Misfits (band)
The Misfits are a Punk Rock band formed by Glenn Allen Anzalone Glenn Danzig in 1977 in Lordi New Jersey. The line up was constantly in flux for most of its existence, with its main members consisting of Glenn Danzig and the bassist Jerry Only. Eventually the classic line up of Glenn, Jerry, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (Jerry's younger brother)and Aurthur Googey was settled upon to record Walk Among Us.
The band made a distinct sound combining the buzz saw guitar of The Buzzcocks with lyrical content mostly about B-Horror movies, Pulp Novels, and trashy pop culture in general. They are the progenitors and still reigning kings of Horror Punk.
Not to be confused with one of the two Fake Bands from Jem and The Holograms. They also have nothing to do with the final film Marilyn Monroe (and Clark Gable) made (though that's where they got their name from).
Tropes that apply to The Misfits:
- Anime Hair - The Devilock
- Anti Love Song - "Die Die My Darling"
- Awesome McCoolname: Most of their Stage Names, especially Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein.
- The Big Guy - Doyle, have you seen him?
- Body Horror - Helena
- Darker and Edgier - Glenn Danzig's Samhaim was darker and not as "fun" as The Misfits
- Dark Is Not Evil - Despite having pretty gruesome lyrics, the songs can be remarkably poppy and fun
- Dead Baby Comedy - "Last Caress". Literally.
- Hardcore Punk - At least Earth A.D.
- Hell Hotel - Horror Hotel
- Hey Its That Guy - Henry Rollins on the live version of We Are 138
- Incredibly Lame Pun - Ghouls Night Out
- Lighter and Softer - The 90s era had better production values and therefore was easier on the ears. They no longer wrote songs about sex and senseless violence (though violent horror movies were still the primary theme to sing about), and a handful of songs were inspired by Jerry Only and Doyle's Christian faith.
- Lyrical Dissonance - Most of their lyrics are about murder, rape, and destruction (sometimes inspired by B-sci-fi/horror movies), but had rockabilly influenced beats and Glenn Danzig's deep baritone bluesy voice.
- Metal Scream - Inverted. While most of his contemporaries in punk scream, Glenn has a pleasant and powerful baritone.
- Murder Ballad - "Mommy Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?"
- Nothing but Skulls - "Skulls"
- Our Zombies Are Different - In "Night of the Living Dead" it describes zombies and later criticizes people fascination with them.
- Revolving Door Band - Classic era Misfits
- To clarify, the band has had 18 members total, with 13 of those during the "classic" era (1977-1983).
- Shout Out - mostly involving horror movies
- Teenagers From Outer Space
- Patty Hearst
- Night of the Living Dead
- Where Eagles Dare
- Astro Zombies
- "We are 138!"
- Silly Love Songs - In a way, quite a few
- Stage Names - Most of them
- Gerald Caiafa turned into "Jerry Only" after they misspelled his name on an early single, so he just wanted "Jerry, Only Jerry".
- Doyle is named after the family dog
- Three Chords and The Truth - Some of their earlier records are so raw that they sound as if recorded in a public bathroom.
- What Could Have Been - In 2004, Danzig tried to arrange for a Misfits reunion with Jerry Only and Doyle. Doyle was on board but Jerry Only was against it as he preferred covering 50s pop songs instead. Instead, Doyle occasionally joins Danzig onstage for Misfits mini-sets, which finally came to a show with the 90s Misfits line-up (minus Jerry Only) opening for Danzig, who performed classic songs in the middle of his set.