The Misfits - Collection I
(Plan 9 / Caroline)

The Misfits fall into that certain category of hugely influential bands that operated for a very brief amount of time. The amount of music that the band released during their initial lifespan and classic lineup is minute in comparison to what was released after their dissolution. It can be difficult to properly assess this sort of band as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Part in parcel to that are the posthumous compilations reusing material already released but with a new title, or discographies littered with alternate versions that lead to collectible frustrations. The good thing about the Misfits is, that you can never have too many versions of any of their music recorded from 1978-1983, because it is that good.  Their 1986 compilation Misfits, or what’s most commonly referred to as Collection I, is an essential album solely because it is an album by The Misfits, and everything they did is essential.  Period. These 20 tracks are furious, invigorating, cataclysmic bricks of terror and intensity that when stacked together, as they are here, form a borderline inhuman repertoire that has been rivaled by few if any. The iconography of the Misfits has had a lasting impact on pop culture for good reason. They are the perfect hybrid of all things that are subversive and subterranean. They are the spawn of decades of daring and usually terrifying art be it film, literature, or rock ‘n’ roll. The Misfits unapologetically reflected the art that quite clearly consumed their lives and in the process fused together film and music like no one had before them. And the pageantry of it all; the focus on their visual aesthetic is something that is usually seen as silly or kitschy, but not when you own it like The Misfits did. Dressing up like a nightmarish ghoul has never been such a serious thing. It's as if there simply was never another way around it. To think that the Fiend Club began as a DIY operation in the basement of Glenn Danzig's mothers house in Lodi, NJ, and would eventually cement itself firmly into the pop culture lexicon ever since, is a testament to the power of the music. Since they first disbanded in 1983 they have re-emerged with various line ups for better or for worse, but Misfits Collection 1 serves as an essential artifact in the history of Punk Rock and here at the shop, we are confident that it will always be this way. (Adam)
Check out a track here.