Arthur Googy: Setting the Record Straight
"IrishPitBull NYC" posted the following comment in response to what I wrote about Misfits drummer Arthur Googy in the Artoo Zombies experiment:
"Kid you have it wrong about Arthur Googy from the Misfits... Danzig was a Closet Nazi loser that disowned his whole band in 83 and hated arthur for telling him to stop contolling the money he gave to band members. Your information is based on pathetic rumor and regarding the commercials that is also wrong. Before posting nformation that you recive from unverifiable resources, try finding out what actually occured and consider Danzig's reputation for being a controlling bastard that left his band with all the rights and didn't allow Jerry to use the name until over a decade later and many law suits. Googy was the best Drummer the Misfits ever had and considering he worked on their best alnum "walk Among Us" and 12 Hits from Hell, he deserves more respect."
First of all, let me apologize for not making it more clear that the cheeseburger and auto-fellatio stories attached to Arthur Googy have never been proven to be stone cold fact. I thought that was conveyed in the manner I presented them, but apparently not.
For the record, the cheeseburger story has been documented on several respected Misfits websites, including the most respected of them all, Mark Kennedy's MisfitsCentral.com. Outside of the people who were in the band, Mark is pretty much the ultimate authority on the Misfits. If it appears on his site (which the cheeseburger story does, under the "4/15/82" entry of his timeline, citing a Jerry Only interview as its source), I'm inclined to believe it. That is, I'm inclined to believe that, according to Jerry Only, the Misfits got into an argument at a McDonald's on April 15, 1982, over how many cheeseburgers Arthur was allowed to have. I'm not inclined to believe this is the exact reason Arthur quit the band.
The self-fellatio rumor was something I got from the extensive Wikipedia article about the Misfits; mysteriously, it has been edited since June 27, 2006, and all theories as to why Arthur Googy left the band have been excised. It should be noted, however, that the Arthur Googy Wiki entry claims the drummer left the band because of "Danzig's controlling scum behavior."
I don't know what to make of that, but I can tell you that the original Misfits Wiki article stated that the rumor was based on a letter Danzig had written to a friend at the time which mentioned in passing Googy's alleged desire to fellate himself. After reading that, I remembered seeing that very letter scanned in and posted on a Danzig/Misfits website a long time ago; again, this is not conclusive evidence. The existence of said letter only proves that Googy may have once expressed the desire to suck his own dick and that displeased Danzig. It is no smoking gun proving that Goog was tossed because Danzig thought he was "sick" (my quotes, not Danzig's).
I will admit that I did not do any fact-checking regarding Arthur's commercial appearances. A Google seach for "Arthur Googy Burger King" brought up the timeline at OneThirtyEight.com, which was adapted from the MisfitsCentral.com timeline. It shows that sometime in 1984, "Arthur appeared in a Levi's commercial and may later have done a Burger King commercial (as stated by Bobby in 'Punk Floyd')." So the BK ad isn't confirmed. That's one thing I was wrong on, and I apologize.
I have been a fan of the Misfits for many years, and that certainly includes the contributions of Arthur Googy. His powerful style helped mold the band's classic sound, and I have often tried to emulate that style myself in my own musical projects. I respect him as a musician and as a person; he could have easily cashed in on his status as an ex-Misfit years ago, but chose not to. He's remained (happily?) missing in action from the punk scene for years now, living somewhere in New York and steering clear of all Misfits-related activities.
I should know; for a brief period in the late nineties, I was obsessed with tracking Arthur Googy down and interviewing him in an attempt to clear up all the rumors and get his side of the story. Despite the numerous privacy-violating technologies that were at my disposal, the task was impossible. Arthur Googy was too slippery to get a hold of.
Again, I apologize if it seemed like I was besmirching Arthur's name in the "Artoo Zombies" experiment or taking shots at him. I wasn't. I was just relaying what I thought were interesting stories concerning his departure from the Misfits. While I have reason to believe "IrishPitBull NYC" may be none other than the Goog himself, there's no reason not to believe he's just a rabid 'Fits fan whose sick of all the spin surrounding some of the more respectable former members. I can appreciate that. Here's to you, "Irish," whomever you are.
