Mickey rocks: Sex, drugs and Satan at Disney

Human Events, Jan 22, 1999 by Schweizer, Peter, Schweizer, Rochelle

But from the start, his association with the company caused problems. Female employees repeatedly complained of sexual harassment; they alleged that he made lewd comments and pressured them into dates.

As complaints piled up, Disney executives did nothing, except to ask that he visit a counselor. Two of the women who complained about his behavior were transferred to other jobs.

Disney's attempts to conceal the problem failed when singer Danielle Brisebois went public with exactly what Hudson had done to her when she was only 17 years old. "I played him a song of mine," she told Seconds magazine. "While I'm playing him my tape, I look up and he's masturbating." Brisebois says she told him to stop, but Hudson responded with an anatomical reference. She fled the studio in disgust.

Stung by the public embarrassment, Disney let Hudson go in March of 1995. That same month, Bob Pfeifer became the label's new president, replacing Peter Paterno.

Pfeifer, however, was hardly new blood. He had served as vice president of the company under Paterno. Nevertheless, he tried to start anew, by clearing out the company's artist roster and retaining only Queen and one other band. The staff was cut from 85 to 50.

Eisner and Roth both committed to playing a larger role in the management of the company. Hollywood Records was relocated to the Disney Studio Lot so both men could more easily be involved in the company. Both began attending weekly staff meetings. Rap music acts were on the way out; on the way in were bands that sang about Satan, suicide, drugs, and rape.

"If it's too hot in Hell," offers singer Glen Danzig, "then don't sign up."

Danzig always wears black. A massive tattoo on his left arm features various skeletal creatures, a vampire bat, and the slogan "Wolf's Blood."

"Most kids are really frustrated," he said in a recent interview. "They're living under things I didn't have to live under when I was a kid, like AIDS and guns in school. We had guns and knives in school, but not nine millimeters. It wasn't like today. Why do you see so many people end their lives so young? Life looks bleak now."

Listening to Danzig's music probably won't pull them out of the doldrums. Bleakness, despondency, and darkness are what the group sings about. The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll describes Danzig as "everything about heavy metal parents fear: Satanic, profane, antiauthoritarian, and no doubt proud of its cult status."

In 1996 Disney signed the band to a lucrative seven-figure deal. One of Hollywood Record's largest deals ever, it had to be approved by Disney Studios Chairman Joe Roth. It was a stunning move, since Danzig's records don't sell very well and no other music company came even close to making such an offer.

Danzig's work is heavily tied to Satanic themes. A 1990 album "Lucifuge" featured songs like "Long Way Back From Hell," "Tired of Being Alive," and "Her Black Wings." Glen Danzig describes the song "Invocation" as a tune "about a demon f somebody." Other albums like "How the Gods Kill" and "Demonsweatlive" are built on the same dark imagery. Those early albums were released on small, independent labels-limiting their audience. The Disney deal gave the contract with Danzig the marketing force to reach a larger audience.