Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies DVD Review!

Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies DVD cover artwork

People remember GG Allin as a violent, sexist, racist, piss drinking, hard supping, shit throwing madman who slurred and screamed his way through so many badly recorded albums and singles. Yep, he was all of the above but not a racist — he hated everyone of any color or creed. A GG concert was like a trip into a minefield especially if you dared to stay by the front row. It was as good as guaranteed you’d have a GG fist in your face or a handful of GG shit lobbed at you.

Welcome to the wild world of Kevin Michael Allin, aka Jesus Christ Allin, all captured in this short documentary by Todd Phillips (The Hangover Trilogy, Road Trip, Due Date), a fan who was caught up in the madness until near enough the end.

A quote from John Wayne Gacy gives us an intro in which he describes his friend GG Allin. Todd Phillips then explains how he got involved in GG’s world, then like a demented trip we are treated to a flash edited collection of clips of shows, cops, arrests, reports, bare asses, etcetera as a proper introduction.

The first interview is with Unk, a GG fan who found his way into this world via a review for a video tape stating: “Watch GG stick a bottle in his ass! Watch GG beat up his band members! Watch GG take a shit and roll in glass!” Unk was like; “Yeah, this guy’s cool.”

Allin’s brother Merle agrees with the general belief that he could turn on you like an animal at any moment. There’s a live show clip showing GG fighting about four people. In fact throughout the film, every live show glimpse is a mass of fighting men, women being dragged around, blood all over, shit on the floor… you get the idea. Merle states that they never planned to finish a tour because it would usually end quickly with arrests or a visit to the hospital. GG Allin himself says; “What are my plans? Stay one step ahead of the law. Fuck, I dunno, fuck tomorrow, it’s what’s happening today.”

Dino, the Murder Junkie’s drummer, likes to get naked like GG. There’s an interview whilst he’s out of it, eyes to the ceiling. “I’m peace and love in the midst of violence.” Dino believes he’s immortal and did time for waving his penis at a little girl. He explains how the audience love his nakedness, plus how drumming in clothes irritates his skin. He’s telepathically linked to the Lunachicks by the way.

Let’s meet Chicken John, an ex-guitarist from the Murder Junkies who rips into GG calling him boring, directionless, etcetera. A talk show clip follows where GG sort of explains why he poops on stage (On a personal note, I have every one of his talk show appearances on DVD and they are well worth seeing in their complete uncut forms), then we have a really funny solo performance at a New York university. As he shoves a banana up his ass, the stunned student audience start giggling. GG then suggests they all get naked, wanting one item of clothing each, by his feet. The chuckles continue as they get up to leave. When GG starts throwing chairs at them, they don’t laugh anymore, believe that.

Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies gives insights into GG’s childhood, his home town, his school life, wearing women’s clothes, his reasons to hate accompanied by some cool early pictures. His old school ‘buddies’ tell the story of how for years GG avoided drugs of any kind until Merle slipped something into him one night, which resulted in GG getting naked and trying to murder his brother. Later Merle compares GG to their father.

Portrait photo of a calm GG Allin from the documentary Hated

Unk sees him as a release for people seeing someone having the balls to do things they wish they could do. GG sees himself as free, doesn’t pay taxes, goes where he wants, and “Fucks” who he wants. “I’m not part of any scene, I do my own thing. My mind is a machine gun, and my body is the bullets, the audience the target.”

What more is there to say? Chicken John carries on dissing the fans, GG, the band. Merle explains about GG’s tattoos. There’s footage of his birthday as a prostitute urinates in his mouth, only for him to vomit everywhere and slurp it all back in. Gacy and GG’s friendship is touched upon and is quite interesting when it’s discussed, what a killer and GG talk about. Our man always stated he’d commit suicide on stage various times over the years. “To take yourself out at your peak, your soul will be so much stronger in the next life.” he says. Soon after the documentary was completed, Todd received the call that GG Allin had overdosed and died at a party.

After the credits there is footage of his funeral, however it’s the DVD bonus which is the magnum opus. It is approximately one hour of footage uncut of the last GG Allin and The Murder Junkies gig, hours before he died. July 28^th 1993, at The Gas Station in NYC. From the setup, sound check, in the tiny venue, then it all starts in great fun. GG is in high spirits, smoking a spliff, making jokes, sniffing a girl’s crotch, then after he strips off, throws a punch and it’s all descent into chaos. The fights begin, as my Horror Soulmate pointed out, most of the time the audience members throw the first fists in. “Look Into My Eyes and Hate Me!” announces GG and that’s it. Punch ups, blood down his head, diving on people, it’s totally amazing to see. Dino, Merle and the band just carry on like it’s normal.

The show is halted so far in and it all spills into the street, bottles flying, GG shouting, “Chicken John is a coward and a two faced muthafucking liar!” The police arrive, GG and his entourage, followed by the camera man and a shouting crowd, rush through the NYC streets, until they get into a cab. The driver isn’t too happy with a near nude blood and shit covered fat bloke getting in so he orders them out and shouts for the police.

They retreat along more streets. “We’ll go buy our drugs,” says GG. “We got paid, I hope we did, but I doubt it.” After finally getting a cab, there’s about ten minutes of fans chatting. “That was like the greatest show.” “That was amazing.” “He’s so amazing.” In fact some stoner girl says that frikkin’ word “Amazing” about a dozen times!!!!

Extras for Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies also include a write up on the director Todd Phillips and a Theatrical Trailer, but for the Gas Station footage it gets a big “Amazing” from that stoner girl. I don’t think I’ve ever written a review with so many uses of the words ‘shit’ and ‘fight’ but this journey is an incredibly one-off experience. There will probably never be another rock ‘n roll man like GG Allin. He was a creation all on his own.