It’s easy to understand why Glenn Danzig chose to include covers of T. Rexx’s “Buick McKane” and ” the Germs’ “Caught in My Eye” on his new double-disc of b-sides and previously unreleased songs, “The Lost Tracks of Danzig.” But it’s not so simple to figure out what David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out Fire) is doing on there.
“I love that song. It’s a great song,” he told MTVnews.com’s Metal File, making it perfectly clear that no further explanation was necessary. “I made it a little more rocker heavy and it was fun to do.”
In addition to the three covers, there’s a treasure trove of originals that date back to the
Danzig’s final days in Samhain, the band he was in before forming Danzig in 1984. “Pain is Like and Animal” and “Death Had No Nam” were both written from that period. “I included two versions of ‘When Death Has No Name’ because I wanted to show how it developed,” he said. “The first recording was really broad and very produced and the other one is more raw. I think we recorded that song at every Danzig session up until [1992’s] Danzig III: How the Gods Kill.”
Other highlights include the trudging, buzzing “Lady Lucifera,” which was recorded for Circle of Snakes, but never used; the haunting, shimmering “Warlok,” penned for 1996’s Blackacidevil; and the slithering blues workout “Crawl Across the Killing Floor,” which was written for 1999’s 6:66 Satan’s Child.
“I already shot a video for that one,” Danzig said. “It would have been great if it could have been on the original album, but it wasn’t done in time. You start working on a record and you get involved with some songs more intensely and the earlier stuff just gets left behind.”
Also included on The Lost Tracks of Danzig is “White Devil Rise,” a track that surely would have provoked significant controversy had it been released in Danzig’s commercial heyday.The track was penned over a decade ago about Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. “He said some inflammatory things at the time and Rick [Rubin] and I started talking and he said I should write a song about a race war. Farrakhan calls us ‘The White Devil.’ Well, I, personally, don’t have a problem being called that. But no one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song’s saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’”
For the rest of the interview with Glenn Danzig and the rest of this week’s metal news, check out MTVnews.com’s Metal File.
And now check out the video for Danzig’s “Dirty Black Summer”:
