When Danny Punched Danzig

Comments (0) By Serene Dominic Thursday, Jul 22 2004

When Dan Stone took his video camera to film the North Side Kings' July 3 show in Tuba City, he hadn't counted on capturing heavy-metal history.

Two hits: Danny Marianino (left) takes on the son of Lucifer.

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The Valley hardcore band didn't get to play because Danzig, the headliner, went on at 10 p.m. instead of the originally scheduled midnight slot -- Danzig's crew even removed an opening band's gear from the stage while the musicians were still tuning up -- and no bands were allowed to play after his set. So NSK lead singer Danny Marianino waited backstage in a line of autograph seekers to confront Danzig.

Stone says, "On the videotape, you see the two men conversing calmly until Danny says, 'We drove six hours to play here.' Then Danzig snaps, shouts, 'Fuck you, motherfucker,' and shoves Danny out of camera view." Marianino, a hefty guy, comes back and knocks Danzig to the ground with one ragged but right hook. The metal icon has to be helped up by security, presumably with the words "Mother, tell your children not to walk my way" still ringing in his ears.

When Danzig defenders posted online statements that Marianino had a weapon, Dan Stone posted the video on azpunk.com to exonerate his friend. According to Web site founder Chris Lawson, azpunk.com served 35,000 downloads in the first 24 hours and got 42 million page views during the busiest one-hour time period.

After the incident, sales of the North Side Kings' just-released CD shot up, and NSK's official Web site enjoyed 11,893 hits last week. Danzig, on the other hand, has seen his name slandered on chat boards by every former fan who caught shit for trying to get Misfits albums autographed. But Danzig's official message board will kick off anyone who brings up the subject. No direct comment was made by Danzig, unless you count him telling Pollstar last week that this is his last tour, "at least for the foreseeable future." Muuthaaaaaa!