Spookie Movies

TRACK #345:

Spookie Movies by Gary Paxton

Though made popular by famous country singer Roy Clark in 1963 as Spooky Movies, according to secondhand songs.com, it was first recorded by Gary Paxton here in 1962 as Spookie Movies.

Seems it didn’t see an official release, however, until 10 years after that though. I’m not sure. Information isn’t exactly abundant on this one. Gary’s 45 has no release year printed on it and discogs is apparently in the dark on a release date.

Either way, I’d probably opt for Gary’s version anyway, as I just like it better than Roy’s. Sorry Roy, I dunno what do say. I just like it more. Thankfully, you’re probably not digging around unfrequented corners of the internet looking for the dumb shit I’m writing. Although stranger things have happened.

Claude Lahenaff once commented on an episode of Shindig Radio that featured his title track Dr. Hackenstein. Seriously. Check it out! He’s down at the bottom chiming in.

Now sure, that could just be some bozo taking a piss in the comments, that’s certainly not unheard of on the internet. But I’ll tell ya, if that’s some prankster, then my hat is well the fuck off.

That is such a seemingly improper place to comment upon a song as wildly random as that, in the persona of such an insanely obscure musician that it’s approaching genius level fuckery. I’d be so impressed at that joke that I wouldn’t even care that Claude LeHenaff hadn’t actually reached out, as sad as that would be.

Now, unfortunately, I needn’t worry about that in this case, as Roy passed away in 2018. However, I’d still like that sentiment to be hanging out in the ether. Some people just like some things better than others. It ain’t personal. I’m sure you were a swell guy.

But hey, that’s enough about a guy not directly involved with this version of the song, so what’s up with Gary?

Well, Gary Paxton (or rather Gary S. Paxton, as he preferred to be referred) was an acclaimed producer, known to have struck fear into the heart of convicted murdered, Phil Spector. Now, that’s spookie with an IE.

Gary’s probably best known for producing the hits Alley Oop for The Hollywood Argyles, Sweat Pea for Tommy Roe and Along Comes Mary for The Association. He was also shot 3 times in 1980 by some hitmen. Like seriously, hitmen. Like men hired specifically for the purpose of rubbing him out. How wild is that? He lived thankfully, but it definitely put him out of commission for a bit, and the men were arrested. He supposedly visited them in prison and forgave them, as at that point Gary was a pretty devout Christian convert who was very much involved in the Christian music scene at the time.

However for our part, Gary S. Paxton most importantly (and most graciously) produced and recorded Boris Pickett’s 1962 smash The Monster Mash. Yep, the same year he was himself recording Spookie Movies, he cut the biggest novelty song to ever hit Halloween. So while Boris was shredding up the charts, Gary’s own spookie tune was slowly fading into relative obscurity. Considering the residuals on The Monster Mash, I’m on I’m sure he got over it.

So let’s pour one out for the man behind 2 monstrous novelty hits, including the biggest one of all time, Mr. Gary S. Paxton.

Horror Movies

TRACK #344:

Horror Movies by The Bollocks Brothers

The Bollocks Brothers have technically already appeared on the playlist, as they’re responsible for the cover of Andy Foray’s Drac’s Back under the pseudonym Red Lipstique.

But The Brother’s Bollocks cooked up a corker of referential monster madness under their Christian name with 1983’s Horror Movies.

And is it any surprised? The highly suggestive lyrical “omission” that makes Drac’s Back so fun is fully on display here with a song all about a guy and his gal bein real kinkos to the late show on a Friday night.

Not only that, but when it comes to references, this song is a monster. The first 30 seconds or so is a laundry list of great old titles and it perfectly sets the tone for this moody groover.

White Zombie, House on Haunted Hill, Walking Dead, even Witchfinder General! They have a particular fondness for Vincent Price it seems, and who can blame them?

So grab you’re best girl (or boy), hit the lights and fix the rabbit ears so your not too distracted trying to “watch” some Horror Movies.

