For a three month period (April-June) in 1999 The Misfits™ would enter Dreamland Recording Studio to record material for their follow up to American Psycho.  The band had taken a long hiatus beginning in November 1998 after extensive touring for their first album and a short tour for EviIIive but they found it hard to get together to work on new material during that time.  Finally in the beginning of 1999 they met up (After some prodding from Jerry.) to begin the process, they started by making lists of things they wanted to write songs about; mostly titles of horror movies and went from there.  According to Jerry, "The first album, American Psycho, was written musically first and vocally second. Famous Monsters was written vocally first and musically second. We kind of had to create it around the image, so it was done in reverse."

In an effort to keep The Misfits™ family friendly Jerry avoided certain words that would gain their albums Parental Advisory stickers, in one case the word raped (as written by Michale) was turned into draped (by Jerry Only) for the song Helena.

They recorded 20 tracks (plus 4 alternate versions; Lost in Space, Scream!, Fiend Club and Helena 2), all of which would appear on the finished release which came out on; September 4th, 1999 (Japanese release), October 5th, 1999 (American release), October 11th, 1999 (European release).  The Japanese and European releases featured 21 tracks while the American version was slimmed to 18 tracks (1,000,000 Years B.C., Helena 2 and Devil Doll were not included stateside).  Their sophomore release recieved mostly favorable reviews though as with the first the campier aspect of The Misfits™ was usually pointed out and some reviewers pointed out that the album suffered lyrically.

The 20 songs on the album run the gamut of familiar horror/sci-fi topics:

Kong at the Gates~Based on King Kong (1933).

The Forbidden Zone~Based on Planet of the Apes (1968) and its sequels.

Lost in Space~Based on the Lost in Space television series (1965-1968), the series recieved a big budget movie redo in 1998.

Dust to Dust~Based on the finale of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Crawling Eye~Based on The Crawling Eye, aka. The Trollenberg Terror (1958).

Witch Hunt~

Scream~While nothing about the song specifically ties it to the Scream franchise it was submitted for the soundtrack to Scream 3 (2000).

Saturday Night~

Pumpkin Head~Based on Pumpkinhead (1988), contains lines from a poem titled Pumpkinhead by Ed Justin, which was also an inspiration for the film.

Scarecrow Man~The image of a murderous scarecrow may have been inspired by Scarecrows (1988).  The opening dialong, "How 'bout a little fire scarecrow?" comes from The Wizard of Oz (1939) although it is actually Michale Graves' voice and not Margaret Hamilton's/ The Wicked Witch of the West.

Die Monster Die~There is a film from 1965 titled Die, Monster, Die! but it is unrelated to this song's lyrics.

Living Hell~Inspired by vampires.

Descending Angel~Possibly inspired by The Prophecy (1995)/ The Prophecy II (1998); Glenn Danzig had a small scene as Samayel in the second film.

Them~Based on Them (1954)

Fiend Club~This name of course comes from the Misfits original fan club.

Hunting Humans~Inspired by zombies, it actually contains the title of George Romero's original "ghoul" flick, Night of the Living Dead (1968) as a line of lyrics; also the line, "The fires burn at night, I begin to doubt the smell of burning flesh" depicts events that took place in that film as zombie bodies are thrown into bonfires.

Helena/Helena 2~Based on Boxing Helena (1993).

Kong Unleashed~Based on King Kong (1933).

1,000,000 Years B.C.~Based on One Million Years B.C. (1966).

Devil Doll~There is a 1964 film by the same name although the lyrics to the song are unrelated.




Cosmic Debris 1999
Cosmik: The new album, Famous Monsters, hits the streets on the 5th of October. How do you feel about the album?

Only: I'm very happy with the album. It was done in a very short amount of time, which was our own fault because we took some time off after the last tour ended, which was last November, and when we got to the first of the year we really had to cram and write. The difference between your first and second albums is always the first album you have many years to collect different riffs and musical parts that you like. The second album, you've pretty much depleted your ideas and you have to reinvent the wheel.

Cosmik: How did you pull it off?

Only: We made a list of things we'd always wanted to write songs about. For example "Them," which is an old 50s B-movie, and "The Crawling Eye" and "Pumpkinhead," so songs like this are just taken from horror that we really like and wanted to comment about. The first album, American Psycho, was written musically first and vocally second. Famous Monsters was written vocally first and musically second. We kind of had to create it around the image, so it was done in reverse.

Cosmik: An October release slides it into the bins just in time for Halloween. Was it planned that way?

