Living After Death

TRACK #306:

Living After Death by Al Festa & Maurizio Cerantola

Since we’re talking about the Zombie series, let’s jump to this “Almost a Title Track” from Claudio Fragasso’s Zombie 4: After Death.

Claudio’s directorial effort never quite hits those moments of gonzo joy on display in Zombie 3, but it’s certainly not the worst thing to carry the “Zombie” moniker. And it does have it’s predecessor licked in one very important department; and that’s the opening credit number.

If you thought Clue in the Crew were 80’s up wait til you get a load of Metropole keyboardist Al Festa and singer Maurizio Cerantola’s Living After Death.

IMDb, surprisingly, has a fair amount of information about Signore Cerantola. Seems he was in a Led Zeppelin tribute band called Custard Pie. Then after that, he fronted 2 separate Whitesnake cover bands, one of which was fantastically named Cover-Dale.

Well he’s got the pipes, that’s for sure, as he belts it out here on the kind of song you just wish was a true Title Track. All the hallmarks of the finest are on display. It’s was right there fellas, starrin’ ya in the gullet, all you had to do was grab it.

But alas, their synthy banger will need to be relegated to an Almost Title Tracks episode of Shindig Radio in the future.

As for Zombie 4…that 2nd “Hey, let’s just take a movie that’s not really a sequel to Zombie and call it one anyway” installment…what’s the old chestnut? Zombie 4 makes Zombie 3 look like Zombie 2? Perhaps that’s applicable.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Blue Heart sets ‘em up and the Shindig knocks ‘em down.

Here’s the somehow even more 80’s rocker Living After Death.

The Sound of Fear

TRACK #305:

The Sound of Fear by Clue in the Crew

Let’s keep the Italian horror train rolling along with this little number, straight off of Blue Heart’s turntable, Clue in the Crew’s rocking Zombie-Bird Winnebago Attack/Sweet Song, The Sound of Fear.

The Lucio Fulci/Bruno Mattei/Claudio Fragasso mega-team up Zombie 3 delivers just about everything you’d expect outta that unholy and contentious alliance: Italian weirdness, synthy goodness, nonsensical plotting , machete-wielding, decapitated-head-flying zombie madness and generous amounts flagrant intellectual theft.

I mean, let’s start with that poster art alone. It’s straight up the Force: Five fist mixed with Freddy’s eyes from Dream Warriors and the lady’s face from the Absurd poster. If Stay The Night didn’t indicate the kind of shameless theft that’s rampant in Italian cinema, or just what kind is in store from Zombie 3, then this pilfery collage passed off as “promotional material” ought to give you an idea.

What was marketed as the second sequel to Romero’s Dawn of the Dead actually plays out more like Italy’s answer to Return of the Living Dead and I honestly don’t have 1 single problem with that.

You throw in radio DJ Blue Heart, straight rockin’ the Jose Canseco shades, pushing his ecological agenda alongside the hottest Phillipino tunes 1988 had to offer, and the Shindig is in Paradiso.

Here’s Clue in the Crew’s referentially inclusive, 80’ser-than-shit hit, The Sound of Fear.

‘Cause sometimes you just wanna piss on a bush.

Stay The Night

TRACK #304:

Stay The Night by Vincenzo Tempera & Lucia Demasi

Attentive Shindiggers will not doubt recognize this album cover, as we’ve long used this image from Luigi Cozzi’s Paganini Horror as a banner here on Halloween Shindig cause c’mon, look at that thing!

However, we have never taken a moment to talk about that film or add any of the songs from its soundtrack. So this year, we’re gonna change all that.

What’s most interesting about that poster image is that it existed before the story for Paganini Horror was even written. It’s almost assuredly why those two actors and that awesome skeleton man never shows up in the picture.

Looking to piggyback on the imminent success of Paganini, a biopic about the legendary Violinist being helmed by actor Klaus Kinski, our producers thought “Hey! We slap the word “horror”on that shit and I think we got a winner.”

Well, they were wrong. On both accounts.

Not only was Kinski’s Paganini not a hit, but the horror iteration became a mish mash of chefs spoiling the pot. The resulting film found little success with audiences.

Horror historian Louis Paul even noted

“Nobody likes Paganini Horror, Cozzi included.”

