Henry Rollins is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, spoken word artist,
writerA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
,
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, publisher,
actorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and radio DJ.
After performing for the short-lived Washington D.C.-based band
State of AlertState of Alert was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980, and disbanded in 1981.-History:State of Alert were fronted by Henry Garfield, who would later rise to fame as Henry Rollins. They formed in October 1980 and disbanded in July 1981...
in 1980, Rollins fronted the
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
hardcore punkHardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band
Black FlagBlack Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
from August 1981 until mid-1986. Following the band's breakup, Rollins soon established the
record labelAn independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
and publishing company
2.13.612.13.61, Inc. is a publisher and record company founded by musician Henry Rollins and named after his birthday . The company has released albums by the Rollins Band, all of Rollins's spoken-word work, and numerous books....
to release his spoken word albums, as well as forming the
Rollins BandRollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
, which toured with a number of lineups from 1987 until 2003, and during 2006.
Since Black Flag, Rollins has embarked on projects covering a variety of media. He has hosted numerous radio shows, such as
Harmony in My Head on Indie 103, and television shows such as
The Henry Rollins ShowThe Henry Rollins Show was a weekly talk show hosted by Henry Rollins on the Independent Film Channel . The show featured Rollins' monologues, interviews with celebrities and uncensored musical performances. The show was canceled after the wrap of its second season.-Sections:Each episode features...
, MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's
120 Minutes120 Minutes is a television show in the United States dedicated to alternative music, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003....
, and
Jackassjackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...
. He had a recurring dramatic role in the second season of
Sons of AnarchySons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California...
and has also had roles in several films. Rollins has also campaigned for various political causes in the United States, including promoting LGBT rights,
World Hunger ReliefYum! Brands' annual World Hunger Relief campaign is the world's largest private sector hunger relief effort to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds to benefit the United Nations World Food Programme and other hungerrelief agencies...
, and an
end to warA peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
in particular, and tours overseas with the
United Service OrganizationsThe United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
to entertain American troops.
Early life
Born Henry Lawrence Garfield in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the only child of Iris and Paul J. Garfield, a
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran, and economist. When he was two years old, his parents divorced and he was raised by his mother in the
Glover ParkGlover Park is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C., about a half mile north of Georgetown and just west of the United States Naval Observatory and Number One Observatory Circle...
neighborhood of the city.
As a child and teenager, Rollins suffered from depression and low self-esteem. In the fourth grade, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and took Ritalin for several years so that he could focus during school. His mother taught him how to read before he was enrolled in kindergarten; however, due to "bad grades, bad attitude, poor conduct," he was soon enrolled at
The Bullis SchoolBullis School is an independent, non-denominational, co-educational college preparatory day school for grades 3-12. The school enrolls 640 students and located in Potomac, Maryland, in the suburbs of Washington, DC.- History :...
, then an all-male preparatory school in
Potomac, MarylandPotomac is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, named for the nearby Potomac River. The population was 44,822 at the 2000 census. The Potomac area is known for its very affluent and highly-educated residents. In 2009 CNNMoney.com listed Potomac as the fourth...
.
According to Rollins, the Bullis School helped him to develop a sense of discipline and a strong work ethic. It was at Bullis that he began writing; his early literary efforts were mainly short stories about "blowing up my school and murdering all the teachers." Despite the relative affluence of Glover Park, for Rollins "it was a very rough upbringing in a lot of other ways. I accumulated a lot of rage by the time I was seventeen or eighteen."
State of Alert
After high school, Rollins attended
American UniversityAmerican University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
in Washington for one semester, however dropped out in December 1979. He began working minimum-wage jobs, including a job as a courier for liver samples at the
National Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
. Rollins got into
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
after he and his friend
Ian MacKayeIan Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
procured a copy of The Ramones's
eponymous debut albumRamones is the self-titled debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on April 23, 1976, through Sire Records. Prior to the band signing to Sire they were seen by Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader, during an early 1975 performance. Robinson began popularizing...
; he later described it as a "revelation." From 1979 to 1980, Rollins was working as a roadie for Washington bands, including Teen Idles. When the band's singer Nathan Strejcek failed to appear for practice sessions, Rollins convinced the Teen Idles to let him sing. Word of Rollins's ability spread around the punk rock scene in Washington;
Bad BrainsBad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
singer
H.R.H.R. is the stage name of Paul D. Hudson, the lead singer of the hardcore punk band Bad Brains. His vocals can be quite diverse, ranging from a rapid-fire nasal whine, to feral growling and screeches, to smooth near-crooning or staccato reggae rhymes...
would sometimes get Rollins on stage to sing with him.
In 1980, the Washington punk band The Extorts lost their frontman
Lyle PreslarLyle Preslar is an American musician best known for being a guitar player and song writer for the hardcore punk band Minor Threat. Before that, he was the vocalist for The Extorts....
to
Minor ThreatMinor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...
. Rollins joined the rest of the band to form
State of AlertState of Alert was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980, and disbanded in 1981.-History:State of Alert were fronted by Henry Garfield, who would later rise to fame as Henry Rollins. They formed in October 1980 and disbanded in July 1981...
, and became its frontman and vocalist. He put words to the band's five songs and wrote several more. S.O.A. recorded their sole EP,
No Policy, and released it in 1981 on MacKaye's
Dischord RecordsDischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
. S.O.A. disbanded after a total of a dozen concerts and one EP. Rollins had enjoyed being the band's frontman, and had earned a reputation for fighting in shows. He later said: "I was like nineteen and a young man all full of steam [...]
Loved to get in the dust-ups." By this time, Rollins had become the manager of the Georgetown
Häagen-DazsHäagen-Dazs is a brand of ice cream, established by Jewish-Polish immigrants Reuben and Rose Mattus in the Bronx, New York, in 1961. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, New York, on November 15, 1976...
ice creamIce cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
store; his steady employment had helped to finance the S.O.A. EP.
Black Flag
In 1980, a friend gave Rollins and MacKaye a copy of
Black FlagBlack Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
's
Nervous Breakdown EP. Rollins soon became a fan of the band, exchanging letters with bassist
Chuck DukowskiChuck Dukowski is an American punk rock musician, best known as a founding member and bass player for Black Flag. Dukowski wrote some of Black Flag's most popular songs, including "My War," "What I See," "I've Heard It Before" and "Spray Paint." He left the band before the release of My War, and...
and later inviting the band to stay in his parents' home when Black Flag toured the East Coast in December 1980. When Black Flag returned to the East Coast in 1981, Rollins attended as many of their concerts as he could. At an impromptu show in a New York bar, Black Flag's vocalist
Dez CadenaDez Paul Cadena is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag. Since 2001 Cadena has played guitar with the Misfits...
allowed Rollins to sing "Clocked In", as Rollins had a five-hour drive back to Washington, D.C., to return to work after the performance.
