Glenn Danzig's 1990 Book Collection: Pure Evil

Def American Recordings released this in 1990.Danzig appears on a VHS collection of his music videos., a VHS collection ofmusic videos and live recordingsThis includes Glenn Danzig's self-titled band. The video shows interviews with band members. One clip features Danzig showing off some favorite books from his large collection.

During this interviewDanzig describes “various books on [mortality and] the anthropology of evil.” Danzig grins like a teenager while talking about werewolves, angels, and Jesus taking lives.

The lo-fi black and white footage shows the singer kneeling by a bookshelf near a fireplace. It is hard to see what happens next.Rolling StoneRolling Stone visited Danzig's home in 1994 and revealed he lived in a haunted house.

The library room held stuffed wolves and an unopened box of Count Chocula cereal. The magazine noted that besides the listed books, Danzig’s shelves heldThe Anthropology of EvilandCeremonial Magic.

The first book Danzig points to in the video interview isThe Werewolf in Lore and LegendbyMontague Summers, a 20th-century author and clergyman who studied English drama and the supernatural. Danzig describesThe Werewolfas a book with “all documented, all true” werewolf sightings.

The video shows Danzig recalling his favorite story of a werewolf emerging from a clearing and shaking a baby in its mouth. Danzig calls the tale “pretty cool” and “the kind of stuff I like to read.”

One book Danzig is proud of isThe Occult Roots of Nazismby Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. This book examines the dark origins of the racist and nationalist ideas that filled the group's ideology. While showing the book, Danzig chuckles and says, "Every school child should have this book," adding, "You learn a lot from this one."

In a 1994 interview withRolling Stone, Danzig claimed his comment about school children was sarcastic but defended himself:

If a book is published, it has knowledge. If you let your bias interfere, you miss it. If I hunted despots, I would read this book. If someone says that book is politically incorrect, I basically say, "F*ck you." If you tell me what book to read or not read, who is the fascist?

Danzig’s third choice from his shelf is Rutherford H. Platt'sThe Lost Books of the Bible, a collection of English translationsof stories left out of the Bible. Danzig really likes a tale where a young Jesus kills a child who criticizes him for working on the Sabbath after bringing clay figures to life.

Danzig states the stories in this book contain “stuff most churches wouldn't want you to know about.”

The final bookDanzig pulls from his collection a dictionary listing every angel's names and duties. He hides the book's title but explains what readers find inside.

Danzig states the book contains "the angels, their names, the days they preside over, the hours, what their functions are."

Danzig collects obscure books on werewolves, angels, and the occult. He also loves comic books. In 1994, he started his comic book publishing company, Verotik established a comic book publishing company.. Verotik.Verotik publishes adult-oriented horror comics.It publishes comics.

Danzig explained inan interview:

As a kid, Danzig liked comic books, not just American ones. He likes European and Japanese comics too. He felt frustrated by American comics, which he thought were only for kids and geeks. He started his own company to make different, harsh, suggestive comics instead of complaining.

Tour time is tough. Most of your day involves waiting for an hour to get on stage, then it ends. Unlike other rock stars, Danzig prefers reading over bars or seeking groupies.

In 2010,Danzig toldVicethat at music venues, "I get my own back area where people stay away from me." When he stays in a town long, he is "always reading or going to bookstores."

Danzig has varied tastes. Speaking with Rolling Stonein 1994, he mentioned he loves Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, and Charles Bukowski.

Danzig is not seen as a scholar, even though he is well-read and owns a publishing company. While talking about the research for his 2006 album, Black Aria II, with The A.V. Club, he explained:

I read a lot. I have always read a lot. I am finishing my library at home. I have many books. Fans know this, but few media people do. I probably know more than most authorities. That is where I come from. That is part of who I am.

Danzig's vice is his addiction to printed words. While some rock stars spend money on drugs and guitars, this heavy metal legend buys books. He told Invisible Oranges"I get books every week. I have so many books, dude."

One of his favorite books isOne Foot in Atlantisby William Henry. He said,One Foot in Atlantisis not what you think. It covers the real reasons for World War II and things like the Vril power, which is the destructive sound power made from nothing—what Tesla, Edison, Eisenhower, and Hitler sought to develop."

Danzig loves reading but does not want to write a book about his life. In 2013, he told The Quietus:

A couple of years ago, someone asked me to write a Danzig autobiography, but I dislike that kind of tell-all writing. Recently, I found a great Johnny Cash book. It contained many pictures of him with people, plus small stories attached—ticket stubs, posters, and that sort of material. I want to do something like that. I want a pictorial history. We are putting that together now, using old photos, flyers, and various stories. Words and pictures interest me more. I do not like just words alone.