GG ALLIN
Terror In America: Live 1993
MVD
A buck a minute – that’s what it cost me to see GG Allin in the tiny Space at Chase, back about 14 years ago now. I didn’t know they were filming the show for the movie Hated when I walked in the door, but I immediately spotted the two-man camera crew in one corner, equipment carefully covered in plastic and them sporting yellow rain slickers. It was at that point I thought maybe I’d made a poor choice.
I’m in the movie, very briefly; I can be seen walking out of the club afterward. They interviewed me, but that didn’t make the final cut. Anyway, ten bucks for ten minutes. GG came out to the opening riffs of a song I don’t remember now, buck naked except for cowboy boots, microphallus bobbing to the beat. He barked maybe one verse, then turned his back on the crowd, squatted, and shat on the floor, immediately picking up his dung and rubbing it on his chest, tossing the rest at the crowd which, at the first waft of shit-stench, had begun to exit rapidly. Nothing’s quite as thrilling/terrifying as being stuck in the middle of a crowd (and there were a fair number of us back in that tiny room) that’s panicking and moving backwards. My friend K and I moved to the side of the main crush, aiming for the side room where the cameramen were huddled, making sure they didn’t miss their shot of GG grabbing a female attendee by the hair and dragging her along the floor, through the shit. When her boyfriend objected, he got a mike in the face for his trouble. The band never stopped playing.
We fled past the cameras and out into the front room; about two seconds after I passed through the doorway, a chair came airborne after me. We arrived to relative safety and the derision of the bartender, who shouted at all of us: “What are you running away for? Isn’t this what you wanted? Get back in there and party with him!” Right about then the cops came in the front door. I bought a T-shirt, which I still own (another ten bucks), and headed for home, stopping briefly to aver to an interviewer that yes, I felt thoroughly entertained.
This DVD of GG’s final U.S. tour is not nearly so entertaining. The first, indelible impression one gets when watching it is of joylessness. The show I attended might have been abbreviated and in many ways a degenerate spectacle, but there was a sort of bizarre, nihilistic joie de vivre to it. I felt, as we all emptied out onto the sidewalk and watched the police trundle in, that we’d all been through something together. I rarely, if ever, get that feeling of collective experience from “traditional” musical performances. There are three shows on the DVD, though – Asbury Park, NJ; Atlanta, GA; and Austin, TX – and none of them convey that feeling. There’s no shitting, and no violence. No cops break down the door. The band plays between eight and ten songs each set, and this is their downfall. When it becomes about the music, they don’t have much to offer. GG himself seems to be ill, weak, oddly subdued. When he can’t get a real rise out of the audience, he’s reduced to inflicting pain on himself – crushing a beer can in his hand and slashing his forehead and chest with it. He gurns like a 1950s pro wrestler on a tour of tank-town arenas, and occasionally dives into the audience, but they part, leaving him to flail on the floor. It’s a sad spectacle. No one seems afraid of him. He’s just one more entertainment option. No wonder he died soon after. Without shock, what did he have?
Kinda makes Oxbow seems like Archies.
Posted by: Jason at February 24, 2006 11:57 AMI had hoped that Mr Allin would slide into well deserved obscurity.
I still hold out that hope.
Posted by: Dohol at February 24, 2006 12:21 PMI had hoped that the conditions that created Mr. Allin would slide into well deserved obscurity.
I no longer hold out that hope.
Posted by: sjz at February 26, 2006 8:48 PMWhat did you expect of a GG video comp from 1993? I see you found my trophy room Phil, the only thing missing is your ass.
Posted by: Michael Schaumann at March 13, 2006 7:17 PMmr. allin is vastly underappreciated as a songwriter. as far as punk rock goes, he wrote some really great tunes early on (before he totally lost his shit). i mean, come on! "hard candy cock"? now, that's a classic. pure brilliance. "is was and always shall be" contains some downright new wave power pop . . . it's both charming and unintentionally hilarious. totally enjoyable.
there's a lot of fuckin' poseurs who think they know what GG was about because they heard a few songs or saw the exploitation flix about him. phooey. bite it, you scum.
ww
Posted by: weasel walter at March 14, 2006 2:32 AMI'll never forget the night I saw GG. I wanna say '86. He'd gotten a local Mpls band The Fuckin' Shit Biscuits to be his band and was going to record at their studio while he was in town. One of the best Mpls bands, The Cows were opening and I was with them and this girl I was seein' at the time. Since I figgered that the night was going to be crazy I brought some acid and dropped it with her. The Cows were great as always and I was psyched to see what was going to happen next. GG and the band came downstairs to the dressing room putting on cowboy boots and diapers and GG was handing out Ex-Lax to anyone who wanted to get down with him out front. Everybody was pretty riled up and the Shit Biscuits were definitely amped for the performance. The acid kicked my ass a little harder than I'd anticipated so I let the band get going a bit before going upstairs. I was watching from the side stage and the music was better than what I've heard of his usual backup bands, funky, loud and buzzing with power. Musically it was much better thanks to the Biscuits. Me and the gal had gone back downstairs to get some beers to try and kick down the overpowering strength of the acid, both of us feeling too high. When we came back up there was some altercation taking place, between GG and some girl who had made the mistake to get up and dance with GG in some simulated action that of course, GG took to the next level. Her boyfriend got involved and a mic stand to the head ensued (sound familiar?) and the music was railing but things were degenerating into some wrestling and some violent stand swinging. The club was packed and this the whole scene started to erupt into a melee. We ran downstairs as things got outta hand and from down there we could hear the music stop and crashing, banging and screaming going on. Basically a full scale riot ensued and the band came down. Their demeanor had completely lost its swagger as they listened to their equipment being destroyed upstairs. GG came down and what a sight! Evidently he'd been doing a beer bottle cut number and had cut a huge gash in his upper thigh. You could see the exposed muscles underneath and blood was running everywhere. He was spraying beer into it and saying "Anyone got any hard stuff to clean my wound?" He seemed fairly non-plussed for the recent events and was asking where the party was. My girlfriend and I were trapped between the surreal situation below and the rioting upstairs, blasted on the lsd and definitely not digging the situation. Finally, after the cops quieted things upstairs, we were able to escape the melee and flee to a safer set and setting. I heard that night that GG went to the party and was trying to pick up chicks by waving needle and thread trying to get them to sew up his leg. He finally passed out from blood loss and was taken to the hospital. I guess the next day he stole the recordings from the band and left town owing them money. Classic GG all the way.
I have to admit that during that era the punk live show expectations were big. From Black Flag's trawling through the gutter of Rollin's mind to the Butthole Surfers dive into the psychedelic travelling extravaganza we all wanted big, noisier, louder. GG had something of his own though, the criminal life, real shit in your face. If punk was about anger, well then he just took that into violence as performative act.
The biggest disappoint is that he didn't kill himself onstage like he said he would. Instead he trudged on for several pathetic years and died of the common cold of the rock star, broken down and as stated above, a shadow of himself.
It's better to burn out...etc.......
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