When someone mentions GG Allin, or even the Murder Junkies, one does not think of the distinct musical sound they have. Most people think of GG and the band's antics, such as GG rolling in his own feces, urinating on the audience, fist fighting with the audience, and beating himself to a bloody pulp; or the band's naked drummer, Dino, who is also known for some strange behavior as well (As a matter of fact, I remember a story that the editor of this magazine told me, about how his own band played a show with the Murder Junkies on the bill. Pretty much, the venue owner's wife was scolding Dino for trying to get naked, so he shoved a drum stick up his ass and threw it at a wall, where it stuck due to the feces covering the drumstick).However, this article is not about all that. It's about the sound structure of The Murder Junkies' debut album, Brutality and Bloodshed for All.
Since this month's issue was originally supposed to be about punk rock's connection to '60s garage rock and '50s rockabilly and rock 'n roll, I figured I'd use this album as prime example. Ignoring GG's lyrics and vocals (which are great in their own right, but do not show the rockabilly influence of the music), we're going to look at Bill Weber's guitar work.
On this album, right of the bat you're treated to the blasphemous song “Highest Power” which has some weird rockabilly guitar work during the verse. Same goes with the second song, “Kill Thy Father, Rape Thy Mother”, again with a weird '50s rock sound. The next song, "Anal Cunt", however, takes from a '70s and '80s hard rock sound, but then comes the song "Raw, Brutal, Rough, and Bloody", which has a very crude '60s garage rock structure to the main riff.
Then come the straight up punk songs, “Shoot, Knife, Strangle, Beat and Crucify” and “I Kill Everything I Fuck”. Although being almost purely typical punk songs, they have some stereotypical riffs and solos that have been used in rock 'n roll since the '50s, especially during the chorus and solo of "I Kill...".
After that, a similar formula of rockabilly riffs continue with “Shove That Warrant Up Your Ass”, and then even more riffs and fills that send a tribute to the rock 'n roll of the '50s with “My Sadistic Killing Spree”. Then, back to the typical-punk-sounding “I'll Slice Yer Fucking Throat”, and the heavy metal-sounding “Terror in America”.
Then the song “Fuck Off, We Murder” comes on, and the solo is straight out of '50s rock 'n roll, and it's totally awesome and ends in just total punk rock rage. After that, in a similar rockabilly/punk rock mishmash, we have the songs “Take Aim and Fire” ,“Bastard Son of a Loaded Gun”, and “Legalize Murder”. Finally, we have the album's title song, which pretty much sums up the sound of the overall album: a weird combo of punk, rockabilly, death metal, and pure carnage. A musical masterpiece.