Unbeknownst to Rollins, Cadena wanted to switch to guitar, and the band was looking for a new vocalist. The band was impressed with Rollins' singing and stage demeanor, and the next day, after a semi-formal audition, they asked him to become their permanent vocalist. Despite some doubts, he accepted, in part because of MacKaye's encouragement. His high level of energy and intense personality suited the band's style, but Rollins' diverse tastes in music were a key factor in his being selected as singer; Black Flag's founder
Greg GinnGregory Regis Ginn is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for being the leader of and primary songwriter for the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led from 1976 to 1986....
was growing restless creatively and wanted a singer who was willing to move beyond simple, three-chord punk.
After joining Black Flag in 1981, Rollins quit his job at Häagen-Dazs, sold his car, and moved to
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Rollins got the Black Flag logo
tattooA tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
ed on his left biceps and changed his surname from Garfield to Rollins, a surname he and MacKaye had used as teenagers. Rollins was in a different environment in Los Angeles; the police soon realized he was a member of Black Flag, and he was hassled as a result. Rollins later said: "That really scared me. It freaked me out that an adult would do that. [...] My little eyes were opened big time."
Before concerts, as the rest of the band tuned up, Rollins would stride about the stage dressed only in a pair of black shorts, grinding his teeth; to focus before the show, he would squeeze a pool ball. His stage persona impressed several critics; after a 1982 show in
Anacortes, WashingtonAnacortes is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is a consolidation of the name Anna Curtis, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman. Anacortes' population was 15,778 at the time of the 2010 census...
,
Sub Pop critic Calvin Johnson wrote: "Henry was incredible. Pacing back and forth, lunging, lurching, growling; it was all real, the most intense emotional experiences I have ever seen."
By 1983, Rollins' stage persona was increasingly alienating him from the rest of Black Flag. During a show in England, Rollins assaulted a member of the audience; Ginn later scolded Rollins, calling him a "macho asshole." A legal dispute with Unicorn Records held up further Black Flag releases until 1984, and Ginn was slowing the band's tempo down so that they would remain innovative. In August 1983, guitarist
Dez CadenaDez Paul Cadena is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag. Since 2001 Cadena has played guitar with the Misfits...
had left the band; a stalemate lingered between Dukowski and Ginn, who wanted Dukowski to leave, before Ginn fired Dukowski outright. 1984's
heavy metal musicHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
-influenced
My WarMy War is the second full length album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1984 on SST Records.Black Flag's founder and primary songwriter Greg Ginn played bass guitar in addition to his usual guitar; "Dale Nixon" is a pseudonym.My War was released after a long period...
featured Rollins screaming and wailing throughout many of the songs; the band's members also grew their hair to confuse the band's hardcore punk audience.
Black Flag's change in musical style and appearance alienated many of their original fans, who focused their displeasure on Rollins by punching him in the mouth, stabbing him with pens, or scratching him with their nails, among other methods. He often fought back, dragging audience members on stage and assaulting them. Rollins became increasingly alienated from the audience; in his tour diary, Rollins wrote "When they spit at me, when they grab at me, they aren't hurting me. When I push out and mangle the flesh of another, it's falling so short of what I really want to do to them." During the Unicorn legal dispute, Rollins had started a weight-lifting program, and by their 1984 tours, he had become visibly well-built; journalist
Michael AzerradMichael Azerrad is an American author, journalist and musician. He grew up in the New York City area and received his BA degree from Columbia College in 1983...
later commented that "his powerful physique was a metaphor for the impregnable emotional shield he was developing around himself." Rollins has since replied that "no, the training was just basically a way to push myself."
Rollins Band and solo releases
Before Black Flag disbanded in August 1986, Rollins had already toured as a solo spoken word artist. He released two solo records in 1987,
Hot Animal MachineHot Animal Machine is a hardcore punk solo album by Henry Rollins which served as a pre-cursor to the Rollins Band. It is only available now in the same 2-in-one package as Drive by Shooting. Notable for a number of cover songs; Suicide's "Ghost Rider", Richard Berry's "Crazy Lover" and The Velvet...
, a collaboration with guitarist
Chris HaskettChris Haskett is an American guitarist. He is probably best known for his membership in the Rollins Band from 1986 to 1997 and again for the band's reunion in 2006...
, and
Drive by ShootingDrive by Shooting is a hardcore punk solo E.P. by Henry Rollins, credited to "Henrietta Collins & The Wife-Beating Child-Haters", which served as a pre-cursor to the Rollins Band. This recording features a Wire cover, a re-vision of a Queen song and a parody of a Beach Boys style song...
, recorded as "Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters"; Rollins also released his second spoken word album,
Big Ugly MouthBig Ugly Mouth is the second live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released in 1987 on Quarterstick Records. It was reissued with his first spoken word album, Short Walk On A Long Pier and new artwork on 2.13.61 Records in 2005...
in the same year. Along with Haskett, Rollins soon added Andrew Weiss and
Sim CainSim Cain is an American drummer probably best known as a member of the hard rock group Rollins Band from 1987 to 2000...
, both former members of Ginn's side-project
GoneGone is a three-piece punk-based instrumental rock band, formed by Greg Ginn in late 1985. Originally, Gone was a side project to his main group, Black Flag.-Biography:...
, and called the new group
Rollins BandRollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
. The band toured relentlessly, and their 1987 debut album,
Life Time, was quickly followed by the outtakes and live collection
Do It. The band continued to tour throughout 1988; 1989 marked the release of another Rollins Band album,
Hard VolumeHard Volume is the second album by the Rollins Band. It was released in 1989 and reissued with new tracks in 1999. The original CD release contained a 32 minute jam on the Velvet Underground outtake "Move Right In" entitled "Joy Riding With Frank." The track was recorded live in Linz, Austria...
. Another live album,
Turned On, and another spoken word release,
Live at McCabe's, followed in 1990.
Rollins and Weiss released
Fast Food For Thought, an EP by their one-off side project Wartime in 1990. It was sonically in many ways more reminiscent of Weiss's work with
WeenWeen is an American alternative rock group. They formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when central members Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo met in an eighth grade typing class. Ween has a large cult underground fanbase despite being generally unknown in American pop music...
than the Rollins Band. The music, while heavy and driving, had a distinctly psychedelic bent, culminating in the final track, a cover of "Franklin's Tower" by The Grateful Dead. Early pressings were simply credited to "Wartime" while later releases added the phrase "featuring Henry Rollins" to the cover.
1991 saw the Rollins Band sign a distribution deal with Imago Records and appear at the
LollapaloozaLollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
festival; both improved the band's presence. However, in December 1991, Rollins and his best friend
Joe ColeJoseph Dennis "Joe" Cole was a roadie for Black Flag and Rollins Band. He was the best friend and roommate of the musician/author/actor Henry Rollins. His memoirs were published posthumously by 2.13.61 publishing, Planet Joe, in which he documented his experiences on the last Black Flag tour and...
were accosted by gunmen outside Rollins's home. Cole was murdered by a gunshot to the head, but Rollins escaped without injury. Although traumatized by Cole's death, as chronicled in his book
Now Watch Him Die, Rollins continued to release new material; the spoken-word album
Human ButtHuman Butt is the fifth live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released in 1992 by Quarterstick Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records on February 3, 2009...
appeared in 1992 on his own record label,
2.13.612.13.61, Inc. is a publisher and record company founded by musician Henry Rollins and named after his birthday . The company has released albums by the Rollins Band, all of Rollins's spoken-word work, and numerous books....
