Review Summary: A great album, alot of good tracks, and some okay ones. Good music that can be accepted by any fan, even those who don't like punk music a whole lot like myself.
The Misfits are a revolutionary punk band from the late 70’s and early 80’s. I didn’t really catch on to their brilliance until recent actually. My friend as known on sputnik londoncalling457, urged me to get into them. He’s a huge punk fan, and showed me some songs before from The Misfits. I was very skeptical of them until I downloaded “Static Age”, The Misfits should have been debut album. If you have ever heard them, you know The Misfits are not known for their instrumental play. At times they get sloppy, and things seem like a jumbled mess, not to mention the poor recording they have to put up with as well. What The Misfits are known for is their very fast play, catchy riffs that stick to your head, Glenn Danzig’s dark mellow almost bluesy voice, and Danzig’s lyrical obsession with horror films. Horror films also have an impact on The Misfits image, on one of their early EP's “Bullet”, the album cover depicts a graphic to say the least, image of John F. Kennedy being shot. The Misfits other album covers also seem to be linked to horror films, and not only that but their song titles, lyrics, and even their attire (the originally created devil lock) goes all back to horror. To gain some air play The Misfits did try to use name-drops and cover songs from well known metal bands like Metallica and Guns n’ Roses, but it never did get them well-known enough to the point that they are at today. Danzig abandoned the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career and later create his own band simply known as “Danzig”.
The discography of The Misfits is a huge tangled mess, which is as hard to decipher as the history of The Misfits and who was in the band at what times. When you focus on “Static Age” The Misfits consisted of four members at the time. Glenn Danzig as vocals, Jerry Ciafia on bass guitar, “Mr. Jim” Catania on drums, and Frank “Franche Coma” LiCata as guitarist. The Misfits are a band that embodies their name perfectly, if music were a high school The Misfits would be just that. A group of kids who skip school, vandalize the walls, mess with the principal, cheat on tests, pull sick pranks on just about anyone, and just about anything else that resembles teenage rebellion. The group had just finished up their 1978 EP “Bullet”, and started working on their first full length album “Static Age”. Recording sessions were completed but no record companies would accept the finished product. What came out was a great CD, and my favorite so far from The Misfits. Mostly every track on the album like most Misfits tracks are under two minutes long. If The Misfits have any downfall besides bad to okay musical play, it’s lacking longer tracks. Their fast choppy play is already fast enough, but adds that to the fact that each track is under two minutes. By the end of each song you’re left wanting more, but then again there’s a whole lot more tracks on the album to satisfy your listening pallet.
“Static Age” begins with the album name song “Static Age”. It’s believe it or not slow paced song for The Misfits. The song drags along, with Danzig showing you his loud vocals. “Static Age” talks about our country living in a TV age, and being almost obsessed with it. This opinion is carried over to the next song “TV Casualty”. Danzig’s clever lyrics make you picture a person completely living in a hell hole, basically what some would call a “boob tube”. He begins to describe his environment, and even adds “hold on I have to puke, there’s a spot where I always go”. The Misfits then introduce a rhythm singing technique they use in almost all their songs that sounds great. In “TV Casualty” they sing “Don’t you be my television screen” in perfect rhythm. The third track off “Static Age” is easily one of my favorites “Some Kinda Hate”. An infectious addicting riff sends you spiraling into a drunken beat that signifies The Misfits at their best throughout the whole song. Repetitiveness almost helps The Misfits, keeping the beat and their style fresh and constantly blaring in your headphones. A short guitar solo is even added to the song, which makes “Some Kinda Hate” one of the more instrumentally great songs on the album.
