There are only a select few rock bands whose brand of music and carefully crafted image can withstand the test of time and changing generations. Sadly, the Misfits are not one of these bands.
The Misfits, whose true time in the musical spotlight lasted from 1977 to 1983 under the leadership of punk rock legend Glenn Danzig, only exist as a concept today. In the mid-'90s, hoping to cash in on the rediscovered popularity of the band, former bassist Jerry Only restarted the Misfits. It was during this time that the band released the seminal punk rock albums "American Psycho" and "Famous Monsters."
Now, almost 10 years after the success of these albums, Only is still trying to cash in. With a lineup consisting of Only on bass and vocals, Black Flag's Dez on guitar and the Ramone's Marky Ramone on drums, the Misfits are sadly still touring and trying desperately to cling to some piece of their former punk superstar status.
The Misfits brought their expired rock to a surprisingly excited crowd of suburban teenagers all wearing Misfits' T-shirts at Jaxx on Sunday night. Opening sets by a variety of unmemorable acts took over five hours to get through and probably made every audience member (who, let's face it, were not there to watch dyke-rock band Siren play crap for 45 minutes) want to kill themselves.
The Misfits - who are pretty old by the way - came onstage to a fairly large crowd of screaming fans, most of whom were probably still embryos when the original Misfits broke up. The band played short, fast renditions of many of their horror-inspired songs, including mostly new tracks, but also some older songs.
Only and crew are to be commended for their ability to still get onstage and rock, but it might be time to create new bands instead of trying to hang on to something that has long past. When the merch table is selling autographed Ramone drum sticks for $10, you know something is not quite right.
The Misfits were an incredible band in their day and most of today's rock and punk bands owe a lot to their influence, but the glow of their spotlight has long since burned out.
