[At the request of the Portland publication PDXS, I followed up a five-year-old article on G.G. Allin in Apocalypse Culture with a new interview to coincide with a Murder Junkies tour through town. It was to be his last.
Despite my insulting questions regarding prison rape and his inability to make good on his long-declared promise to kill himself, G.G. sounded chipper and treated me with respect. Several days later, he was to suffer the ignominious end he declared in Apocalypse Culture would never happen to him. Snorting four bags of New York white, he went out like a light, choked on his puke, and expired.
After years of bragging about the way by which he would achieve "rock and roll immortality," G.G. started to have second thoughts when fans reminded him to respect his words. I told G.G. that he could easily bring some of these morbid fanboy masochists along with him, should he decide it was time to make his mark.
As before, G.G. impressed me as a dyed-in-the-wool Romantic who believed in the redemptive value of rock's Dionysiac ritualism. G.G. became obsessed with ridding rock of its hypocrisy-including genuflection before Mammon. In these irony-drenched times, such naivete seems comical. As demonstrated in the comedy documentary, Hated, G.G. Allin was nothing less than an Andy Kaufman- type stand-up act. G.G.'s self-mythologizing worked only through potential energy, the possibility of wreaking havoc. His end was poetic justice, a suburban kid's end. G.G. was simply too much of a fuck-up to achieve mythic stature.]
When did you get out of the pokey?
Got out on March 11th, this year [1993].
Was that for the beating of the girl? [Allin was handed a two-year sentence for beating and carving a groupie, whom, he claims, was a masochistic consensual partner.]
It was actually a parole violation. I did the two years for the [girl beating] incident. I got out on parole and got arrested on tour about seven or eight times and then they violated my parole for what I did on stage, and I ended up doing another year.
Are you currently on parole?
No, I maxed out. I'm done with Michigan.
Are you up on any other charges?
I think there's about eight or nine states where I have warrants but nobody will extradite unless I come into those states, so yeah, I'm not by any means completely clear, and with this upcoming tour I'm sure there'll be a few more states to add to the fucking list.
You have any fights in the yard?
The first day I got there. I was in quarantine and I was walking back in, and, what happens is, all the niggers gang up on whitey in prison, especially in quarantine. A guy hits me on the head as hard as he could from behind. He didn't realize it, but I break Jim Beam bottles over my head, six at a fucking time. So here it's like Peter Pan. I turn around and look at him and say, "Hit me again, and maybe I'll feel it this time." He never fucked with me again. I had to do two years, so it's like kill me now, or let's get on with it. After that they thought I was fucking crazy so they didn't fuck with me. I'd let you hit me in the face as hard as you want and I'd probably bleed, but I'd laugh. I like it. That shit don't bother me.
You got any problems in public now?
Nobody wants to fuck with me cuz of the way I smell, probably.
Now why do you want to keep a sorry ass form like rock and roll alive?
I don't look at rock and roll the same way other people look at rock and roll. I look at it as a terrorist movement. When I grew up rock and roll was the weapon that I had against people, and it was a great weapon to have. It's not like, "how do I look?" and "who do we hang out with?" and "how many scenesters are going to be there?" Now rock and roll is just bullshit. I want to bring nonconformity, the true rebellion.
What would you like to see done to MTV?
Murder all those fucking vee-jays. I think people should go into all the major record companies and drop bombs and fly over Lollapalooza with bombs and machine guns. That would be great, the greatest thing of all, if you could build an army to do those things. Wipe out the fucking industry.
What about rap?
I don't see living in Beverly Hills and singing about the ghetto. If you're going to sing about something you should go out and do it.
Are you still doing a rock and roll show, as before?
It's not really a show. It's really kind of what I feel like doing at the time. I've got a band, if that's what you mean. I don't consider it to be entertainment. I would consider it to be feelings of revenge.
When are you finally going to kill yourself?
The biggest question that everyone keeps asking me is about the suicide thing. For me right now to say I'm going to commit suicide is just way too premature because there's too many battles and it seems like there's too many people who want me to do it now, so as long as I've got the battle to fight, and as long as I got some enemies, I gotta keep going to fuck these people up. To end it now is what the government would want and what society would want, and as long as I can be the dagger in their back and as long as I can be the enemy of the people then I've got to say alive.
People are saying you're not a man of your word.
People who say that don't know what I am. Those are the fucking people I'm fucking up. I'm seriously fucking them up. They have no idea of what I'm about. In 1989 I was like fucking death anyway. Anybody that has to say that is definitely an ignorant motherfucker and has no idea. All they wanted to see me do is commit suicide. That's not what I'm all about. I'm here to fight the system, and I'm here to fuck with the goddamn music industry, and I'm not done yet. In '89 I was dying every day. It was like, am I going to die on this rooftop? Am I gonna die on the street corner? Or am I gonna die on stage and take some motherfuckers with me? Now the prison has just opened more doors for my anger, so for me to commit suicide right now would be to play into their hands, so absolutely not. If people think that I just said that...absolutely not. I would have carried out that, and I still plan on it. I may be killed on this tour or the next tour. When we go out on tour, it's not a question of when we come home, it' like, where are we going to end up in jail? What hospital will I be in? Will I even make it home? This really pisses me off when I hear people say I'm not a man of my word] because I was absolutely ready to do it. I mean I had it all planned out, and if the club wasn't going to let me do it I was gonna do it on the street.
Who do you want revenge on? Anyone in particular?
Everybody. The fucking government, the system and everybody, everybody that's walking around. I follow what I believe in and fuck everybody else. I'd just as soon see them dead.
