MusicPunkHistoryOp-Ed
Written By Emma Ambrose
The skinhead, jock-strapped shock rocker lived a life of depravity and insanity. He is one of punk rock’s more unorthodox representatives. From his absurd, offensive lyrics to his fetish with feces and onstage self-mutilation, the punk rocker lived the way he died, in total chaos.
If you’re a punk music lover, you’ve undoubtedly come across GG Allin. He is anything but PC. He certainly left his mark on the music industry. GG Allin was notorious for his twisted and perverse performances. Drawing crowds purely based around his on-stage spectacles. He became known for defecating and eating feces on stage. If that wasn’t enough for his fans, he was also notorious for mutilating himself and playing with blood. He is one of the most shocking, shock rockers of all time.
When asked to describe himself he’d say “the last true rock n’ roller”. Depending on your definition of rock n’ roll, this may be true. Unfortunately for GG Allin, his musical reach would be limited due to poor production and distribution. However, true fans of punk and shock rock would seek him out. Only true degenerates would come together and give GG the cult following he has today.
Although a lot of his behaviour is not condoned, he was a version of punk that few have been able to reproduce. His life was just as weird and bizarre as he was. An amalgamation of an abusive upbringing, inherited mental illness, copious drug abuse as well as a total disregard for authority.
His life began in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire in a town called Groveton. He was born in 1956 as Jesus Christ Allin. Needless to say, his father was a religious fanatic named Merle. Merle kept his family in a log cabin without running water or electricity. We say his father kept his family, because that’s what did. Merle was an abusive, disturbed authoritarian type of father figure.
Merle was said to be physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive to the kids and his wife, Arleta Gunther. He frequently threatened to kill his family and would go so far as to dig graves in the cabin cellar to prove his seriousness. If that wasn’t enough, Merle would hold the family hostage at gunpoint and then assault their mother. GG would describe it as a “primitive existence - more like a prison sentence than an upbringing”. However, he would also express gratitude because it made him “a warrior soul at an earlier age”.
Eventually, mother Arleta would escape her marriage bringing her two sons Jesus Christ and Merle Jr with her. They then moved to East St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Not long after, Jesus Christ became known as GG because Merle Jr couldn’t pronounce Jesus, it kept coming out “JeeJee”. Although, fleeing the horrendous living environment with Merle, it didn’t do much to protect the children. The damage was already done.
in 1966, Arleta remarried and Jesus Christ’s name was changed to Kevin Michael, but GG still stuck. By his own admission, GG would become an obnoxious rowdy boy who would steal, sell drugs, break into homes and partake in many other criminal activities.
Growing Into The Last True Rock N’ Roller
He may have been born the last true rock n’ roller, or perhaps he grew into it. Either way, he was anarchic and lived his life in utter chaos. As GG explored music, he identified with artists like Alice Cooper and the Rolling Stones. It wasn’t just rock and roll he was into either, surprisingly, GG idolized country legend, Hank Williams. Really, it’s not that surprising. Plenty of country stars lived wildly just like their rocker counterparts. Allin covered Family Tradition by Hank Williams Jr but then retitled it Scumfuc Tradition.
Allin forced his way into the music scene as a drummer in several groups, even forming two bands with Merle Jr. He could be found playing drums and singing for the punk rock band The Jabbers. Amidst the release of his debut album Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be with the band, tension was on the rise. GG could not compromise or work with the other members and chose to exit the group in 1984.
Throughout the 80’s he bounced from band to band in groups like The Cedar Street slu*ts, The ScumFucs and The Texas Nazis. With his positions in each band, he began making a name for himself as a serious hardcore rocker. He even got himself the nickname “the Mad Man of Manchester” after his unruly performances.
The 1st Defecation
And mad he was! In 1985, while performing with Bloody Mess & The Skabs in Peoria, Illinois, he defecated on the stage for the first time in front of hundreds of people. You may be thinking, he was excited and the idea came to him at that moment. However, you’d be wrong. The decision to poop on stage was premeditated.
“I was with him when he bought the Ex-Lax. Unfortunately, he took it hours before the show, so he constantly had to hold it in or he would've sh*t before he got onstage.
After he sh*t onstage, complete chaos broke out in the hall. All of the old men in charge of the hall went f*cking nuts. Hundreds of confused punk kids were flipping out, running out the door, because the smell was incredible.”
Recalled frontman of The Bloody Mess - Bloody F Mess
Needless to say, he got the reaction he was looking for and defecation became a regular feature in his act.
Upping the Ante
Once pooping became a regular occurrence, GG Allin started taking things further. Much further. If sh*tting wasn’t enough, he started eating the poop and smearing it all over the stage. He would go so far as to throw it at the audience.
What is going to top pooping on stage? Well, apparently blood might do the trick. Allin would then engage in self mutilation, pouring blood over his body, spraying it across the stage and at the audience. Police were frequently called to his shows, especially when Allin began jumping into crowds and attacking fans.
It is clear that GG found some sort of perverse comfort in the dark and twisted. Fascinated by the macabre, he would eventually begin to idolize serial killers and write absurd spoken-word poetry. He wrote and visited John Wayne Gacy in prison numerous times. GG even commissioned a painting by Gacy to use as cover art.
In 1989 suicidal threats began. That year, he would hint that he would commit suicide sometime around Halloween. However, every time he said he would do it, he was in prison. People would eventually buy tickets to his shows just to see if he would actually do it in front of a crowd. Allin once said that if he was not a performer, he would become a serial killer.
