| "Mother" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover to the 1993–94 single | ||||
| Single byDanzig | ||||
| from the albumDanzig | ||||
| Released | August 30, 1989(original) Fall 1993(US reissue) April–May 1994(US, UK, Europe and Australia reissue) | |||
| Recorded | 1987 at Atlantic Recording Studios andChung King Metal in New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:24 | |||
| Label | Def American(original) American Recordings(reissue) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Glenn Danzig | |||
| Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |||
| Danzig singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
 Cover to the alternative 1994 UK and Europe single | ||||
"Mother" is a song by Americanheavy metal bandDanzig. It was originally released in August 1989 as the lead single from their debut album,Danzig.
In 1993–1994, almost six years after its original release, a remixed version of the song titled "Mother '93" became a hit on radio and earnedBuzz Bin rotation on MTV[1] after a music video incorporating live footage was created to promote the band's new EP,Thrall-Demonsweatlive. During this time the single was reissued byAmerican Recordings, with the remix title updated to "Mother '94" on later versions.
"Mother" remains Danzig's highest charting single. It peaked at number 17 on theBillboardHot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and 43 on theBillboard Hot 100.[2][3] In the UK, the song peaked at number 62 on thesingles chart.[4]
Following the success of "Mother",Glenn Danzig recalled writing the song: "I remember callingRick Rubin in the middle of the night and telling him that I wrote an incredible song—probably the best song I'd ever written. It was the song I always wanted to write. The first time we played it, people went crazy. But I never wrote that song to make it a hit—I never wrote that way, and I still don't. I write songs so that they say something and do something, and if people like them, great—and if they don't, they don't."[5]
The "Mother '93" remix included extrareverb and a minor modification to the guitar solo.[6] The "live" version of "Mother '93" included an overdubbed concert audience atop the original track.[6]
Thematically, the song is a rhetorical challenge to parents, primarily inspired byTipper Gore who, along with theParents Music Resource Center, introduced theParental Advisory warning placed on albums that contain explicit content.[7] Glenn Danzig explained further: "Al Gore wanted to tell people what they could listen to and what they couldn't...it was basically coming down to the idea that he wouldn't let anybody record any music that he didn't think you should be doing. There was going to be an organization that would tell you what you could and couldn't record. And certainly if you couldn't record it, you couldn't put it out. It was reallyfascist."[7]
The video begins with the quotation "Then I saw there was a way to Hell even from the gates of Heaven", taken fromThe Pilgrim's Progress byJohn Bunyan. The original 1988 music video was rejected byMTV for its ending sequence, which contains imagery of a chicken being sacrificed and an inverted cross being drawn in its blood (although Glenn Danzig noted that no chickens were actually killed nor harmed).[8]
The "Mother '93" music video used concert footage taken from the band's Halloween 1992 performance at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California, with additional footage shot in the UK.[9]
Both the original "Mother" music video and the live footage version appeared onBeavis and Butt-head, in the episodes "Couch Fishing" and "Crisis Line" respectively.
The song has been covered byAnberlin,The Independents,Coheed and Cambria,Mason Jennings,Lissie,Edge of Sanity and byTim McIlrath ofRise Against. The song has been covered live bySleater-Kinney,[10]Umphrey's McGee,Motionless in White,Ryan Adams, and as part ofThe A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series, by the bandWye Oak.[11] There is also a parody cover called "Glenn Leipzig: Mudder" by the German metal bandJ.B.O.: asDanzig is the name of a formerly German (Prussian) city,Leipzig is the name of an East German city; appropriately the song is sung entirely in a humorous East German accent.
"Mother" appears inErik Ellington's section of the 1997Zero Skateboards video,Thrill of It All.[12]
"Mother '93" appears in the soundtrack of the filmThe Hangover Part III.[13]
"Mother" appears during the end of episode 3 of season 2 of the HBO seriesCrashing.
During the Mother's Day 2012 episode ofThe Cleveland Show, titled "Mama Drama", a quick excerpt of the song is played by Rallo and his friends during an elementary school talent show. The animation also mimics the original music video.
"Mother" is featured on the in-game radio station 'Radio X' in the video gamesGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas and also appeared inTrue Crime: New York City.
The song appears during the end credits of the video gameF.3.A.R. and an episode ofPortlandia.
A cover version to which a final solo was added appears in the 2006 music video gameGuitar Hero II, whereas the master track appears in 2009'sGuitar Hero Smash Hits. Lissie's cover of the song is used during the Happy Hunting trailer for the 2015 video gameEvolve.
While pitching asthe closer for theBoston Red Sox in 2004 and 2005,Keith Foulke entered home games to the playing of "Mother".Ryan Doumit of theMinnesota Twins baseball team used "Mother" as his walk up song.[14] It was also the entrance song for theMMA fighterGabriel Gonzaga.
A cover of "Mother" appears in the 2017 filmAmerican Satan.
"Mother" appears in the 2018 comedy filmTag.
"Mother" appears during the episode 1 of season 2 of the Netflix seriesRussian Doll.
"Mother" appears in episode 3 of season 1 of the Amazon seriesPaper Girls.
"Mother" appears in the announcement trailer for the video gameThe Lords of the Fallen.
"Mother" appears in the end credits of Yellowjackets Season 2, Episode 5:Two Truths and a Lie.
| Chart (1993–94) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[15] | 20 |
| Germany (GfK)[16] | 93 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[17] | 62 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[18] | 43 |
| USMainstream Rock (Billboard)[19] | 17 |
