GG Allin & the Murder Junkies

GG Allin & the Murder Junkies: Blood, Shit, and Fears [DVD]Blood, Shit, and Fears [DVD] (2012)
MVD Visual

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

Contributed by: JohnGentileJohnGentile
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on June 19th 2012There is probably no figure as troubling for punk rock as GG Allin. His defenders assert that by cutting himself, beating the audience and urinating on stage, Allin was somehow defying irrelevant norms of society while his detractors assert that by cutting himself, beating the audience and urinating.

There is probably no figure as troubling for punk rock as GG Allin. His defenders assert that by cutting himself, beating the audience and urinating on stage, Allin was somehow defying irrelevant norms of society while his detractors assert that by cutting himself, beating the audience and urinating on stage he is merely cutting himself, beating the audience and urinating on stage. This is compounded by Allin himself who had trouble articulating his own platform and for his entire career, never really said why he did what he did. In an effort to answer this puzzle, nearly dozens of documentarians have interviewed Allin associates and contemporaries, often with a platform being fixed to the man postmortem. But, for a person as wild and mysterious as Allin, such descriptors are conjecture at best. Where Blood, Shit, and Fears succeeds is that in lieu of presenting depictions of the man, the video presents the man himself in five complete, or nearly complete shows without any commentary.

The first set of shows, three from 1991, show that for all mythos behind Allin, his atrocities are actually true. The first show at the Antenn Club opens with Allin entering the stage already naked and covered in various mucous, smashing a bottle over his head, cutting his forehead with the microphone and then grabbing the hair of an early teen boy in an attempt to get the boy to fellate him. Although the boy breaks free, Allin doesn't let up for the show, rolling on the floor, screaming and making only the vaguest attempts to actually sing music.

The second show at the Fuped Duck is the most disturbing of the bunch. Allin defecates on stage, sings at his feces and then eats it (Watch with caution. I literally almost threw up just from seeing it). Throughout the concerts, the music seems almost arbitrary. Although the band pounds through muscular three chord banger after three chord banger, all of Allin's songs are basically the same. Allin himself barely even sings. Instead, he fights the audience, climbs across the ceiling, pukes on stage, hurls a mic stand at the camera man, sticks a microphone up his rectum and licks men and women in attendance.

But, just as the audience isn't there to actually listen to music, the viewer of the DVD is really there to observe Allin himself. Really, these five live shows are the best depiction of Allin available. His rolling on the floor, demeaning of self and naked flagellation doesn't seem to be a symbol of a broader philosophic perspective. Rather, he comes across as tragic. What trauma could make a person want to treat himself in such a way? Here Allin's body is bloated with drugs and disease, showing sickness in both mind and body.

In showing Allin doing what Allin did, and chose to do, we get more of an understanding of what Allin was than in any after-the-fact eulogy…and frankly, it's not a pretty picture. But, as ugly as it is, it's important to watch, if only to get an understanding of whether some actions really are symbols of a broader concept, or just cries for attention.

Still, while Allin does come across as pathetic in these videos, he really might be saving the last question for himself. As mentioned above, when he does try to get the boy to perform oral sex, he's quite clearly stronger than the young man, but just as he draws the young man close to his penis, he chooses to let him break free. Was GG Allin really all an act, or was he trying to pull the breaks on his self destruction?

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

jizzo (August 4, 2012)

Strangely entertaining! If there ever was a reason to be drug free and drink in moderation, this would be one of them.

DirkNelson (June 26, 2012)

Will this be on Netflix?

Misanthropee (June 21, 2012)

Clearly GG was a shitty person who made shitty music, but he's "important" in that he pushed the boundaries of nihilism in "art" insanely far. No one else has come even close to being that fucked-up since, at least no one public, unless you count internet celebrities like the "emo cutter girl" of lore. The question that's hard to answer is whether what he did was sincere, entirely self-serving or just the product of mental illness. That's what makes GG kind of intriguing, even though you have to hate him -- but of course hating him was part of the point.

encorp (June 20, 2012)

He was terrible, his music sucked, but he put on one of the best live shows music has ever seen.

slymer (June 20, 2012)

I'm not really into this guy

thepopeofchili-town (June 19, 2012)

I agree with all the comments about how terrible GG was, but I am strangely fascinated by him. I wouldn't pay money for this but I would be interested in seeing it.

eddiethehead (June 19, 2012)

GG Allin is the punk star that Henry Rollins could have been.

keithybobeefy (June 19, 2012)

As has been stated by others, I just don't know what anyone finds appealing about the guy. It's tough to find any silver lining when it involves someone as vile as GG.

midwesternhousewives (June 19, 2012)

I never understood the whole GG Allin praise. The guy was a fucking sociopath who sang about raping women and had racist as fuck lyrics.

The fact he ever became famous tells us more about us than anything else. He claimed he was trying to make punk rock dangerous again, and I know many claim him to be the last real punk rocker ever, but if that's what is considered punk rock, then I want nothing to do with it.

Ravnos (June 19, 2012)

"No blu-ray? Pass."

I agree. If I can't watch GG Allin eat his own shit in glorious 1080p, I don't want to see it at all. What a shameful oversight.

cyanotic (June 19, 2012)

No blu-ray? Pass.

overdefined (June 19, 2012)

I find this guy and everything about him really depressing. Paying too much attention to this will put you in a dark place. It reminds me of that quote "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you."

paulsilence (June 19, 2012)

I disagree wholeheartedly with the assertion that this or any other project is important to watch. There's no philosophy behind it, period. GG was merely a severe socio- on his way to full-blown psychopath who once claimed that if it weren't for his "music" he'd be a serial killer. I think the only thing that prevented him from actually and finally killing someone was a well-timed heroin overdose. The guy was a scumbag. There's nothing deeper to understand about him, and when someone tries by producing yet another documentary, this scumbag's legacy is reinvigorated. I think it's time to let him fade into oblivion.

There's a video on Youtube from his final "performance," and in it he swallows a random pill given to him by a random member of the audience, takes a swing at a young guy, and then tries to force himself onto a girl, all in rapid succession. If he was just a guy in that audience, we'd all be calling him a moron asshole for his behaviors, but for some reason just because he's behind that mic we try and hold him to a different standard.

Amoeba (June 19, 2012)

My analysis of his behavior stands in one word : micropenis (or is it two words?)

hayman (June 19, 2012)

Tried to watch Hated once and couldn't finish it. This sounds just as bad.