Horror Movies

TRACK #343:

Horror Movies by Dickie Goodman

There’s so many “Hey, girls get scared at horror movies, so maybe I can cop a feel” tunes that they could probably sustain their own mini-playlist.

Hell, the most universally recognized and beloved song on this playlist is kinda exactly that sorta tune. Referential sure (if mostly in a generic kinda way) but really just about a girl getting so scared they let ya get to second base maybe without putting up too much of a fuss. Now, how believable all of that is coming from the King of Pop, I’ll leave for you to decide

For now, I’ll spare you that mini-playlist and even some of the songs that might be on it, but I’ll rock a block of these fuckers cause, hey, that’s just the kinda ship we run around here. And off the bow of a course-correcting jam from Skyhooks seems like the perfect time.

We mentioned Dickie Goodman a while back, and he’s a pretty big wheel down at the Novelty Monster Song factory. Hell, the guy could even be considered the Grandfather of Sampling. See, Dickie made it big releasing what he called “Break-In Songs.”

Dickie would conduct an interview of sorts, with say, Frankenstein, and the responses would be in the form of samples from popular music at the time. They were a pretty big hit.

As clever and innovative as that was for the time, it doesn’t necessarily make for good playlist listening. Thankfully for us, Dickie cut some real songs too, and one of them just happens to be Referential Monster Song.

However, if you happen to be a Novelty Monster Song fanatic, you might think this tune sounds strikingly similar to the 1964 Jekyll and Hyde tune, My Baby Loves Monster Movies

And that because it’s basically the same song. It was even written and performed by Dickie as well. Outside of some differences of arrangement, and the line “Horror Movies” being changed to “Monster Movies,” it’s pretty much the same tune. Now, why he did this and released it under a different name is beyond me, but it certainly seems to be the case. His son Jon released a biography about him in 2000 called the King of Novelty. Maybe there’s an answer in there somewhere. I’ll keep you posted.

Dickie continued to make Break-In records for the better part of 30 years, covering contemporary events from the moon landing to The Watergate scandal and films like Frankenstein and Jaws. His break-ins even reached into the 80’s with songs like Hey E.T. and The Return of the Jedi Returns.

Unfortunately, at the age of 55, Dickie took his own life in the winter of 1989. Though he did live to see sampling utilized in the most unprecedented of ways (and was himself sued for using unlicensed material) he didn’t quite get to see just how ubiquitous sampling would become or just how much legal controversy it would stir.

What he left behind though was a legacy of innovation, parody and fun and a Monster Song so nice, he went and recorded it twice.

Here’s the man himself, The King of Novelty, lamenting that he can’t compete with those gnarly monsters his girl just goes crazy over in Horror Movies.

Horror Movie

TRACK #342:

Horror Movie by Skyhooks

We were starting to get into a whole “movie” groove there before we got all sidetracked by balls.

Hmmm.

Well, that’s probably the most direct route to where I was headed anyway, so let’s just go with it.

But yeah, movie songs. There’s a ton of em, and we’re gonna take Horror Ball’s lead and segue from the “Monster” Movie straight into the “Horror” Movie with a tune from Australian glam rock outfit, Skyhooks.

Their 1974 hit Horror Movie is no stranger to Halloween music lists. Hell, Elvira herself included it on her excellent 1988 double LP compilation Haunted Hits.

And why not? Lead singer Shirley Strachan says the phrase “Horror Movie” no less than 22 times in this tune. So people can be forgiven for taking it at face(ish) value and assuming they’re just tuned into an episode Deadly Ernest’s Aweful Movies on Syndey’s Channel 10.

Alas, the lyrics to this one state pretty plainly that the Skyhooks boys are simply likening the evening news to a Horror film, and not talking about genre movies at all.

With its penchant for peddling hatred and violence while it sells you detergent and booze, it’s clear that the band definitely feels a certain way about the news media, even back in 1974.

The more things change.

They’re certainly not the first band to disguise (though I use that term quite loosely here) a social message amidst a song about Halloween or Horror. They’re not even the first band on the playlist to do that, so we won’t hold it against ‘em. Besides, this song’s pretty groovin’, even if it’s not really about horror movies at all.

