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GG Allin

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GG Allin
File:GgAllin001.jpg
GG Allin, ca. 1992
Background information
OriginNew Hampshire/Boston, MA
Years active1978—1993

GG Allin (29 August 1956 – 28 June 1993) was a punk rock singer and bandleader for a plethora of groups (see below). He is perhaps best known for his live shows which were some of the most shocking of his time. Although more notorious for his stage antics than for his wide body of music, he recorded a prolific amount of material not only in the punk rock genre, but also dabbled in country and western and Rolling Stones-influenced rock.

Childhood

He was born Jesus Christ Allin at Weeks' Memorial Hospital, in Lancaster, New Hampshire.[1] He was given this messianic name because his father, Merle Allin Sr., then 32 years old, had told his wife, Arleta Gunther, then 21 years old, that an angel had visited him and told him that his new-born son would be a great man in the ilk of the Messiah. As a young child, his older brother, Merle Allin Jr., was unable to pronounce his name, Jesus, properly, and kept calling him 'Jeje'. Hence, the origin of the 'GG' nickname.

Shortly before Allin had started school, his mother changed his legal name to Kevin Michael Allin (on March 2, 1962 by his birth certificate). Arleta had allowed his birth-name to stand up till this point in case there was credence to her husband's claim. However, with her husband's deteriorating mental health, and the lack of any Messianic qualities within the boy, Arleta emphatically insisted on giving the child a chance at a normal, mockery-free life, by changing his name.

Early years

Some of his earliest recorded musical endeavors were as a drummer. With the band Malpractice he made two songs in 1977. He also played drums on the single ("Galileo"/"Jesus Over New York") for the band Stripsearch in 1981.

His first years as a frontman were with the Jabbers (1977 – April of 1984). They released many tracks, most of which had Allin playing drums as well as singing. The Jabbers were a good band for a number of years. Out of these years came Allin's debut release, Always Was, Is, And Always Shall Be. At the time, Allin was a standard punk rock frontman in the vein of Iggy Pop and Stiv Bators. He was even managed at one point by one of the best Punk-Rock Managers (and Dead Boys producer) Genya Ravan. Tensions within The Jabbers began to mount as Allin became increasingly uncontrollable, vicious, and uncompromising. The Jabbers discontinued, and the members parted ways. Allin's drug use started during this period.

Between the early to the late 1980s, Allin fronted many acts. These included early albums varying from The Cedar Street Sluts to The Scumfucs in 1982, and The Texas Nazis in 1985. However, Allin remained in the underground punk scene and was not yet a viable punk icon of the east coast punk scene. On March 13, 1986, a daughter was born to Allin and Tracy Deneault. Little is known about the child, Nicoann Deneault. Shortly after her birth, Allin and Deneault divorced. Allin retreated to a cabin in New Hampshire where he wrote what he considered to be his first "masterpiece", the infamous Eat My Fuc album, which was not widely acclaimed as some of this other albums.

Allin's first national hit came with the release by Reachout International Records (ROIR) of Hated In The Nation, a cassette-only release at the time, which contained several tracks from Allin's then-out-of-print back-catalogue with The Jabbers, Scumfucs, and Cedar Street Sluts. The tape also featured several new recordings, both in-studio and in-concert, with an all-star band assembled by producer, Maximum RocknRoll columnist, and early Allin patron Mykel Board. This band featured J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. on lead guitar, and Bongwater producer/musician Mark Kramer on bass.

Mid era

By the mid to late 1980s, Allin was a heroin user, alcoholic and generally abused all intoxicants given to him. He was poorly groomed and rarely cleaned himself. At this point, Allin also began eating laxatives before performances as defecation was becoming a regular stage act for him. Allin described himself as the last true rock and roller. By this, he meant that rock and roll music itself had started as an embodiment of danger, anti-authoritarianism, rebelliousness but had become largely taken over by corporations and business concerns. Allin's music and performances were thus meant to return Rock and Roll to its roots.

Allin viewed himself as similar to country icon Hank Williams, Sr because of lifestyle similarities. Both were relative loners and outsiders, both were habitual users of intoxicants, both lived with few, if any, possessions and both travelled the country relentlessly. GG Allin's acoustic output, documented particularly on the EP The Troubled Troubador, was heavily influenced by Williams. He recorded his own rewrites of Hank Williams Jr.'s "Family Tradition" and David Allan Coe's "Longhaired Redneck", calling his own versions "Scumfuc Tradition" and "Outlaw Scumfuc" respectively.

