Christian Death, skating and blacking out in Van Nuys

RIP Eight Ball

Rozz Williams was my God.

Rozz Williams with Jesus on his mind. Image taken from here.

An obscure, gay, once-upon-a-time Satanic, problematic, shock-rocker, Nazi-imagery-obsessed God.

Out of all the music I’ve ever listened to—all the groups of all genres, from hip hop to corridos to black metal and punk—Rozz Williams and all of his musical projects remain my favorites. Especially Christian Death.

Here, have a listen.

I first heard Christian Death when I was in high school—if memory serves me correct, which often doesn’t, I was either a junior or senior. Unfortunately, I never got to see him play since he died shortly after I found out about him—suicide by hanging, on April 1, 1998. Evidently, up until the last breath, he was a brutal troll.

As all of my 739820984709 subscribers know well, I was a punk. But with a darker slant, preferring the darker side of punk like TSOL and the Misfits, as well as darker metal like Mayhem and Cradle of Filth and goth groups like Sisters of Mercy and Bauhaus.

But after finding Christian Death, I quickly became obsessed. They were just the right amount of punk. But they also had something special and original—not (too) campy and slightly heavier and more guitar-driven than the dancier, fancier goth stuff.

I hungered for anything to do with Rozz. Shadow Project. Daucus Karota. His work with Gitane Demone. His spoken word CDs. His experimental stuff like Premature Ejaculation, Heltir and EXP.

Everywhere I went, if I had the chance, I’d have my earphones and Discman (you know, that portable device for playing music from compact discs—or CDs for short). Even skating.

Second to Rozz, skateboarding was my God.