"Kid you have it wrong about Arthur Googy from the Misfits... Danzig was a Closet Nazi loser that disowned his whole band in 83 and hated arthur for telling him to stop contolling the money he gave to band members. Your information is based on pathetic rumor and regarding the commercials that is also wrong. Before posting nformation that you recive from unverifiable resources, try finding out what actually occured and consider Danzig's reputation for being a controlling bastard that left his band with all the rights and didn't allow Jerry to use the name until over a decade later and many law suits. Googy was the best Drummer the Misfits ever had and considering he worked on their best alnum "walk Among Us" and 12 Hits from Hell, he deserves more respect."
First of all, let me apologize for not making it more clear that the cheeseburger and auto-fellatio stories attached to Arthur Googy have never been proven to be stone cold fact. I thought that was conveyed in the manner I presented them, but apparently not.
For the record, the cheeseburger story has been documented on several respected Misfits websites, including the most respected of them all, Mark Kennedy's MisfitsCentral.com. Outside of the people who were in the band, Mark is pretty much the ultimate authority on the Misfits. If it appears on his site (which the cheeseburger story does, under the "4/15/82" entry of his timeline, citing a Jerry Only interview as its source), I'm inclined to believe it. That is, I'm inclined to believe that, according to Jerry Only, the Misfits got into an argument at a McDonald's on April 15, 1982, over how many cheeseburgers Arthur was allowed to have. I'm not inclined to believe this is the exact reason Arthur quit the band.
The self-fellatio rumor was something I got from the extensive Wikipedia article about the Misfits; mysteriously, it has been edited since June 27, 2006, and all theories as to why Arthur Googy left the band have been excised. It should be noted, however, that the Arthur Googy Wiki entry claims the drummer left the band because of "Danzig's controlling scum behavior."
I don't know what to make of that, but I can tell you that the original Misfits Wiki article stated that the rumor was based on a letter Danzig had written to a friend at the time which mentioned in passing Googy's alleged desire to fellate himself. After reading that, I remembered seeing that very letter scanned in and posted on a Danzig/Misfits website a long time ago; again, this is not conclusive evidence. The existence of said letter only proves that Googy may have once expressed the desire to suck his own dick and that displeased Danzig. It is no smoking gun proving that Goog was tossed because Danzig thought he was "sick" (my quotes, not Danzig's).
I will admit that I did not do any fact-checking regarding Arthur's commercial appearances. A Google seach for "Arthur Googy Burger King" brought up the timeline at OneThirtyEight.com, which was adapted from the MisfitsCentral.com timeline. It shows that sometime in 1984, "Arthur appeared in a Levi's commercial and may later have done a Burger King commercial (as stated by Bobby in 'Punk Floyd')." So the BK ad isn't confirmed. That's one thing I was wrong on, and I apologize.
I have been a fan of the Misfits for many years, and that certainly includes the contributions of Arthur Googy. His powerful style helped mold the band's classic sound, and I have often tried to emulate that style myself in my own musical projects. I respect him as a musician and as a person; he could have easily cashed in on his status as an ex-Misfit years ago, but chose not to. He's remained (happily?) missing in action from the punk scene for years now, living somewhere in New York and steering clear of all Misfits-related activities.
I should know; for a brief period in the late nineties, I was obsessed with tracking Arthur Googy down and interviewing him in an attempt to clear up all the rumors and get his side of the story. Despite the numerous privacy-violating technologies that were at my disposal, the task was impossible. Arthur Googy was too slippery to get a hold of.
Again, I apologize if it seemed like I was besmirching Arthur's name in the "Artoo Zombies" experiment or taking shots at him. I wasn't. I was just relaying what I thought were interesting stories concerning his departure from the Misfits. While I have reason to believe "IrishPitBull NYC" may be none other than the Goog himself, there's no reason not to believe he's just a rabid 'Fits fan whose sick of all the spin surrounding some of the more respectable former members. I can appreciate that. Here's to you, "Irish," whomever you are.
posted by james at 4:40 PM
2 Comments:
This was posted quite a few years ago, but I am friends with Artie Googy...if you wanted to get ahold of him I'm sure you could do it.
My name is Larry the first drummer for The Misfits. Arthur googy. Was the best drummer The Misfits ever had I know personally how hard this man worked to get where he is and was that man had his drum set in my basement for over a year and played it every single day he had some Style the man was Destin and driven to be in a band personally know how hard this man worked to get where he is and proved it where did his first two LPS with the Misfits never the same after he left the man is brilliant and carved out his own way by hard work dedication and a love absolutely love for music. Rock on my friend Rock on
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