Well, i kinda like Paganini Horror. I don’t love it, but it looks real nice, there’s a dude with a switchblade violin, Donald Pleasence gets real weird…and then there this song: there’s Stay The Night.

Now, when it comes to blatant, shameless and completely unapologetic rip-offs, I don’t know if you can pull a bigger offender than Stay The Night.

And I mean seriously. Gangster Rock may sound like China Groove, but it’s a different song. Stay The Night, the other hand, is 100% You Give Love a Bad Name.

I have to imagine that neither John Bon Jovi nor Richie Sambora have ever heard this song. That’s conceivable. Paganini Horror wasn’t busting blocks. But I have to assume that someone…anyone…who even knew them remotely, heard this song and was like “Yo, John…you gotta hear this fuckin’ thing.”

One might then assume a lawsuit of some sort would have arisen, but nothing seems to have come from it. So, I’ll just say they’ve never heard it. Or maybe they just shrugged it off like good sports, cause much like the film, I doubt this song was padding anyone’s bank account either.

The fact still remains, that unless you’ve never once heard You Give Love a Bad Name, Stay the Night is one of the most overt rip-off’s of all time.

But maybe that’s part of the joke, as their producer certainly leans into what unoriginal, rehashed bullshit the band is pumping out these days. Boy, I’ll say.

Since Switchblade Violin Man never makes good with an actual Title Track, here’s the best song Paganini Horror…a movie specifically about a band…making a video…for their new song…called Paganini Horror…which is also spray painted on the set…sigh…is cranking out.

To The Devil a Daughter

TRACK #303:

To the Devil a Daughter by Incubus

Bet you never thought you’d see Incubus on The Shindig, huh? Well, I certainly wouldn’t have ever added them, because I don’t like Incubus.

And if you don’t like Incubus either, then you’re in luck, because this isn’t that Incubus.

Nope. Just like any band post-1990, there’s probably 4 other bands that already held that name in the past. And such is the case for, the perhaps inappropriately named, Incubus.

No, this one comes from New Wave of British Heavy Metal outfit Incubus, and their sound is much more aligned with what you might expect from a band named Incubus. Not wholly, but certainly closer.

Now I’ll admit, this isn’t strictly a referential track, I don’t think. But what few lyrics we are given don’t not conjure images of the film.

Should it be added? I dunno. I like the tune, and since To The Devil a Daughter is technically a Halloween movie, we’re pickin’ em up!

I would also like to add that there is no shortage of metal songs called To The Devil a Daughter. In fact, Shindig-adjacent Wytchfynde actually have one as well. I say adjacent because that’s not a typo, as Wytchfynde with two Y’s was an offshoot of Witchfynde (with an I) vocalist Luther Beltz when he left the band in 1999. However, Luther Beltz didn’t join Witchfynde until 1983’s Cloak and Dagger, the album after Stagefright from which the Shindigger Trick or Treat appears.

However, Luther’s era of Witchfynde sounds pretty different from our Witchfynde, which kinda make’s Luther’s Witchfynde a completely different band altogether than our Witchfynde, which would then make Wytchfynde with two Y’s even more different still. So much so that I probably shouldn’t have even mentioned them at all, but here we are.

Are any of those other To the Devil a Daughter songs more aligned to the film? Not sure. I didn’t really like any of them very much, or at least enough to really cross reference the lyrics. Wytchfynde’s didn’t seem particularly referential, and it was a newer cut, so I wasn’t too keen on the sound. So Incubus it is, names be damned.

We kinda blew our To the Daughter a Devil sample load on the Hallo’s Eve track, but we’ll still pepper in some here, cause hey, it seems a bit more appropriate than maybe it was there.

Dr. Phibes

TRACK #302:

Dr. Phibes by Angel Witch

I love the Abominable Dr. Phibes. You should too! It’s a great old horror flick with a neat premise and a sinister performance from Vincent Price. Here he is hookin’ himself into his acoustic contraption which recreates his lost voice:

It’s also quite musical, as Dr. Anton Phibes plays a mean pipe organ and even built a full-on band of automatons that play tunes for him: Dr. Phibes’ Clockwork Wizards. Here they are just shreddin’:

For years I’ve felt bad that I’ve never included any of the music from the film, but it’s brand of old-time Hollywood scoring doesn’t really fit a playlist of this kind.

And sure, there’s plenty of songs out there called Dr. Phibes, but none of them have ever really jumped out at me until I found this one, from another New Wave of British Heavy Metal outfit: Angel Witch.

And this one rips. However, like some other Phibes-based songs, for some reason it’s also an instrumental. No one really wants to sing about the Old Doc it seems.

So, loaded up with some Phibes samples to set the appropriate mood, here comes Dr. Phibes by Angel Witch.

Full Moon / Night of the Demon

TRACK #301:

Full Moon / Night of the Demon by Demon

Well, we’ve passed the 300 mark on Halloween Shindig, so we’re gonna kick off the next phase of the playlist with block of classic heavy metal tracks.

And what better tune to set the mood than this epic instrumental called Full Moon from New Wave of British Heavy Metal outfit, Demon.

“Rise,” they chant, over some synthy goodness and some gurgling belching noises. And we shall do just that.

It’s perfectly Halloweeny and it leads directly into their song, Night of the Demon. Now this song is not explicitly referential to either the classic 1957 film (more commonly known as Curse of the Demon) nor the 1983 Video Nasty Bigfoot freak-out. But hey, so what! It’s great for Halloween as well.

Cause what’s Halloween if not the night of the demon?

And just look at that album cover! It’s awesome. It’s one of the coolest album covers ever.

So sit back, relax, grab some pumpkin boys and the beverage of your choice, cause shit’s about to get heavy.

Cause don’t you know? It’s the Night of the Demon!

Nightmare on Rhyme Street

TRACK #299

Nightmare on Rhyme Street by Krushin MC’s

Though we uncovered 10 and featured 9 different Freddy related rap songs on Monster Raps Pt. 3, none stood out as much as Krushin MC’s Nightmare on Rhyme Street. As such, it’s getting thrown in the mix ahead of the pack.

But why is it that this song (at least as far as I’m concerned anyway) is so much better than all the rest?

Well, I think it’s 3 fold.

First and foremost, I think it sounds the least 80’s of the group. A strange stance for me to take, I know, but hear me out.

This is a track that feels a bit ahead of its time. The flow has a much smoother and rhythmic cadence than it’s brethren. Additionally, it’s packing a lot of lyrics into a tight bar. At a time when the other Freddy rappers were still drawing out sparse lyrics to match slower beats, the Krushin MC’s effortlessly flow with a tempo that feels more like something from the 90’s, and a good deal less silly.

Second is this beat, which also feels ahead of its time. Without aping the actual theme, it captures the vibe of A Nightmare on Elm Street with a downbeat and downright sinister bass line. While none of these songs are what I’d call dark, this one has the darkest tone of the bunch, which makes it feel less at odds with the subject matter.

Now, there’s something to be said and appreciated with these Freddy Raps in the juxtaposition of an upbeat rap songs about a homicidal and, most likely, pedophilic murderer turned dream demon. Freddy’s actual album, Freddy’s Greatest Hits, being perhaps chief among this strange intersection of digestible pop and disturbing subtext. But there’s also something to be said of treating this material, at least in respect to its sound, as what it is – a horrifying concept.

Now, the Krushin MC’s aren’t going that far with it. I mean this is still a song where a guy battle raps a Freddy wearing a glove with 5 microphones on it, but at least is sounds kinda appropriate.

Which bring me to the 3rd reason this song a is superior Freddy rap – it’s lyrical content.

Krushin MC’s pack a lot more, and a lot better, references to the films than their contemporaries. You got the aforementioned golden mic glove, the muddy steps, the tongue coming out an inanimate object, the girls jumping rope, the peeling of Freddy skin to reveal his brain and even Dream Warriors’ method of Freddy disposal.

Among a crew of dude who reference the same damn line from Freddy’s Revenge, lazily rhyme the numbers of the films, and even have Freddy potentially pulling has ass out at the beach, Krushin MC’s feeling like goddamn Nightmare on Elm Street scholars.

Now, those song’s’ll potentially all wind up here eventually, given enough time, but for my money, only the Krushin MC’s Nightmare on Rhyme Street deserves express service.

Creature Feature

TRACK #298:

Creature Feature by Uptown Express

If Monster Raps Pt. 3: Freddy’s Revenge has already aired (and you’ve listened to it) then you may be aware of a guy I referenced on that episode named Werner Von Wallenrod.

