "Them" which was another banger.
During their tenure, the Band made a deal with not one, but two legendary Horror Director's. Wes Craven originally had plans to have the Misfits add a song for his film, The Wishmaster but later opted for them to record for Scream 2 a sequel based on the popular meta slasher series. After recording the demo, Craven had a change of heart. That's where George A. Romero comes in. Not only did he direct the video featuring the Misfits, as Zombies, but included them in his 2000 film, Bruiser.
Then there was that WCW thing with Vampyro who the wrestler had regrets working with the band primarily because of Jerry.
Despite the acclaim for this Misfits resurgence, the Band disbanded starting with Graves' firing. Reason being, he had a diva mindset that infringed with the band on tour.
According to several confirmed sources, Graves had this mindset that he was “The Misfits” and how his priorities would clash against the band’s work ethic. He was even disrespectful towards Romero while filming the Scream video.
This explains why the band cancelled a planned performance at Irving Plaza where my then Ladyfriend and I had tickets for.
Jerry went on to once again, resurrect the Misfits starting with the 50's centric album Project 1950 which he told me about during the Joey Ramone tribute at CBGBs. While not one of my favorite Fits albums, there's something amazing about his cover of You belong to me featuring the late Ronnie Spector. The song was featured as a track for the Mafia 3 videogame. From there Only dropped two more albums, Devil's Rain and Dead Alive which were both superior to 1950 and in my opinion just as good as Famous Monsters.
Graves moved on to make ends meet including working tables at I Hop of all places, and unfortunately for him, the former frontrunner had faced repercussions after supporting extreme Alt Right organizations such as the Proud Boys and was not shy of expressing his polarizing political views and became more of a pariah.
While I admire his contributions to the Misfits, I personally cannot condone his controversial stances. Yeah, Danzig said some dumb shit during the 90's "White Devil Rise" but he was caught up in the moment when overreacting to Minister Louis Farrakhan. Unlike Graves, Danzig as far as I know, never proclaimed to be some Christian White Nationalist. I met Glenn during a Toy convention in NYC and he seems to be a genuine guy despite all the controversial shit he said, but that's like most Rock stars-assholes!
Both Only and Danzig reunited on tour during 2016 after finally putting aside their differences. While short lived as with the original Misfits lineup, the Graves Era was arguably the best resurgence of the iconic band that created a new genre called Horrorpunk.
As a fan since 1990, the Misfits played a huge part of my tastes in music and is deserving of critical acclaim, who went on to inspire groups like Metallica and so forth. But as with Rock stars, Movie stars, or Pop Culture site contributors *ahem*, there’s always going to be backstage drama.
And so, the band plays on.
