If you love Halloween Shindig and Shindig Radio, and wanna help us keep the leaves blowin’ and the music followin’, we’d truly appreciate any support. And we definitely won’t egg the hell outta your house!
The gang is Back in the Hole with a few unexpected guests!
Join Mikey, Graham C. Schofield, Kyle Sullivan, MC Crumbsnatcher and a gruesome crew of Boglins for an evening of surprises as they warm up for a new round of Title Tracks.
So, lather some cream cheese on your cucumbers and get ready for a hard hand-off with your favorite ghost fuckers…
It’s be over 4 years since Shindig Radio dropped it’s needle into the wide groove of Monster Raps and a lot of classic cuts have hit the playlist since then.
So, join DJ Radio D, Biz-E G, Mic E , and Monster Rap rookie – Mr. Auto-Matt-ic – MC MGM as they hop through old skool hits from the birth of Monster Rap in 1983 to it’s eventual peak in 1987.
You’ll hear monster tracks from legends like Grandmaster Flash and Edgar Winterright along side one “hit” wonders from the likes of Cagé (Drac E. “D”) and EJ Rock!
From Freddy to Frankenstein, to Igor and Mr. Hyde, it’s more horrifying hip-hop to hype your haunted house on…
No, unfortunately vanity-auteur and lawyer John De Hart didn’t actually stop by (or call the Creep Phone for that matter) but we literally spend just about the entire run-time talking about him, so hey, he might as well have.
Listen to returning returner Matt Mastrella detail his brief correspondence with John as Mikey Rotella and Graham C. Schofield warm up for Monster Raps Pt. 4 by listening to some overlooked musical treasures from John’s original version of his 1993 opus Geteven entitled Champagne and Bullets.
Recorded in July of 2025 and making it’s way out to you in 6 months, Shindig Radio may be back and swinging for the fences in 2026!
So, join John in not joining us as we try to convince him to join us…
Since I first heard this record, I assumed it was an effort to cash-in of the then-exceedingly-popular Mexican Brass fad of the mid-60’s ushered in by Herb Albert and The Tijuana Brass.
And why shouldn’t it? Herb Albert’sChristmas Album was one of the best selling Christmas albums for several years following it’s release in late 1968.
But when I was looking up this album so I could pop a year next to the title, I discovered Tijuana Christmasby The Border Brass was released in 1967! Turns out this seemingly wasn’t an attempt to cash-in on the Mexicali-Christmas trend but may have been the trendsetter itself!
Either way, I think this album absolutely buries the more popular effort from Herb Albert for sheer volume of holiday cheer and enjoyment. While those things are totally subjective, we think if you listen to both of these albums back to back, you’ll agree that Tijuana Christmas is the one you’ll choose to give a yearly festive spin.
And to help you do that, we’ve added it to the Christmas Mini-Playlists here on Halloween Shindig. We know you can listen to this on YouTube, but that’s kind of annoying. Similarly, the only copy on Spotify is the alternate version with vocals, and that version is whack.
So, here it is, for your holiday enjoyment, is the one in only Tijuana Christmas from Bugs Bower and The Border Brass! Get your harpsichord on!
As I mentioned earlier this year (or rather in 2023 when I wrote this cause it was originally slated to appear 2 years ago!), I’ve had to dig around just a little deeper to find songs lately. And sometimes those songs just aren’t readily available.
Halloween by Abstractions is just that sort of tune. No one had this streaming. No one had it uploaded to YouTube. This was a pay to play deal for The Shindig and we were glad to shell out and be able to provide this digital version to the Halloween music loving world.
Anyway, seems about a month before we posted our version to the tube, someone beat us to the punch. Wish that dude beat me to the punch when I was trying to buy this album, but hey, it’s not like it was expensive, and the album’s not a wash or anything. I guess buying an album, ripping the audio, taking nice shots of the sleeve and cutting a YouTube video is a sure fire way to make it miraculously appear on YouTube right before I post it. This sentence was in reference to The Night of the Monster’s Party from that year, the post I’m referring to above. Then, I originally had a line here about EJ Rock’s Freaky Halloween which is (thankfully!) completely irrelevant now. That was a beautiful surprise development of the 2024 season.
Either way, Halloweenby Abstractions is there now, and now it’s here too, closing out our 2025 season and our week of Hallo-Women. The lead singer of Abstractions was Joyce Martin, who co-wrote the lyrics with Rex Martin, who also wrote the music. Are they married? Are they brother and sister? Who knows? We can only speculate. I’d like to think they’re lovers. At least, I’d like to think that only if they aren’t actually related. If they are related, I’d like to think they are definitely not lovers, cause ya know, why would I like to think they were if they were? I wouldn’t like that at all. I’ll move on.
According to Discogs, Abstractionswas from Indianapolis Indiana, which is totally corroborated by the liner notes. These also contain lyrics, which is pretty cool for an LP like this. We scanned them and ran them over our YouTube Video.
It’s a moody sort of ABBA-esque and atmospheric song of loss and self discovery, all set to the Season of the Witch. Sure, it ain’t Bill Ervin’sHalloween, but not everything can or should be, right? Songs of loss and longing fit perfectly with the season. They needn’t all be trick or treating and ghosts, right? At least not literal ghosts.
So, we’re gonna leave you now for the season with this mellow rumination and wish you all a very Happy Halloween. Thanks for stopping by again this October. We’ve got some episodes of Shindig Radio in the can already that should be slowly trickling out next year and hopefully we can record a true blue Halloween episode for you to enjoy next season.
Song Poems: that wonderful intersection of predatory con artists, studio musicians just trying to make a living and average Americans with a pen in their hand and a song in their heart. The things born of this unlikely junction are works of wholly unique art that, stripped of even just one of their 3 components, would cease to be the kind of special that they are.
If you’re unfamiliar, Song-Poems were a strange sort of scam with roots that can be traced back to almost the very beginning of recorded music itself.
Unscrupulous “producers” would put ads in the backs of pulpy publications looking for the next big thing with the promise of fame and unfathomable royalties. Could that be you?
