Danzig (album) - Music and Recording

Music and Recording

Danzig was recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios and Chung King Metal, and mixed at Smoke Tree and Village.

The song "Mother", retitled as "Mother '93" and with live audience overdubs, became a hit on radio and MTV in 1993-94 after a new video-single with live footage was created to mark its inclusion on Thrall: Demonsweatlive. The song was also later included on various hard rock/heavy metal/alternative music compilations, and featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, True Crime: New York City, the Guitar Hero series, and F.E.A.R. 3.

Glenn Danzig originally wrote the songs "Twist of Cain" and "Possession" for his previous band, Samhain. Lyrically, "Twist of Cain" is inspired by the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Guitarist John Christ described the recording of "Twist of Cain": “We started writing that song even before Biscuits joined the band. At first we started recording it in G, then at the last minute we decided that A was better. We kept the drum tracks as they were and re-recorded the guitars, bass and vocals. Not many people know this, but James Hetfield (of Metallica) came down and recorded some backing vocals on that track.” Hetfield also recorded backing vocals on "Possession", however, due to contractual reasons he could not be credited in the album insert. A backwards piano track is used during the intro to "Possession".

John Christ has described "She Rides" as “Our first sex song...it's such a stripped-down song, just a couple of guitar tracks and almost no bass. "She Rides" probably has the best vocal performance on the album, though. There are also some really weird background noises and moaning sounds on it.”

While the album's liner notes expressly state "All songs written by Glenn Danzig", the song "The Hunter" was written by Booker T. & the M.G.'s and Carl Wells. Originally recorded by Albert King, the Danzig version of the song only features slightly modified lyrics.