Born: Jesus Chris Allin (it was changed to Kevin Allin when he was 5), New Hampshire, August 29, 1956
Died: June 28, 1993

Biography / Discography / The G.G. Allin Mission / War In My Head CD Liner Notes

"I don't care if I don't finish a show, cause as long as I fuck somebody up - if we fuck the club up - basically if I can get my revenge and get the release out of me that I feel I'm getting out - then for me it's a successful show, because I'm not out to please anyone but myself".

"For better and worse, GG Allin was a legend. Until he finally bit the big one on June 29, 1993, this self-immolating jockstrap-clad mace-spraying dung-flinging aberration survived his own berserk reputation (not to mention his recklessly self-destructive instincts) to become the worst nightmare the Dead Boys and Iggy never had. Allin was a relentlessly obnoxious, coarse and lewd extremist who could send even the most generous-minded liberal over the edge. His catalogue is a juggernaut of puerile mania, demented concupiscence and Hustler-level humor". - Trouser Press

Imagine Tesco Vee (Meatmen) or Lee Ving (Fear) in a really bad mood, remove the brain (but somehow inflate the Ego and Id to the size of Jupiter), add a dose of Sid Vicious and Charles Manson, spice with serial killer derangement and Death Row dementia, and you've got this class-A arsehole. Or Kevin, to his loving mom and pop.

Allin, with help from his brother Merle, built a "career" based on being a skidillion times more outrageous than the Pistols, Iggy Pop or Alice Cooper ever were. Initially his shtick was similar in spirit to the type of thing that the Angry Samoans peddled: poppy punk blasts where he called women bitches, slated gays and slagged-off his parents/cops/teachers for making him follow rules. But as the years went on he became more unhinged and misanthropic. His increasingly violent gigs would see him eat his own faeces, jerk off, headbutt the floor, assault the support band (with mace, for instance), and beat up the audience. For G.G., this was quite normal behaviour, directed at a society he felt deserved such treatment. Fuelled by hatred, stupidity and that massive ego, he has left behind a body of work that may be what most people would call "shit", but he amassed a dedicated cult following who would call it "interesting", "entertaining" even. I'm one of them, I think he's great, a real tonic!

His artistic muse was as stunted as his philosophical stance. Throughout, despite the endless pick-up bands, there is little deviation from a Ramones/Stooges kind of guitar noise (although he has veered perilously close to grunge and even tried his hand at C&W), but alcohol abuse transformed his boyish soprano into a raw-throated growl, the guitar roar got wilder as the years passed, and the production values remained in the khazi. Although a genuinely sad, worthless little man, his records can be pretty funny, if you find song titles like 'Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt' and 'Suck My Ass (It Smells)' appealing, and you can get over the complete absence of wit, insight, or intelligence.

G.G. began his recording career in 1977 as drummer for Malpractice, releasing a terrible single (Love Tunnel). He went to New York and picked up his first backing group, the brilliantly named Jabbers, and with them recorded several tinny, poppy singles and, in 1980, a surprisingly tame album (Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be). Even more surprisingly, he made a single with Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson of The MC5, in 1981.

He scuttled the Jabbers in favour of the Scumfucs, surely one of the most abrasive bands in rock history. They bared their teeth on the essential Eat My Fuc (1984). With one section (badly) recorded live, and t'other produced by Dick Urine, this set the template for the rest of GG's work. Teaming up with MRR writer Mykel Board's Artless for a split album, G.G. Allin & The Scumfucs/Artless (1984) is astonishingly crude in all aspects, with super tinny garage production and stripped-bare "arrangements". When Allin and the Scumfucs gave up on each other, Allin and a bewildering succession of backing musicians (including Dee Dee Ramone) continued to record singles and albums through the next eight years or so. There's certainly plenty of artless sludge punk on You Give Love A Bad Name (1987), recorded with The Holymen (a duo with Homestead label boss Gerard Cosloy on guitar). Here's a gem from that one:

TEENAGE TWATS

Hey little cunt you squeak when you walk
Well your ass is so tight, you're the sluts of the block
You think it's so tough hanging out at the arcade
You're checkin' out the guys and hopin' to get laid

Teenage twats
Teenage twats
I like what you got
You're a teenage twat

I'd like to tie you up and shit in your face
Kick you in the cunt, girl, put you in your place
Puke up your mother's pussy and fuck you in the fact
Teenage twats, now's the time, now's the place...now's the place

Teenage twats
Teenage twats
I like what you got
I'll rape ya
I'll rape ya
Like I did before
I'll rape ya
I did it before, baby
I did it before to ya

I'll do it again
I'll rape ya

Well candy little girl, I'll show you what I got (I will)
The younger the better I like a young slut
(I see you down there on Elm Street every night you fuckin' cunt)
Jail bait to me, I just don't fuckin' care
(Hey I'll do a couple of years for you ya fuckin' cunt)
I'll fuck you and I'll leave ya 'cause your sister's over there
(Yeah, your sister's better lookin' anyway)

You're an ugly little fuckin' bitch
You're ugly
You're ugly
But I don't fuckin' care
I ain't kiddin'
Kill ya, ya cunt
Ya fuckin' cunt
You fuckin', little fuckin'
Teenage twat
You fuckin'
Teenage twat

I don't give a fuck where you're fuckin' from
You're a teenage fuckin' twat

(Lyrics grabbed from the GG Allin SuperSite)

Allin by now clearly believed his own bullshit and considered himself a genuine threat to the very fabric of society, although this "threat" actually extended no further than the hapless few in his social circle (who claim that in private he was actually quite a nice guy) and the curious who went to stare at his on-stage freak show or buy his records. His breakthrough came with the tape-only Hated In The Nation (1988), the liner notes of which amp-up his myth and declare him king of New York Hate Rock. With cameos from J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) and MC5's Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson, its mix of lo-fi live recordings, singles ('Gimme Some Head', 'Hard Candy Cock'), and abusive telephone messages is quintessentially Allin-esque. ('Ten Year Old Fuck' is a studio cut unique to this collection). Freaks, Faggots, Drunks And Junkies (1988) is considered one of his strongest (ahem) efforts, with 'Sleeping In My Piss', 'Cunt Sucking Cannibal', 'Be My Fucking Whore' and the awesome 'Antisocial Masterbater' [sic] providing the requisite laughs.

The remainder of his career maintained the trajectory, an endless roundabout of gigging, recording, threatening on-stage suicide and coming in and out of prison. By the time of Murder Junkies (his prison album) Allin sounded like an alcoholic Dalek, slurring, rasping and near-vomiting his way through such ditties as 'Violence Now - Assassinate The President' and '99 Stab Wounds'.

VIOLENCE NOW

Welcome to my world, a battle field blitz
It's as real as it seems, as bloody as it gets
We need more guns to fight our war
And people to defend our battle score

Violence now, fight fire with fire
An eye for an eye, a bloodbath high
Kill or be killed, machine gun ricochet
Assassinate The President of the United States
Assassinate The President of the United States
Assassinate The President

Don't listen to the brainwashing of your time
Counter attack with a gun and a knife
Don't be afraid to fight the power
Kill with the quickness every hour

Stand up and shout "Violence Now!"
Government puppets must be brought down
You can do it all in another way
But always remember violence pays

Violence now, fight fire with fire
An eye for an eye, a bloodbath high
Kill or be killed, machine gun ricochet
Assassinate The President of the United States
Assassinate The President of the United States
Assassinate The President

Die, die, die, yeah
Die, die, die, die

Allin's voice was totally shot to hell and his obsession with physical violence reached hitherto unexplored highs/depths, but he pulled off his best work with the underrated Brutality And Bloodshed For All (1993). It turned out to be his swansong: he died of drugs O.D. later that year.

Allin's passing spawned a veritable money-making extravaganza of cash-ins, with his bloody brother Merle raking in the readies. You can safely live without virtually all of these.

The fanatical following he attained while alive is still hungry for Allin product, even though the barrel has by now been well-and-truly scraped, and so the program of archive releases, reissues and Allin memorabilia continues and shows no sign of stopping.

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DISCOGRAPHY

Singles & Albums / Extraneous Releases / Bootlegs / Various Artists

Subsequent studio albums: You Give Love a Bad Name (1987), Freaks, Faggots, Drunks And Junkies (1988), Murder Junkies (1991), Brutality And Bloodshed For All (1993). There are also numerous CDRs released on the Toilet Rock Productions label, many of which are reissues of Allin's cassette only efforts from the early-to-mid-'80s. These are listed only when they are "new" releases (i.e. not reissues/repackages).

Bored To Death (7", as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 1979)

1980s Rock 'n' Roll (7", as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 1980)

Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be (LP, 1980)

Gimme Some Head (7", 1981)

You Hate Me And I Hate You (Public Animal No. 1) (7"/Tape, 1982)

No Rules (7", 1982)

G.G. Allin & The Scumfucs (7", as GG Allin & The Scumfucs, 1983)

Eat My Fuc (LP, as GG Allin & The Scumfucs, 1984)

Live Fast, Die Fast (7", 1984)

G.G. Allin & The Scumfucs (7", as GG Allin & The Scumfucs, 1985)

Extraneous Releases

Band In Boston(Tape, as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 1981)

Bored Again! (Tape, 1982)

"Live" (Tape, as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 1982)

Win Some Lose Some (Tape, 1983)

G.G. Allin & The Scumfucs/Artless (7", split, 1983)

New York City A7 Club (Tape, 1983)

Boozing & Pranks (Tape, as GG Allin + The Texas Nazis, 1985)

Rapist (Tape, 1985)

Sing Along Love Songs (Tape, 1985)

You'll Never Tame Me (Tape, as GG Allin & The Scumfucs, 1985)

G.G. Allin & The Scumfucs/Artless (LP, split, 1985)

The Sleaziest, Loosest Sluts (Tape, as GG Allin and the Cedar St. Sluts, 1986)

A Taste Of GG Allin (Tape, 1987)

Hated In The Nation (Tape, 1987)

Public Animal # 1 (7", 1987)

Biggest Tits 1980-83 (7", 1987)

Dirty Love Songs (2xLP, 1987)

Banned In Boston (CD, as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 1988)

Insult & Injury Volume 1: 1977-82 - Banned In Boston (CD, 1989)

GG Allin's Doctrine Of Mayhem (LP/CD, 1990)

GG Allin / PP7 Gaftzeb (CDS, 1993)

Up Against The Wall (7", 1993)

Insult & Injury Volume 2 - The Bloody Years (CD, 1993)

Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be / E.M.F. (2xLP, twofer, 1994)

GG Allin's Doctrine Of Mayhem / Boozin & Pranks (2xLP, twofer, 1994)

The Masturbation Session (10", 1995)

Aloha From Dallas (CD, 1995)

GG Allin And The Texas Nazis (7", 1995)

Out For Blood (7", 1997)

Insult & Injury Volume 3: 5-26-82 Providence, RI And More (CD, 1997)

Banned In Boston Part 1 (CD, 1998)

Banned In Boston Part 2 (CD, 1998)

Singles Collection (Volume One) (CD, 1998)

I Was A Murder Junkie (CD, book freebie, 1999)

Rock'n'Roll Terrorist (2xCD/2xLP, 1999)

Occupation EP (7", as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 2000)

Expose Yourself: The Singles Collection 1977-1991 (CD, 2004)

Orange Studios NYC, NY April 16 1983 (CDR, 2006)

West Haven, CT September 3, 1982 (CDR, 2015)

Geno's Portland, ME October 21, 1986 (CDR, 2015)

Live At The Rat E.P. (12", as G.G. Allin & The Jabbers, 2018)

From The Vaults (7", as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 2019)

I Wanna Piss On You (7", flexi)

Bootlegs

For Those Who Can Take It Raw (7", as GG Allin & The Jabbers, 2000)

Scumfuc Tradition (LP, 2002)

1980's Rock 'N' Roll (LP)

Various Artists

Spill Your Guts, Friend US Tape 1982 (Stomach-Ache): Slaughterhouse Deathcamp / Master Daddy

The "You'll Hate This Record" Record US LP 1983 (The Only Label In The World): A Fuck Up / No Rules

Welcome To Ax/ction Island US 7" 1986 (Ax/ction): I Wanna Suck Your Cunt

Psi-seX Cassette Magazine US 31xTape 1989 (Psi-seX Cassette Magazine): GG Allin Calls Psi-seX from Prison

Faster & Louder - Hardcore Punk, Vol. 2 US CD 1993 (Rhino): You Hate Me & I Hate You (Public Animal No. 1)

Punk Anderson's Favourites Germany 2xCD 1995 (Starving Missile): I Wanna Fuck Myself / Ass Fucking / You'll Never Tame Me / Bite It You Scum / No Rules / Scumfuc Tradition / Abuse Myself, I Wanna Die / Needle Up My Cock / Girlie Sex Malibu Style

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Links

Madman Of Manchester - Great fanpage (I've borrowed a few scans and grabbed quite a bit of info from here)

GG Allin & The Jabbers - Official homepage with lots of good info

The GG Allin Official Site, although it's little more than a money-making exercise, with interview CDs and framed prints galore

GG Allin Trouser Press reviews

The GG Allin Archive

Mark Prinle's GG reviews - these are sometimes annoying and boring, but often a hoot

Terminal Boredom has an excellent GG page - I've borrowed a few scans from them, but you can see them bigger & better here.