They’d solicit “Song-Poems,” a sort of a condescending shorthand for “lyrics” that they figured the unwashed masses could understand. You’d send them your “song-poem” for “evaluation” (which it would invariably pass) and then the onslaught of salesmanship would pour in. Which, of course, was followed by entreaties for money.
See, they’d have their army of highly skilled professionals record your song, and then put the weight of their aggressive marketing department behind you to make it a hit! Cause your song was just that good. All you had to do was fork over some money, which would be nothing compared to the amount of money you’d make once your song hit the top!
Only there was no top, because there was no marketing. There was just some studio, filled with working class musicians cranking out maybe 12 of these things a day as fast they could. Then they’d slap those puppies on wax and shoot ‘em your way. Now you got a song. Thanks! Onto the next mark.
It was a weird scam, because these companies actually made good with the records, which seems like it would involve far more effort than it was worth. But I guess not, because there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of these things floating around, and lord knows how many that are still undiscovered. For collectors of the bizarre, they’re like a dream come true.
And it is from this unlikely Venn Diagram of greedy but thrifty producers, talented yet rushed musicians and inexperienced and possibly batshit songwriters that these wholly unique, outsider-esque but semi-polished and sometimes tonally discrepant head-scratchers were born. And thank the maker.
As you might imagine, there’s a metric stocking’s worth of Christmas Song-Poems. There’s even a whole compilation of them that’s easily heard called Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four? Hell, some of those tunes even appear on our That’s One Weird Ass Christmasplaylist.
However, as you might also imagine, the world isn’t exactly inundated with Halloween Song-Poems. In fact, there’s only 2 that I’m aware of, thus far anyway.
You’ve got the virtually non-existent Halloween by Cinema Records’ in-house band The Real Pros. This one seems so rare that the only mention of it I can even find is the discogs page which states it’s from 1979. It has never sold, no one owns it, and apparently only 1 person other than me even wants the damn thing. And that person better be prepared for a serious fight if one finally does appear for sale.
The other song seems equally rare, but a year ago, some kind soul whom has done the world a great service, posted it to YouTube. And that song is tonight’s inclusion, Charles E. Warren’s The Halloween Queen as sung by Buddy Mix.
Now, a lot of Song-Poem enthusiasts don’t seem to have the same amount of love for the Song-Poems of the late 70’s and 80’s. I’m not sure why though, because I love ’em. Some of my favorites are from this era; AIDS Is Out, Spock and Lucifer are all fantastic. There’s something about the lifeless drum machines, synth heavy arrangements and 80’s stylings that suits the slapdash nature of these weird songs so well.
Rainbow Records seem to be the leading purveyors of such song-poems, cranking out as many as 24 Hollywood Gold albums, each boasting roughly 16 songs a piece. Now that’s somewhere in the vicinity of 400 songs, from just one label, during just the 1980’s. At least I think it’s the 80’s. Sounds like it would have to be, but those damn records ain’t got no dates on ‘em. Go fig.
Buddy Mixhere is featured on most of the early installments. All the Hollywood Gold albums have the same art and are differentiated by a strange 3 digit number code. This one’s HG-504. It seems like they started at 500, but 500 and 501 appear to be unaccounted for on the American Song Poems Music Archives. I have HG-548, which is also not present on the archive, but that page hasn’t been updated in over 10 years, so I’m not sure how definitive that discography is any longer.
Between the different records he appears on, Buddy’s got roughly 30 of these things under his belt, and that’s not too shabby.
Here, he lends his vocal stylings to a song about a stripper from San Francisco. At least I think it’s a stripper, anyway. One can never be too sure, and there’s room for interpretation here, I think. What the hell that has to do with Halloween exactly, I couldn’t rightly say, but man do I think I love it more for that fact.
I suppose you could suggest her role as a stripper (or even perhaps as a woman) is a disguise – her costume if you will – and doing that every night to earn a living could very well make her a Queen of Halloweening. Then again, there’s maybe a more compelling argument that The Halloween Queen is in drag, or even trans perhaps, adding an extra and fairly compelling layer of complexity to the whole affair. Maybe I’m reading too much into Charles E. Warren’s writing. Maybe I’m offending him. If so, I apologize. Whatever’s going on, it’s turning his flame up higher than he’s ever seen.
Seriously though, I have written far too many words now for what amounts to a weird song written by some guy who thought maybe it might be a hit cause some fast talking producer convinced him it could be. Or who knows, maybe he just wanted to hear it recorded and had an extra couple hundred bucks laying around. Either way, we win with Charles E. Warren’s The Halloween Queen.
So, thank you Chuck, Buddy, all the session musicians over at Rainbow and whichever producer decided this one…ya know…“made the cut.” Without y’all we wouldn’t be able to count a Song-Poem amongst the ranks of Halloween Shindig, and what sort of an wannabe all-inclusive musical compendium would that make it?
Our next proclamation for the Queen comes from a male subject of the court, a one Mr. Bily Snel. And short of being a Monster Rap performed by a Lil Bow Wow in a witch hat, this is about as diametrically opposed to Acid’sHalloween Queenas we can get.
From that watershed year of Monster Rock, 1958, comes this rockabilly hit from a guy who never released another one after. There’s a b-side to this one called One Too Many Heads, which is hedging on a Monster song, but doesn’t take the full plunge. Other than that, Bily’s out.
Now, most folks with a lone record to their name don’t tend to have lots of information floating around the internet about them. That’s doubly true if the record in question is some random novelty song about a Halloween lady. Some will have a Wikipedia blurb maybe, or something scrawled on Rate Your Music perhaps, but little in the way of sourced, reliable information. Bily, on the other hand, has a very curious entry on a page called askART.com, because evidently, Bily was much better known as a painter than as a singer.
Bily has a lot of mix-media pieces to his name, but largely his portfolio consist of clown illustrations like that one pictured here. He even published a book called My Musical Coloring Bookin 1963, that had a clown on the cover. Guy liked clowns, I guess. Seriously. Type in “Bily Snel Painting” and you’re gonna get a ton of clowns.
