Creativity Quote by Glenn Danzig

There is a whole punk-origin myth packed into that shrugging "back in the day": the idea that gatekeeping is never louder than in scenes that preach freedom. Danzig is doing more than reminiscing. He is staking a claim to outsider authenticity, framing the Misfits not just as a band that struggled, but as a band so aesthetically radioactive that even punk’s supposed radicals flinched.

The name-checking matters. The Ramones and the Cramps are canon now, safe as patches on a denim jacket. By putting them in the role of cautious establishment, Danzig flips the hierarchy and subtly indicts punk’s nostalgia machine: once a movement calcifies into a brand, it starts protecting its own narrative. The subtext is competitive and wounded in a very specific way. It’s not "we were overlooked" so much as "we were too much for you". That’s a flex, but it’s also a defense against the standard career question artists hate: why weren’t you bigger sooner?

"It’s not like that anymore really" is the other tell. He’s acknowledging the present-day reversal, when the Misfits’ skull logo is closer to a corporate icon than a local threat. The line captures the bitter comedy of cult success: the same band deemed unbookable becomes a foundational influence once the risk has been sanded off by time, merchandising, and mythology. In Danzig’s telling, rejection isn’t a setback; it’s the proof of purity.