“Mother” by Danzig

Danzig came roaring out of the gate in August 1988 with "Mother", the lead single from the band's self-titled debut, written top to bottom by Glenn Danzig and produced by Rick Rubin. Rubin, with engineers David Bianco, Steve Ett and Jim Scott, keeps it stripped and heavy: a lumbering, bone-crushing riff, drums that land like a church door slamming, and a big, dark vocal howling over the top with a crooner's swagger and a demon's glare.

Then it got a second life. Almost six years on, a remix billed as "Mother '93" hit radio and landed in MTV's Buzz Bin, carried by a video cut from live footage to push the Thrall-Demonsweatlive EP; American Recordings reissued the single, later retitled "Mother '94". It peaked at 17 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and 43 on the Hot 100, and it's still Danzig's highest-charting single.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.