Anyway, I said the entry was “curious” because, well, because it exists, but also because the information it presents is a little inconsistent. Being born in 1925, William Scott Snell it says, is listed as White on his 1943 draft card and in a 1930 and subsequent 1940 US census. They then proceed to present us with a photo that’s essentially Christoph Waltz and sure, why not. Here’s that.
Now, later on in his biography it suggests that Bily is black. Wait, what? Didn’t you just suggest his draft card and 2 different US Censuses identify him as White. Didn’t you show me a photo that looks like he’s from the East German All-Stars? I mean, one can not 100% assess a person’s race simply from photographs, sure, and certainly not from a single and very old photograph, but, am I crazy? The guy in this photo doesn’t seem even the slightest bit black to me.
Now, several other art outlets , auction or archive, claim Bily Snel is, in fact, an African American illustrator and the man responsible for the Queen of Halloween record. Ok, cool. But I have some questions for askART.com then.
Are there 2 Bily Snel’sbeing conflated together here? Is Bily Snelthe painter of clowns the same Bily Snel that’s cutting this record? This seems like a real specific way to spell both Bily and Snel for there to be 2 different Bily Snel’s. Is Bily Snel, the singular, a white guy, or is he an African Amercian? Is this picture on askART actually him, or someone else? What the hell is going on here and who the hell’s got the right info about Bily?
Race is obviously of no concern around here, particularly when it comes to dropping one of the oldest Halloween Songs known to the playlist. I just got real confused when that askART biography claimed both races and then fed me a picture of the whitest looking dude I’ve ever seen.
Whatever race Bily is, he’ll forever be enshrined in our block of Hallo-Women for his trailblazing 1958 single Queen of Halloween.
Our next 3 songs of the season are roughly the same kind of song told in 3 distinct musical styles.
Now, they are for sure different songs, thematically, but they each speak on a kind of festive royalty; a Halloween Queen.
One is pretty much just “you’re far out and spooky and man that really turns my gears.” The second is essentially “Sheskinda repulsive and badass and that’s awesome.” And the 3rd? I dunno really. I guess it’s a different flavor of the first one. But we’ll cross that (very wordy) bridge when we get to it.
For now, let’s kick this off right. First up for us, stylistically, is Heavy Metal. Thematically, it’s of the “I’m ugly and awesome and fuck you” variety and this song is definitely all 3.
From Belgium speed metal pioneer’s Acid comes Halloween Queen, which can be found on the band’s 3rd and final studio release, 1985’s Engine Beast.
Acid formed in 1980 as Precious Page but quickly changed their name to Acid and released their first single in 1982. Soon they were releasing full LPs and shredding across Europe with the likes of Sabbath, Venom and Motörhead. Non-heinous!
Not only were they pioneers in the speed/thrash scene, they were one of the first metal bands to be fronted by a female singer. Her name was Kate De Lombaert and she’s a total badass, a Halloween Queen even (though she is singing in 3rd person here) so maybe this is not exactly autobiographical.
Here she is rocking a Dracula cape and lookin mighty dangerous. Definitely non non-non non-non-heinous.
What better way to wrap up of week of Hallo-Women than with a run of Halloween Queens? And what better Queen to lead the charge, than a Halloween Queen herself?
Remember when I said that’s there’s a song every year that’s been waiting around forever to finally get on the playlist? Well, I said that about Don’t Let Go this year because, well because that’s true, but mostly because our next song was originally scheduled for next year. Now, I did include the caveat that there’s usually more than one a year, especially at this stage in the game. And I’ll admit, Don’t Let Go has been waiting for much longer than tonight’s jam, but no song has been burning a hole in the bullpen for me quite like this one.
When I first ran across this tune (whenever that was originally) I dismissed it as a Screaming Lord Sutch cover, tossed it onto the YouTube Bullpen playlist and promptly forgot about it altogether.
Then, while randomly listening to that playlist in my car (who knows how many months later) this song fired up and it immediately grabbed my attention. What the hell was this? And when the hell had I added it?
I drop a lot of boring and forgettable songs on that playlist, just to see what they got going on. Some of it never gets a 2nd listening before being summarily dumped. But this song, this was a stake straight through the heart of a listless Dracula block filled with just those kind of boring and forgettable tunes.
An awesome Dracula voice, a spooky organ, a seriously fuzzed out guitar lick and an aggressive female vocal all demanded I take notice. This was no Screaming Lord Sutch cover. No, it was much more.
What follows, amid epic 70’s strings, some assaultive brass stabs, that classic werewolf sound effect and is that a fuckin clarinet (?) is one seriously rocking Monster Song. It’s like ABBA blasted a few rails and covered Spirit in the Sky at a Halloween party but forgot how it went so they just sang whatever the fuck about Dracula, and I’m about it.
And look at this 45 sleeve! That’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, despite the song being readily available on the internet, I shelled out to get one shipped from England just so I could get a high rez scan and throw it on a T-Shirt. It’s available here, in the Shindig Shop (or here, if you prefer Redbubble). Don’t make me the only weirdo rockin’ this thing, alright? Everyone buy one cause that’s the coolest thing ever.
Back to this song, or rather to Thunderthighs, which is awesome name for a female rock group, let’s be real. I had never heard of this band and I wondered what their story was all about.
Turns out they were a backing vocal trio from the UK consisting of Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou and Casey Synge. The were most known from providing Lou Reed with the do-do-doos for Walk On the Wild Side. They are not, in fact, “colored girls”, despite chiming in right at the moment Lou suggests they might be. Over the years, some folks have taken umbrage with this fact, and I can see why. If you’re satirizing the music industry’s proclivity for taking advantage of minority singers without providing the proper credit, proper compensation, proper royalty structures or the opportunity to step out from behind the shadow of their white counterparts, doing so with trio white women may just be undercutting that point. Perhaps it’s not though. Perhaps that’s the only responsible way to make such a critique. Or maybe it’s not that deep at all and it’s simply Digital Blackface in the analog era. I’m not sure. All I know is that regardless of what Lou sings, the girl’s were Thunderthighs.