How do you revenge a record industry by doing...
You have to be a powerful source. You have to gather a bunch of powerful allies. I mean I like to see people walk into the fucking Warner Brothers records with bombs, just blow the fucking place up. I'm very independent, I'm not going to sell out to any major label...
Did you get any offers from any major labels?
Naw, they're all afraid of me, are you kidding me? They're not going to fucking sign me. They want something they can market, they want something they can tell you, "This is dangerous, but we can keep it under control." They can't keep me under control. I've never gotten involved with music for money anyway, or for fame or for women or for fucking any of that, I'm not into that at all. That's not my purpose.
So you weren't anybody's punk in jail?
Fuck no.
What did you see go on in there?
All sorts of shit going on. I see people get their heads cracked open, people getting stabbed, people getting fucked, guys with tits and cunts.
Guys with tits and cunts?
Oh there were guys in there with tits and guys with sex change operations...
They put the sex changes in with the men?
They had like "sex unknown," but I guess they had to put 'em in with the men.
Did you get along with the guards?
I stayed away from all those people. I did my time my own way and was the stronger for it. I formed a group in their called PAC or Prisoners Against Conformity. We would meet on the yard. I was the leader of this group - we were all going to see the psychiatrists together. It was mandatory that I go to sex therapy and all this...
What was sex therapy like?
Oh, you know, what you did was wrong, and this is not normal, and you have to admit, like, your remorse. The typical bullshit.
Anything like the Clockwork Orange "Ludovico technique?"
Oh absolutely. We had to see films.
What kind of films?
Films on human behavior, then we'd have to talk about our crimes, and I had to write a letter to the victim. All these questions and answers and all this shit. All this time when you go in there you tell them one thing but you don't believe anything you say. You don't let it penetrate.
What else were you up to?
I was doing a lot of writing, I was trying to form as many nonconformist groups within the system that I could. I was helping this other guy in there; we were doing lawsuits against the state. Anything that I could keep myself busy with, to fight against the system. The more I fought the system, the stronger I became. I just would not let them ever get to me, ever, at all. It didn't matter what they did, I was gonna come out of this a much stronger person, which I think I have. I learned how to become a better criminal. I learned some good tricks from a lot of great people.
Give me an example.
I'm not going to give away any of my secrets. I've lived with murderers and rapists and child molesters and arsonists and bank robbers, and the whole lot, so I talked with these people, ate with them...
You learned a trick from a child molester?
Well, I knew a lot of those tricks anyway. Absolutely. If I want to have sex with somebody young I'm going to continue.
You find it difficult getting booked for shows now?
It's always been difficult. People seem to think now that I'm just starting out or something. It was fucking hard for me to get gigs 15 years ago. It's harder now because it's more publicized. Fifteen years ago when I started out with the Jabbers, we were banned all over New England; we couldn't get shows in Boston. Our philosophy was go and fuck the club up and fuck the people up, and we didn't give a shit about getting paid.
You living in New York now?
I'm living in Chicago. My band's in New York. I'm pretty much back and forth.
You have any records out?
We just recorded a brand new album with Don Fury here in the city. I don't think it's going to see daylight until the fall. The movie Hated just came out. A documentary film.
What's that?
Todd Phillips shot it. It's a documentary film about the Murder Junkies and myself. It's going to be shown around the country in theaters. They're working on a package now with a couple other movies. They premiered it in New York and it got great reviews. Screw said Cocksucker Blues looked like Bambi compared to it.
What's in it?
It pretty much documents the year I was on parole, and it interviews bandmates. Gacy's in it, shit, a bunch of people. I've only seen it once and I was really drunk when I saw it.
What's going on with you sexually?
I'm not looking for any relationship or anything. Just a girl to piss in a cup or shit in a bag for me and I can take it home and get off on that and I don't have to deal with her.
There's videotape floating around of you doing some queer stuff.
I'm into anything, basically. Anything that gets me off.
You get any new tattoos in the joint?
No. I got some before I went back in. I got three on my head. I got a snake on the front of my head, and on that side I got a rat sitting on my ear, and then on the other side I got a snake skull, and then I got a Murder Junkies logo I'm putting on the back of my head. I got so many scars anyway. My whole body is like a scar tattoo.
How's your teeth?
I've got a few on the bottom.
How do you eat meat?
I just gum everything. I don't wanna get teeth. When something falls out I'll keep going on with what I got. I don't want to get any artificial shit. It's like scars. I never get any stitches cuz I like the way scars look. If I get new teeth I'm going to get them knocked out so what's the sense in it?
How did you grow up? Middle class?
I grew up in a cabin with no running water. No heat, no electricity. In the mountains of New Hampshire and shit.
That's your brother there in New York?
Merle's a Murder Junkie, he hasn't been with me the whole time.
You have anything to say to the world?
I don't have anything to say except that I'm doing things my way. Rock and roll in general, there's nothing left to it, it's all fucking entertainment now. You got the frauds and phonies and a bunch of bullshit people trying to make it on labels and the so-called alternative scene, these Lollapalooza corporate-sponsored events. It's all fucking bullshit. And I think when people come to see us they're probably going to see the only real underground thing that's happening right now, because it's not really a show and it's not something you're going to see be the same night after night. One night you might see 15 people get carried out of the club on stretchers and the next night maybe we won't even show up or maybe we will. It's just kind of an extension of life offstage. I don't give a fuck. I don't care if we suck. We're not interested in what other people think.
Adam Parfrey
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