One of the craziest bastards to ever sling a guitar has died. Mojo Nixon suffered a fatal “cardiac event” yesterday while aboard the Outlaw Country Cruise, an annual music cruise where he was both the co-host and regular performer.
According to a statement from his family, “Passing came after a blazing show, a raging night, closing the bar, taking no prisoners + a good breakfast with bandmates and friends”. The way, I’m sure, he would have wanted it. He was 66.
In my early days on the WAPL morning show, we played our fair share of Mojo’s distinctive rousing redneck ramblings (accompanied by sideman Skid Roper), starting with his anti capitalist anthem Burn Down the Malls. Mojo blew up, in a small way, with his next album that featured the song Elvis is Everywhere. We played A LOT of that one. How much? So much that, a a thank you, his record company offered to fly me to Memphis for a weekend to “sing” back-up on his next album. Seriously. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend and missed what probably would have been the most memorable weekend of my life.
Other great songs followed, including Debbie Gibson is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child, Don Henley Must Die (which Henley once joined him on stage to perform), I Ain’t Gonna Piss in No Jar, Drunk Divorce Floozie (about Princess Diana) and What’s Up Judge Judy’s Ass. All classics!
In addition to music, Mojo did a little acting. He played Jerry Lee Lewis‘s drummer, James Van Eaton, in the bio-pic Great Balls of Fire and was Toad in the original Super Mario Brothers movie. Mojo was also the voice of Sheriff Lester T. Hobbes, a recurring enemy in the computer game Redneck Rampage. He was also, inexplicably, the honorary captain of the 1998 US Men’s Luge Team, who won a silver at the Nagano Olympics.
In recent years, Mojo hosted shows on SiriusXM including a political talk show called Lyin’ C*cksuckers. A documentary on his life, The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon was released last year and is available on video on demand at several platforms.
He is survived by his wife, Adair and two sons.
- [Deadline] [Lon E. Rox] [Radial by Orchard]