. The Rollins Band released
The End of SilenceThe End of Silence is the fifth release and the third full-length album by Rollins Band, led by former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins. The album's cover features a sort of mascot for the band, a stylized drawing of the sun identical to the one tattooed on Rollins' back...
, Rollins's first charting album.
The following year, Rollins released a spoken-word double album,
The Boxed Life. The Rollins Band embarked upon the
End of Silence tour; bassist Weiss was fired towards its end and replaced by funk and jazz bassist
Melvin GibbsMelvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist, composer, and producer who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music. Gibbs has been called "the best bassist in the world" by Time Out New York magazine....
. According to critic Steve Huey, 1994 was Rollins's "breakout year". The Rollins Band appeared at Woodstock 94 and released
WeightWeight is the fourth full-length studio album by the Rollins Band, released on April 12, 1994 . It featured the band's biggest hits, "Liar" and "Disconnect," which gained rotation on MTV and gained popularity after being featured on Beavis and Butthead...
, which ranked on the Billboard Top 40. Rollins released
Get in the Van: On the Road with Black FlagGet in the Van is a memoir by singer, writer, and spoken word artist Henry Rollins first published in 1994 by Rollins' own company, 2.13.61 Publications. The book is composed of journal entries that Rollins kept while he was lead singer of the band Black Flag from 1981 to its breakup in 1986...
, a double-disc set of him reading from his Black Flag tour diary of the same name; he won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Recording as a result. Rollins was named 1994's "Man of the Year" by the American men's magazine
DetailsDetails is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...
and became a contributing columnist to the magazine. With the increased exposure, Rollins made several appearances on American music channels
MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and
VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
around this time, and made his Hollywood film debut in 1994 in
The ChaseThe Chase is a 1994 action comedy film starring Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson. Released a few months before the real-life O. J. Simpson chase that also took place in California, the film includes Henry Rollins as a police officer and features cameos from Ron Jeremy and both Anthony Kiedis and...
playing a police officer.
In 1995, the Rollins Band's record label, Imago Records, declared itself bankrupt. Rollins began focusing on his spoken word career. He released
Everything, a recording of a chapter of his book
Eye Scream with free jazz backing, in 1996. He continued to appear in various films, including
Heat,
Johnny MnemonicJohnny Mnemonic is a 1995 cyberpunk film, loosely based on the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson. The title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information, is played by Keanu Reeves. The film portrays Gibson's dystopian view of the future with the world...
and
Lost Highway. The Rollins Band signed to
Dreamworks RecordsDreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
in 1997 and soon released
Come in and BurnCome In and Burn is the eighth release and the fifth full-length studio album by Rollins Band, released in 1997 . It is also the last album before lead singer Henry Rollins dissolved the band's "classic" lineup and later formed a new version of Rollins Band with musicians from Mother Superior, who...
, but it did not receive as much critical acclaim as their previous material. Rollins continued to release spoken-word book readings, releasing
Black Coffee BluesBlack Coffee Blues is a book written by Henry Rollins, comprising writings penned between 1989 and 1991. It is composed of seven parts; "124 Worlds", "Invisible Woman Blues", "Exhaustion Blues", "Black Coffee Blues", "Monster", "61 Dreams" and "I Know You"...
in the same year. In 1998, Rollins released
Think TankThink Tank is the seventh live spoken word album from Henry Rollins, released September 22, 1998 on DreamWorks Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records in 2007. The first disc was recorded on Henry's 37th birthday at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL. The second disc was...
, his first set of non-book-related spoken material in five years.
By 1998, Rollins felt that the relationship with his backing band had run its course, and the line-up disbanded. He had produced a
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
hard rockHard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band called
Mother SuperiorMother Superior is a Los Angeles based rock band, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Jim Wilson, bassist Marcus Blake and drummer Matt Tecu. In addition to playing live with the Rollins Band and U2 producer Daniel Lanois, the band has done session work with Daniel Lanois, Henry Rollins, Tony...
, and invited them to form a new incarnation of the Rollins Band. Their first album,
Get Some Go AgainGet Some Go Again is the sixth full-length studio album by Rollins Band, released in 2000 . It is also the first album by lead singer Henry Rollins after dissolving his longtime lineup featuring guitarist Chris Haskett and others...
, was released two years later. The Rollins Band released several more albums, including 2001's
Nice and 2003's
Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three-Band:*Marcus Blake – bass guitar ; backing vocals *Jason Mackenroth – drums ; backing vocals *Jim Wilson – guitar ; backing vocals -Vocalists:...
. After 2003, the band became inactive as Rollins focused on radio and television work. During a 2006 appearance on
Tom Green Live!, Rollins stated that he "may never do music again" a feeling which he reiterated in 2011 when talking to
Trebuchet magazine. In an interview with
Culture Brats, Henry admitted he had sworn off music for good - "... and I must say that I miss it every day. I just don't know honestly what I could do with it that's different."
Vocals
As a vocalist, Rollins has adopted a number of styles through the years. Rollins was initially noted in the
Washington, D.C. hardcoreWashington, D.C. has had one of the first and most influential hardcore punk scenes in the United States since the early 1980s.Among the earliest DC punk bands were the Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, Teen Idles, Minor Threat, S.O.A., Chalk Circle, Velvet Monkeys, Void, The Faith, DC Youth Brigade,...
scene for what journalist Michael Azerrad described as a "compelling, raspy howl". With State of Alert, Rollins "spat out the lyrics like a bellicose auctioneer". He adopted a similar style after joining Black Flag in 1981. By their album
DamagedDamaged is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in December 1981 through SST Records. In 2003, the album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time....
however, Black Flag began to incorporate a swing beat into their style; Rollins then abandoned his S.O.A. "bark" and adopted the band's swing. Rollins later explained: "What I was doing kind of matched the vibe of the music. The music was intense and, well, I was as intense as you needed."
In both incarnations of the Rollins Band, Rollins combined spoken word with his traditional vocal style in songs such as "Liar" (the song begins with a one minute spoken diatribe by Rollins), as well as barking his way through songs (such as "Tearing" and "Starve") and employing the loud-quiet dynamic.
Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis names Rollins a "screeching hate machine" and his "hallmark" as "the sheets-of-sound assault".
Guest work & collaborations
In 1993, Rollins appeared on the
ToolTool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
album,
Undertow"Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America . It also appears as track 39, track 10 or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9...
where he and Tool front man,
Maynard James KeenanMaynard James Keenan is an American rock singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, winemaker, and actor. Originally from Ohio, Keenan spent his high school and college years in Michigan. After serving in the Army in the early 1980s, he attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids...
, performed the vocals in the song "Bottom". Rollins appeared on the 1996 studio album
Les Claypool and the Holy MackerelLeslie Edward "Les" Claypool is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead vocalist and bassist in the band Primus. Claypool's playing style on the electric bass mixes tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends and slapping.Claypool has also self produced and engineered his...
Presents Highball with the DevilHighball with the Devil is a studio album by Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel, released in 1996. "Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel" is Claypool's first solo effort; many of the instruments on the album are played by Claypool himself including guitar, most of the drums and vocals as well as all...
