To Zig or Not To Zig, That is the Question

This blog has been in the works, in one way or another, for a couple of years now, and I’m actually pretty excited about it now that i’m finally writing it, because the fact is it’s going to burst some bubbles.  It might even cost me a couple Facebook friends, though I admit I hope not, because said Facebook friends are people whose friendships I have come to value over the course of the last couple years but that will hopefully be explained by the end of this writing.   Also I’m once again going to delve back into the subject of memes, which I DO realize was the subject of the last full blog I wrote and published, but the truth is: MEMES. ARE. LIFE.

First, a brief timeline of my introduction to someone known as Glenn Anzalone, AKA Glenn Danzig.

Late 1980’s I discover, through friends I had made in high school, the wonders of punk rock music.  I was hooked.  I didn’t give a shit about whatever “message” was being sent.  It was fun and loud, with catchy tunes and driving rhythms.  Punk albums also, as it turned out, typically had interesting and colorful artwork on the covers.  To this day those two factors are the primary reasons I will purchase an album and listen to it.  During this formative period of my life I became very familiar with the most common of these bands, such as Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, The Clash,  Black Flag, Minor Threat, and another fairly popular one known, simply,  as The Misfits.  By the time I discovered the latter band, they had already come and gone, though their music continued to live on, as good music always does.  Here they are in person, enjoy:

I really liked this band.  What was good about them, to me, as previously stated, lied primarily in the fact that they had catchy tunes.  Their songs consisted of fast melodic guitar hooks, driving dance inducing drum beats and to top it all off their lyrics, (the least important factor in music, in my opinion) mostly derived from another lifelong love of mine: classic horror movies.   The singer’s name was Glenn Danzig, though truth be told I was not even aware of that until much later, being far more interested in the music itself as opposed to the people who were in fact creating said music.

Later on Glenn Danzig became something of a joke among a good portion of my circle of friends.  After the Misfits he became more of a “Metal Guy,” which was not something I really listened to at the time,  (though I have since remedied that situation) and he had developed a reputation as being sort of cocky, and was quite infamous for a back stage incident in which he got dropped like a stone by a great big fat guy with a singular punch.  Most people who didn’t listen to Danzig would still be familiar with his one really big hit:  “Mother.”  (Which is not a bad song but not particularly Misfits-like, when it comes right down to it)  Here he is about to get dropped like a stone by a great big fat guy:

So I didn’t really listen to any of his “metal music” at that time. A few decades went by.  Something called “The Internet” came along.  Through this new phenomenon I became acquainted with two things that would make my life worth living again, now that the novelty of drugs and rock n roll had long since worn off.  One was called “Blogs” which it turned out was just like writing in a journal, except you could easily get people to read it!   The other thing was called “Memes.”  Turned out there were a ton of them based on Glenn Danzig.  This is probably the first one I encountered, and I admit it made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it:

Not long after this I joined a Facebook group called Keep On Danzig, or KOD for short.  I discovered I could get a lot of instant gratification in the form of internet attention by making my own Danzig Memes.  This was the very first one I made myself:

With some trepidation I posted it and surprisingly got a very positive response.  The group is supposed to be very much NON political, but I guess I got away with this as it could be viewed as ambiguous (in spite of the fact that I fucking HATE Trump and everything he stands for.)   In any event I was in and for the next two years I cranked out somewhere around a hundred Danzig related memes.  This led many people to come to the conclusion that I must be some sort of Danzig UBER fan.   (Guess what I’m not really.) Facebook friends began posting every tidbit of Danzig related info on my page, including at least a dozen or so “Tiny Danzig Memes,” which was ironically the very meme that started this whole obsession in the first place!  It all came full circle when a friend posted THIS on my page:

And the reason I say “Full Circle” is that I had, in fact, made this meme myself, sometime before that.

And yet, the truth of the matter is (and here is where my my friend’s list may start plummeting in number)  I still wasn’t really that big of a Danzig fan.   Honestly I didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he was the original singer of The Misfits and the guy that wrote and sang “Mother.”  I however, at this time,  started checking out his music, and found that I actually LIKED it!  (More than I thought I would, in fact) but to be honest if it wasn’t for memes I probably never would  have listened to it in the first place. I liked the Misfits.  That was it.  I joined KOD as something of a poser.

But through it I discovered a great deal about Danzig, and in fact ended up going to one of his concerts.  (Which was pretty groovy.)

Oh yeah and fuck Elvis.  I’m getting a little too drunk to keep writing this now so I’m going to go ahead and post it.  (Feeling pretty cute.  May edit or delete later. idk)