Allin's musical output was drastically different from earlier attempts in this era. His work with Bulge (aka Boston hardcore punk trio Psycho under a different name, on the album Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies), The Aids Brigade (the infamous 7" EP Expose Yourself To Kids) and The Holymen (You Give Love A Bad Name) are examples of this. In this era, Allin began performing many spoken word pieces. Video footage of these are available but rare. It was during this period that Allin recorded his Murder Junkies album released by New Rose Records and featuring the band ANTiSEEN. This album contained 10 brutal punk rock tracks and 10 brutal spoken-word pieces. Other than Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies, Allin considered this album to be his most polished professionally recorded album that explored his persona and stated his philosophy on life. It was also during this period that Allin recorded the War In My Head - I'm Your Enemy album released on Awareness Records and featuring the band Shrinkwrap. This particular album consists of one 45 minute track that is a collage of spoken-word pieces which Shrinkwrap put to music.

To sustain himself, Allin claimed to have committed criminal acts like breaking and entering, robbery and mugging. He would sometimes also sell, by hand, his own records as he was unwilling to work at a 'normal' job and have a 'normal' life. Allin was also fascinated with serial killers. He wrote and visited John Wayne Gacy in jail a number of times and Gacy painted a portrait of Allin (see American Serial Killer Art).

Allin, gaining publicity by this point, stated "The police and the media are what made me". His performances were regularly stopped by police and Allin charged with assault and battery or indecent exposure many times. The venue owners or sound technicians frequently had to stop shows after only a few songs because Allin destroyed too much equipment. His constant touring was only stopped by long hospital stays (broken bones, blood poisoning, excessive trauma) or jail time.

Another attraction to Allin performances was his continual threats of suicide. In 1988, Allin had written to Maximum RocknRoll stating that he would commit suicide on stage on Halloween 1989. He was however jailed during this time. He continued his threat each following year but was imprisoned each following Halloween. When asked about his threats and when he would follow through with them, Allin stated "With GG, you don't get what you expect—you get what you deserve." He also stated that suicide should only be done when one had reached their peak, meeting the afterlife at their strongest point and not at their weakest. He felt, therefore, that every passing year fueled his fire more and that he still had more to accomplish in his music and life.

During the late 80s and early 90s, Allin's imprisonments became longer in duration. He served a particularly long sentence from December 22, 1989 to March 26, 1991. It was during this confinement that Allin had a renewal of strength about himself and his "mission" as he put it. He wrote the GG Allin Manifesto (1990) during this period. Meanwhile, Allin's growing notoriety led to appearances on Geraldo, The Jerry Springer Show and a memorable episode of The Jane Whitney Show.

At the end of this period, Allin's appearance became definitive. He shaved his head, removed the middle of the moustache a la Genghis Khan, dyed his beard red and shaved his entire body. In addition, he was increasingly covered in poorly done, cheap 'home-made' tattoos and scars from his violent stage performances. By this time, he was slightly overweight and dressed to his own unique fashion sense.

Last years

Between the years of 1991, and his death in 1993, Allin had become a viable underground icon, getting paid sums of $1000 for one-night gigs, most of which consisted of half-hour sets. This was the most violent period in Allin's career. During this time, ex-The Ramones songwriter and bass player, Dee Dee Ramone joined the Murder Junkies for a week as a rhythm guitarist.

After a 1992 tour was delayed by Allin's arrest in Texas after a performance, he was extradited back to Michigan to serve the remainder of his jail sentence, since he skipped parole the year before to go to New York and take part in the filming of the documentary, Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies, and to return to the concert stage. After finishing his sentence, he told interviewers that he was no longer considering committing suicide onstage. He explained that his prison stay had only made him realize that his being alive was both more beneficial to rock and roll and "more of a threat" to his enemies and critics - since those critics wanted him to kill himself anyway.

Allin's musical output in this era is considered to be the most aggressive and his ultimate statement. With his most famous backing group, The Murder Junkies, he released his most ambitious and professional work of his career. Many of the tours from 1991–1993 were recorded and are available for purchase. Topics documented on these recordings include: pornography, scatology, drug use, extremely violent behavior, music, America, politics, and his deeper philosophy on life. During this era, Allin also released his one and only Country album which he dedicated to Hank Williams JR..

Despite his repeated threats of an onstage death, Kevin "GG" Allin died of an accidental heroin overdose on 28 June 1993, in a friend's New York City apartment, at 29 Avenue B, Manhattan. He was 36 years old. His last show was at a small club called The Gas Station in New York City on the eve of his death; video footage of the soundcheck, concert, and subsequent escape was appended to the DVD release of Hated. In his last show he did a few songs before the power went out so he trashed the venue and walked the streets of New York naked and covered in blood and feces, surrounded by fans that he openly embraced. Recently on VH1's Freakiest Concert Moments, Allin's final show ranked at number four. On the show, Anthrax front man Scott Ian claimed to have been among those "unfortunate" enough to have attended. Ian commented about how Allin defecated onstage, threw his feces at the crowd, and then started fighting with the audience; at that point, Ian said he "hightailed the fuck out of there."