You’re probably reading this on a phone, but I watch a horror movie right there on my TV.

Horror Ball

TRACK #341:

Horror Ball by Big Eric

Oh yeah? Big Eric, huh? So, what’s this guy’s deal?

Well, let’s start with that name. “Big Eric “ appears to be a one-off pseudonym used by German artist Eric Billinghurst specifically for this track.

But Eric Billinghurst is better know throughout Germany as Bill Hurst, a standard issue AOR style rocker who produced 2 albums including the (apparently quite rare) 1982 release, Ice Cold Calculation. That fucker’s going for over 200 buck right now on Discogs. This is a shame because it contains a track called Horror that I’d love to investigate. Is it a different take on this song? Is it some other referential rock rarity? Who knows? Not us. Well, at least not yet anyway. That’s fuck off dollars from something I ain’t heard before. I’m hesitant to buy the Critters LPs that are goin for half that much, and the playlist needs a cleaner copy of that song pronto. But Ice Cold Calculation is in our sights, so we’ll keep you posted.

Until then, we can satisfy our Bill Hurst fix with Horror Ball, a peculiar Discoish tune that doubles as a fun play on words.

This one’s a bit silly, but that’s never been a problem around here, and it’s got a good groove, which is always a plus.

On top of that, it’s giving you what you need. All the Monsters you want getting shouted out to an infection disco beat.

And look at the cover to this thing! That’s just plain old fashion monster awesome.

So let’s get some horror going with Big Eric, shall we?

Halloween Ball

TRACK #340:

Halloween Ball by Bitter Blood Street Theatre

Though largely unheralded, The Bitter Blood Street Theatre might just be some of the earliest Shock Rockers in the game.

Formed in 1969 by a crew of Cincinnati University kids, the Thearte sported masks, capes and S&M gear for their stage shows which took on the form of a kind of Freakshow meets Vaudeville-Gone-Berserk.

Unfortunately, no footage of those shows is known to exist. Indeed, their only albums were cobbled together in the late 70’s from whatever demos existed by band captain Tom Owen. What we do know is that they opened for Alice Cooper, and it is said that Alice may have cribbed a couple of tricks from The Theatre for his own stage show. No more Mr. Nice Guy, indeed.

Not only did they open for Cooper, but the MC5, Joe Cocker, Mountain and Dr. John as well. Apparently they were pretty big locally, but never made any waves outside of Ohio.

A version of the band reformed in the 80’s as Blacklight Braille, where they continued to evolve their unique sound. Exotic instrumentation mixed with sometimes unusual arrangements performed in kinetic fashion mark the band’s overall vibe. You’d call it Rock ‘N Roll, I suppose, but there’s definitely something else going on. Something a little more theatrical.

And hey, wouldn’t you know it, they recorded a Halloween Song! Well, something of a Halloween song at any rate, with Halloween Ball.

A celebration of the Halloween’s of Old, this ball, with all sorts of Pagan overtones.

The time is right.

The ceremony begins tonight.

Screaming Ball (At Dracula Hall)

TRACK #339:

Screamin’ Ball (At Dracula Hall) by The Duponts

Now, there’s a ton of this kinda old timey Monster Rock ‘N Roll, but I don’t add it to the playlist that often. It’s monstery, sure, but something about it always feels a little off, like they could be singing about any old thing. There’s nothing distinctly spooky or festive about it most of the time.

There’s even a similar tune to tonight’s inclusion titled The Mummy’s Ball by The Verdicts that I removed from this block of balls for just that reason.

But Screaming Ball has a few things going for it that help it make the cut.

First and foremost, I dig this tune. It swings.

Secondly, from what I can tell, this is the very first pop song to actually reference Dracula. At least in the title, anyway.

Thirdly, it’s a pretty referential tune. In fact, The Duponts even have a similarly structured reference to Spike Jone’s Ball-Tune, only The Duponts make The Thing from Another World do The Stroll instead of a Mole Person. But both of them do reference the Thing.

