Last night after work, I’m sitting in my car at the very congested intersection of Benning St and Rte 12A when suddenly Rock 101 starts playing one of my favoritest songs ever : “Mother” by Danzig. I cranked up the volume to a healthy, window-rattling decibel level and commenced the sing-a-long. To make matters worse, I think I may have been doing a slight head bob. The guy in a truck in the lane to my right kept throwing me looks which I answered with a little shrug meant to say “It’s DANZIG’S ‘MOTHER’ I have no choice.”
My absolute favorite bit is when he bellows “FATHER!! DO YOU WANNA BANG HEADS WITH ME??” SOOO excellent. To give you a real, tangible, grasp on how much I adore this song, lemme just say that in the annals of great songs with “mother” in the title I would rank this one above Mr T’s “Treat Your Mother Right”. THAT is how much.
I think I was in 9th or 10th grade when “Mother” got popular. And when I saw the “Mother” video on MTV I got all TWITTERPATED over Glen Danzig. “Siiiigh” gushed circa 1993 Sandra , “I am going to MARRY that Danzig!!” Really, I knew that he bore the 1st name of “Glen” but I refused to acknowledge that sad truth. Later though, I saw a Rolling Stone feature with a waycloseup photo of the dude and I was like “Yyyyikes! Perhaps I was too hasty!!” Which just goes to show you the mighty allure of that lead singer aura. Any guy who is rocking out with a band on stage is instantly transfigured into a 10X hotter guy. I do mean TALENTED guys, skillfully rocking out---I’m not extending this phenomena to your amateurish bar band lead singers. Exhibit B-- Kate Moss and Pete Doherty. Why is she dating so far beneath her?? It could be primarily coke-induced choice….but I think it’s half cocaine and half due to some mysterious lead-singer mojo Petey’s got working for him.