As an act on their own, Thunderthighsnever really seemed to catch on. They released a handful of singles to critical acclaim and some chart performance, but nothing viewed as an undeniable hit. They recorded a debut LP, but the label cut their losses and shelved the effort. Years and years later the material was released as an untitled album and is currently available to listen to on the various streaming services.
Despite struggling to find solo success, these woman were still very sought after for their incredible vocal gifts. The trio can be heard on various albums from Mott the Hoople, Arthur Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis and David Verity.
But for our week of Hallo-Women, we don’t want them in the background. We want the ladies of Thunderthighs front and center singing about possibly the most monstrous woman of them all, Dracula’s Daughter.
Dracula’s Tango (Sucker For Your Love)by Toto Coelo
Since we’re talking about women talking about monsters, how about 5 women talking about monsters. Or at least one monster anyway. Yeah, you guessed it – Dracula. Of course it’s Dracula. It’s always Dracula. So much Dracula. Too much Dracula.
I know I said I was only gonna give you 1 Dracula song this year, and that’s because this block wasn’t initially scheduled for this season. But as I was finishing up the Disco block I wasn’t quite settled about how it was segueing into the next part of the playlist. So, I decided to move these songs up a bit, shuffled out a few tunes, and viola! Now you got more Dracula. It’s honesty just that easy to suddenly have Dracula around here, such is the extent of Draculas littering the bullpen. There’s a whole other crop coming at you in 2026. Just Draculas. So much Draculas. Too much Draculas.
But this one’s a great monster dance song that’s pretty well known and exactly the type of song that should have made the list years ago. It’s been hanging around the bullpen forever just waiting to find the right spot to call home, and I think we’ve now found it.
It’s a poppy number that comes from a group of British ladies originally named Toto. The United States made them change their name though to avoid confusion with the real Toto, cause that’s the kinda bullshit the United States does. I suppose I get it, but this seems more geared toward preventing a customer from buying an album they maybe didn’t want, than it is seems geared toward maybe helping an artist sell some records on a little borrowed name recognition. The music industry suddenly developed a consciousness toward its customers, or something? Get the fuck outta here.
I will say that I wouldn’t have complained at all about an alternate cut of Lynch’s Dune scored by the likes of Toto Coelo.
Speaking of which, that’s what they changed their name to, Toto Coelo. In Latin it means “by all of Heaven” or “the whole of the Heavens.” It seems like a fancy way of saying completely, or absolutely. So there’s that.
According to Wikipedia, By The Full Breadth of The Heavens formed in ’81 and their first recording was a Buggles tune produced by Trevor Horn. How do you like that? Sometimes the small weird ways things end up unintentionally connected around here is kinda wild. Apparently this was an unreleased track though, but that little thread is still interesting.
Their actual breakout hit came the following year in the form I Eat Cannibals. Not exactly a number one hit, either in England or here (peaked at 8 in the UK and 66 here in the states) but it was enough to warrant a follow up single right on its heels.
Now, why someone thought a weird song about wanting to fuck Dracula was the ticket, I couldn’t say. Never seems to me like the thing to bet the farm on, and I’m a guy who literally wants your next hit to be a song about you wanting to fuck Dracula. Like I’m here for it, literally. I’m literally here at this domain for the express purpose of talking about your weird 1982 hit song about how you’re getting all horny for Dracula. But yeah, I’ve seen the numbers. It’s not a large constituency.
So, as you might imagine Toto Coelo’s flash was of an “in the pan” variety. They went for the hat trick and released Milk From The Coconut, the 3rd single off their 1983 album Man O’War, but that one didn’t really move the needle either. Anyone who was really feeling I Eat Cannibals had moved on.
Now, I’m usually a pretty generous listener with things like that, and there is a vocoder, and that’s awesome obviously, but I struggle with Milk from the Coconut a bit. It’s ok, but I’m not surprised this one failed to chart.
Now Dracula’s Tango, on the other hand, provides no such obstacle. It is the clear winner of the 3 singles, my biases not withstanding. Anyone claiming I Eat Cannibals is the better single is not to be trusted. So, while I think I Eat Cannibals could make for a perfectly reasonable addition to The Shindig, we have obviously and predictably staked our flag on Dracula’s Tango.
An interesting bit of trivia about the ladies of Toto Coelo; they fully appear performing in the 1983 sequel, Grizzly II: The Predator. That sucker was shot in Budapest, and the production ran out of money so the Hungarian government confiscated all their equipment. As a result, the movie was never released or finished. Canon bought the rights with the intention to release it in the late 80’s but that didn’t happen before Canon fell apart.
In 2020, an independent company shot some extra footage and finally got the film released as Grizzly II: The Revenge. It’s not good, and has tons of weird new footage spliced-in that feels all out of place. And since it featured a bunch of young actors that had since became famous, they bill them all like the real stars of the film.
It’s got John Rhys-Davies and Louise Fletcher and Charles Cyphers. But those are the real actors. In small ass cameos you had the likes of George Clooney, Laura Dern and even Charlie Sheen! According to IMDb Charlie Sheen actually turned down the role of Daniel in The Karate Kid so he could go to Hungary and be in this trash. Holy shit. Poor guy. No wonder he kept bangin’ 7 grams rocks. I would too if I had given up a shot at bring the Karate Kid for fuckin Grizzly II, only to see it get full-on shelved for 40 years.
Though, to be fair, being Topper Harley and Rick Vaughn kinda makes up for not getting to be Daniel Larusso. In the grand scheme of things, maybe that’s even better. Maybe he really was winning. In the end though, he’s still Charlie Sheen, and that don’t sound like any kind of winning to me. Rest in peace Corey Haim.