And lastly, it’s from The Duponts, whom were also know as Little Anthony and the DuPonts, after the main vocalist, Anthony Gourdine.

But The Duponts weren’t the only crew associated with a Little Anthony, as Anthony Gourdine is also the Little Anthony of Little Anthony and The Imperials fame, best known from their hits like Tears on My Pillow and I Think I’m Going Out of My Head.

In 2009, Little Anthony and his Imperials were all inducted into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame, and any time you can add a Hall of Famer to the roster, you should probably just do it.

And dammit if I don’t just love idea of a future Hall of Famer his cuttin’ his teeth on some forgotten old novelty monster record. What’s cooler than that?

Well, it’s also a Mysterioso Pizzicato offender. How do you like that? Another one for the fire, boys.

So let’s all having a scream ball over at Dracula hall. C’mon, it’s a horror party!

Monster Ball by Screaming Lord Sutch

TRACK #338:

Monster Ball by Screaming Lord Sutch

It’s probably some sort of Halloween Playlist infraction that after 10 years and almost 300 more songs, we’re just now finally talking about Screaming Lord Sutch again. I mean, he appeared early, and rightfully so, but the guy should probably be an All-Star by by now, and that’s my fault. I guess that since he was already represented, I never felt urgency to get back to him.

But right inside this throwback Monster Song block is a perfect place to revisit David Sutch, because his 1976 single, Monster Ball, is the perfect song for such an occasion.

It’s starts as many Monster Party songs do, but The 3rd Earl of Harrow puts his own distinct spin on the tried and true formula by having the monsters join together and attack the band. A bold move.

Now, a curious thing happens in this first verse. Frankenstein, cheekily, is described as being a “dapper vamp” who’s all dressed up. He then flashes his teeth and bites a chick on the neck. This seems odd. Some time later, Dracula is seen to “blow a fuse.” This is a playful juxtaposition from the Lord that I imagine is intentional, but who knows. Maybe he thinks Frankenstein is a vampire and Dracula is some kind of monster or robot.

After all that, Godzilla shows up and fights “the thing from 20,000,” which I assume is the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. This seems like a fair enough match but ultimately “Zilly” comes out on top. A shame really. In that Bradbury’s Beast is the forerunner to Godzilla (and every other giant nuclear beast of the 50’s and 60’s) it would have been nice to see him win the day, just on the grounds of him being the OG.

Now, perhaps it’s just me (or maybe you’ll agree) but I think this song sounds strangely similar to another 1976 song about balls, AC/DC’s Big Balls. Dunno if there’s any real correlation, or which one came first, or if there’s even any musical evidence to back up that claim, but I just feel it.

Either way, it’s a 70’s take on an age old Novelty tradition done as only Screaming Lord can do.

Monster Movie Ball

TRACK #337:

Monster Movie Ball by Spike Jones

Now here’s a song that we’ve been putting off since jump.

Yep, this one’s been in the bullpen forever.

So long in fact, it was on pre-internet versions of the playlist that were played and distributed. But it’s high time to kick it on out, if only so I can stop thinking about it anymore.

I don’t imagine any playlist featuring as much novelty music as The Shindig would be complete if it didn’t feature at least one tune from The Godfather of Novelty songs himself, Mr. Spike Jones.

In the days before Rock ‘N Roll ruined everything, Spike and his City Slickers reigned supreme. He was the Weird Al of his era, though I’m not sure if that reference even holds much weight here in 2023. But he was a songsman and comedian in equal order, and having your popular tune get “spiked” was a sign you had made it big.

Though WW2 era songs about Hitler and All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth are all well and good, they’re certainly not Shindigable. However, like any novelty man worth his weight in buffalo nickels, Spike released a Horror record. 1959’s Spike Jones in Hi-Fi featured a ghastly cover with Spike as a Teenage Brain Surgeon surrounded by monsters. The album had lots of horror goings-one including a reference to Plan 9 featuring Vampira herself, Ms. Malia Nurmi. Even legendary singer and voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, most notable for being Tony The Tiger and singing You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, makes an appearance.

