Punks, goths, and metalheads all have one band they can worship with equal devotion: The Misfits. Now an act whose logo can be found tattooed within the outline of New Jersey on a million ass cheeks, the Misfits were the founders of the genre we know as horror punk, and remain a cultural institution for everyone who loves the stark, vicious side of horror movies and lowbrow culture. But even the most diehard Misfits fan probably wouldn’t spend over $10,000 on a 7″ — and yet it appears that is exactly what one fan did.
According to the music encyclopedia site/online marketplace Discogs, the month of January included some high-priced sales, including a copy of Motörhead’s self-titled debut that went for $2,396 and a copy of Bathory’s self-titled record that sold for a whopping $3,000. But most impressive and expensive on the round-up was a copy of the Misfits’ 1977 7″ single featuring “Cough/Cool” on one side and “She” on the other, which sold for $10,877.
As Loudwire points out, the 7″ does have a bit of a legacy behind it. Only 500 copies of this 7″ were printed, and it’s the only Misfits record to include drummer Manny Martinez. It also includes the misspelled name of bassist Jerry Caiafa — who, due to that misspelling, asked to be billed from then on as “Jerry, only Jerry,” thus birthing the stage name Jerry Only. You learn something new every day!
That said, one-time drummer and misspelled name aside, eleven thousand dollars for a 7″ record is a little extreme. We’ll put it this way: if your average beer is $6 (let’s say it’s a pint), then the amount of money someone spent on that record would’ve bought them 1,812 beers.
In conclusion, the next time your parent/significant other/parole officer complains that you’re spending too much money on vinyl, point to this story and say, “Could be worse.”
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Words by Chris Krovatin