“Last Caress” is the fourth track on “Static Age” and picks up the pace even faster than “Some Kinda Hate”. Danzig’s more horror-friendly lyrics come into play in this song with the first words he sings being “I’ve got somethin’ to say, I’ve raped your mother today” not making it sound any different than any other lyric he would sing. Flying through the song at top speed “Last Caress” consists of run of the norm riffs and constant pounding from “Mr. Jim” on the cymbals of his drum set. “Return of the Fly” is the fifth track on “Static Age”, and starts off with a choppy, almost alien sounding, base line. Throughout the song you hear “ohh, ohh, ohh, ohh” in the background further demonstrating how good The Misfits are at pulling off good rhythm singing. “Return of the Fly” keeps the same quick speed going, and same overall type of beat that is heard much from The Misfits, making it not very special. The sixth track on “Static Age” is “Hybrid Moments”. Danzig sings with a softer, more blues style of singing that he is very capable of doing, and pulls off well. The lyrics are very repetitive yet don’t sound bad. In terms of beat “Hybrid Moments” tones it down to a slower speed than the previous tracks, yet not slow in any way. “We are 138” is the first song I ever heard from The Misfits. One of the best songs to introduce someone to The Misfits, it has everything they do great. Danzig yells throughout the whole song, rhythm singing is included, the pace is quick and choppy, and even a rare solo is thrown in which finishes things off well.
“Teenagers from Mars” took a bit for me to get into. It has all the regular components of a Misfits song, yet the bass line really stands out similar to “Return of the Fly”. Danzig sings pretty high vocals most of the song and “Mr. Jim” goes back to smashing on the cymbals as usual. “Teenagers from Mars” is nothing really great but a good track. “Come Back” stands out a lot because it’s the longest track on the album at about five minutes. It’s quick, and sports Danzig’s more smooth vocals that he uses every other song or two. You would think that “Come Back” gets repetitive with so much material in it, but The Misfits avoid this by adding in short periods of play without singing. Wailing during the chorus where Danzig yells “Come Back” is what the song lives and dies on. The bass line and the guitar riff don’t really stand out individually throughout the song, but both play equally good. “Angel***” is the next track on “Static Age”, and this song’s title by itself is an example of The Misfits crude, yet effective humor that got them where they are. Danzig’s voice on this song is what stands out the most, especially during the chorus. Some parts in the song just have instrumental play which helps switch things up a bit.
“Hollywood Babylon” is one of those tracks that gets stuck in your head. The quick pace goes well with Danzig’s voice and rhythm singing as usual, but stands out more in this track. Guitar and bass riffs shine more in “Hollywood Babylon” especially when Danzig finishes saying “HOLLYWOOD BABYLON” and the guitar finishes off its riff with a quick infectious 2 second noise that stands out almost more than Danzig’s voice. “Attitude” brings back the humorous lyrics towards the beginning when Danzig sings “Inside your fetal brain there’s probably a whore, if you don’t shut your mouth your gunna feel the floor”. “Attitude” in my perspective is a song about an abusive husband beating his wife and insulting her, who else to make up a song about that than…The Misfits. The thirteenth track is none other than “Bullet” which was the name of the 1978 EP. Like I said before the song is about John F. Kennedy’s assassination, so you know the song was probably controversial. Despite that, it’s a good song, with clever foul mouthed lyrics with an example being when Danzig sings “Masturbate Me!” repeatedly towards the end of the song. “Bullet” is also a track with solid guitar and bass work, and follows The Misfits theme for songs, short but sweet rounding out at about a minute and a half.
Fourteen tracks in you come upon “Theme for a Jackal”, which is one of those okay tracks on “Static Age”. Danzig’s vocals are slower and lower, but that doesn’t disrupt the beat, still being as quick as usual. It also sounds like there’s even piano play in the background, but I’m not too sure. Jerry Ciafia’s bass work on “Theme for a Jackal” stands out, having multiple periods of time where he just plays. As far as lyrics go a girl being skinned and having her liver cut out is mentioned, but that’s expected. “She” is the fifteenth track, which sounds a lot like “Angel****” but not too much. Danzig uses his more blues vocals, and occasionally yells for a bit. There’s not much to say about “She”, it doesn’t stand out, yet it doesn’t fade into the background, its one of those tracks you don’t have to listen to much. “Spinal Remains” brings back the husbands abusing their wives theme, with some parts talking about cutting up a woman after asking for a sandwich, and stepping on her spinal remains with his boot. “Spinal Remains” has a catchy beat, but not much else, has all of those classic Misfits things included as well. Again it’s another one of those okay tracks. “In the Doorway” is the seventeenth and final track on “Static Age”. Danzig reverts back to his low blues style of vocals once more. Instrumental work is one of the main themes in this song, but not by much. Most of the same things that The Misfits do on “In the Doorway” mirror their work during most of the album. They don’t change styles, they don’t make anything different, and they just play fast, loud, and do what they want.