Holy shit, that was a detour. What the hell were we talking about again? Oh, another song about women obsessed with a fucking literal creature of the night, that will completely drain their body of life in order to sustain their own, with absolutely no thought or concerned paid to the very object of that sustenance, rendering them into what one Dracula referred to as a “beautiful wine press” ?Yeah, that sounds about par for the Dracula course.
Here’s Toto Coelo with a toto dance-floor ‘digger sure to get your blood flowing. It’s Dracula’s Tango (Sucker For Your Love)
We can’t just give you a Title Track about a woman and not a Title Track performed by a woman, that would be cruel and unusual. So here comes a Title Track from a film that is itself cruel and unusual.
From Mark Pirro’s 1991 “comedy” comes this absolute hitter from Joyce Mordoh, a through and through Title Track of the highest order.
We recently recorded our 7th volume of Title Tracks on Shindig Radio, and this one was definitely the big dog at that party. I’m not sure when you’ll finally get to hear that episode, but I’m hoping for a 2026 release.
Now, I haven’t listen through any of the raw audio yet, but I remember being pretty unkind toward Mark Pirro’s lighthearted musical. Perhaps too uncharitable. I know why I was unkind (cause I pretty much hate it) but it was late in the episode and I went a bit too hard, I think. If you’ve seen Mark’s other films like A Polish Vampire in Burbank or Curse of the Queerwolf, you have an idea of what’s going on with Nudist Colony of the Dead.
I get that it’s silly and not meant to be taken very seriously. That’s fine. I have plenty of patience for things that are objectively bad or silly for the sake of being silly. But so much of this movie is just bad humor that absolutely does not land, that it’s relentless torrent of unfunny bits just becomes tiresome and annoying. There’s nothing quite as infuriating to sit through as comedy that’s just not working for you. That’s not to say there aren’t of some bits I found funny, or that no one could find joy and humor in it, it’s just that I do not.
But alas, that takes nothing away from what I think is an absolute masterclass in Title Trackery from a woman who was no stranger to the game. She also sang Deathrow Gameshow for Mark Pirro and wrote the Title Tracks for Mark’s summer buffoonery Buford’s Beach Bunnies. Not a bad showing, Joyce. 3 puts you in Irene Cara territory. But nobody can touch the Queen.
So, let’s go bare assed, balls to the wind and stick it to those religious shitheels with a Title Track that’s enough to wake the dead!
Here’s Joyce Mordoh with Nudist Colony of the Dead!
Holy Jesus, that doesn’t feel good to type. Doesn’t feel good that there’s even call to type such a thing, but facts is facts.
There’s also a man singing here, which while not exclusively against policy this week (there’ll be others), singing that is about a Woman rather than by a Woman is definitely a bit less than. However, this is a Title Track, and for that we can make this exception.
Because it simply wouldn’t be Halloween over here at Halloween Shindig if we didn’t add some more Title Tracks to the mix.
Actually, now that I’m reading that back, I wanna cross reference this claim of mine. One moment please.
Ok, Nevermind. Apparently it can very much be Halloween over here at Halloween Shindig without any Title Tracks at all, as both 2018 and even 2023 featured no Title Tracks on the countdown.
Still, 11 out of 13 years ain’t a bad ratio, and it suggests that Title Tracks are kinda of a thing around here. And for anyone around here who’s been around here who knows the score knows that.
Tonight’s Title Track comes from a British film called Vampira, pronounced Vam-PEER-a as opposed to Malia Nurmi’s original horror host Vam-PIE-ra. Not sure why the writers decided to call the film that but pronounce it differently, particularly since by 1974 (even in England) Vampira would have been a known quantity. Perhaps that why they pronounced it different? But who knows with them Brits.
I guess Malia took no issue with them taking her name, regardless of pronunciation, as I could find no evidence to suggest she approached production or sued the production company over the rights to the moniker.
And that might just be because, generally speaking, the film is widely known by its overseas title, Old Dracula. To capitalize on Mel Brooks’ smash hit Young Frankenstein, they released this sucker stateside as Old Dracula, get it? Har de fuckin har.
Despite that poor attempt to sideline a perfectly good Title Track, the movie was originally released in the UK as Vampira and features this definite Title Track from The Majestics, so step off, ya Yanks!
Plot wise we have the Notorious Phantom, Mr. David Niven, playing an aging and lonely Dracula attempting to resurrect his long dead love, Vampira, using the blood of young Playmates. Seems he needs a special sort of blood and he’s just gonna invite all these Playmates to his castle for a photo shoot and weird Dracula party (where he pretends to be Dracula) and gets the playmates to sleep overnight.
It’s a solid plan, except that the one the playmates (incidentally, the one with the special blood) is also Black, so Vampira is resurrected as a Black woman.
Now of course this isn’t a problem at all if you’re not a total piece of shit, but this is a guy who has literally murdered thousands of humans so he can live, what’s a little casual racism on top? It might be hard for non-murdering not-pieces-of-shit to understand how naturally one might take to simple racism while regarding an entire species as sub-vampire.
This is compounded by the that fact that Vampira is played by the stunningly gorgeous Teresa Graves, who was very famous at this exact time for playing TV cop Christie Love on Get Christine Love. Readers might remember the scene from Resevoir Dogs where the gang wonders aloud about who played Christie love – you under arrest sugar! Well, Vampira played Christie love, that’s who
In addition to Niven and Graves, it being a British production and all, there’s definitely Hammer babes afoot. Here we have the gorgeous Veronica Carlson from Dracula Has Risen from the Grave and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed anLinda Hayden from Taste the Blood of Dracula and The Blood on Satan’s Claw and that’s pretty cool. So big up there.
We also get Nicky Henson, whom you may remember from Witchfinder General and Psychomania, which is also a treat.
Thanks to the blog Denim Disco, where I’ve been lucky enough to find out about a number of different tracks, I can tell you the guy who wrote this also wrote the lyrics for Goldfinger, his name was Anthony Newley. And that singer? Despite The Majesticsbeing a UK soul band, that’s American actor Clarke Peter’s whom you may now as Dectective Lester Freamon from The Wire.