, narrating "Delicate Tendrils". He also appears on
Black SabbathBlack Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
guitarist
Tony IommiAnthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
's solo record
IommiIommi is a heavy metal album by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and myriad guest musicians and vocalists, including:*Henry Rollins of Black Flag and Rollins Band*Skin of Skunk Anansie*Brian May of Queen*Dave Grohl of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters...
which was released in 2000.
Songwriting
Rollins wrote several songs with Black Flag, but was not the group's main songwriter. With the Rollins Band, his lyrics focused "almost exclusively on issues relating to personal integrity," according to critic Geoffrey Welchman.
Music producer
In the 1980s, Henry Rollins produced an album of acoustic songs for the convicted murderer
Charles MansonCharles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
titled
Completion. The record was supposed to be released by
SST RecordsSST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...
, but the project was later canceled due to the label receiving death threats for working with Manson. Only five test presses of
Completion were pressed, two of which remain in Rollins' possession. Rollins is credited as mixer and producer on the 1995 album by Australian band Mark of Cain titled
Ill at EaseIll at Ease is the third full-length studio album by the Australian hard rock/alternative metal band The Mark of Cain. It was released in 1995 by Australian label rooArt and produced by Henry Rollins. "First Time" and "LMA" were released as singles from the album...
.
Television
As Rollins rose to prominence with the Rollins Band, he began to present and appear on television. These included
Alternative Nation and
MTV Sports in 1993 and 1994 respectively. 1995 saw Rollins appear on an episode of
Unsolved MysteriesUnsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
that explored the murder of his best friend
Joe ColeJoseph Dennis "Joe" Cole was a roadie for Black Flag and Rollins Band. He was the best friend and roommate of the musician/author/actor Henry Rollins. His memoirs were published posthumously by 2.13.61 publishing, Planet Joe, in which he documented his experiences on the last Black Flag tour and...
and present
State of the Union Undressed on
Comedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
. Rollins began to present and narrate
VH1 Legends in 1996. Rollins, busy with the Rollins Band, did not present more programs until 2001, but made appearances on a number of other television shows, including
Welcome to Paradox in 1998 in the episode "All Our Sins Forgotten", as a therapist that develops a device that can erase the bad memories of his patients. Rollins also voiced
Mad Stan in
Batman BeyondBatman Beyond is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy...
in 1999 and 2000. He also did the voice in Apple's 1999 G4 Cube Ad with Jimi Hendrix's "
Purple Haze"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on their 1967 album Are You Experienced...
" playing as the theme song.
In 2001, Rollins appeared as the uncredited host of "
Night VisionsNight Visions is an American television anthology series created in the style of The Twilight Zone. Each 43 minute episode was made up of two 21 to 22 minutes stories that dealt with themes of the supernatural or simply explored the dark side of human nature. Henry Rollins was the uncredited host...
", a short-lived horror anthology series. Rollins was a host of film review programme
Henry's Film Corner on the
Independent Film ChannelThe Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
, before presenting the weekly
The Henry Rollins ShowThe Henry Rollins Show was a weekly talk show hosted by Henry Rollins on the Independent Film Channel . The show featured Rollins' monologues, interviews with celebrities and uncensored musical performances. The show was canceled after the wrap of its second season.-Sections:Each episode features...
on the channel. The Henry Rollins Show is now being shown weekly on
Film24Film24 was a British production company and television channel, available on Sky channel 157.The channel averaged around 170,000 viewers a week, for the first five months of 2010, before the channel entered liquidation, it averaged 800,000.-History:...
along with Henry Rollins Uncut. The show also lead to a promotional tour in Europe that led to Henry being dubbed a “bad boy goodwill ambassador” by a NY reviewer.
2002 saw Rollins guest star on an episode of the sitcom
The Drew Carey ShowThe Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
as a man whom Oswald would find on
eBayeBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
and pay to come to his house and kick his ass. He co-hosted the British television show
Full Metal ChallengeFull Metal Challenge was a television series made by RDF Media for Channel 4 in the UK and the Learning Channel in the USA. Hosted by series creator Cathy Rogers and Henry Rollins, the show was very similar to Rogers' last show, Scrapheap Challenge...
, in which teams built vehicles to compete in various driving and racing contests, from 2002–2003 on
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and
TLCTLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...
. He has made a number of cameo appearances in television series such as
MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's
Jackassjackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...
and an episode of
CalifornicationCalifornication is an American comedy-drama that premiered on Showtime on August 13, 2007. The show was created by Tom Kapinos. The protagonist, Hank Moody , is a troubled novelist whose move to California, coupled with his writer's block, complicates his relationships with his longtime girlfriend...
, where he played himself hosting a radio show. In 2006, Rollins appeared in a documentary series by
VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
and The Sundance Channel called
The Drug YearsThe Drug Years is a 2006 television documentary series produced by the Sundance Channel and VH1 about illicit drug use in the United States in the second half of the 20th century.It is divided into four episodes, based on chronology:**...
.
Rollins appears in FX's
Sons of AnarchySons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California...
's second season, which premiered in the fall of 2009 in the United States. Rollins plays A.J. Weston, a white-supremacist gang leader and new antagonist in the show's fictional town of Charming, California, who poses a deadly threat to the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club.
Rollins was a voice actor in the animated
Batman Beyond: Return of the JokerBatman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a 2000 direct-to-video animated film featuring the comic book superhero Batman and his archenemy, the Joker...
and voiced
Robotman (Cliff Steele)Robotman is a fictional character, a cyborg superhero in the . Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 and was created by Arnold Drake, Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani.-Fictional character biography:...
in two episodes of
Batman: The Brave and the BoldBatman: The Brave and the Bold is an American animated television series based in part on the DC Comics series The Brave and the Bold which features two or more super heroes coming together to solve a crime or foil a super villain...
.
Rollins was a guest judge on the
second seasonThe second season of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on February 1, 2010 and aired its final episode on April 26, 2010. On May 1, 2009, the casting website for RuPaul's Drag Race opened for prospective contestants of season two to create user profiles and upload videos of themselves to be voted on by...
of
RuPaul's Drag RaceRuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo. RuPaul plays host, mentor and inspiration for this series, which details RuPaul's search for "America's next drag superstar."...
, which aired on
LogoLogo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
on March 8, 2010.
Henry is featured at the beginning of
The Cornholes, a public-access show on Santa Cruz Community Cable in Santa Cruz, California, espousing the virtues of the Improv Troupe and quoting Akira Kurosawa.
He has narrated episodes of
UFC PrimetimeUFC Primetime is a television series currently airing on Spike TV in the United States. The show chronicles the training regimens of two UFC fighters prior to their next upcoming main event bout.-Premise:...
.
Rollins was also interviewed in the National Geographic series Explorer "Born To Rage". He was interviewed regarding his possible link to the MAO gene (Warrior gene) and violent behavior.
On the
Adventure Time episode "Her Parents," Rollins provided the voice of Lady Rainicorn's father Bob Rainicorn.
Rollins has done voice over work for
Infinitiis the luxury division of automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989 in North America. Marketing operations have since grown to include the Middle East, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, China, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Infiniti began sales in additional...
luxury automobiles (2011).
