Founding Misfits member Glenn Danzig and almost-original Jerry Only are embroiled in an ugly lawsuit over the dissemination of profits from a mind-blowing range of merchandise bearing the band's iconic skull logo and other related imagery.
As Re-Tox initially reported – and a listing on intellectual-property database RFC Express confirms – Danzig has filed suit against Only, claiming he was deliberately cut out of being party to a much-publicised deal in 2000 between Only and several US merchandisers, including – most notoriously – trendy chain store Hot Topic.
As a result, the former frontman is suing the Misfits bassist for, he says, breaching a contract – which dates as far back as 1994 – that awarded equal ownership of Misfits-related intellectual property, including the famous skull, to Only, Danzig and at least one other unnamed party.
Of course, the grand irony here – like a Che Guevara shirt being hawked at Jay Jay's – is the Misfits built their entire brand on anti-establishmentarian punk rock ideals, and yet Danzig's major complaint seems to be that he's missed out on all this sweet cash that Only has made for himself by shilling out the band's IP, rather than that it exists in the first place – an especially disappointing development when you consider the unbelievable volume of tacky products Only has seen fit to adorn with the Misfits' name and logo.
Danzig maintains he is solely responsible for the success of the band, which he founded in early 1977 before recruiting Only and enjoying six years of punk rock trailblazin' before departing in 1983 to pursue other projects, most notably his eponymous band, Danzig.
The Misfits released their most recent album, The Devil's Rain, in 2011. Danzig's latest, Deth Red Sabaoth, came out one year earlier.
Check out the video for Dig Up Her Bones, the first single released by the reformed Misfits, in 1997, following the band's first dissolution in 1983, below:
