The Story Behind How Glenn Danzig Wrote a Song for Roy Orbison That Ended Up in the 1987 Film ‘Less Than Zero’

While working on the soundtrack for the 1987 drama Less Than Zero, starring Robert Downey Jr., Andrew McCarthy, James Spader, Jami Gertz, and Flea, producer Rick Rubin gathered a collection of original songs and covers, from KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite,” performed by Poison, Simon & Garfunkel’s “A Hazy Shade of Winter” by The Bangles, and Slayer’s rendition of the 1968 Iron Butterfly classic, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.”

At the time, Rubin was also producing the debut (self-titled) album for Danzig, including the hit “Mother,” and enlisted Glenn Danzig to co-write two tracks for the Less Than Zero soundtrack. Along with Rubin, Danzig co-wrote “You and Me (Less than Zero),” which he performed with the Power and Fury Orchestra, and another song co-written with Roy Orbison.

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[RELATED: 2 More Songs Roy Orbison Co-Wrote with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne Apart From 1988 Classic “You Got It”]

“Life Fades Away”

Delivering his “Crying” falsetto and quiet twang, Orbison sings through “Life Fades Away,” a sorrowful telling of the end of one’s days and all they must leave behind.

My time has come, the clouds are calling
December wind has come my way
And now I feel the will falling
All at once, it’s too late
Life fades away

The night is my wake
All thoughts slip away
And even though I must leave you
Remember, I love you

I’ll always be in your memory
And I will always be with you when I’m gone

I’m tired of tomorrow
Lost for today
I long to be
At peace forever
My eternity
And even though I will miss you
I must leave you

“Life Fades Away” was recorded less than a year before Orbison’s death on December 6, 1988, at the age of 51, and was featured in Less Than Zero, playing over the closing credits of the film.

Regardless of having a mostly hardcore background, “Life Fades Away” was a natural song for Danzig to write. Idolizing Elvis Presley as a kid and influenced by everyone from Bo Diddley, the Doors, the Ramones, and Chicago bluesmen like Willie Dixon, Danzig started writing with his band the Misfits by the late 1970s, prompted by 1950s and ’60s cult and b-movies, sci-fi, and more ghoulish flicks from the likes of Ed Wood and George A. Romero (“Night of the Living Dead“), paid homage to one of the first women of horror, Finnish actress Maila Nurmi, with “Vampira” in 1981, and Vincent Price movies (“Return of the Fly“).

“Glenn Danzig is a heavy metal Roy Orbison.”

Danzig continued writing for the hardcore goth-punk of Samhain before tapping into more bluesy doom metal with Danzig by the late ’80s.

“Few people recognize that Glenn Danzig is a ‘heavy metal Roy Orbison,’” read a 2011 post on the official Roy Orbison Facebook page. “He and Roy were friends and wrote a great song in 1987 called ‘Life Fades Away.’”

In 2017, “Life Fades Away” was also released on the reissue of Orbison’s 1992 posthumous album King of Hearts.

“It wasn’t a Danzig song,” said Danzig in a 2019 interview. “I wrote him a Roy Orbison song because I’m writing for Roy Orbison. I got to go out to his pad in Malibu a couple of times, teach him the song, and then I was in the studio with him, Rick, and [assistant producer] George Drakoulias. It was a really cool experience.”

Photo: Michel Linssen/Redferns