Jerry "Only" Caiafa was a fresh face on the bass, diploma in hand for a couple months (Lodi High), instrument for a mere half year (a Christmas present). Glenn Danzig was 22 and no more advanced on his Fender Rhodes keys. His songwriting and conceptual zeitgeber, however, was a precocious zaireeka. Together the Joisey boys would birth a subgenre, horror punk, or goth punk, and over the next half dozen years, arguably the best punk rock the movement could ever claim. So here we go again with the second annual Halloween Tribute To Misfits. Following last year's general intro to the band and their faraginous catalogue, it's apropos to review the legend from the beginning, starting with the debut single, recorded in July 1977.
    "Cough/Cool" b/w "She" scarcely resembles the sound laid down six months later for the full album debut, mainly for lack of guitar and presence of a keyboard (!). But the jazzy drums are startlingly anomalous as well. What's familiar is Danzig's Jim Morrison meets Elvis Presley delivery and portentous street poetry influenced by the former, already fully matured. The b side would be recorded properly in punk orthodoxy; side one remains a must hear for fans curio.
    On to the first album then.
"Static Age" appropriately features in "static!" a classic punk chant/shout right from year zero. The I Love Lucy theme outro is a scream, the first hint of fifties kitsch friendliness that would be a band trademark.
    "TV Casualty" continues the boob tube theme with more imaginative imagery: "please don't feed my television screen...Zeniths grazin at your grave/Sonys gazin at your grave".
    "Some Kinda Hate"- the shortest version of a number that would be redone a couple times, a Misfits tradition as drummers/guitarists (before settling on Jerry's younger brother Doyle) changed at each session. Lugubriously ludicrous Elvis delivery on the verses, and prototypical "whoaoh" anthemic chorus. Unforgettable.
    "Last Caress"- famously covered by Metallica as the last track on the 1987 covers EP (which remains the most fun thing they ever produced). Brutal nihilist anthem the lyrics of which would be redundant to explicate as anyone reading this could surely sing them whilst asleep.
    "Return Of The Fly"- hilarious extended reference to the 1959 sequel "with Vincent Price". Lyrics consist of a recitation of the characters in the movie. That's it.
    "Hybrid Moments"- it's with a most sublime vocal melody that the most poetic horror lyrics are delivered. A personal favorite, still kills me.
    "We Are 138" is where our heroes invent British Oi! punk. Proto hardcore, which 'fits would develop in their final years 82-3.
    "Teenagers From Mars"..."and we don't care", the refrain a clue that Danzig was listening to Sex Pistols like a good little punk. Another fifties B movie tribute. Endless fun.
    "In The Doorway" alludes to a sexual encounter when "we were so young". Or, a metaphor for the band's position, imminently emergent to change the planet.
    "Spinal Remains"- "I will not sit on broken glass/not for you or anyone/I will not cut my ass!" Danzig didn’t take himself too seriously. Until he did.
    "Come Back"- anomaly defined, a long half speed experiment. Lyrically, typically tongue in cheek, but truly disturbing. The most stunning five minutes in 'fitstory.
    "Hollywood Babylon"- the Marilyn Monroe neurotic conviction (the band's very name was based on her final film, from 1960) had been in Danzig's bank earning interest. Lurid lyrics based on filmmaker Kenneth Anger's lurid seventies photobook.
    "Attitude"- again, championed posthumously by big name fans, in this case Duff Mckagan with Guns n Roses in 1991. "I cant believe what you say to me, you got some Attitude...inside your feeble brain there's probably a whore/if you don’t shut your mouth you're gonna feel the floor" possibly influenced by The Ramones bassist DD's "Loudmouth" ("you're a Loudmouth/you better shut it up/I'm gonna beat you up"). Recorded two years earlier, fellow New Yorker Danzig had surely heard it.
    "Bullet"- nihilistic deconstruction of the 1963 Kennedy assassination. Blistering. Gave nineties proto emo band Texas Is The Reason their name.
    "Theme For A Jackyl"-  was the last time Danzig would play keys until Samhain in 1983/4. Elvis recites evil poetry over a circular bass riff. Singular, eerie.
On that theme, Happy Halloween. A Pumpkin Ale cheers.