Mojo Nixon: "Troubadour Of The Psychos"

30 Apr 1999 06:00:00 EDT

Mojo Nixon

It takes a special man to pen a song like "Drunk Divorced Floozie" in honor of Princess Diana... and Mojo Nixon is mighty special.

His latest effort, "Real Sock-Ray-Blue," is rich with such frank observations, and a conversation with the man is every bit as raw. It's as if Mojo aims his words like needles at balloons over-inflated by fame, ego, and empty media-speak.

"Part of my job as the court jester of rock and roll, as the troubadour of the psychos, is when something gets a little too inflated, is to pop the bubble," Nixon told MTV News recently.

That MO runs throughout "The Real Sock-Ray-Blue," on which Nixon skewers O.J. Simpson (on the track "Orenthal James [Was A Mighty Bad Man]"), new media ("I Don't Want No Cybersex"), techno ("Machines Ain't Music"), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ("Rock N' Roll Hall Of Lame"), and other topics ripe for the popping.

Of course, Nixon's take on the media's reaction to Princess Diana's death is the track that has attracted the most attention since the album hit stores last month, and he's more than willing to explain his rather unique opinion.

"There's nothing honorable about her death," Nixon told MTV News. "A tragedy would be, Princess Diana and Mother Theresa are in India building a hospital for poor people and a cement truck falls on them. That's a tragedy. Drunk, speeding in France with an international playboy trying to get away from people because they don't want to have their picture taken, there's nothing tragic about that. Had that happened to Courtney Love, [the headlines] would have said, 'Drunk, Speeding Rock Star Dies Stupid Death.'" [RealVideo]

When he's not putting those ideas down in his songs, he's sharing them with radio listeners in Cincinnati. Mojo will be hitting the road in June for a string of west coast dates and hopes to visit other areas in the fall.

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Mojo Nixon

Mojo Nixon Olympic Luge "Mascot"

9 Feb 1998 07:55:00 EST

Mojo Nixon has been appointed the honorary captain of the U.S.A. Men's Doubles Luge Team as they compete at the Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Mojo has also recorded their theme song with a little help from the team itself, at Nixon's home base of San Diego as the lugers enjoyed a pre-Olympics vacation.

Nixon is best known for songs including "Bring Me The Head Of David Geffen," "Elvis Is Everywhere," and "Don Henley Must Die." The luge song, according to press reports, is called "Arctic Evel Knievels," a/k/a "Luge Team U.S.A." Luge team member Gordy Sheer plays drums on the track, and some of his cohorts helped with the 'vocals' on Nixon's luge anthem.

"We're chanting 'U-S-A,' then spell out 'L-U-G-E,' " Sheer told AP. "Then we do that Ramones chant, 'Hey, ho, let's go!' followed by, 'Hey, ho, Mojo!'"

Sheer and his teammates wrote to Nixon to extend the honorary captain invite, and Nixon immediately accepted. Nixon told UPI that seeing as luge is the craziest sport, it was logical that the team would want the craziest rock & roller as their mascot.

Sheer plays drums in a rock band called "Jim" in New York State. The group has released two CD's, one in 1996 and another one this past fall.

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Mojo Nixon