This post draws its inspiration from a messageboard discussion on the same topic which I recently sifted through. Now, I’m not a violent guy, but this is an amusing debate.
The question seems simple at first: who would win in a fight? Henry Rollins of Black Flag and the Rollins Band or Glenn Danzig of The Misfits and, well, Danzig.
However, when you really start to think about it, there are some pretty important distinctions to be made. Are we talking about an early career fight? Black Flag Rollins versus Misfits Danzig? Let’s take a look at some early videos for comparison:
In interviews:
In concert:
(pardon the poor recording quality, but we’re looking for violent behavior here, not musical quality)
Obviously they both had a tendency towards violence while performing, but Rollins seems to be more on the aggressive side when it comes to interviews and personal interaction. This leads me to believe that Rollins would be more likely to instigate a fight. However, Rollins also seems to be a little more contemplative and less of a “loose cannon” than Danzig. My guess is that if Danzig had been getting smacked and hit by fans like Rollins was in that first video, he would’ve retaliated immediately. Rollins takes the hits for a while, seemingly letting the rage build up before he unleashes.
My guess is that early Rollins would thrash early Danzig as Danzig would just wear himself out before Rollins even began to fight back.
The next step, obviously, would be to ask “well, what about a fight in their later lives?” Let’s do a similar video comparison of the two:
…and “performing”:
Regardless of the change in musical styles; regardless of the change in fan-base; regardless of the fact that he got flat knocked out… Danzig still seems to have a certain aggression about him that would lend itself to instigating (obviously) and probably succeeding in a brawl. He’s also beefed up a bit since his Misfits days. While Rollins still has that contemplative, brooding attitude about him, he’s gone the way of the book much moreso than Danzig. I believe that elder Danzig would probably whipe the floor with elder Rollins.
Either way, younger Rollins would give both younger and elder Danzig a real beating.
But what if Danzig were to have become more bookish in his old age? Well, I’ll let this last video do the talking.
“Mother…”
