GLENN DANZIG: 'Man's Inhumanity To Man Is Just As Bad As It's Always Been'

Jason Heller of The Onion's The A.V. Club recently conducted an interview with Glenn Danzig (DANZIG, MISFITS, SAMHAIN). A few excerpts from the chat follow:

The A.V. Club: When you're a musician on the road, though, iPods are really convenient.

Danzig: I don't even listen to music on the road, and if I did, it would be classical or whatever, something to chill me out. Actually, CDs sound so much better than MP3s. I'm sure they'll come out with a better format someday. Really, your iPod is just this little temporary go-between. Everybody will have to throw them out someday. I remember when they came out with quad vinyl. That was going to change everything, you know?

It's funny, I'm really into eight-tracks, because it's tape, and it sounds nice and thick. I really like it. I go on eBay every once in a while to look for eight-tracks. But you should see the prices that reel-to-reel tapes go for, those old four-track reel-to-reels that came with the cover artwork and everything. I saw an Elvis one, and Johnny Cash. I didn't get the two Johnny Cash reel-to-reels, 'cause at the last minute they went from, like, $8 to $70. That's crazy. But I think people are realizing that the tape format sounds really good. It's just so bottomy and thick and full. It sounds so different.

The A.V. Club: When did you first hear BLACK SABBATH?

Danzig: I'm actually the kid who turned everybody in my town onto BLACK SABBATH. I remember going into Sam Goody and looking in at the new arrivals. They had a jillion copies of this and a jillion copies of that, and they had one copy of BLACK SABBATH. Nobody knew who it was. I'm flipping through the vinyl, and all of a sudden I see this thing. It says "Black Sabbath," and there's this girl in a witch's cloak, and she's in this burned-out fucking electric forest or whatever. I didn't know what it sounded like. They didn't have listening stations back then. I just thought, "This has to be good."

The A.V. Club: Conceptually, it's like your music has gone from "Tales From The Crypt" to William Blake over the years. Have you always wanted to get into bigger ideas?

Danzig: I always have. In the MISFITS, it started getting too crazy with "Earth A.D." The concepts stared becoming too brutal and violent. It was less about fiction and more about the real world, the past, present, and future. I think a lot of people got freaked out by that. [Laughs] People don't want to think about that kind of shit. But now, they're being forced to think about it. On the news, they just showed some child predator who had an ankle bracelet on. He was like some blip on a radar screen, and they showed him pacing back and forth in front of an elementary school, scouting out little kids. The things that I used to get in trouble for saying are now all coming to pass. I remember getting reamed by the media because I talked about priests molesting little children. They were like, "That doesn't happen." Now, with 24-hour news, people just can't ignore it any more. They can't pretend that it doesn't happen. They're being bombarded by it.

The A.V. Club: That's the same problem a lot of people had with BLACK SABBATH.

Danzig: BLACK SABBATH was saying, "War is always going to be here." If you look at where the world's been and where it is right now, nothing's changed. The way we kill people is a little different now, but man's inhumanity to man is just as bad as it's always been. I think it's a nature thing. Most people don't realize they have no control over it. When there are too many people, I think nature — whatever nature is — weeds shit out. I don't think it's something we're conscious of.

Read the entire interview at www.avclub.com.