When I got in to work this morning I was still very much in Misfits mode after writing yesterday's review of WALK AMONG US, so I cranked up a "best of" CD that I put together for myself about eight years ago and it came to me as quite a shock that I no longer listen to full Misfits albums because pretty much everything I want to hear from them is on my homemade disc. It's entitled ESSENTIAL MISFITS, and in case you'd like to duplicate it for yourself, here's the playlist:ESSENTIAL MISFITS
Halloween (best Halloween song ever)
We Bite (a song about werewolves, and not a self-description)
Earth A.D.
She (not to be confused with the song of the same title by the Damned, although I'd love to hear Dave Vanian sing this)
Static Age
TV Casualty (perhaps the only song in existence to reference the Sub-Mariner)
Some Kinda Hate (featuring the ultra-deep lyric "Well it's a whoooah-oh-oh-wha-oh, bay-beh/Whoooah-oh-oh-wha-oh/I said A-Whoa! A whoa-whoa, whoa-oh-oh")
Last Caress
Hybrid Moments (I have no fucking clue what that title means, so don't ask)
We Are 138 (see above)
Teenagers From Mars
Come Back ("Come back little raven, and bite my face." What the fuck???)
Hollywood Babylon
Attitude (featuring the classic line "Inside your feeble brain there's probably a whore/if you don't shut yer mouth yer gonna feel the floor")
Bullet (having something to do with the Kennedy assassination and the apparently life-restoring properties of Glenn Danzig's semen)
Where Eagles Dare (for some reason the Misfits recorded this one a bunch of times, so choose the version you like best)
Ghoul's Night Out
Die, Die My Darling
Children In Heat
Angelfuck (the first Misfits song I ever heard, and I've been a fan ever since. As near as I can figure out, this is from the point of view of a guy rescuing a wasted female friend from some sort of THE ACCUSED-style scenario, but considering how ambiguous some Misfits tunes are I'm probably talking out of my ass)
American Nightmare (Too bad Elvis never got to cover this one, 'cause it's letter perfect for him)
Devilock
Death Comes Ripping
Green Hell
20 Eyes
I Turned Into A Martian
All Hell Breaks Loose
Vampira
Nike A Go Go (it's about tactical nuclear missiles, not sneakers)
Hatebreeders
Mommy, Can I go Out and Kill Tonight? (Live)
Skulls
Astro Zombies (this one cries out for music video accompaniment culled from every alien invasion movie ever made)
Demonomania (incredibly short and equally idiotic, in this one Danzig reveals that his "father was a wolf" and his "mother was a whore," so I guess he's supposed to be that kid from THE OMEN)
TRUST YER BUNCHE when I say all of this fits on one CD; Misfits songs tend to explode with much power and brief duration, but that short burst is such sweet bliss...
4 comments:
I e-mailed a link to this story to a friend of mine who is a Misfits fanatic and this is what he had to say:
--TV Casualty (perhaps the only song in existence to reference the Sub-Mariner)--
Wrong! A song on Public Enemy's first album, "Raise The Roof" has the following lyrics:
From the slammer swing a hammer like the mighty Thor
God of thunder, you'll go under, then you'll all applaud
And fathom that distance, the mad must reap
Meet Namor sea lord, Prince of the deep
Here for you to fear at any cost
Tellin you to get busy or you better get lost
Livin' lives civilized from the lessons I taught
Cities buried underground just because I went off
My friends, enemies, better be my friend
Is queston people guessin' is this the end?
--=MR.JOE=--
My statement was not "wrong" because I didn't say "TV Casualty" was the only song ever to ref the Sub-Mariner, I said it was "perhaps" the only song song to refernece him, allowing the possibility for more.
Anyway, tell your pal that his input is most welcome, as it's nice to see Namor get the recognition he deserves; I like Public Enemy, but for me it's all about the second album, so my intimate knowledge of the first one isn't what it admittedly could be.
Much as I love the 'Fits song "Halloween," I think that the Dead Kennedys song of the same name might be the best American punk song ever (and its point about Halloween -- "why not everyday?" -- is a pretty strong statement for a song, transgressive even).
I dunno, maybe the Misfits song is a better song ABOUT Halloween, what with it not calling into question the sincerity of its revelers.
Bunche,
you left out my beloved favorite misfits song (which perhaps is only my favorite because it was the first misfits song i ever heard but nonetheless...)
london dungeon is pretty kick ass.
-Big Mike
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