Kevin Michael "G.G." Allin, the self-proclaimed "most violent man in rock & roll," died June 28 in New York City at 36 of a drug overdose. A would-be "king of the underground," as he put it, Allin hurled his feces at audiences, punched out crowd members and held women at knifepoint, all to bring back "the danger in rock, which is dead," he said. He had always claimed that his demise would be onstage, preferably on Halloween and after he'd "taken a bunch of you with me." Allin had been arrested 52 times, and had spent the better part of the last four years in prison on charges of assault. His last local date, on May 21 at the Hong Kong Café, was canceled when Allin punched out the lead singer of the opening act, Duchess de Sade.
According to Merle Allin, the singer and performance artist's brother who played bass on his final U.S. tour, G.G. Allin had been "partying all day, doing coke" prior to a show at Manhattan's Gas Station, a sculpture bar on the Lower East Side. As was typical of Allin's gigs, the set lasted about 10 minutes, but his brother says, "You could sense it was kind of a grande finale." As the Gas Station crowd spill led onto the street and threw bottles at police, G.G. Allin made his escape to an apartment at 29 Aventure B. There, according to his brother, G.G. copped one too many bags to heroin in an attempt to relax for a visit to his mother in New Hampshire the next day. Allin was found dead the next morning at 9 a.m. According to Merle Allin, G.G. "had clearly been dead for about five hours. His back and chest were totally blue, and rigor mortis had set in to the point of where I couldn't get the rings off his fingers."
Allin was buried in New Hampshire. At his request, he was laid to rest in his favorite outfit - a dog collar and a leather jockstrap - as two of his songs played. During his 13-year career, Allin recorded 18 albums and numerous videos (all of which are still available via mail order from Merle Allin at 214 E. 24th St., Apt 2H, New York, NY 10010) as well as a feature-length film, Hated: G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies. I'd known G.G. since 1978, and despite his demented public persona, he was a gentle and likable soul if you got him in the morning before his first drink.
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