Life of GG Allin

Childhood

Born Jesus Christ Allin at Weeks Memorial Hospital in Lancaster, New Hampshire, Allin was raised in East St. Johnsbury, Vermont and Concord, Vermont. He was given this messianic name because his father – Merle Allin, Sr., then 33 years old, told his wife – Arleta Gunther, then 23 years old, that Jesus Christ Himself had visited him and told him that his newborn son would be a great and all powerful man in the vein of the Messiah.

As a young child, his older brother, Merle Allin, Jr., was unable to pronounce "Jesus" properly and kept calling him "Jeje", which became "GG". The family lived in a log cabin with no water or electricity. Allin's father, who forbade all conversation in the home after dark, was a religious fanatic and an antisocial man, who was allegedly violent towards his wife and children, though GG himself never used this as an excuse for any of his own eccentricities. At age 12, Allin had contracted Lyme disease and claimed to have never fully recovered from the effects of having the disease at such a young age.

Shortly before Allin started school, his mother changed his legal name to Kevin Michael Allin (on March 2, 1962 by his birth certificate). Arleta had allowed his birth name to stand until this point. However, with her husband's deteriorating mental health, his mother changed his name in order to give Allin a chance at a normal, mockery-free childhood.

GG was considered a misfit from junior high school onwards, and he was placed in special ed classes and had to repeat the third grade. He was known to rebel by showing up to school dressed in drag (his 10th grade school picture depicts him this way), which he said was inspired by the New York Dolls. When asked about his childhood, GG has been quoted as saying "Very chaotic. Full of chances and dangers. We sold drugs, stole, broke into houses, cars, etc. Did whatever we wanted to for the most part - including all the bands we played in. People even hated us back then."

Early music career

Some of Allin's earliest recorded musical endeavors were as a drummer. During high school, he had a penchant for provocative theatrics early on. At one early gig (a high school prom), he pulled down the decorations and everyone cheered. Another early gig started a riot.

Allin graduated from Concord High School in 1975, and shortly after formed the band Malpractice with several high school friends and his brother Merle. He was the drummer for Malpractice until the band broke up in 1977. He later became the drummer for the band Stripsearch, and was able to write and perform two songs: "Galileo" and "Jesus in New York City."

His first years as a frontman were with the Jabbers (1977 – April 1984). The Jabbers recorded a number of tracks for which Allin played drums and performed vocals. In 1980 came Allin's debut release, Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be. At the time, Allin was a standard punk rock frontman in the vein of Iggy Pop and Stiv Bators and his music was a catchy, even danceable, mix of power pop and hardcore punk. He was even managed at one point by industry veteran (and The Dead Boys producer) Genya Ravan. Tensions within The Jabbers began to mount as Allin became increasingly uncontrollable, vicious, and uncompromising. The Jabbers discontinued, and the members parted ways. Allin's drug use started during this period.

During the early to mid 1980s, Allin fronted many acts. These included early albums varying from The Cedar Street Sluts to The Scumfucs in 1982, and The Texas Nazis in 1985. However, Allin remained in the underground hardcore scene and was not yet a viable icon of the east coast hardcore scene.

On March 13, 1986, a daughter was born to Allin and Tracy Deneault. Little is known about the child, Nicoann Deneault. It has been speculated that the small picture in GG's left hand at his funeral may have been of Nicoann, though it is most likely a picture of a very young GG Allin. Tracey Deneault and GG never married. Tracey was a teenage girl Allin took up with when his wife, Sandra Farrow, his childhood sweetheart and a fashion model, divorced him. Allin retreated to a cabin in New Hampshire where he wrote Eat My Fuc.

Though still a marginal figure, Allin gained wider attention with the release by Reachout International Records (ROIR) of Hated in the Nation (1987), a cassette-only release at the time, which contained several tracks from Allin's then-out-of-print back catalogue with The Jabbers, The Scumfucs and Cedar Street Sluts. The tape also featured several new recordings, both in-studio and in-concert, with an all-star band assembled by producer, Maximum RocknRoll columnist, and early Allin patron Mykel Board. This band featured J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. on lead guitar, and Bongwater record producer/musician Mark Kramer on bass.

Mid era

By the mid to late 1980s, Allin was a heroin addict, alcoholic and general abuser of any intoxicants provided to him. He was poorly groomed and rarely cleaned himself. At this point, Allin also began eating laxatives before performances - as defecation was becoming a regular stage act. Allin described himself as "the last true rock and roller." By this, he meant that rock and roll music itself had started as an embodiment of danger, anti-authoritarianism, rebelliousness but had become largely taken over by corporations and business concerns. Allin's music and performances were thus meant to return rock and roll to what he saw as its roots, reclaiming it from the corporate system.

Allin idolized country music legend Hank Williams, Sr, and saw himself as a kindred spirit. Both were relative loners and outsiders, both were habitual users of intoxicants, both lived with few, if any, possessions and both travelled the country relentlessly. GG Allin's acoustic output, documented particularly on the EP The Troubled Troubador, was heavily influenced by Williams. He recorded his own rewrites of Hank Williams, Jr.'s "Family Tradition" and David Allan Coe's "Longhaired Redneck", calling his own versions "Scumfuc Tradition" and "Outlaw Scumfuc" respectively. Later GG Allin also released another country album Carnival of Excess.
A typically bloodied GG Allin c. 1992

During this period, Allin collaborated with Bulge (aka Boston hardcore punk trio Psycho under a different name, on the album Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies), The Aids Brigade (the 7" EP Expose Yourself To Kids) and The Holymen (You Give Love a Bad Name). Allin also began performing many spoken word pieces. Video footage of these are available but rare. Unwilling to seek steady employment, Allin supported himself by selling his own records. He also claimed to have committed criminal acts such as breaking and entering, robbery and mugging. Allin was also fascinated with serial killers. He wrote and visited John Wayne Gacy in prison a number of times and Gacy painted a portrait of Allin (see American Serial killer art).

By this point, Allin's performances, which often resulted in considerable damage to venues and sound equipment, were regularly stopped after only a few songs by police or venue owners. Allin was charged with assault and battery or indecent exposure a number of times. His constant touring was only stopped by jail time or by long hospital stays for broken bones, blood poisoning, and other physical trauma.

Another attraction to Allin performances was his continual threats of suicide. In 1988, Allin wrote to Maximum RocknRoll stating that he would commit suicide on stage on Halloween 1989. However, he was in jail when that day came. He continued his threat each following year but ended up imprisoned each following Halloween. When asked why he does not follow through with his threats, or sometimes his on-stage defecations, Allin stated, "With GG, you don't get what you expect—you get what you deserve." He also stated that suicide should only be done when one had reached their peak, meeting the afterlife at their strongest point and not at their weakest.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GG_Allin