Only: Yeah, that was why we got into big arguments at the beginning of the year, because I had said "we'll worry about our songwriting after Christmas," because during Christmas you can't get much done. So at the first of the year everybody was still being a little lackadaisical about showing up and getting the job done, and I started screaming. I said "hey look, if we don't get in the studio by April, we're gonna miss an October release, and we might as well wait a whole year and take our time, if that's the case. So everybody showed up and got the job done, and it wound up working out well.

Cosmik: In the studio by April for an October release?

Only: You actually have to plan far in advance to have an October release.

Cosmik: You did good, because the album's a blast. I actually like it better than American Psycho.

Only: Oh, I do too! I almost had to quit the business because I made a promise that if the next album wasn't as good as the one before, that would be it. I wasn't gonna let this band get lazy and slip into oblivion. You know how a lot of bands come out great on the first album and then just slip down hill? We're not allowed to do that. We have to get better every time.

Cosmik: You keep calling this the second album but you've made God knows how many in 23 years. You really do consider this a new band without Glen Danzig, don't you?

Only: Oh yeah, pretty much. The situation is that we're trying to make a statement going into the year 2000. What we were saying back in the 70s and early 80s, I mean it's still fun stuff, but I think we've improved. I think we've come up a notch and taken it to where it needs to be to be in striking distance from the top. This isn't really about money, it's about being the best at writing great music and being able to go out and deliver. Our goal is to be number one, and I think that the music is on its way. But don't forget, the music really goes back to the 50s. It's very 1950s rock and roll oriented. We're like a 50s band that was buried alive for forty years and just came back to haunt you all. I think our subject matter and melodies and riffs are kind of timeless. I listened to bands when I was in high school that nobody has even heard of today. I say bands like Mott The Hoople and people say "who the hell was that?!" Things come and go, but we've been around 23 years, shooting for 25 real soon. The goal is to remain credible and still have something to say after all that time, for people to still look upon it and respect it and draw from it. It shows a lot of integrity, and a lot of growing up, musically, and after we lost Glen that's what we really needed to do. To put the past behind us and really start from scratch. I think that having four people work on writing the songs is so much stronger than one.

Cosmik: Are there any plans to release those as singles down the road so everyone can get them?

Only: Oh yeah, we're thinking about repackaging the entire album, because we were on the road most of the time the artwork was getting done, and if you read the back you'll see I was in charge of the artwork, so I guess a lot of it is my fault. But the situation was, for the band to keep going, we had to get out there and work and keep things moving. So we may repackage the whole thing for the second pressing. With the bonus tracks what happened was that we thought we had one song that was too much on the metal side for our American audience. We didn't want to drop that in there and then have people review our album and say "well you've got this one metal song in the middle of the whole thing!" So we gave that to the Japanese kids because they're into it and they'd appreciate it. We had a different track for Europe, too. The thing there is they're really into digipaks there, and the digipaks have totally different artwork on the inside. We added one track that was left off the [American] album for continuity. The album is like a statement from beginning to end. If you listen to American Psycho, we have a big intro called "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," which was actually used by El Vampiro [Canadienese] of the WCW for his entry into the ring. That's someone we're hopefully going to be working with. Now on the new album we have not just an intro but also an outro. It's called "Kong At The Gates." That was actually the beginning of a song called Christ The Conqueror that was written back in 1987. It's funny, because in the late 80s, when we were in the gutter battling Glen and Caroline [Records] for our name, we wrote this great album of heavy metal riffs because we were building guitars. As we built guitars, we would sit back and write riffs to see how the guitars sounded. We said "well, we've got all these great riffs. What are we gonna do? Well, let's put it in an album," so we did. It's sort of like Iron Maiden meets The Misfits. It's something we did as a side project, but some of the stuff in there is really great, so we've been using pieces of it here and there in the writing of the last two albums, and probably the next one, too. Thing is, I'm looking to release that album eventually, and when I do it's going to be funny because people will sit back and listen and go "I know what that is! That's this part of THIS song!" It's funny. Music is a fun thing. Music is like an erector set. It's very personal and it's a good way to express yourself.

Cosmik:    The art for the album was done by Basil Gogos, which was very appropriate considering the album's title. What's the story behind that association?

Only: Basil was one of the first artists we appreciated, because he did the covers for [comic book] Famous Monsters when we were kids. So this album is actually our childhood dreams of being on the cover of Famous Monsters. They just had Gene Simmons and Alice Cooper on the covers, so they're getting into our time frame here. We're hoping to make the cover so we can just... rest in peace, let us say. And then a buddy of ours, Arturo Vega, did all the computer generated art on the inside. Have you seen that?

Cosmik: Yeah, it's great stuff!