Radio
On May 19, 2004, Rollins began hosting a weekly radio show,
Harmony in My Head, on Indie 103.1 radio in Los Angeles. The show aired every Monday evening, with Rollins playing music ranging from early rock and
jump bluesJump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
to
hard rockHard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
, blues rock,
folk rockFolk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
,
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
,
heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and
rockabillyRockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, and touching on
hip hopHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
,
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
,
world musicWorld music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
,
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
,
classical musicClassical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and more.
Harmony In My Head often emphasizes B-sides, live
bootlegsA bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
and other rarities, and nearly every episode has featured a song either by the
Beastie BoysBeastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
or British group The Fall.
Rollins put the show on a short hiatus to undertake a spoken-word tour in early 2005. Rollins posted playlists and commentary on-line; these lists were expanded with more information and published in book form as
Fanatic! through 2.13.61 in November 2005. In late 2005, Rollins announced the show's return and began the first episode by playing the show's namesake
BuzzcocksBuzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...
song. As of 2008, the show continues each week despite Rollins's constant touring with new pre-recorded shows between live broadcasts. In 2009 Indie 103.1 went off the air, although it continues to broadcast over the Internet.
In 2007 Rollins published
Fanatic! Vol. 2 through 2.13.61.
Fanatic! Vol. 3 was released in the fall of 2008.
On February 18, 2009,
KCRWKCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
announced that Rollins would be hosting a live show on Saturday nights starting March 7, 2009.
In 2011 Rollins was interviewed on Episode 121 of American Public Media's podcast, "The Dinner Party Download", posted on November 3, 2011.
Film
Rollins began his film career appearing in several independent films featuring the band Black Flag. His film debut was in 1982's
The Slog Movie, about the West Coast punk scene. An appearance in 1985's
Black Flag Live followed. Rollins' first film appearance without Black Flag was the short film
The Right Side of My Brain with
Lydia LunchLydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene...
in 1985. Following the band's breakup, Rollins did not appear in any films until 1994's
The ChaseThe Chase is a 1994 action comedy film starring Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson. Released a few months before the real-life O. J. Simpson chase that also took place in California, the film includes Henry Rollins as a police officer and features cameos from Ron Jeremy and both Anthony Kiedis and...
. Rollins appeared in the 2007 direct-to-DVD sequel to
Wrong TurnWrong Turn is a 2003 American slasher horror film, directed by Rob Schmidt, and written by Alan B. McElroy. The film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and stars Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku...
(2003),
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End as a retired Marine Corps officer who hosts his own show which tests the contestants' will to survive. Rollins has also appeared in
Punk: Attitude, a documentary on the punk scene, and in
American HardcoreAmerican Hardcore is a documentary directed by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush. It is based on the book American Hardcore: A Tribal History also written by Blush. It was released on September 22, 2006 on a limited basis...
(2006).
Some feature length movies Henry Rollins has appeared in include:
- Kiss Napoleon Goodbye (1990), with Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene...
and Don Bajema.
- The Chase
The Chase is a 1994 action comedy film starring Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson. Released a few months before the real-life O. J. Simpson chase that also took place in California, the film includes Henry Rollins as a police officer and features cameos from Ron Jeremy and both Anthony Kiedis and...
(1994), with Charlie SheenCarlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
.
- Johnny Mnemonic
Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 cyberpunk film, loosely based on the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson. The title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information, is played by Keanu Reeves. The film portrays Gibson's dystopian view of the future with the world...
(1995), with Keanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
, Ice TTracy Marrow , better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor.He was born in Newark, New Jersey and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school he served in the United States Army for four years...
and Dolph LundgrenDolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
.
- Heat (1995), with Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
, Robert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
and Val KilmerVal Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
.
- Lost Highway (1997), with Bill Pullman
William James "Bill" Pullman is an American film, television, and stage actor. Pullman made his film debut in the supporting role of Earl Mott in the 1986 film Ruthless People. He has since gone on to star in other films, including Spaceballs, Independence Day, Lost Highway, Casper and Scary Movie 4...
and Patricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
. Directed by David LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
.
- Jack Frost
Jack Frost is a 1998 Christmas film, starring Michael Keaton and Kelly Preston. Keaton stars as the title character, a man who dies in a car accident and comes back to life as a snowman...
(1998), with Michael KeatonMichael John Douglas , better known by the stage name Michael Keaton, is an American actor known for his early comedic roles, most notably his performance as the title character of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice . Keaton is also famous for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Tim Burton's...
.
- Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a 2000 direct-to-video animated film featuring the comic book superhero Batman and his archenemy, the Joker...
(2000), with Kevin ConroyKevin Conroy is an American stage, screen, and voice actor, best known for his acclaimed voice role as Batman in numerous animated television series, feature films, and video games that make up the DC Animated Universe.-Early life:...
and Mark HamillMark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
- Morgan's Ferry
Morgan's Ferry is a 2001 American film starring Billy Zane, Henry Rollins, Kelly McGillis, Roscoe Lee Browne, Johnny Galecki, Muse Watson and directed by Sam Pillsbury....
(2001), with Billy ZaneWilliam George "Billy" Zane, Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. He is probably best known for his roles as Caledon Hockley in Titanic, The Phantom from The Phantom, John Wheeler in Twin Peaks and Mr...
and Kelly McGillisKelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
.
- Dogtown and Z-Boys
Dogtown and Z-Boys is a 2001 documentary film directed by Stacy Peralta. Using a mix of film the Zephyr skateboard team shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk and more recent interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of...
(2001 documentary)
- Scenes of the Crime
Scenes of the Crime is a 2001 film directed by Dominique Forma and written by Daniel Golka, Amit Mehta, and Forma. It was met with mixed opinions and moderate, but ultimately positive reviews....
(2001), with Jeff BridgesJeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
.
- The New Guy
The New Guy is a 2002 American teen comedy directed by Ed Decter. The film tells the story of high school loser Dizzy Gillespie Harrison. Dizzy is an unpopular, high school band geek going through a hellish senior year...
(2002), with Tommy LeeThomas Lee Bass , best known as Tommy Lee, is an American musician and founding member of glam metal band Mötley Crüe. As well as being the band's long-term drummer, Lee founded rap-metal band Methods of Mayhem, and has pursued solo musical projects...
and DJ Qualls.
- Jackass The Movie (2002) with Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
and Bam MargeraBrandon Cole "Bam" Margera is an American professional skateboarder, television and radio personality, actor and daredevil. He released a series of videos under the CKY banner and came to prominence after being drafted into MTV's Jackass crew...
.
- Jackass Number Two (2006) with Preston Lacy
Preston Lacy is an American daredevil, actor and writer for the television show and companion movies, Jackass.- Jackass :...
, Steve-OSteve-O is an American stunt performer and television personality. His entertainment career is mostly centered around his performance stunts on the American TV series Jackass and accompanying movies....
, and Chris PontiusChristopher Andrew "Chris" Pontius is an American entertainer and daredevil. Pontius is a member of Jackass, and along with Steve-O, was the co-host of Wildboyz.-Life and career:...
.
