GG Allin was a hardcore punk musician who took the rebellious and shocking elements of the genre to polarizing extremes. His live performances have gone down in punk rock lore, as he had no reservations about cutting himself onstage, defecating in public, fighting audience members or using hardcore drugs between songs. Whereas some punk bands use shock value as a means of generating attention, Allin fully embraced the nihilistic lifestyle and attitude he embodied onstage. His lyrics dealt with confrontational material such as pedophilia, murder, rape and racism, unsurprisingly making him the much-hated face of the attack on family values and morals amongst religious and political groups. Despite this, however, Allin enjoyed a rabid fan base throughout his heyday in the 1980s that appreciated his unflinchingly hardcore nature. He threatened for years that he would one day kill himself live onstage, but ultimately passed on from a drug overdose in 1993 at the age of 36.