So, let’s turn the mic over to a man, for a moment, as he does what so many men with microphones have done for as long as their have been microphones; sing the praises of a woman. In this case, the resurrected body of a bloodsucking Queen of the night named Vampira.
Here Comes the Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein)by Elvira
You didn’t imagine we could do a Block of Hallo-Women and not feature possibly the greatest Hallo-Woman of all time, did you? Of course you didn’t. You’re actually surprised she wasn’t in the top spot.
We haven’t heard from Elvira in a bit. 5 years to be exact, and it’s largely because we’ve run through most of her original tracks. But we did have an Elvira original tucked up our sleeves, one that coincidentally makes for a perfect inclusion in our Hallo-Women run. Cause what’s more Hallo-Womany than Elvira singing about the Bride of Frankenstein?
From her 1994 compilation Elvira Presents Monster Hits it’s Here Comes the Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein), a very 90’s-Elvira track with all of her trademark lampoonery.
Now, if that other singer sounds a bit familiar to you, that’s because it’s the song’s co-author, Mr. Fred Schneider of the B-52’s.
The other co-writer here is Ms. Holly Knight, who herself co-wrote both Tina Turner’sThe Best and Pat Benatar’sLove is a Battlefield with Mike Chapman. Damn! That is some solid 80’s lineage on loan here to The Mistress of the Dark, who certainly makes this her own in the process.
I’m not sure if The Gal in Black Who Keeps Coming Back will truly be back after this. Here Comes The Bride really is one of the last big hitters we have from Elvira. There is still Zombie Stomp and 2 Big Pumpkins of course, but I’m not too crazy about either song. I know, it’s sounds like a sacrilege to say, especially about 2 Big Pumpkins, but that’s just the truth of it. There is one, very random other track I have in the bullpen from the Mistress, but barring that, this may be Elvira’s last hurrah on The Shindig.
If that really ends up being the case, then I can think of no better note for her to go out on than this block of Hallo-Women and with her track Here Comes The Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein)
There was no shortage songs featuring female performers waiting in the bullpen that could have easily taken the lead-off spot here for our Hallo-Women block.
But there was one Hallo-Women I had in mind when I cooked up this run. One very specific and overlooked Hallo-Woman in particular. And that woman, is Jan Terri.
We original featured Jan’s Halloween anthem Get Down Goblin in 2020 on our Halloweird episode of Shindig Radio. The intention was to put her on the playlist the following season, but every year since, Jan has gotten unceremoniously pushed, shushed, blocked and bumped each time. Well no more! Because if we’re gonna celebrate Hallo-Women and not include Jan Terri again, well then you can just pull the plug on this whole damn thing.
But why wasn’t Jan Terri and Get Down Goblin already on the playlist before that? Well, it’s a damn fine question.
Some of you listeners may know Aaron Matthews. He’s a pretty big Shindig fan and a friend of ours from way back in the Monessen, Pennsylvania days. In fact, I’d wager to guess he was right there when the very first CD which bore the name “Halloween Shindig” was spinning in the Academy Arts building. So he’s an OG of the highest order.
Well, back in 2020, he sent me this song and asked me if it was gonna be making the playlist that year. I had to inform him that, in fact, it was not, because it was literally the first time I was even hearing the song. He couldn’t believe it. And after I had a listen, I couldn’t believe it either. How had I never heard of Jan Terri? This had been a massive blind spot the whole time. I promptly squeezed Jan onto the Halloweird episode that year, but the playlist was already laid out. All the above transpires, and here we are.
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with Jan Terri, or only know her songs but not her story, here’s a small bit of history to bring you up to speed.
Jan Terri is a bit of a Chicago legend. When she was young, she was in a jug band her mother, while her dad used to perform a black face act called Black Elvis at local bars. Whoa, ok then. Both of her parents were also an accomplished ballroom dancers, if that somehow cancels out the black face for you. In the highly likely event that it most certainly does not, I can somewhat confidently say Jan herself was not part of that act, nor has (to my knowledge anyway) performed in black face herself. Phew!
When Jan was older, she worked as a limo driver in the Windy City. Around that time she began recording songs and shooting backyard videos. She used to hand these tapes out relentlessly to her limo clients hoping one of them, or someone they knew, could help her hit it big.
And it worked! At one point one of these clients tossed one of these videos at a young Marilyn Manson, and the rest, as they say, is history. She would even end up opening for him in the Chicago area in the late 90’s. Talk about a weird lineup.
When The Av Club asked her if she wrote Get Down Goblin for kids Terri said…
“No, I wrote it because the only major [Halloween] song that I remember was “Monster Mash,” and there wasn’t another one if you don’t count “Thriller,” which I don’t really count. There was not another Halloween song, and that’s why I wrote “Get Down Goblin.” That’s why I wrote [“Rock And Roll Santa”]. All the other artists were just redoing other songs. There weren’t any really cool Christmas songs out there when I was writing.”
Now, we’ll forgive Jan for not realizing there was literally dozens of other Halloween songs, because if she knew that then maybe we would never have been blessed with this Halloween song, and we’re all better off for it. I know The Shindig is at least.
For an extra bit of festive joy, I highly recommend the Get Down Goblin video to everyone listening, because it is great.
So, let’s finally welcome Jan Terri off the Halloweird playlist and onto the Playlist proper. C’mon, it’s October 25th, and Halloween is less than a week away! Get Down Goblins!
Exactly 50 songs ago, when another Disco Block was coming to an end, I lamented that there weren’t any true-blue Halloween Disco songs.
But I did name drop a band called Number One Ensemble and alluded to them getting their day on the playlist. Well, we’re at the end of another Disco Block and that day is today.
Number One Ensemble was an Italy Disco/Italo-Disco band from the late 70’s and early 80’s. And it’s true, they have a decidedly Disco-enough sound to be considered as such. Unfortunately, their ode to the holiday, simply titled Halloween, does not seem to have that same disco sound. It’s plays more like a standard sort of early 80’s rock song, honestly, not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just maybe not what you wanna end a Disco Block with. But, as mentioned, this is pretty much it for Halloween specific “disco” songs, from what I can tell anyway. I’d love to be treated one day to an awesome, previously unaware to me Disco Halloween banger.
