- The Legal Battle with The Misfits and Why Their Band Merch is So Valuable
Misfits – Hybrid Moments
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(Read All Misfits Articles) – After the demise of The Misfits, Glenn Danzig focused on his new band project, Samhain, which was much darker and occult oriented than The Misfits. Meanwhile, Jerry Only and his brother Doyle moved to Vernon, NJ, where they went to work full time in their father’s machine parts factory. During this time, Jerry became more focused on his family and his baby daughter, Kathy, but no one can deny that the Misfits band merchandise is so valuable. He became more serious about his christian faith, and regretted some of the things he took part in during his time with The Misfits. He watched as Glenn continued to grow in popularity with Samhain, a band that Jerry viewed as evil and Satanic. In 1987, Jerry decided to start a new band, one that would oppose the “dark path” chosen by Glenn. Together with Doyle, Jerry (who changed his stage name to Mo The great) started writing songs for a Christian heavy metal band with barbarian imagery, called Kryst the Conqueror. They then created the “Doyle Fan Club” to help spread the word about their new band. During the writing and recording process for the album, they tweaked their instruments, in an attempt to design the ultimate bass and guitar. Once the music was recorded, they hired studio vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (who had done vocals for Yngwie Malmsteen) to record vocals for the album. Jeff was forced to remain anonymous due to contractual obligations. To hide his identity, he was credited on the album as Kryst. Despite Jerry’s efforts, Kryst the Conqueror failed to gain a following. The album was never fully released and the band never played a single show.
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By 1987, The Misfits’ reputation had grown to nearly legendary status, and Glenn’s band Samhain (later renamed to “Danzig”), was signed to a major label. The Misfits back catalog had been re-issued and was selling extremely well. Around this time, Jerry Only contacted Glenn about getting a cut of the Misfits royalties, beginning a legal battle that lasted several years. Jerry concedes that Danzig wrote nearly all the lyrics and most of the music, but he contended that he and Doyle “wrote 25% or maybe 30% of the music,” and deserved compensation. Danzig, on the other hand, insisted that all songs were written by him and that the other Misfits’ creative input was minimal at best.
In late 1988, Danzig’s new group (also called “Danzig”) released their debut album on longtime fan Rick Rubin’s record label. Five years later, Glenn broke into the mainstream when the live video for the Danzig song, Mother, became a hit on MTV, introducing thousands of new fans to Danzig’s back catalog with Samhain and The Misfits. Around this time, many older punk bands began to do reunion tours, earning often hefty paychecks in the process. Jerry and Doyle approached Glenn about the possibility of a Misfits reunion tour, but Glenn turned them down by having security escort them off the property. Jerry decided to cease his pursuit of song credit, and instead tried to reach an out of court settlement that would allow him to use The Misfits name and image. In 1995, Jerry and Glenn were finally able to settle out of court. Jerry gained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits, although he shared joint merchandising rights with Glenn.
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