The Time a Crazed Fan Tried to Kill Danzig on Halloween

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via Wikimedia Commons
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A life in rock and roll isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

It’s one thing to play music as a hobby, but the sad fact is that most people who dedicate themselves to the pursuit and advancement of art wind up broke, obscure, and alone. Those who do find success on stage wind up plagued by problems of other sorts. The fact is that fame and fortune have a dark side. Financial security is fleeting. Privacy is a distant dream. Everything a rock star does is scrutinized and debated in the public discourse ad-nauseum until the press cycle moves on and leaves them in the dust.

In a career spanning more than four decades, Glenn Danzig has experienced plenty of ups and downs. From his early punk successes in the Misfits and Samhain to the occult rock and roll anthems of his namesake band, Danzig has helped define and perfect several subgenres of horror-inspired guitar music. At the same time, he has cultivated an image of stoicism and developed a reputation less than delightful to work with.

Extreme personalities attract extreme people. While most Danzig fans are just regular rockers going about their days, the intensity of a few devotees can be downright terrifying. Danzig bodyguard Russ MacKay spoke to LA Weekly about one of these more extreme fans.

As Mackay tells it, shortly before his Halloween concert in 2005, a stalker made it onto Danzig’s estate in Hollywood Hills. “Glenn called me and told me there was some weirdo trying to smash into his gate.” 

MacKay spotted the deranged individual in the bushes and gave chase, but the man was able to get away. The bodyguard did manage to rip the stalker’s backpack off in the process, the contents of which were unsettling to say the least. Inside, Mackay and Danzig found a considerable amount of pornographic magazines.“A lot of the faces were cut out, and Danzig’s face was replacing many of the heads, both the males and females!” declares Mackay.

Also included in the backpack was a diary, with an entry that read “Kill Danzig” written next to October 31st, that very day.

Danzig refused to speak about the incident for several months, but he later disputed the story in an interview with the same publication. According to Danzig, the faces in the porno mags were scratched out, not replaced with his head. When asked if there really was a diary entry threatening his life, he said “Well, one of them, yes. He didn’t say he was going to kill us. I forget what he was calling it. It wasn’t just me. It was David Byrne and all these different people.” 

That’s entertainment!

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