Mojo Nixon

One of the most outsized personalities on college radio in the '80s, Mojo Nixon won a fervent cult following with his motor-mouthed redneck persona and a gonzo brand of satire with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Nixon had a particular knack for celebrity-themed novelty hits ("Elvis Is Everywhere," "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child," "Don Henley Must Die"), but he was prone to gleefully crass rants on a variety of social ills ("I Hate Banks," "Destroy All Lawyers," "I Ain't Gonna Piss In No Jar"), while celebrating lowbrow, blue-collar America in all its trashy, beer-soaked glory. All of it was performed in maximum overdrive on a bed of rockabilly, blues, and R&B, which earned Nixon some friends in the roots rock community but had enough punk attitude -- in its own bizarre way -- to make him a college radio staple during his heyday. As his audience grew, Nixon found himself accepting gigs as an MTV host, several small roles in what he described as "sh*tty movies," and occasional mainstream media attention (most notably debating Pat Buchanan on CNN over the subject of record censorship). Label problems helped decrease his visibility in the '90s, but he continued to tour and record for a still-devoted fan base, as well as working in radio. Nixon was born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr. in Chapel Hill, NC, on August 2, 1957. He grew up mostly in Danville, VA, and started listening to rock & roll at a young age. After earning degrees in political science and history from Miami University in Ohio, he went to England in 1979, where he played old-time rock & roll covers and hoped to break into the punk scene. He didn't, and returned to the U.S. in 1980; settling for a short time in Denver, he performed in a punk band called Zebra 123, which drew the ire of...