- Bad Boys 2 (2003), with Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
and Martin LawrenceMartin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...
.
- Feast
Feast is a 2005 black comedy horror film, a result of Project Greenlights third season, the amateur filmmaking documentary series and contest. The winning team was composed of writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, and director John Gulager...
(2005), with Balthazar GettyBalthazar Getty is an American film actor and member of the band Ringside. He is known for the roles of Thomas Grace on the American action drama Alias and Tommy Walker on the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters.-Early life:...
and Navi RawatNavi Rawat is an American television actress, known for her roles as Theresa Diaz on the drama series The O.C. and math prodigy Amita Ramanujan on the drama series Numb3rs. She is the niece of Prem Rawat....
.
- The Alibi
The Alibi is a 2006 American film written by Noah Hawley and directed by Matt Checkowski and Kurt Mattila. The film was released to DVD on December 5, 2006 under the title Lies and Alibis.-Plot:...
(2006)
- Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)
- The Devil's Tomb
The Devil's Tomb is a 2009 horror film, directed by Jason Connery. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ray Winstone and Ron Perlman. The film was released direct–to–video on May 26, 2009.-Plot:...
(2009)
- H for Hunger (2009 documentary)
- William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet is a feature-length documentary film about a ballet by Margo Sappington called "Common People", which was set to the music of William Shatner and Ben Folds from their album Has Been...
(2009 documentary)
- Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011) as Kilowog
Music videos
In 1991, Henry Rollins appeared as
Vanilla IceRobert Matthew Van Winkle , best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, extreme athlete and home improvement television personality...
in the music video "
Pop Goes the Weasel"Pop Goes the Weasel" is the best-selling single from hip hop trio 3rd Bass; it appears on their third album, Derelicts of Dialect .Released a year after the ill-fated Cactus Revisited E.P., "Pop Goes the Weasel" instantly became a hit and soon went gold. The song helped the album reach gold status...
" by hip-hop trio
3rd Bass3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial hip-hop groups.-Career:...
.
In 2009, Henry Rollins appeared as
DukeDuke is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 lines of military-themed toys. The character is featured in both the animated series and comic books. Duke is portrayed by actor Channing Tatum in the 2009 live-action film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of...
in the music video "
The Ballad of G.I. JoeThe Ballad of G.I. Joe is a video short released in 2009 on the website Funny or Die. Written by Daniel Strange and Kevin Umbricht, it parodies several characters from G.I...
" on the website
Funny or DieFunny or Die is a comedy video website founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions with original and user-generated content. Funny or Die contains exclusive material from a number of famous contributors and also has its own Funny or Die Team, which creates...
.
In 2010, Henry Rollins appeared in the music video "
Haifisch"Haifisch" is the third single from the 2009 album Liebe ist für alle da by the German band Rammstein. Right before announcing the video premier, the info letter from Rammstein's website left this quote regarding the song: "the shark not only has teeth – he’s got tears as well. But since it lives...
" by German industrial metal band
RammsteinRammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
.
Video games
Rollins has made several voice acting performances in video games including the main character Mace Griffin in
Mace Griffin: Bounty HunterMace Griffin: Bounty Hunter is a first person shooter on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. It was going to be developed for the GameCube too, but was eventually cancelled. ....
and as himself in
Def Jam: Fight for NYDef Jam: Fight for NY is the sequel to Def Jam Vendetta, a hip hop-influenced 3D fighting game released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox and is followed by Def Jam: Icon...
.
Books
Rollins has written a series of books based on his travel journals referred to as the
Black Coffee Blues trilogy. They include the namesake book,
Black Coffee BluesBlack Coffee Blues is a book written by Henry Rollins, comprising writings penned between 1989 and 1991. It is composed of seven parts; "124 Worlds", "Invisible Woman Blues", "Exhaustion Blues", "Black Coffee Blues", "Monster", "61 Dreams" and "I Know You"...
,
Do I Come Here Often?,
The First Five and
Smile, You're TravelingSmile, You're Traveling is the third book in the Black Coffee Blues trilogy by Henry Rollins. It includes portions of his travel journal from 1997–1998 which includes personal encounters of spending time with the band Black Sabbath, a vacation to Africa, and trips elsewhere as part of his spoken...
. Others include
See a Grown Man Cry, Now Watch Him Die,
Get in the VanGet in the Van is a memoir by singer, writer, and spoken word artist Henry Rollins first published in 1994 by Rollins' own company, 2.13.61 Publications. The book is composed of journal entries that Rollins kept while he was lead singer of the band Black Flag from 1981 to its breakup in 1986...
,
Eye Scream,
Broken Summers,
Roomanitarian, and
Solipsist.
Audiobooks
For the audiobook version of the 2006 novel
World War ZWorld War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a 2006 post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks. It is a follow-up to his 2003 book The Zombie Survival Guide. Rather than a grand overview or narrative, World War Z is a collection of individual accounts in the form of first-person anecdote...
Rollins voiced the character of T. Sean Collins, a mercenary hired to protect celebrities during a mass panic caused by an onslaught of the undead. Rollins' other audiobook recordings include
3:10 to Yuma and his own autobiographical book
Get in the Van, for which he won a Grammy Award.
Blogging
In September 2008 Rollins began contributing to the "Politics & Power" blog at the online version of
Vanity FairVanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
magazine. Since March 2009 his posts have appeared under their own sub-title,
Straight Talk Espresso. His posts consistently direct harsh criticism at conservative politicians and pundits, although he does occasionally target the left wing as well. In August 2010 he began writing a music column for the
LA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
, an alternative newspaper in Los Angeles.
Spoken Word
Rollins also has toured doing spoken word performances which range from stand up comedy to more introspective commentaries on his childhood, such as the death of his friend, Joe Cole. He also speaks about experiences he's had with eccentric people. Rollins' spoken word style varies greatly, ranging from intense commentaries on society to playful, sometimes vulgar, anecdotes.
Campaigning and activism
Rollins has become an outspoken human rights activist, most vocally for gay rights, while deriding any suggestion that he himself is gay. On his 1998 spoken word album
Think TankThink Tank is the seventh live spoken word album from Henry Rollins, released September 22, 1998 on DreamWorks Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records in 2007. The first disc was recorded on Henry's 37th birthday at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL. The second disc was...
the
straight allyStraight ally is a colloquial term that describes a heterosexual person who supports equal civil rights, gender equality, LGBTQ social movements, and challenges homophobia. A straight ally believes that LGBT people suffer discrimination and thus are socially disadvantaged...
declared: "If I was gay, there would be no closet. You would never see the closet I came out of. Why? Because I'd have burned it for kindling by the time I was twelve... If I was gay, at this stage of the game—age 37, aging alternative icon—I'd be taking out ads." Rollins frequently speaks out on social justice on his spoken word tours and promotes equality, regardless of sexuality. He was the host of the WedRock
benefit concertA benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
, which raised money for a pro-gay-marriage organization.
During the 2003 Iraq War, he started touring with the
United Service OrganizationsThe United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
to entertain troops overseas while remaining against the war, leading him to once cause a stir at a base in
KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
when he told the crowd: "Your commander would never lie to you. That's the vice president's job." Rollins believes it is important that he performs to the troops so that they have multiple points of contact with the rest of the world, stating that, "they can get really cut loose from planet earth". He has also been active in the campaign to free the "
West Memphis ThreeThe West Memphis Three are three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was...
