Audio

The Wicker Man

TRACK #102:

The Wicker Man by Iron Maiden

One of my favorite horror movies of all time is The Wicker Man. It’s awesome. If you’ve never seen The Wicker Man, it comes highly recommended from Halloween Shindig.

Being part of what was referred to in the 70’s as Folk Horror, The Wicker Man follows Police Sargent Neil Howie as he investigates an anonymous tip of a missing girl on Summerilse, a secluded island off the coast of Scotland.

There, a small but jovial group of Celtic pagans are free to practice their religion unfettered by the prying eyes of a judgmental society. That is until devout Christian Sargent Howie starts poking his disapproving nose around.

It is slow burn horror at its finest with an unsettling sense of dread which mounts to one of the great reveals in horror history.

With effective turns from horror vet Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle, Edward Woodward as Sargent Howie, plus a cast of creepsters as wide as the island, The Wicker Man isn’t your typical horror movie. Lacking gore, trite frights or largely any of the overt trapping of the genre, The Wicker Man‘s true horror is a psychological and social one that is both subtle and unnerving, and lingers long after the embers of its titular effigy fade.

It would double feature nicely with Dead and Buried, another creepfest about a small town of weirdos doing weird shit.

All that said, one of my favorite bands of all time is Iron Maiden. With Steve Harris’ unstoppable bass, the dueling harmonies of Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, Niko McBain’s thunderous percussion and Bruce Dickenson’s stainless steel vocals, they’re a heavy metal force for the ages.

So when these guys decided to cut a track about The Wicker Man, you know it’s a guaranteed Shindigger.

And though I like the studio version, it can’t hold a candle to the intensity of this opener from their Rock In Rio live album. Plus, it’s got that epic instrumental introduction, just perfect for overlaying this equally perfect sample.

So, come Weeners, it is time to keep your appointment with The Wicker Man.

 

Audio

It’s Only Halloween

TRACK #86:

It’s Only Halloween by Butch Patrick

Show business can be a bitch. One day you’re a hit, the next day you can’t find work as extra in a retirement home theater production of Our Town. What’s an actor to do?

Well, it’s even worse if you’re a child star. Not every Richie Cunningham can turn lemons into Backdrafts.

So, what’s Butch Patrick left with? Well, when your 1983 hit Whatever Happened to Eddie fails to make enough waves to buoy your career, I guess you take another stab at referentially cashing in on your former success.

In 2007, Butch cut the seasonal track It’s Only Halloween, where he does his best Shanter impersonation over a requisite Halloween beat.

Say what you want about this song, but I like it and given it’s a Halloween song recorded by Butch Fucking Patrick, I can’t think of a more fitting place for it than right here, with every other spooky, bizarre and otherwise unwise track on Halloween Shindig!

 

Audio

Making A Monster

TRACK #77:

Making A Monster by Blitzkid

Perennial spooksters Blitzkid are back at #77 with their ode to Mary Shelley’s classic cautionary tale of scientific hubris gone wrong.

Sympathetically written from the Monster’s perspective, the song actually has a bit more in common with the source material than the 1931 film used to lead-in the track. But a clip sample that perfect can’t be ignored, not by The Shindig at least.

Here’s Shindig All-Stars Blitzkid with a Franken-Weener of monstrous proportions!

 

Audio

Candyman

TRACK #49:

Candyman by Blitzkid

For fans of the Shindig favorite Blitzkid, it probably seems fitting to have this song come straight in at #49 following Helen’s Theme. I always thought so anyway.

Pretty straight forward Blitzkid offering here, as they detail the plot of the 1992 Tony Todd creep-fest Candyman, a film which still manages to give me the willies at times just thinking about it.

That shit-smeared bathroom reading “Sweets to the Sweet.” That graffiti style Candyman face Virginia Madsen climbs through. Her waking up in a pool of dog-blood next to a severed head having no idea what has happened while a woman screams bloody murder from the other room. Candyman flying backwards through a window. Creepy stuff. Effective.

