Mojo Nixon: "I am here to set the world straight about Tim Tebow and his invisible friends!"
Why did you want Debbie Gibson to be pregnant with your two-headed love child?
Well, you know, she was on MTV. It's similar to the Martha Quinn thing. She's on MTV, she's real innocent-looking, she's like teenage high-school cheerleader girl-next-door. Then she's right next to either the nastiest heavy metal or Madonna's sex-frenzy video. I just thought it was a humorous juxtaposition.
I wrote the song in Australia, and it was originally Kylie Minogue, this Australian pop girl, and she's still huge in Europe, but no one knew who Kylie was over here. So I changed it to Debbie Gibson. I also wanted to do a song that was based on the Creedence song "Travellin' Band," which is based on a Little Richard song. It all goes back to three chords and a cloud of dust.
I made a video of that with Winona Ryder playing Debbie Gibson, and it was funny. MTV wouldn't play it because we made fun of Debbie Gibson, Rick Astley, Tiffany and Spuds MacKenzie. Apparently that's how they was selling their stickers ads or some fuckin' thing.
You have a radio program called Lyin' Cocksuckers?
I do. In fact, that's my political talk show on Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius XM every Thursday night at eight o'clock eastern. Every now and then I get tired of talking about politicians, and we do "Turd Talk." "Turd Talk, you're on the bowl; men talk about takin' a dump." Last night, I had a guy who had written three books on farting. I had a fart expert, a fartologist, if you will, on the show. Apparently there's no supervision -- just do whatever the hell I want.
Are there particular politicians that inspired the show?
When Lyin' Cocksuckers came out, I just couldn't believe that George W. Bush lied us into a war in Iraq. Originally it was just me ranting for like forty minutes. There were no callers. Now, usually, I just rant for like fifteen minutes, and then I take callers. I've gone through Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, I've gone through them all. "Insane" Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann -- comedy gems, each and every one!
Lyin' Cocksuckers, a couple of weeks ago, "The topic is a word, and that word is motherfucker. Is motherfucker the greatest swear word of all time?" And most Americans agreed: Yes, motherfucker was the best swear word of all time. A few people said "cunt." But that's really an English thing.
Is it true that you actually have a degree in political science?
Yeah. Don't tell anybody.
I won't tell anyone.
You can tell them; I don't care. I lived in Denver in 1980, and I was in this thing, VISTA, and I was supposed to be organizing downtown residents into a community action group. I'm a community organizer, like the president. In fact, I read Saul Alinsky's book, and it's fuckin' nothing. Nothing! It's hardly radical at all. I was literally organizing winos to drink more wine. I was literally living out my Woody Guthrie dream. I was going to soup kitchens and playing Woody Guthrie songs on the acoustic guitar. I didn't really organize anybody, but I felt like I was doing something.
And then I was in a punk band there, Zebra 123, and we played around town and caused a little trouble. We were more kind of like the Clash meets Jerry Lee Lewis. The really hardcore kind of punk, that Black Flag thing, hadn't really happened yet, or it was just getting ready to happen. But they wanted bands that sounded more like the Cars. They wanted quirky pop bands, and we were more like three chords and a cloud of dust.
How long did you live in Denver, and whereabouts did you live?
About a year. We made a tape; there's a tape somewhere. It's not awful, it's not really good, it's not awful. I lived on East Colfax, right across from the big church there. There was a pharmacy downstairs and there were apartments upstairs. Ninety bucks a month. The bed fell out the wall; it was like I was in a fuckin' Raymond Chandler novel. That part of town was a little more cracka-lacky than it is now. It's probably been all gentrified and whatnot.
One night, I was going to the Malfunction Junction on 13th Avenue, and all of a sudden gunfire erupts, so I had to lay down in my car. I had a '69 Volkswagen, and I put my head down in the passenger seat well and put the car in reverse and got out of there so I wouldn't get killed. This was '79 or '80. It's excitin'! Livin' on the edge!
How did you end up working with Skid Roper?
Me and Skid Roper were hanging around here in San Diego. We were both in other
bands, and I had this idea that I wanted to do this kind of a crazy blues guy, Mojo Nixon. I was gonna sit down and play guitar. Originally, I said, "Why don't you just play a snare drum and a hi-hat?" He said, "I've got this washboard on a stick, why don't we try that?" It just all worked out. For quite a while, we were both in a lot of bands and then the Mojo thing started taking off, and we made a record and went on tour and one thing lead to another.
Have you thought about working with him again?
I just saw him the other night. A friend of ours was getting married. We'll do it again. We're just waiting for the big payday. Mojo can be bought; it's just a big number. I'm a whore, I know it. I got a pimp, they call him a "manager." But, no, we almost played last year. There was a thing where the Beat Farmers and the Paladins reunited out in San Diego, but I was out of town and couldn't do it So something like that will bring us together here soon. And a big-ass check.
Tell me about Outlaw Country.
That's Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Hank Williams and all things related. That's on 2-6 Mountain Time. I have a NASCAR talk show Monday night on the NASCAR Channel. That's called Manifold Destiny. That's where the hillbillies gather to yell about NASCAR.
How did you get a talk show like that?
I grew up in Danville, Virginia, and I've been a NASCAR fan my whole life. My daddy was a fan, and I went to races when I was five years old, back in the '60s. In fact, there's no NASCAR race this weekend, and I'm starting to jones. I'm like a junkie over here. I'm gettin' itchy!
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Lion's Lair
2022 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO
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