Credit: Dangerous Minds / Album Cover

You could never in a million years write that the birth name of GG Allin was Jesus Christ.

It’s just one of the many ways that the truth is stranger than fiction. Allin was born to an abusive religious fanatic who claimed that Christ himself had visited him and said that his next-born son would be a great man, one created in the image of the saviour himself. Thus, when his son arrived, he named him Jesus Christ Allin. His older brother Merle couldn’t quite get the hang of his first name, simply pronouncing the first syllable twice and thus, the man born Jesus Christ Allin found his iconic stage name.

For as much of a waste of space GG Allin was, his father was a complete monster. A violent bully who kept his family in a log cabin in rural New Hampshire with no running water or electricity, Allin was convinced that his father was going to murder him and his family one day. Presumably because of all the times that his father dug graves for each member of his family in the basement of their house, showed them to them and swore that he would bury them there sooner rather than later.

Anyone would develop into a troubled teen and an even more troubled adult, and GG Allin was no different. School was obviously a traumatic experience, but he found a small amount of solace in rock ‘n’ roll music. Thus, when school finished, there was only one thing he wanted to do: get a band together and emulate his heroes. He wasn’t particularly talented, but that’s not much of an issue; very few people are when they start out.

The big problem was Allin himself. At the first sign of pushback from an audience not down with his terrible, terrible music, Allin would flip into a violent rage. Ironically, this became the reason why people went to see his band and thus, the GG Allin we know and slightly pity was born.

So, what was the last show of GG Allin like?

GG Allin became more known for fighting, bleeding and shitting onstage than he ever was for his so-called music. This should have made him a counter-cultural icon, but the truth is that he made more money from playing up the image of the insane, dangerous punk rocker on talk shows than he ever did from playing live. He was a pantomime villain more than he ever was a musician, but God knows that works on people and, like the man he was named after, he exhibited a disturbingly strong hold over his followers.

The best example of this is his last ever gig, at New York City’s Gas Station club on June 27th, 1993. Allin was playing with his band, The Murder Junkies; according to reports, it was one of the best they played in a long time.

For the three songs, it lasted before Allin started fighting the audience members. The brawl spilt out of the club, and the gig was fully abandoned as Allin led a small gang of punks around the block like a blood-stained pied piper, smashing cars, threatening passers by and shedding clothes.

The cops eventually showed up, and the party split, moving from the streets to the apartment of the promoter of the show, who, for some reason, still wanted anything to do with GG Allin after that (thankfully not literal) shit-show. Perhaps he should have been carted off to the cells, though, because at that party, he overdosed on heroin and died the following morning.

Turns out, if you live without any regard for your wellbeing or anyone else’s, you don’t live long. Who knew.