Idolator
When we first launched the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files—a section in which we spotlight songs that deserved to be bigger hits—we figured we'd wait a few weeks before pulling out the big guns. So now, as we near Idolator's one-month anniversary, let us present the song that inspired the whole CWS feature in the first place—a song which you absolutely need to hear:
Artist: Glenn Danzig And The Power And The Fury Orchestra
Song: "You & Me (Less Than Zero)"
Album: Less Than Zero soundtrack, 1987
What happened: The Rick Rubin-produced Zero collection has no shortage of stand-out tunes, from P.E.'s "Bring The Noise" to L.L.'s "Going Back To Cali" to the Bangles' "Hazy Shade Of Winter." With so many high-profile contributions, it's not surprising that Danzig's melodramatic ballad got overlooked, especially since most radio DJs and listeners mostly knew him only as the ex-lead singer of the punk band the Misfits—if they even knew him at all.
Why it should have been a hit: Even though Danzig is one of the more cartoonish frontmen in hard-rock history (a pretty spectacular achievement, especially when you consider some of his peers), the man can sing. "You And Me" sounds like Elvis at his most desperate, and when Danzig's voice is combined with that big string section, you'll find yourself nearly moved to tears by a big-muscled midget.
Glenn Danzig And The Power And The Fury Orchestra - You & Me (Less Than Zero) [MP3, link expired]
Comments
SO cool that you put this up. This soundtrack was actually the first CD I picked up when the family got a CD player for the first time -- had seen the film and wanted the music. I'd never heard of Danzig at all and I just remember thinking this was a pretty spectacular track on an album that had a lot of them (Bangles obv., but Poison doing Kiss, Slayer doing Iron Butterfly, Anthrax, Public Enemy!).
Danzig actually is kinda on the album twice -- he cowrote the Roy Orbison song "Life Fades Away," which I always figured was exactly where Rick Rubin first twigged to the eventual Johnny Cash blueprint of his.
(Wait, I said Anthrax; am on crack. That was later. ;-) )
Wasn't Danzig one of the guys, along with the Cult's Ian Astbury, pegged as an heir to Jim Morrison back in the late '80s, when all the kids were obsessing over No One Here Gets Out Alive?
Personally, I always classed him with Billy Idol in the tattooed-and-pierced-dude-who'd-secretly-do-a-mean-Bing Crosby category.
Not for nothing, Danzig 1 and Danzig 2; Lucky Fudge were AMAZING!. Wait when you said cartoonish did you mean cause he was on Aqua Teen Hunger?
I think Billy Idol doesn't take himself as seriously as Danzig does. So I guess I mean Billy isn't so secret about it.
I love the stuff he does when he goes outside of his "genre". Thirteen for Johnny Cash's first American Recordings album, awesome. Black Aria was great and had the added benefit of disturbing the roommates. I can't wait for Black Aria II to come out, it's time for my girlfriend to take her next step into my so-called dark musical tastes (she was a nice Catholic girl). The Rammstein videos aren't freaking her out any more.
Glen Danzig's real name is Scott Stapp
That photo is terrifying: For a second, I thought you put up a photo of my old college roommate. If you put a wig and a pleather shirt on him, he'd look JUST LIKE Glenn Danzig. He was always a big hit with the chicks at Goth Nite.
This is the bext thing Danzig's ever been a part of.
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