Drew Layman
- Jun 13
- 5 min read

The Godz – Nothing Is Sacred

Having set the template of their gritty, raw, meat-and-potatoes style of rock with their self-titled debut, The Godz toured relentlessly to support the record. Although sales were steady, the record wasn’t taking off. Their label Millennium Records quickly ushered the band into the studio to record the follow-up in the late summer of 1978. It had been less than a year since The Godz was released, but things move fast in the recording industry as they would for the Columbus band. Nothing Is Sacred was released in January 1979 and, while the album captured the band’s unyielding spirit, this incarnation of The Godz would not survive the year.

The Godz

Nothing Is Sacred

Casablanca - NBLP 7134

1979

Front cover of The Godz Nothing Is Sacred

The band was happy with Don Brewer’s production on the first record and Brewer was again slated to produce the follow-up. Brewer would end up not producing, however. Depending on who you ask and on what day, it was due to label politics, internal politics, or prior commitments. Brewer’s absence would not diminish the affinity and friendship he had with The Godz. In any case, Brewer was a busy musician with his band Flint at the time and Columbia Records may not have been thrilled with the idea of him producing for another label. Bassist Eric Moore would handle production duties as the band holed up at Bearsville Studios in upstate New York.

Back cover of The Godz Nothing Is Sacred

“Don was gonna do the second album too, but he had a deal going on up in Michigan and had to go back...so I kinda got roped into doing it,” Moore said in a 2015 interview with The College Crowd Digs Me. “When I produced Nothing Is Sacred, I had my head up my ass.” The bass on Nothing Is Sacred is mixed at a level that leaves no doubt who had the biggest hand in mixing. But that doesn’t bother me. To my ears, the sound on the second album tops the debut. The album has a more throw-back rock n’ roll sound too, which I dig, and was a spit in the eye to the prevailing winds of the 1979 music scene.

Songwriting duties are spread amongst the band, especially on side one. “Most songs were written in a hurry and no time to develop, as we had been on the road since February of (1978),” guitarist Mark Chatfield told It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine in 2022. “Didn’t realize we were expected to do a follow-up that quickly.” If I had a nickel…

The president of Millennium Records, Jimmy Ienner, announced an early October 1978 release for The Godz’s second album. Jimmy’s brother Don had been responsible for Millennium signing The Godz and the label had close ties with Casablanca Records from the start. Now, Jimmy was working on a new distribution deal for Millennium that didn’t include Casablanca. Ienner ended up signing a contract with RCA. The Godz were now on Casablanca, although RCA retained rights for distribution outside North America.

“Well on the second album, we were in the studio recording and we got picked up by another record company, which meant that all the momentum was lost,” Moore told Metal Forces magazine in 1986. “People that were working on it were saying, ‘Hell I’m leaving next month, I’m not working on it’, and the new guys that had the record were saying, ‘Hell we’re busy, The Godz will come along and take care of themselves’.”

L-R: Mark Chatfield, Glen Cataline, Don Ienner, Rob Friedheim (manager) Photo: Mark Chatfield

Nothing Is Sacred arrived at a time when rock was undergoing significant changes. Punk rock had begun to spawn new wave, and the disco craze was still alive. Yet, The Godz remained committed to hard-hitting rock without a hint of irony. The album opens with Moore’s "Gotta Muv," which starts off sounding like a tongue-in-cheek Grease soundtrack outtake before a relentless track that showcases the band's ability to blend heavy riffs with catchy hooks kicks in. The song, much like the rest of the album, embodies a rawness that must have been refreshing for some amidst the more polished productions of the time.

Cash Box, January 27, 1979 Nothing Is Sacred review — Cash Box, January 27, 1979

Tracks like Chatfield's "Rock Yer Sox Auf" and drummer Glen Cataline’s anthemic paean to quaaludes, "714," highlight the band's versatility: shared lead vocal duties with searing guitar work and powerful drumming driving the music forward. Despite the strength of Nothing Is Sacred, commercial success proved elusive for The Godz. Although Casablanca was at the pinnacle of its success at the time, The Godz were an inherited band and the label’s focus lay elsewhere. The label didn’t release a single, but did spring for a not-safe-for-the-21st-century promotional video for “He’s A Fool.”

Mark Chatfield, Eric Moore; Agora, Columbus, February 1979

Released in January 1979, Nothing Is Sacred hovered towards the bottom of the various album charts. Unphased, The Godz soldiered on. A two-night stand at The Agora packed in the crowds and the PM Magazine television show cameras. “We’re a mirror of what Columbus is,” Moore told the show’s Steve Shannon. “Geographically as well as politically, socially, everything, we’re right in between Detroit and Nashville. And that’s what we are. And when the people from Columbus come in and see The Godz, they’re looking at a mirror. And they see themselves.”

Review of The Godz live at The Agora, Columbus Dispatch, February 8, 1979 — Columbus Dispatch, February 8, 1979

As the PM Magazine piece proceeds, Moore shows remarkable restraint when Shannon asks how The Godz acquired their image. “All of the things that we project, we project because they’re true,” Moore replied. “The audience knows. You can go out, and I don’t care how talented you are, they know when you’re lying. And they know when you’re telling the truth. And we offend an awful lot of people by telling the truth. But those people normally come back.”

But by the time the episode aired in March, the wheels were beginning to come off. A wrong-way driving incident with the tour bus resulted in guitarist Bob Hill leaving, followed by drummer/vocalist Glen Cataline. Bob Catapano and Rick Hall joined on guitar and drums, but it was a tremendous setback. Then Moore broke his leg in a motorcycle accident, and ultimately the band didn’t survive. Casablanca rejected the demos for a third album and dropped the band.

L-R: Rick Hall, Mark Chatfield, Eric Moore, Bob Catapano; 1979

“They had the nerve to send me a piece of paper that said they owe me $181,000 dollars but they’re not going to give it to me,” Moore told Classic Rock in 2009. “I knew I would never see that money. And I haven’t.” According to Chatfield, Moore wrote letters to the band members firing them and that was that. There would be many reunions and incarnations over the years-The Godz are active to this day-but their initial wild run had ended. Oh, and what is Don Brewer up to these days? In January he invited Mark Chatfield to take over guitar duties in Grand Funk Railroad.