Why Glenn Danzig Refused to Cover Elvis’ ‘Suspicious Minds’

An Elvis Presley tribute album could feel incomplete without a cover of “Suspicious Minds.” Regardless, Glenn Danzig declined to record the track for his album Danzig Sings Elvis. The rocker explained why he did that and how Elvis changed his life.

Glenn Danzig didn’t cover Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicions Minds’ because he followed his gut

Danzig released Danzig Sings Elvis in 2020. During a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, the “Mother” singer was asked to name the first Elvis song he attempted to sing. “The first Elvis song I sang, probably in a garage band, was, like, ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,’ ‘All Shook Up,’ ‘Hound Dog,'” he said.

Danzig Sings Elvis includes covers of a few famous songs, such as “Fever” and “Always on My Mind.” Despite this, most of the tracks on the album are obscure. Danzig was asked why he steered clear of famous Elvis songs such as “Suspicious Minds” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” “Yeah, I stayed away from a lot of that stuff, and I just did what I felt I wanted to do,” he said.

Why Glenn Danzig turned his love of Elvis Presley into a whole album

The heavy metal icon was asked how Danzig Sings Elvis came to be. “What happened was, in between doing it, I’ve been working on a million other things,” he said. “I’m working on other records. It started out as, ‘I’m gonna do a Danzig Sings Elvis EP, and it can be four or five songs.’ And eventually, while doing other records, we’d have downtime and I’d just turn to Tommy [Victor, guitarist] and say, ‘Let’s do another Elvis track or two.’ He’s like, ‘OK.’ Eventually, it became an album.”

Danzig was asked if the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll had an influence on him. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I don’t have that screechy, high metal voice, so I gravitated more to that kind of vocal style, like bluesier stuff. I’ve been pretty vocal about my influences, like Elvis or Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, things like that.”

How ‘Suspicious Minds’ performed on the pop charts in the United States

“Suspicious Minds” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week. It was the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s final chart-topper. It charted for 15 weeks altogether. The tune appeared on the compilation album Elvis: 30 #1 Hits. That record was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for three weeks. It lasted on the Billboard 200 for 180 weeks altogether.

Danzig only released one of the Elvis covers from his album as a single: “Always of My Mind.” That makes sense considering it’s one of the more famous tunes Danzig recorded for the project. The tune did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, Danzig Sings Elvis reached No. 192 on the Billboard 200 for a single week. The record might have performed better if it was released after Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

Covering “Suspicious Minds” would have been an obvious choice for Danzig but he followed his instincts instead.