But for our part, it is track 6 which concerns us, a monster of a referential monster party tune, and one of the older Monster Songs on the playlist.

Spike details the gathering of Monsters big and small at his Monster Movie Ball, and as we’ve said several times around here, a full 3 years before Boris Pickett and his Cryptkickers.

But Spike’s song isn’t simply a Monster Song, featuring generic avatars of the Big 5. Nay! Monster Movie Ball, as its name suggests, is a bonafide referential hitter. In addition to name dropping all the classics, Spike finds time to reference House of Wax and The Mole People and actual creep Peter Lorre.

But he even mentions real-world singing fiends like Vampira, Zacherlee, Dave Savile’s Witch Doctor, and makes Dracula do the Cha Cha Cha à la Bruno Martino. Not too shabby.

So Spike, my apologies. Though you’ve been with us for 20 years and have been passed over, time and time again for 10, today is your day. Welcome aboard, buddy!

Monster Movies

TRACK #336:

Monster Movies by Clif and Marty

Speaking of Jack and Jim, here’s another duo knockin’ out some more old time Monster Roll for ya.

Clifton Nivison and Martin Fulterman (the Clif and Marty here, respectively) were both former members of The New York Rock and Roll Ensemble. As it happens, they’re also former members of Former Members of The New York Rock Ensemble, but that’s a separate and confusing matter involving Opal Records selling a bunch of their music without Clif or Marty’s knowledge.

The Rock Ensemble were a group of Juilliard music students who decided to bust out some Rock ‘N Roll using conventional orchestral instruments. A novel concept at the time, to be sure.

After releasing 5 albums over the course of 6 years, The Rock Ensemble parted ways. Seems Clif and Marty were disillusioned with the Ensemble’s lack of commercial success, and signed with Specter Records/Opal Productions in order to make some career headway.

At Opal, Clif and Marty acted as a kind of utility duo, recording demos, writing music for other acts and releasing tunes under various pseudonyms.

And their single, Monster Movies, appears to have been just that kind of assignment.

Now, why Opal Records would assign these 2 guys some novelty Monster song in 1972 is anyone’s guess. What was the temperature on Monster Songs in ‘72? Hell, I couldn’t tell ya, cause the only other Track on Halloween Shindig from 1972 is Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, and that’s definitely not a novelty monster song. In fact, ‘66 through ‘73 is a pretty barren wasteland for that kinda stuff, at least as far as this playlist is concerned anyway.

Now, that’s not to say the public wasn’t hungry for Monster Songs in ‘72, it just means there aren’t any that I’ve found or found and enjoyed enough to add to a 300+ rooster of songs which pretty much meet that exact specification. Just saying.

Regardless of how the 45-buying folks of 1972 felt, this is a fun and referential jam which goes so far as to specifically declare its love, not just for Godzilla, but directly to him, as though he might be out there somewhere in the South Pacific listening. Now, I gotta give that kinda thing just a little bit of love myself.

Outside of The Ensemble, and this particular single, I can’t suss out much about our boy Clifton, but Martin Fulterman is a bit of a different story.

See, Martin apparently changed his name to Mark Snow and went on to compose music for an almost absurd amount of Films, TV movies and shows. The most notable of his creations, no doubt, has got to be the famous X-Files Theme. For real? Ole Monster Movie Marty? Pretty snazzy lineage attached to a 40 year old novelty song.

Other Mark Snow projects of note (to me anyway) include Ernest Saves Christmas, Dolly Dearest, Project ALF, Skateboard, TJ Hooker and even Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And let me tell you, that’s cutting the list real short.

Mark Snow has composed, written songs for or worked on the music department of more shit than you’d believe. Over 350 different credits, including some ridiculous sounding TV movie called Ghosts Can’t Do It, which sounds like some PG-rated Lifetime version of Hellraiser that somehow features our 45th President himself, Mr. Donald Trump.

I’ll just leave you with that as we drop the needle on Clif and Marty’s lone 45, Monster Movies.

We love you Godzilla!