By Thomas LeClair
Movie Critic
tj!l9l @psu.edu
Twenty years after Star Wars
was originally released,
writer/director George Lucas re
released the trilogy in theaters.
With new scenes, improved visu
al effects, and a digital sound
track, this was believed to be
Lucas’s definitive version of the
Star Wars trilogy. Now the trilo
gy has been released on DVD.
However, Lucas improved the
visuals yet again before this
release.
As a result of this DVD release,
a debate arose concerning the
visual effects. One argument
says that since this is George
Lucas’ series, he should be able
to show the films in his own way.
The other argument says that
these films can stand alone with
out these "improvements” and
that Lucas should have left them
alone.
I spoke to Catherine Rios, a
Humanities professor specializ
ing in film, about this issue, and
she felt filming on sound stages
is still the way to make films. She
also believed that computer gen
erated imagery is just a tool to
use in film making as opposed to
the style of filming. Rios
explained what the purpose of
these technical designers were,
“They are motivated to achieve
a certain effect in film. They have
a job to make films look more
realistic,” she said.
The answer that was given to
the question on whether it is right
Murder Junkies front man takes place of brother, G.G. Allin
By John Fox
Staff Reporter
jtfls3@psu.edu
The Murder Junkies are an
old school punk band that has
been around since the 80's.
They achieved legendary sta
tus through the hard-living
lifestyle that was embodied by
their late lead singer, G.G.
Allin. G.G., who died in 1993 of
a heroin overdose, was unmis
takably the most aggressive
and threatening performer in
rock-n-roll history. He would
often perform naked, covered
only in his own blood, and fre
quently assaulted his own
audience. G.G.’s antics were
chronicled by numerous home
videos of performances and
backstage mayhem.
One man that was a constant
in G.G.’s life was his brother
and Murder Junkies bassist
Merle Allin. Merle made the
uneasy decision to go on with
the band after G.G.’s death.
Although going through several
different singers over the years,
the Murder Junkies have contin
ued to spread the gospel that
G.G. started and have proved
to stay true to their old school
punk roots. Merle talked with
me at length about life after
G.G. and current punk culture.
For years, scensters have
debated whether or not punk
rock is truly dead. Like many
veterans of the scene, Merle
strikes a perfect balance of cyn
icism and honesty in revealing
his view on the issue.
“I think it’s been dead for a
long time,” says Merle. “I don’t
even know what they call punk
anymore. It’s just a bunch of
shit. Today’s kids didn’t grow up
with that in-your-face aggres
sive punk rock. Everything is so
mainstream now. There aren’t
many bands out there anymore
with that old school sound like
us. The main reason we are still
around is because the scene
Star Wars CGI: A NEW HOPE for fans
for a director to go back to his
completed film and change the
sound and visual effects was, “A
film is a story. The director
guides the story. When Lucas
first made Star Wars, the effects
at the time were not available so
it is perfectly legitimate to go
back and make the improve
ments,” said Rios. She said in
this case, everything in the story
was merely enhanced, the story
was not re-written. “However,”
Rios added, “If the changes are
colorization of a black and white
film, or changes corporations
want to make to the [finished]
film, then it is a big no.”
The DVD trilogy is the special
edition that was in theaters in
1997, with improvements made
on top of that version. In Episode
IV, which is the first film in this
trilogy, Lucas’ visual effects team
at Industrial Light & Magic only
made a couple of improvements.
In one of the most controversial
changes to the film, Han Solo,
played by Harrison Ford, shoots
the bounty hunter Greedo, after
Greedo shoots and misses Solo.
In the DVD, this scene was
altered to have the two of them
fire simultaneously with Solo
emerging victoriously. The other
noticeable change to Episode IV
was smoothing the walking of
Jabba the Hutt in his scene with
Solo.
In Episode V, or more common
ly referred to as The Empire
Strikes Back, again only a couple
of changes were made. The first
change placed lan McDiarmid
back into the Emperor role that
he had in Episodes I, 11, 111, IV,
and VI. In the original release
they filmed another person an
dubbed the voice. Now,
McDiarmid returns along with a
few extra lines not heard in the
sucks so badly. We have to
make it exciting again.”
Old Murder Junkie fans will be
pleased to know that Dino the
Naked Drummer is still with the
band and as naked as ever.
Merle says that Dino keeps a
pair of pink panties on reserve
for when the occasional club
owner threatens to shut a show
down in protest.
Of all the Murder Junkies front
men since G.G., Merle admits
that none of them ever attempt
ed to recreate the insanity that
G.G. was famous to perpetuate.
After reminiscing about some of
G.G.’s more disturbing onstage
behavior, such as ingesting his
own defecation and urine
onstage, I ask Merle if today’s
Murder Junkies shows come
close to the carnage of old.
“There’s still a lot of blood,”
says Merle. “A lot of the insani
ty at the shows now is more
with the people in the crowd.
There’s always aggressive peo
ple and fights breaking out in
the crowd, but we’re not like
G.G. Our singer doesn't get out
there and punch people like
G.G. did. I think the music itself
is all it takes anymore. We like
to pump people up and watch
them get into a fight for a
change.”
With G.G. at the helm, back
stage at a Murder Junkies show
was equally as intense as the
performance itself. G.G. would
often humiliate groupies in
ways that would make Led
Zeppelin's legendary acts of
female exploitation look like a
Sunday-school gathering. One
instance of depravity that was
caught on video had G.G.
inserting a turkey baster full of
beer in a groupie’s rectum and
then drinking it as it spewed
back out. I ask Merle if these
antics are still present at Murder
Junkies shows.