Assault, Destruction & Mental Health
With his traumatic upbringing, drug abuse and criminal history, it’s evident that GG lived with mental illness. Unfortunately for him, but understandably for business owners, music companies and venues began to cut ties with Allin.
Female concertgoers claimed he sexually assaulted them after shows and even during sets. In an interview he avowed to these claims, saying he sexually assaulted both men and women on stage. GG admitted to being arrested 52 times for various crimes. One instance had him serve a 15 month sentence for “assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder” in Ann Arbor Michigan. This was the same year the suicide threats began. The woman he attacked insisted that he cut and burned her. However, GG argued she did the same thing to him and pointed out inconsistencies with the women’s statement that supported his assertions.
During his stay in prison, he wrote the GG Allin Manifesto. In his writing he claims to be Jesus Christ, God and the Devil all wrapped into one. He declares war on the music industry and corporate phonies, even claiming that he created Elvis. He goes on to tell everyone to buy GG Allin records and demand he be played on radio stations.
Throughout the trial in ‘89, GG was submitted to various psychological exams. In the course of these investigations, he was described as courteous, cooperative and candid. It was said that he did not appear to be psychotic and was comfortable with his absurd lifestyle. The evaluation asserted that he was dependent on drugs and alcohol. Additionally, he was diagnosed with a mixed personality disorder consisting of narcissistic, borderline and masoch*stic tendencies.
Love & Children
GG Allin doubtlessly got away with more than he should’ve. He had multiple relationships with teenage girls and even had a child with a teenage Tracy Deneault of Garland Texas. Their daughter, Nico Ann Deneault was born in ‘86. One year earlier in ‘85, his marriage to Sandra Farrow who was approximately 17 at the time, Ended.
Another notable girlfriend of GGs, was 17 year old Liz Mankowski. They were together at his time of death and even appeared on the Jerry Springer Show alongside Liz’s sister and father.
Embodiment of Punk Rock
Through the course of his life, he embodied a version of the punk rock spirit. But how much did he really understand about anti-establishment and commercialism? He reportedly had a low IQ and his notoriety wasn’t brought on from his musical talents but more so his weird antics. His lyrics more or less lacked insight and are full of obscenities with no real moral obligation to stand up against corruption like other punk bands of the same time.
It can be assumed that his resistance to authority was a result of his childhood with a strict and abusive father. Additionally, it has been said that he used his performances as an escape from consumerism. What this could mean, was that GG’s opposition to social norms and expectations was through extreme acts of rebellion and taboo. However, attributing sh*tting on stage to protesting consumerism is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps, that was his only way of expressing his understanding and disapproval of the governing and economic structures set in place.
In his manifesto you can see a clear desire to turn the clock back to rock and roll’s rebellious roots. However, he pushes his fans to purchase all his albums and demand he get air time on radio stations. Despite all his efforts, he never reached the mainstream the way other shock rockers have. We have seen Iggy Pop roll on broken glass and Ozzy bite the head off a bat, both of which became major household names. Undeniably, they had real, authentic musical talent opposed to GG Allin who relied primarily on shock value alone. Regardless, he continued to perform and would often bring in crowds of hundreds, if not thousands of punks who were intrigued by his antics rather than his music.
The Last Hurrah
His last show was at Gas Station in New York City June 28th 1993, where he started a wild riot outside the venue then left to do heroin with Johnny Puke. The next day he was found dead from a supposed accidental overdose, still covered in blood and feces from the night before.
His last request was that his body would remain unwashed, unpreserved and buried with a bottle of Jim Beam. At Just 36, dressed in his black leather jacket and jock strap, GG Allin was laid to rest. But not before his friends partied and posed with the body. Drugs and booze were poured into his mouth, he was even buried with a wheelchair tire.
Speculations floated around that it was an intentional overdose based on the constant suicide threats he made throughout his life. He made it very clear that he had no intention of living to an old age.
“It’s not so much wanting to die, but controlling that moment, choosing your own way.”
- GG Allin
His grave was frequently vandalized with urine, feces, cigarette butts and alcohol left by fans. Eventually the headstone was removed after continued vandalism.
His mother, Arleta, would later say she “loved Kevin but hated GG”. Merle Jr had an unwavering endearment to GG that has persisted long after his death. Merle Jr takes it upon himself to keep GG’s legacy alive. “I keep his legacy going by pimping his sh*t”.
He sells GG related items and memorabilia as well as continues to perform. However, him and his band mates on-stage schtick isn’t as ‘out there’ as his late brothers.
Arleta dismisses any responsibility for the person GG became and begs “why couldn’t I have had normal children?” When asked why she left her children alone with their father being well aware of his cruel behavior, her only explanation is “for reasons”. Her willful denial of accountability is an obvious contribution to their toxic upbringing. What they were exposed to at such a young age foreshadows the men Arleta’s sons would soon grow into.
Recommended Songs By The Author
If you are interested in listening to some of GG Allins music after reading this, here is a list of songs I recommend. Personally, I find a lot of GG Allins music unlistenable but these few songs aren’t bad.
Carmelita
Son of Evil
Outskirts of Life
Abuse Myself, I Wanna Die
I Don’t Give a sh*t
This article is both informational and opinionated. All events and quotes were thoroughly researched. Speculations and assumptions are based on said research.
PunkMusicOp-EdHistory
Emma Ambrose