I hear you’re looking for Candyman, bitch.

 

Audio

House Of 1000 Corpses

TRACK #46:

House of 1000 Corpses by Rob Zombie

Well, Lords of Salem was released this past weekend, much to chagrin of critics and the Internet as a whole, it seems. Tumblr especially appears to be awash was some pretty negative reactions.

So, now seemed as good a time as any to drop in this previously unfeatured addition to the Shindig.

Why previously unfeatured? Well, at the risk of posting negative ideas, and alienating some followers, my love for Rob Zombie extends from about White Zombie to well,…White Zombie. Of Rob’s solo and film career, I can not say I am a huge fan.

So why add it at all? Well, its a Title Track and that’s a little hard to just straight-up ignore. Plus, of all his movie this is probably the one I enjoyed the most. And this song is cool enough and certainly Halloweeny enough to enjoy a position on the playlist.

And hell, I like Rob Zombie. He taught me how awesome samples are in metal songs and pointed me toward a lot of really great movies. What I think of his ability to remake them, or steal ideas from them, is neither here nor there.

So go support Lords of Salem. It may be derivative but at least it’s not another goddamn remake.

 

Audio

Frankenhooker

TRACK #33:

Frankenhooker by The 69 Eyes

If Peter Steele blasted a couple rails, and the rest of Type-O inverted the gloom to tempo ratio, the resulting sound might be akin to Finnish Goth-N-Rollers The 69 Eyes.

From their Angels album comes this patented Shindigger, which makes its home on the playlist because I’m just a huge fan of Frankenhooker.

Though referentially speaking, I felt the song was somewhat lacking,  so I kicked up the Frankenhookerness quotient with tons of samples. Enjoy!

Wanna date?

 

Audio

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

TRACK #14:

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah by Tracy Jordan

Since the song The Wolfman’s Wedding Reception by the Goofy Toons doesn’t actually exist, I figured this was the next best thing to follow such an introduction.

From the always ridiculous brain of 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan comes this monster novelty throwback spoof, to which Jordan received a Gold Record.

It may be a sweaty premise, but i think it sustains itself just fine.

 

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Motel Hell

TRACK #7:

Motel Hell by Blitzkid

At #7 comes a band with plenty of representation on the Shindig; perennial monster-rockers Blitzkid.

When every album’s track listing reads like a “Gory Horror Movies from the 80’s” category on Netflix, your band is kind of hard to ignore if making a Halloween playlist.

First cut from these guys? Motel Hell, which details the goings-ons of Farmer Vincent (the wonderful Rory Calhoun) as he minces up out-of-town lodgers at his Motel Hello (its neon sign, of course, has a blown out O.)

He stores and cultivates these lodgers in a garden out back, like some kind of nightmarish cabbage patch, then uses their bodies to make assorted meat products for the locals, whom all love Farmer Vincent’s treats.

Motel Hell is a great piece of early 80’s horror that’s funny, sometimes startling and always a blast to watch. Any movie where a dude wearing a pig’s head gets into a chainsaw fight with another dude that also has a chainsaw is some must-see shit. In fact, if you haven’t seen Motel Hell, you should,…right now.

 

Audio

Shockmonster Stomp

Track #6:

Shockmonster Stomp by The Ghastly Ones

Since we’re already stomping, let’s stomp some more with a little help from The Ghastly Ones, a monster surf outfit from Van Nuys, California.

I love surf music, but on the whole it doesn’t lend itself terribly well to Halloween, unless you’re talking about The Ghastly Ones that is; oozing as they are with model kit and Shock! Theater imagery. Their drummer, Norman Cabrera, is even a special FX artist, and they were originally released on Rob Zombie’s Zombie-A-Go-Go label. Now that’s all pretty Halloween if you ask me.

And if that’s not enough, this track in particular amps up the Halloweeniness a couple notches with its harpsichord and theremin sounds; all the spookiness to take our Shindig in decidedly ghastly direction. Keep stompin’!