“Shit still happens, but not
quite to the extreme as it did
with G.G.,” says Merle. “Most of
original release. The other
change takes out Luke
Skywalker’s scream as he falling
down Cloud City at the climax of
the film.
For the last film of the trilogy,
Episode VI, Return of the Jedi,
the only change made is also
the only change made to the tril
ogy that has the most potential
for negative connotations. In the
original ending of Jedi, Luke
looks over to see the spirits of
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and his
father, Anakin Skywalker. In the
original, Anakin was played by
Sebastian Shaw however in the
DVD, Hayden Christensen, who
plays Anakin Skywalker in the
current trilogy being made by
Lucas, replaces him.
These are all only minor
changes made to the trilogy, but
fans of the trilogy will argue that
Lucas should have kept the trilo
gy the way in was originally
released. The same arguments
were made when the special edi
tion of the trilogy was released.
These “improvements” to the
DVD enhance the story more
than the original celluloid frames
yet the argument is actually
valid. Why keep making changes
and improvements to works that
already hold it’s own?
The answer that can be given is
with the rapidly changing possi
bilities in visual effects, if the
improvements Lucas makes cre
ates a “definitive” version, then
fans and film lovers alike should
take into consideration this is the
version Lucas wanted to show.
An interesting footnote to this
story, Lucas has also released a
“definitive” version of his first film
THX 1138 on DVD, and this film
also has improvements to the
sound and visual effects.
the people that come to our
shows never had a chance to
see G.G. and they probably did
n’t even hear of him until after
he died. We still have our hard
core older fans that come out,
but our crowd is now mixed.
Now we get all these young
kids. They really don’t have the
expectations that somebody
who had seen G.G. do. We’re
still wilder than anything they’ve
ever seen.”
Understandably, this kind of
behavior got the Murder
Junkies blacklisted from entire
cities for years at a time. They
Photo courtesy of Murder Junkies
only recently have been once
again permitted to play shows
in New York City, after an 11
year ban. Merle admits there
are still some NYC clubs, like
CBGB’s, that refuse to lift the
ban.
Conditioned by comparatively
tame and safe acts such as
Blink 182 and Good Charlotte,
Merle is convinced that the kids
in today’s punk scene are ill
equipped to handle a performer
such as G.G.
“If G.G. were still alive today
he would still be as hated as he
Entertainment
Photo courtesy of google.com
ever was and he wouldn’t be
nearly as popular as he is,”
says Merle. “The only reason
that G.G. is so popular is
because he’s dead.”
Since G.G.’s passing, there
have been a few imitators to the
throne. Merle expresses noth
ing but contempt for a particular
imposter who’s gender-bending
message of self-hate and faux
devil worship mesmerized
teenage consumers in the mid
90’s.
“Take guys like Marilyn
Manson,” says Merle. “All that
shit he was doing in the 90’s
G.G. was doing back in the
80’s. Manson was a bunch of
corporate bullshit. People were
shocked when they saw Marilyn
Manson rip a bible. Well, I saw
G.G. rip a bible, wipe his ass
with it, then burn it back in
1988. Where was Marilyn
Manson then?”
Predictably, our conversation
shifts towards the morning G.G.
died, after the now famous Gas
Station show in New York City.
Merle talks about the moment
he found out of his brother’s
death and reveals intimate
details about his reaction and
the days following.
“I found out about it that morn
ing,” says Merle of his brother’s
untimely death. “Apparently he
died around 5 or 6 in the morn
ing and they found him just
before 9AM. They called me
right away. I raced out the door,
hopped in a cab, and was
downtown in minutes. I was in a
daze; half-asleep. I was in
shock and didn’t know what to
think. I thought it could be a
joke but I knew it wasn’t. I could
just tell this time. I had received
that call many times before in
the 80’s. People would call me
and say ‘I heard G.G. was dead’
or ‘I heard G.G. died on tour’.
But, I knew this time it was seri
ous. It was like a dream or
nightmare. I had to identify the
body. I looked at him on the
floor and I got mad. I had so
many emotions racing through
my head that it was almost too
hard to comprehend. I had to go
to the police station and fill out
reports. After that, I had to deal
with the press. I was on the
phone forever just talking to the
The Capital Times
press. My phone didn’t stop
ringing for months. I made all
the funeral plans and called
everybody around the world
that G.G. would have wanted at
his funeral. Having so much to
do probably kept me from
breaking down.”
Following G.G.’s death, the
home videos of the Murder
Junkies shows began to circu
late in the underground faster
than ever and the true legend of
G.G. Allin began to take shape.
Filmmaker Todd Phillips pro
duced the film “Hated”, a huge
ly popular documentary of the
life and death of G.G.
Merle expressed that the great
moments he had with G.G.
were too numerous to pin down
a favorite. He talks in general
terms about some of the bands
crazier moments.
“There were memorable times
being chased from clubs,” says
Merle. “One time we were in
this van with smashed in win
dows and a flat tire racing down
the road as 2 or 3 carloads of
angry kids chased us. There
were some really scary times
when we feared for our life. We
used to have to park in an alley
behind a gig so we could sneak
out the back door to avoid all
the kids who wanted to kill
G.G.”
Merle said that the Murder
Junkies are gearing up for a
U.S. tour in November and plan
to put out a CD early next year.
Merle is also busy serving as
the official retailer of all authen
tic G.G. Allin merchandise and
manages G.G.’s website,
www.ggallin.com.
Merle says that the Murder
Junkies will keep pumping out
that classic old school punk
sound until they all get sick of
each other. You can check out
tour dates on the Murder
Junkies website, which Merle
also manages, at www.murder
junkies.com.