But that’s ok though, this song doesn’t really need to be an out and out Disco tune for our purposes here, and besides, I like this song! It’s been available our our YouTube page for a few years now and it’s been hanging out in the bullpen for what seems like forever, so here it comes.
Plus, it’s a good way to kick off the next Block’s theme, which is Hallo-Women! We’ve got an 11 track run coming at ya of songs either performed by women (8) or specifically about spooky women (the other 3.)
I’m pretty pumped for this upcoming block, as it contains my favorite addition of the season, 2 awesome title tracks, 1 Halloween mistress we haven’t heard from in years, several long suffering benchwarmers and the first Song-Poem to hit The Shindig!
I’m running a little behind schedule this season, but we’re gonna try to slam all of these in before the big day. So let’s drop the needle of Number One Ensemble and get this thing going, cause we got 7 days to clear 11 songs before Halloween!
Sometimes there’s just some bands that somehow fly just under the radar. Bands that almost seem to actively evade me. Bands that absolutely defy the odds that, given the stuff I’m searching for and the amount of time I spend searching for it, I’m guaranteed to find them.
Nightmare is just such a band.
Nightmare is so just such a band that they’re already Shindig All-Stars. It’ll take at least 3 seasons to get em in there, but they’ll join up soon enough, it’s already a done deal.
When I stumbled upon them last year it was like one of those weird explosive epiphanies where it almost feels like they’re being willed into existence at that very moment. How had I not come across them yet? How had no one sent them to me before? How were they not a more widely popular band?
At their core Nightmare was a shock-rock group from the UK that had wild onstage illusions in the vein of Alice Cooper, W.A.S.P. or GWAR. Their show was a show, and not just any show, but the Shock Show! They employed fire eating, sexy witches, hangings, impalement, an electric chair, burning coffins and beheadings with a big ass guillotine. Fun stuff.
Their music is a weird blend of goth, new wave, rock and novelty song. They’re like something that stepped out of an unofficial but scarier Rocky Horror sequel. And anytime horror meets rock, The Shindig should be there, tipping the hat.
Nightmare was the passion project of singer, bassist and testicle arsonist Ron Dickson, who started out in the late 60’s with the glam/psych outfit Light Fantastic. Their wild and unpredictable stage performances quickly gained them a following in the UK and no doubt set a blueprint for the onstage antics of Nightmare to come.
After about a 10 year run, Ron says himself in this detailed history of Light Fantastic, the band separated and that’s when he formed Nightmare. Their Facebook page is a wonderful repository for old newspaper clippings and videos of Nightmare in the glory days. Like this photo, used to produce the Great Balls of Fire EP sleeve.
In addition to touring extensively and firing off several EPs throughout the early 80’s, they released only one, but one glorious LP in 1985 entitled Children of the Night. The album itself claims it’s more of an approximation of the band’s work on stage. An afterthought almost. A souvenir, if you will, of that time you spent seeing the crazy Nightmare Shock Show. This entire album is a festive treat that I highly recommend spinning this and every Halloween.
While there are probably at least 7 different songs on here we could pump directly into the playlist straight away, it is Track #4 which is fashioning Nightmare’s debut on The Shindig.
While not technically a Haunted Disco, Boogie Bogie Man definitely concerns a haunted theater, a ghostly band and one hell of a lead riff. If this graveyard stomper doesn’t get you moving, you just might not be dead yet.
What’s interesting is that this song is a reworking of sorts (or a cover, if it do ya) of the Light Fantastic song titled Boogi Woogi Bogiman. The two tracks are strikingly similar, if not basically identical. I admit to liking the Nightmare version more, though I’m probably biased, as it’s the version I heard first. I do think it rocks a little harder and is a bit more sinister. That chipmunk voice in the Light Fantastic version kinda kills it for me. That album cover though, holy smokes, that’s a fun sleeve. Again, not quite as sinister as Nightmare, but definitely weird and hedging in the Nightmare direction.
So, let’s welcome a band that should have been here since jump. A band I shouldn’t even be talking about 13 years into this business because all of their songs should have already been added by now. Let’s welcome the children of the night! Let us welcome, Nightmare!
Holy shit, more Haunted Discos? Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. It’s kinda why I kept the Disco Draculas together and held onto these for a different season.
This particular Haunted Disco, actually called Haunted Disco, comes to you from Chromium, a one-off project from British producer Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes.
Now, if those names don’t sound familiar, (and let’s face it, they probably don’t) perhaps their original band, The Buggles, will ring some bells. Still nothing? Well OK, but how bout their huge single and MTV kickstarter Video Killed the Radio Star? There it is. Now we’re cooking.
Whoa, wait, whaddya mean you still don’t know who or what the hell i’m talking about? Really? Well shit, I don’t know what else to say if you don’t know Video Killed the Radio Star. This obviously means you’re entirely too young to recognize that song, which by default means you aren’t actually reading this post right now. In which case I guess you don’t exist in this reality and I’ll stop addressing you. If you are old enough and you still somehow don’t know that song, I’m still gonna assume you’re also not reading this and move on.
Now, it seems they recorded the Chromium album Star To Star between forming The Buggles in 1977 and releasing their own first album, Age of Plastic in 1980. But the single for Video Killed the Radio Star dropped in 1979, after the Chromium album was released. So they seem to have been jumping back and forth.
However, after that song hit, both Trevor Horn and Downes we’re back at it and recording next to Prog-Rock outfit Yes, whom had recently shed their lead singer and keyboardist (Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, respectively.) They asked Trevor and Geoff if they wanted to join Yes, and who says “No” to Yes, so they stuck around to record their 1980 album Drama. But Yes called it quits a year later, so the duo fell back on The Buggles and released their follow up album entitled Adventures in Modern Recording.
