“Al Gore wanted to tell people what they could listen to and what they couldn’t…it was basically coming down to the idea that he wouldn’t let anybody record any music that he didn’t think you should be doing. There was going to be an organization that would tell you what you could and couldn’t record. And certainly if you couldn’t record it, you couldn’t put it out. It was really fascist.”

— Glenn Danzig, on the inspiration for Mother

There’s been a lot of debate about what Glenn Danzig is singing about in Mother.  Some people think that the song is supposed to be pro-Satanist, even though Danzig himself has said that he’s not a Satanist and is merely interested in the occult.  Others think that the song is sung from the point of view of a teenager who is warning his parents that he has decided to reject their values and embrace his evil side.

More likely, the song is exactly what Danzig has often said it is.  It was a song written to protest the 80s push by Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center to have the government step in and regulate music.  The “mother” that Danzig is singing to was probably Tipper herself.

The above video was the second one for Mother, hence why it’s called Mother ’93.  It features live footage of the band performing at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California.  At around the same time this video was in rotation on MTV, Glenn Danzig was invited to audition for the role of Wolverine in one of the early attempts to make an X-Men film.  Danzig, who had the right look for the role, had to turn down the opportunity due to scheduling conflicts.

This video also inspired a classic line from Beavis and Butt-Head: “That little dance isn’t very cool.”

Enjoy!