GG Allin and the Murder Junkies--Raw, Brutal, Rough, and Bloody--The Best of 1991
Packaging--
The good:
It's very peculiar...whoever is putting together GG's products has been doing a great job. The cover is a black and white photo of GG. The back has a photo of him sitting and drinking with a quote from Merle and list of what's on the disc. It is very nicely done and looks, dare I say, almost, classy?
The bad:
An insert would've been nice, other than that, this is a nice looking package.
The content:
The good:
There is something about GG Allin. I don't know. I don't know why whenever I see a product of his I feel compelled to buy it. It's like a car crash...you stop to look because you feel you have to. I saw this and just said "man, I wonder what kind of fucked up shit is on here" so I bought it.
This is the second DVD my cat has sat and watched with me in its entirety...so cat lovers may want to invest in this. The other DVD my cat giver her seal of approval to is the Iggy and the Stooges Live in Detroit DVD. Go figure.
GG is a guilty pleasure. For a period of time, I actually hid his CDs as if they were porno magazines. I would've been ashamed to have a girl look through my CDs and find them...well, I'm married now so they're out in the open. In fact, when I entertain gifts, I actually make sure this DVD is playing as a sort of welcome theme.
I'd hate to think what would happen if I died and my parents came to my apartment and began packing my stuff up. "GG Allin, what is this..."Expose Yourself To...OH MY GOD!"
GG has some really catchy songs but they tend to be disgusting or frequently, mindblowingly dumb..."I like sluts and whore and I don't care, you can say just what you want to say about me but if I hear you, I might just go knock you off your chair, because I like to drink whiskey by the gallon." What? That's idiotic, you say? Well, I suppose my liberal arts education has made me more appreciative of fine art than you. Many people dismiss him as a gimmick and he certainy was, but in all honesty, he has some good songs. They're songs you should be ashamed of singing along to, but what, the Kiss song "Christine Sixteen" is appropriate?
There are so many conflicting stories about GG...some say he didn't give a shit about anything, some say he may have been sick but he wanted to put out quality material and really cared about his material. That he considered himself an artist. I don't know, but I do know that if, in fact, he just threw these songs together without giving a damn, I would love to hear what he could do if he tried. I think many people can't get passed his schtick, but if they did, there's some really good stuff out there.
It's not like GG Allin had the resources to hire a huge camera and sound crew...and it's not like that would've helped. The quality of the material on here is comparable to excellent bootlegs. The videos seem to be fairly low generation if not right of the masters and the sound quality is excellent. Not excellent in the "64 multi-track recording" sense, but excellent in the for a guy holding a videocamera in a dive, this sounds good.
We have three lives shows from late 1991...the setlists of all three are similair, so you get three versions of "Expose Yourself To Kids," "Bite It You Scum," "Gypsy Motherfucker" and a few others, but this is to be expected. I compared this to excellent bootlegs--one camera shot throughout but the person holding the camera is in the audience and they're frequently shakey. I've seen worse, but it can be headache inducing. For the most part, the focus is solely on GG...when there's a guitar solo, you see GG antics, not the guitar player, but what do you expect?
Unfortunately there is only one version of "Die When You Die." You want lyrical genius? "I talked to my bitch, but he was a guy, I talked to my man and she said you're gonna die." If you can't appreciate that, I don't know what's wrong with you.
As you can probably expect, there's all sorts of fecal matter on stage, GG busts his head open every show, he attacks people, people attack him, he talks shit to various audience members, and he's naked for every show, it's all good fun.
There are probably hundreds of things that while watching this you'll talk with you...here are around half of the highlights I jotted down.
At one point he is bleeding from his head pretty bad, so what does he do? He beats himself with the mic and curls himself over this bar...the blood pours out. He wipes his head with his hand and licks it.
During one song, he lifts himself up on this post and hangs upside down...when he comes down, his shoe falls off. He picks it up and puts it back on. Here's a man covered in shit, blood, and who knows what else...and his concern is putting his shoe back on.
GG licks his guitar player's (who I believe is his brother Merle) crotch.
There is some Chicago aftershow footage...fans come up to GG to say he's god or whatever...GG extends his hand to everyone and thanks them. Then, GG tells everyone to get rid of the cameras (they don't)...and it looks...and I may be wrong...but it looks like someone sells GG some drugs.
During the San Diego show, GG goes up to, what seems to be a random woman, knocks her down, and starts dragging her by her hair...the audience pulls them apart.
The Atlanta audience doesn't seem to get it...GG licks a normal looking woman during the first song and she laughes and pushes him away...in a worse mood, GG would've laid her out. Lots of frat type guys and really straight laced looking women in the crowd.,,this does make things more interesting as he fucks with this audience more than the others. It's almost as if they are in shock...GG is approaching people and they just stand there. If GG approached me, I'd get the fuck out of there.
GG approaches a male in the audience and kisses him on the mouth...the guy pushes him away, GG then starts touching his leg...a fight breaks out, but another audience member breaks it up.
A woman pulls down GG's shorts...the ladies in front of him laugh. That is until he grabs one at random and forces her head into his crotch.
There is a fourth show on here that lasts around six minutes. GG makes out with two unwilling and two willing girls. One of which is obviously a hooker.
The bad--
If you buy a GG Allin, and understand who he was, then you know what you're going to get. If you are unfamliar with the guy, then I suggest you watch the DVD "Hated." It's a very well done documentary about GG that is actually really good moviemaking. I wouldn't watch it with my parents, but it's a legitimate documentary. Watching that will give you an idea of who he is...then start digging deeper.
GG obviously doesn't get certain etiquette...he does shows naked but he keeps his shoes and socks on! That's just rude.
Recap�
To the GG fans, this is a worthy purchase, it's also the third official GG DVD on the market which is peculiar. What's interesting is that that these shows are all from 91 and the packaging even makes the point of saying "The Best of 1991 Live." Could best ofs for others years be forthcoming?
Want more info?
www.ggallin.com
Review by Chris
