Jerry Only (born Gerald Caiafa on April 21, 1959) is an American musician, well known as the bassist for the Misfits and later the vocalist as well. He is credited with creating the infamous hair style known as the devilock.
Jerry Only was Born in Lodi, New Jersey and is a Christian. Only joined The Misfits in 1977, just a few months after receiving his first bass as a late Christmas present. He would work at his father's factory during the week to help finance the band and play shows on the weekend. This would go on for several years and the band split due to differences between lead singer Glenn Danzig and the rest of the band. During this downtime, Jerry and his brother Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein (the guitarist for The Misfits) formed Kryst The Conqueror. In 1995, Jerry settled a legal battle out of court with co-founder Glenn Danzig, allowing him rights to The Misfits name on a performing level, while they split the money on merchandising. He reformed the band with Doyle (who played guitar from 1980 to 1983), vocalist Michale Graves, and drummer Dr. Chud.
Chud and Graves left the group in 2000 to form Graves. In reaction to the loss of members, Doyle left the Misfits. Graves, Doyle and Chudd were replaced on the M25 tour by Dez Cadena, formerly of Black Flag and DC3 on guitar and Marky Ramone, formerly of The Ramones, on drums. Jerry took up the singing duties from this point till the present date. In early 2005, Marky left the group and Jerry brought in ex-Misfit and Black Flag drummer ROBO to rejoin the group. A new album was recorded in 2010 in Colorado entitled The Devil's Rain which was released in October 2011. A single, "Land of the Dead", was released at the mischief night show 2009 at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ.
In 1999, Jerry, along with the rest of the then Misfits line-up, had a brief stint in World Championship Wrestling. Jerry Only himself participated in probably the most memorable match of the Misfits time. Jerry was pitted against Dr. Death in a steel cage match. Only was dominated in the match but Death was distracted when the rest of the Misfits interfered and attacked his manager, pouring barbecue sauce in his eyes. Death proceeded to whip Only into the cage door which opened as Only spilled onto the floor and won the match due to "escaping" the cage first.
Only was one of the few people to see Sid Vicious the night he died. In 1979, he attended a party that Sid's mother threw for Sid when he was released on bail for being accused of murdering then girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Only said in an interview that he and Sid's mom made him dinner. Vicious died of a heroin overdose the next morning. Only would then go with Sid's mom to spread Sid's ashes on Nancy's grave, after Spungen's family refused to let his remains be buried next to hers.
Only plays a custom "Devastator" Bass made out of graphite, the current model was made by Bernie Rico, Jr. with an M like body and a cyclops skull on the headstock. It has no tone or volume control knobs because he only plays it on full blast. From 1977-1983 he played a customized Rickenbacker 4001. Sometime after 1978, he replaced the two single coil pickups with two split-coil pickups and he would often recarve the body to make it look 'gothier', and would add decorations (such as winged skulls) onto the headstock.