"—three young men believed by their supporters to have been wrongfully convicted of murder. Rollins appears with Public Enemy frontman
Chuck DCarlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
on the
Black FlagBlack Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
song "Rise Above" on the benefit album
Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three-Band:*Marcus Blake – bass guitar ; backing vocals *Jason Mackenroth – drums ; backing vocals *Jim Wilson – guitar ; backing vocals -Vocalists:...
; the first time Rollins had performed Black Flag's material since 1986.
Continuing his activism on behalf of troops and veterans, Rollins joined
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of AmericaIraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America , is an advocacy group dedicated to United States veterans of the War in Iraq and War in Afghanistan. The group claims to be the nation's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars and has more than 200,000 Member Veterans...
(IAVA) in 2008 to launch a groundbreaking national public service advertisement campaign, CommunityofVeterans.org, which helps veterans coming home from war reintegrate into their communities. In April 2009, Rollins helped IAVA launch the second phase of the campaign which engages the friends and family of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at SupportYourVet.org.
On December 3, 2009, Rollins wrote of his support for the victims of the
Bhopal disasterThe Bhopal disaster also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India...
in India, in an article for
Vanity FairVanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
25 years – to the day – after the
methyl isocyanateMethyl isocyanate is an organic compound with the molecular formula CH3NCO. Synonyms are isocyanatomethane, methyl carbylamine, and MIC. Methyl isocyanate is an intermediate chemical in the production of carbamate pesticides . It has also been used in the production of rubbers and adhesives...
gas leak from the Union Carbide Corporation's pesticide factory exposed more than half a million local people to poisonous gas and resulted in the death of 17,000. He spent time in Bhopal with the people, to listen to their stories. In a later radio interview in February 2010 Rollins summed-up his approach to activism, "This is where my anger takes me, to places like this, not into abuse but into proactive, clean movement".
Personal life
Rollins stated in a 1998 interview with NY Rock, "I don't want a wife and I don't want kids. I'm 36 and if I met a woman of my own age and married her, I'd also be marrying her former life, her past."
Rollins dated fellow KCRW-DJ Liza Richardson
Work with State of Alert
- No Policy
No Policy is the only release by the early American hardcore punk band State of Alert, the first band to be fronted by Henry Rollins. It was released on 7" in March 1981 on Dischord Records...
(1981)
- three songs on the sampler Flex Your Head
Flex Your Head is a punk rock compilation album. It was originally released in January 1982, and was re-released on CD in August 1995. A remastered CD version was released in 2002...
(1982)
Work with Black Flag
- Damaged
Damaged is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in December 1981 through SST Records. In 2003, the album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time....
(1981)
- My War
My War is the second full length album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1984 on SST Records.Black Flag's founder and primary songwriter Greg Ginn played bass guitar in addition to his usual guitar; "Dale Nixon" is a pseudonym.My War was released after a long period...
(1984)
- Family Man (1984)
- Slip It In
Slip It In is the third studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in 1984 on SST Records.Slip It In is an extension of the sound Black Flag utilized on its predecessor My War, that is: heavy, cathartic, intense, dense and progressive. At this point, Black Flag was...
(1984)
- Loose Nut
Loose Nut is an album released in 1985 by Black Flag on SST Records.-Track listing:#"Loose Nut" – 4:35#"Bastard in Love" – 3:20#"Annihilate this Week" – 4:44#"Best One Yet" – 2:37...
(1985)
- In My Head (1985)
Studio albums with Rollins Band
- Life Time (1987, re-release 1999)
- Hard Volume
Hard Volume is the second album by the Rollins Band. It was released in 1989 and reissued with new tracks in 1999. The original CD release contained a 32 minute jam on the Velvet Underground outtake "Move Right In" entitled "Joy Riding With Frank." The track was recorded live in Linz, Austria...
(1989, re-release 1999)
- The End of Silence
The End of Silence is the fifth release and the third full-length album by Rollins Band, led by former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins. The album's cover features a sort of mascot for the band, a stylized drawing of the sun identical to the one tattooed on Rollins' back...
(1992, double-CD re-release 2002)
- Weight
Weight is the fourth full-length studio album by the Rollins Band, released on April 12, 1994 . It featured the band's biggest hits, "Liar" and "Disconnect," which gained rotation on MTV and gained popularity after being featured on Beavis and Butthead...
(1994)
- Come In and Burn
Come In and Burn is the eighth release and the fifth full-length studio album by Rollins Band, released in 1997 . It is also the last album before lead singer Henry Rollins dissolved the band's "classic" lineup and later formed a new version of Rollins Band with musicians from Mother Superior, who...
(1997)
- Get Some Go Again
Get Some Go Again is the sixth full-length studio album by Rollins Band, released in 2000 . It is also the first album by lead singer Henry Rollins after dissolving his longtime lineup featuring guitarist Chris Haskett and others...
(2000)
- Nice (2001)
- Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
-Band:*Marcus Blake – bass guitar ; backing vocals *Jason Mackenroth – drums ; backing vocals *Jim Wilson – guitar ; backing vocals -Vocalists:...
(2002)
Featured on
| Song |
Artist |
Album |
Year |
| "We Are 138" |
Misfits |
Evilive Evilive is a live album by The Misfits. It was initially released as a 7-song EP in December 1982 and later added 5 more songs and released as an album in October 1987. It was released on frontman Glenn Danzig's Plan 9 Records. The album title is a palindrome. The album is included in The Misfits'...
|
1982 |
| "Kick Out the Jams" |
Bad Brains Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
|
Pump Up the Volume Soundtrack |
1990 |
| "Let There Be Rock "Let There Be Rock" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the third and title track of their album Let There Be Rock, released in March 1977, and was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott....
" |
Hard-Ons The Hard-Ons are a punk rock band from Sydney, Australia that originally formed in 1981. They have been called Australia's most commercially successful independent band, with over 250,000 total record sales. -1980s: Early days:...
|
Released as a single |
1991 |
| "Bottom" |
ToolTool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
|
Undertow "Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America . It also appears as track 39, track 10 or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9...
|
1993 |
| "Wild America" |
Iggy PopIggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
|
American Caesar American Caesar is a 1993 album by Iggy Pop. After the success of Brick by Brick, Pop opted to continue with that album's lyrical themes while toughening up the musical foundation. Consequently, the album is often considered one of his stronger 90's albums.The cover of the UK edition contained the...
|
1993 |
| "Sexual Military Dynamics" |
Mike Watt Michael David Watt is an American bassist, singer and songwriter.He is best known for co-founding the rock bands Minutemen, dos, and Firehose; , he is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen...
|
Ball-Hog or Tugboat? Ball-Hog or Tugboat? is the debut solo album by former Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist, songwriter and vocalist Mike Watt. It was recorded in 1994, and came at a personal and professional career crossroads for Watt...
|
1995 |
| "Delicate Tendrils" |
Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel |
Highball with the Devil Highball with the Devil is a studio album by Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel, released in 1996. "Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel" is Claypool's first solo effort; many of the instruments on the album are played by Claypool himself including guitar, most of the drums and vocals as well as all...
|
1996 |
| "T-4 Strain" |
GoldieClifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
|
Spawn: The Album |
1997 |
| "War" |
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is an American Hip-Hop/R'n'B band from Cleveland, Ohio formed in 1991. It originally consisted of rappers Layzie Bone, Flesh-n-Bone, Bizzy Bone, Krayzie Bone, and Wish Bone. Rapper Eazy-E of the group N.W.A signed Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to Ruthless Records in 1994, when Bone...