After arriving at his friend's apartment, Allin snorted heroin while everyone partied, eventually passing out. Some party-goers posed with the unconsious Allin, not knowing that he was already dead. The next morning, some noticed that Allin still lay motionless in the same place where they left him, and began to realize that something was seriously wrong. They called the ambulance, who pronounced him dead at the scene.

At his funeral, his bloated, discolored corpse was dressed in his black leather jacket and trademark jock strap. He had a bottle of Jim Beam beside him in his casket, as per his wishes (openly stated in his self-penned acoustic country ballad, "When I Die"). As part of his brother's request, the mortician was instructed not to wash or put make up on the corpse, which smelled strongly of feces. The funeral became a wild party. Friends posed with the corpse, put drugs and whiskey into his mouth, and pulled down his jock strap to take pictures of his penis. As the funeral ended, his brother put a pair of headphones on Allin. The headphones were plugged into a portable cassette player, in which was loaded a copy of The Suicide Sessions. The video of his funeral is widely available for purchase and is an extra feature on the Hated DVD and some bootleg VHS tapes.

GG Allin was buried July 3, 1993 in the Saint Rose Cemetery in Littleton, NH. A reunion is held each year, and fans are encouraged to come [2].

Overview

While GG Allin had limited commercial success, he became notorious for his violent, confrontational performances, and his relentless, singular personality.

Much like his life, GG Allin's discography is a large and confusing mess, with numerous reissues, compilations, gigs and countless circulating bootlegs. Some of them, particularly original pressings of the original albums, often command high prices from collectors. In one of the recorded phone conversations heard on the Troubled Troubador posthumous CD, Allin stated his amazement at the high prices his early records, including the Malpractice and Stripsearch singles (on which he only played drums), were going for. The scarcity of copies of his original releases with the Jabbers and Scumfucs are partially what led to the compilation and release of Hated In The Nation in 1987. Alongside his official releases, many bootleg videos and albums have been independently released with and without consent.

Audiences often attended Allin's performances less for the musical aspect than to witness his regular stage antics which included Allin performing nude, attacking the audience and his own band members, defecating, urinating, throwing feces at the crowd, self-mutilation and other shocking acts. While many regarded these acts as mere performance art, shock rock or vile entertainment, GG Allin regarded himself as someone who lived the life he sang about.

Most GG Allin albums are amateurishly recorded, even by punk rock standards - which often sees these traits as virtues. This was due largely to his recordings being self-financed or on extremely low budgets. He never received major label backing for distribution, although at one point Enigma Records had a deal with him for a release, which he signed while serving his prison sentence in Michigan. A magazine advertisement for this particular release exists even though the album was never manufactured in Allin's lifetime; the album, the live recording Anti-Social Personality Disorder, would later be released posthumously first by Ever Rat Records, then by Awareness Records. Much of his discography was either self-released on vinyl or cassette, or through small independent labels like David Peel's Orange Records and the New England-based Black And Blue Records.

Currently, his recordings with the Jabbers, Cedar Street Sluts and Scumfucs are kept in print by Black And Blue Records while Awareness Records have the licensing rights to his recordings from 1987 to 1991. ROIR has continued to keep Hated In The Nation in print ever since its release, and Allin's final studio album Brutality And Bloodshed For All has remained in print since its September 1993 posthumous release on Kim Fowley's Alive Records imprint.

Allin's DIY attitude was an extension of his philosophy on life - in which he rejected conformity and what he saw as mental or emotional falseness. He travelled the USA non-stop in Greyhound buses, often with nothing more than the clothes on his back, living day-to-day, as a preferred lifestyle to what he perceived as a weak, soulless, standard life of birth-school-job-materialism-marriage-mortgage-death. He often spoke out against the "American System" as he saw it: a pre-established order of how one was supposed to live their life according to the government and society of the time.

It has been attested by sources, such as bandmates and his brother, Merle, that GG Allin possessed extraordinary psychosomatic resistance considering the amount of times he had been shot, stabbed, poisoned, self-mutilated and consumed large amounts of hard drugs. To his end, Allin inflicted an obscene amount of punishment on himself as a deliberate intent to toughen himself up - he welcomed pain and danger as much as pleasure. Onstage, he once clenched his teeth and bashed his front teeth in with a microphone.

In a psychological examination during the infamous trial of a supposed rape and torture of a woman in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Allin was seen to be largely intelligent though somewhat of a megalomaniac, confessing even that a lot of his self-mutilation was due to his compassion for the suffering of the world.

Since his passing, the likes of Philadelphia rock band CKY and outlaw country/punk artist Hank Williams III have mentioned GG Allin as a major influence on their music. Williams dedicated his 2006 album Straight To Hell, in part, to Allin.

GG Allin backing groups

File:GG ALLIN DEAD.jpg
1956-1993

See also

Media

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