Only: Isn't that great? He came up with the idea in his head. It wasn't something that he stumbled into. He actually went out and bought a computer just to make those things. He didn't know how to run it or anything. He just said "I have an idea, I'm going to go buy a computer and make these things for you." Arturo was one of the guys around for the beginning of The Ramones, because he and Dee Dee Ramone lived in the same apartment, and The Ramones' first gig was in his loft, which he still has. It's right around the corner from CBGB's. So Arturo worked with them for their whole career, doing their merchandising and lights, and he does lights for us now. So he's doing a lot of our graphic designs. I thought they were fantastic. I devoted half our artwork to it because I thought it was great.

Cosmik: And very powerful.

Only: And very now. I thought the most impressive thing was that when you looked at it, it said "2000." You know what I mean? I didn't say "Misfits 1978." That's something I draw away from. A lot of people say we use our past as a crutch, and believe me, we don't. I use the past as icing on what would really be a fantastic pound cake, you know? And we do have a great heritage, but we have about ten million kids who think The Misfits is like Metallica, so I have to re-educate an entire planet of children.


Cosmik: And then some of those same kids, metal kids, discovered punk through The Misfits.

Only: Yeah, well, then the other thing that was a problem for us was that by the time that was happening, Glenn [Danzig] was out there in the top 40 with "Mother." The whole meaning behind the band Christ The Conqueror was that Glen was out there doing all this dark, Satanic vibe music, and kids were hearing Metallica, looking for Misfits and finding Glen. It was bad enough they thought we were Metallica, but then they thought Glen was the band. But I think we've put most of that to rest. I think the toys'll do that. For example, we're working with the people that do The Mad Monster Party movie, and if you watch the end of that you'll see they're selling videos that have The Misfits doing "The Monster Mash." I also have a song called "Island Of Misfits Toys" that kind of goes along with Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and if I can get to kids at THAT age... (laughs). That's a really scary prospect, having The Misfits infiltrating the ranks of five year old kids, ain't it? Way before they even know what music is they'll know who we are. (Laughs.) That's a scary situation, but that's really the way I view our band. I think we're an American legend at this point, like the '57 Chevy, something that you look at and it has "American" written all over it.

Cosmik: Is this the single that [famous fantasy artist] Boris Vallejo is going to do the cover for?

Only: Boris was gonna do a cover called "The Forbidden Zone," which was like The Misfits meet The Planet Of The Apes. It was actually going to have a figure that looked like Doyle holding a girl, surrounded by fire. Because [in The Planet Of The Apes] the forbidden zone was an imaginary field of fire with all the monkeys burning. So we were going to have all the monkeys reaching for him, and if you remember the movie had the Statue Of Liberty in it, we're going to knock half her face off and put the Crimson Ghost skull beneath it. (Laughs.) So Boris is supposed to be doing that job, but he's dilly-dallying. I really wanted it to be the cover for the European release, because they're into a lot of metal over there. Here, metal's having a comeback, but over there it never went away. Boris paints very 80s Man-O-War heavy metal kind of painting that'll work very well in Europe, but I'm still waiting for him. I should actually call Boris after we're through talking. His kids are really cool. His step-kids. They come down to our shows, and his wife, Julie Bell, who is a beautiful lady. She's a model and she's also an artist. She used to be Boris' student. Thing is, Boris is a genius, so I don't want to lean on him. I want him to do what he's got to do to make it right. Twenty years after the thing comes out, Boris' painting will still be on posters and t-shirts, so let him take his time.

Cosmik: How amazing was that, getting to work with [legendary horror film director] George Romero?

Only: It was really great. He's the king of the zombies. I wish we would have had a bigger budget and more time to prepare. We really lucked out, because when we called to ask if he could do the job, he was making a movie that needed a punk band inside a club for the final scene. That was like a three day shoot to get our scene done, because there were like 500 extras there in Halloween costumes. They did a beautiful set-up for us, too. The deal was if we did his movie for him, he'd do our video.

Cosmik: An offer you can't refuse.

Only: What a deal! Any time I can trade my time for George Romero's, I'm gonna be psyched. We wrote two songs for his movie, and we wrote them in one day. We had a day and a half to record and a half day to mix. So we did a really good job busting out two songs in three days for his movie. For me, that's the future for this band, you know, doing soundtrack title songs and that sort of thing. For example, the song we're doing for the video is called "Scream." It was written for Wes Craven for Scream II, but Geffen decided not to pick up our option and we decided to get the hell out of there, so we never recorded it under their reign of terror. We missed Scream II, and so we're buckin' for Scream III.







From Misfits.com

"We wrote forty songs in three months!" the bassist proudly exclaims of the arduous work that went into Famous Monsters.