& Edwin StarrEdwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...
|
Small Soldiers |
1998 |
| "Laughing Man (In the Devil Mask)" |
Tony IommiAnthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
|
Iommi Iommi is a heavy metal album by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and myriad guest musicians and vocalists, including:*Henry Rollins of Black Flag and Rollins Band*Skin of Skunk Anansie*Brian May of Queen*Dave Grohl of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters...
|
2000 |
| "I Can't Get Behind That" |
William ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
|
Has Been Has Been is William Shatner's second musical album after 1968's The Transformed Man.The album was produced and arranged by Ben Folds and most of the songs are co-written by Folds and Shatner, with Folds creating arrangements for Shatner's prose-poems, and feature guest appearances from Joe Jackson...
|
2004 |
| All tracks |
The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
|
The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing the Dark Side of the Moon |
2009 |
Spoken word
- Short Walk on a Long Pier
Short Walk On A Long Pier is the first spoken word album released by Henry Rollins. The content is culled from spoken word performances in Los Angeles, San Diego, Baton Rouge, Denver, New York City and Amsterdam. The one piece of music, "Alienation", is performed with Rowland S...
(1985)
- Big Ugly Mouth
Big Ugly Mouth is the second live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released in 1987 on Quarterstick Records. It was reissued with his first spoken word album, Short Walk On A Long Pier and new artwork on 2.13.61 Records in 2005...
(1987)
- Sweatbox
Sweatbox is the third live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released in 1989 on Quarterstick Records, and later reissued on 2.13.61 Records in 2005. It was recorded at various tour dates in 1987-1988 in Washington DC, Los Angeles, CA, Madison, WI, Denver, CO, and Budapest, Hungary.-Liner...
(1989)
- Live at McCabe's
Live @ McCabe's is the fourth live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released in 1990 on Quarterstick Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records on January 5, 2009. It was recorded on June 9 & 10, 1990 at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, CA. Exene Cervenka and Hubert Selby...
(1990)
- Human Butt
Human Butt is the fifth live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released in 1992 by Quarterstick Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records on February 3, 2009...
(1992)
- The Boxed Life
The Boxed Life is a double spoken word release by former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins also featuring Canadian journalist and radio show host Ian Bussières, also known as "The Oddball"...
(1993)
- Think Tank
Think Tank is the seventh live spoken word album from Henry Rollins, released September 22, 1998 on DreamWorks Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records in 2007. The first disc was recorded on Henry's 37th birthday at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL. The second disc was...
(1998)
- Eric the Pilot
Eric the Pilot is the eighth live spoken word album from Henry Rollins, released May 5, 1999 on 2.13.61 Records. The CD contains a one hour long story about Henry trying to get to a show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This story, along with the second disc of Think Tank, were recorded during the same...
(1999)
- A Rollins in the Wry
A Rollins in the Wry is the ninth spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released February 27, 2001 on Quarterstick Records. It was reissued with new artwork on 2.13.61 Records on September 11, 2007. It was recorded during a nine-week stint at the Luna Park club in Los Angeles...
(2001)
- Live at the Westbeth Theater
Live At the Westbeth Theater is the tenth live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released on February 28, 2001 on 2.13.61 Records. It was recorded on December 11, 1999 at the Westbeth Theater in New York City.-Disc 1:# "Intro" - 4:01...
(2001)
- Talk Is Cheap: Volume 1
Talk Is Cheap: Volume 1 is the 11th live spoken word album from Henry Rollins, released January 23, 2003 on 2.13.61 Records. The following night, Talk Is Cheap: Volume 2 was recorded at the same theater.-The "Talk Is Cheap" Series:...
(2003)
- Talk Is Cheap: Volume 2
Talk Is Cheap: Volume 2 is the 12th live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released January 23, 2003 on 2.13.61 Records. Talk Is Cheap: Volume 1 was recorded the previous night at the Enmore Theater.-Liner Notes:...
(2003)
- Talk Is Cheap: Volume 3
Talk Is Cheap: Volume 3 is the 13th live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released on January 13, 2004 on 2.13.61 Records. This show was recorded at the Enmore Theater in Sydney, Australia on April 23, 2003, exactly two years after Talk Is Cheap: Volume 1 was recorded at the same venue.-Liner...
(2004)
- Talk Is Cheap: Volume 4
Talk Is Cheap: Volume 4 is the 14th live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released December, 2004 on 2.13.61 Records. It was recorded on April 16, 2004 at San José State University in San José, CA...
(2004)
- Provoked
Provoked is the 15th live spoken word album by Henry Rollins, released on April 1, 2008 as a CD/DVD combo on 2.13.61 Records. It was recorded in San Francisco, CA on November 6, 2007 and Amsterdam, Netherlands on January 23, 2008 during his Provoked tour.The DVD includes the Comedy Central special...
(2008)
- Spoken Word Guy (2010)
- Spoken Word Guy 2 (2010)
Spoken word videos
- Talking from the Box (1993)
- Henry Rollins Goes to London (1995)
- You Saw Me Up There (1998)
- Up for It (2001)
- Live at Luna Park (2004)
- Shock & Awe: The Tour (2005)
- Uncut from NYC (2007)
- Uncut from Israel (2007)
- San Francisco 1990 (2007)
- Live in the Conversation Pit (2008)
Audio Books
- Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag (1994)
- Everything (1996)
- Black Coffee Blues
Black Coffee Blues is a book written by Henry Rollins, comprising writings penned between 1989 and 1991. It is composed of seven parts; "124 Worlds", "Invisible Woman Blues", "Exhaustion Blues", "Black Coffee Blues", "Monster", "61 Dreams" and "I Know You"...
(1997)
- Nights Behind the Tree Line
-Track listing:# "Johnny Hartman" - 3:41# "Maya" - 4:55# "Brick" - 2:41# "Polaroid" - 2:14# "Parthenope" - 2:58# "Kalifornia Dreaming" - 3:54# "Coma Season" - 1:46# "Accident" - 3:00# "Visiting Los Angeles" - 10:39# "Music Boy" - 1:45...
(2004)
Essays
- Iron and the Soul First published in Details magazine, 1994.
- As We See It, an editorial essay in Stereophile
Stereophile is a monthly magazine that focuses on high end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news, such as online audio streaming. It was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt....
magazine.
Further reading
- Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 is a book by Michael Azerrad. It chronicles the careers of several underground rock bands who, while finding little or no mainstream success, were hugely influential in establishing American alternative and indie...
: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991. Little Brown and Company, 2001. ISBN 0-316-78753-1
External links