Werner has a crazy informative website called The Humble Little Hip-Hop Blog. I stumbled across it while researching last night’s Monster Rap entry and what I got in return was so much more.

In addition to the veritable boiler room of previously unknown (to me anyway) Freddy related rap songs, here’s another addition that I have to chalk up to Werner as well.

From 1984, right on the heels of (and perhaps as a result of) Whodini’s Haunted House of Rock, comes Uptown Express’ Creature Feature.

Now, like I’ve been saying all season it seems, there isn’t much info floating around on Uptown Express. They only released a few tunes over a couple years, of which Creature Feature is perhaps their most prominent.

A cavalcade of monsterdom, this one uses the title of Screen Gem’s second package of horror movie classics that were released into syndication to local television stations in the early 60’s. This, of course, gave birth to the Horror Hosts of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The original Shock! package featured mostly old Universal Classics, but the Creature Features packaged upped the ante with all manner of cheeseball Sci-Fi, Hammer Classics, Asian Kaiju and 60’s monster freakouts.

Like Shock!, the package was sent all over the country and many markets had their own “Creature Features” labeled programs with the requisite spooky host. Perhaps the most famous, however, was Bob Wilkin’s wry and straight-face take on San Francisco’s KTVU.

If you’ve ever seen this picture floating around Instagram, that’s Bob, cold chillin, classed-out in front of his now ubiquitous sign.

To keep things nice and referential, we’ve led the track in with Bob’s 70’s era theme song performed by Beauregarde and The Poppers.

So let’s all keep America strong, and listen to this upbeat and fun loving tune from the birth of Monster Rap, Creature Feature.

There’s no need to fear, it’s as harmless as your teacher…

Frankenstein 1984 (Monster Rap)

TRACK #297:

Frankenstein 1984 (Monster Rap) by Edgar Winter

Have you ever thought to yourself…

“Man, I really love that Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, but I just wish it had more synths, ya know? Like some newer synths…and maybe even a drum machine, yeah! And hey, what if it had some lyrics too, ya know, instead of being an instrumental? And dude, the lyrics could really be about Frankenstein, so it would actually be a real monster song! And oh shit, what if Edgar himself, weirdo, freaky 70’s looking, literal-ass whitest dude ever was rappin’ all over the motherfucker?”

Well my friend, have I got some good news for you today, courtesy of Edgar Winter’s very own Frankenstein 1984.

Yep.

Now, why Edgar decided to update Frankenstein, I couldn’t say. I wasn’t able to find any interviews with him talking about this particular version. But my guess is, Edgar is a pretty experimental guy. The original Frankenstein was the first ever #1 hit to heavily feature a synthesizer. And Edgar is perhaps the inventor of what we think of today as a keytar, as he was the first one to strap the ARP2600’s keyboard around his neck.

As synthesizer technology and their use in popular music grew over the decade or so following this hit, I’m sure Edgar wanted to take another stab at it and incorporate more electronic instrumentation.

Now, why…in addition to this…Edgar decided to remix a slightly different version of the song and then rap over the top of it…that’s about anyone’s guess. As we’ve reckoned many times here on The Shindig before, Rap was starting to emerge as a legitimate musical force and in those early days, everybody decided to take swing.

So let’s thank Edgar Winter for deciding to throw his hat in the ring and take a song with dubious connections to both Halloween and Frankenstein himself and turn it into the full-blown epic Monster Rap we always wished it could be.

He even went so far as to call it the Monster Rap version.

Legend.

Episode 18: Monster Raps Pt. 3: Freddy’s Revenge

Shindig Radio is back and Freddy Krueger’s coming with us, and he’s bringing 9 more Nightmare on Elm Street rap songs with him.

Join MC Radio D, Busy G and Mic-E (and of course Freddy himself) as Shindig Radio takes a nap on Rhyme Street, with a boiler room full of Freddy Raps all* from 1987 – a full year before the hits A Nightmare on My Street and Are You Ready for Freddy.

It’s time to face the music with Rap Master Freddy on Monster Raps Pt. 3: Freddy’s Revenge!

And be sure to visit Werner Von Wallenrod’s Humble Little Hip-Hop Blog, without which, this episode would not exist!

And don’t forget to check out that swollen meatball, Matt Mastrella, over at YouTube on The Crypto Hunter!

Halloween Shindig

The Horror Fans Halloween Playlist

The 80’s