Right after that though, Downes went for the Prog-Rock mega team-up with Yes guitarist Steven Howe, King Crimson bassist John Wetton and ELP drummer Carl Palmer to form the Supergroup Asia. The Shindig maintains a deep lineage, continuing to show that anyone who’s anyone in this game has some weird Monster Song roots.
Which brings me to a strange point. Wikipedia… OK yeah yeah, that’s the old trope, but I guarantee you it has more accurate and better sourced information than whatever Facebook link you just clicked or the dumb video you just watched.
But anyway, the Geoff Downes Wikipedia page claims “Then they formed the short-lived Chromium, with Anne Dudley and Hans Zimmer and recorded an album Star to Star in 1978”
I’m sorry, did you say Hans Zimmer? Like A League of Their Own, Zero Boys, Cool Runnings Hans Zimmer? Get the fuck outta town. I had to cross reference this claim.
Discogs, as you might imagine, makes no reference to Zimmer on the Star To Star album proper, so I was like, yeah, that shit ain’t true. But, searching within Hans’ specific discography does ping a small credit on some releases of Star To Star, including an unofficial expanded CDr release, the US cassette release and the Canadian LP. OK, that’s a little weird, but technically still true it seems. He is credited as “Electronics” whatever the hell that really means. Was he programing synths? Was he soldering SSM chips into a Fairlight CMI? What kind of electronics are we talking about here, fellas?
So, I don’t know if I’d say they formedChromium like with Hans Zimmer or if he was just like a studio tech or what, but he is actually credited in there. So chalk up another one for the Monster Song and it’s long line of decorated purveyors!
Anyway, let’s get on with this song, shall we? It’s almost midnight and my Internet’s been down for hours while I’ve been trying to wrap all this shit up.
Listen, the Disco Queen wasn’t buried where she should have been, and you know that shit is a problem. And if that same shit definitely doesn’t lead to a Haunted Disco, I don’t know what does!
For a Halloween playlist that basically didn’t feature a Phantom of the Opera song from like 13 years, dropping 2 in one season might seem a little over the top.
But as I was putting together that block of Classic Monster tracks to close out the 300s, this was my original song for the Phantom slot. But, as you’ll hear, it ain’t really much of a Phantom of the Opera song at all.
Sure, it’s called that. And they definitely say it, but I’m not really 100% on what this song is really all about. Turns out though, they say “haunted disco” a whole shitload. And, since I was also lining up a Monster Disco Block, it seemed like a perfect fit.
So, who says “haunted disco?” Why it’s Marzio, who I’d say is like an Italian Dio, but, ya know.
But like Dio, Marzio is the name under which Marzio Vincenzi released his sole LP Smoke on the Volcano. In addition to tonight’s tune, this album also features his disco take on the Deep Purple classic, hence the title, I guess anyway. Here’s a picture of him looking not at all like the guy you imagine is singing this weird disco horror song.
Prior to this solo venture, Vincenzi lent his vocal talents to a disco team-up of Italian musician Mauro Malavasi and sketchy business man Jacques Fred Petrus called Macho.
Macho’s big number was a 1978 cover of Chicago’s cover of The Spencer Davis Group hit (written by Steven Winwood) I’m A Man. This 17 minute exercise in keeping coked-up boomers on the dance floor for as long as possible is impressive in its ambition. It’s a jam too, but 17 minutes of anything is asking a bit much, even for notoriously long disco songs.
Thankfully, tonight’s tune is only asking about 6 minutes of our time, which should be just enough to throw down a few moves on the floor and head back to the bathroom for bumps.
Holding up the back end our Monster Disco block, here’s Marzio with Phantom of the Opera!
We’ve already established that disco was pretty big in Japan. I don’t remember when, but i’m pretty sure we did. Maybe Sweet Sexy Dracula? That’s a guess, but I’ll link to in anyway. Let me know, yeah?
But anyway, yeah, disco was big in Japan. And as you can see below, our next track, the title track from the 1978 compilation Disco Monster, was a Japanese release.
Unfortunately, I don’t speak Japanese, so I had no idea if the song was a suitable addition outside of its title.
So, I enlisted some assistance from Shindig Radio guest Matt Mastrella, as his wife is Japanese.
What I also don’t speak, evidentially, is internet, cause fuckin Google translate can process images and I could have very easily found all the information I needed simply by translating the album cover, like so.
But indeed, they were able to help, translating this cover and hunting down the group Pink Lady and then finding the original lyrics. See, the song Disco Monster (here performed by the dubious Saturday Night Disco Band) is just a fun disco version of this duo’s #1 hit Monsutā. This song topped the Japanese Oricon Charts for 8 whole weeks in 1978, and was the 3rd best selling record of that year.
You see, Pink Lady was a big in Japan, which is entirely non-pejorative if you’re actually a Japanese artist. From 1976 to 1979 the duo released 9 different #1 hits. Their 1978 hit Chameleon Army stayed at #1 for an unprecedented 63 weeks, a feat which went unmatched for another 37 years.
They were absolutely massive. They hosted nine different television programs and were even turned into an anime. They were the spokespeople for everything from Shampoo to Oolong Tea. Just the mere mention of a product by the 2 Pink Ladies would almost guarantee an increase in that products sales, such was their influence.
They were so popular in fact, that they even enjoyed fame here in the United States, becoming one of only 2 Japanese artists to enter the Billboard Top 40 with their 1979 English language record Kiss in the Dark. They road this success to their own damn variety show produced by Sid and Marty Croft. The ill-fate Pink Lady and Jeff (or just Pink Lady) with comedian Jeff Altman, lasted only 5 episodes and was a total disaster.
It appears the Japanese duo couldn’t speak a lick of English, an apparent and egregious oversight by the shows producers. Naturally, this misunderstanding led to a whole lot of confusion and caused difficulties recording the program. See, the network execs demanded the girls only speak and sing in English while only performing English language songs. As you might imagine, that didn’t go well.
The network tried to throw money and star power at the catastrophe, enlisting the likes of Blondie, Cheap Trick, Hugh Hefner, Sherman Hemsley, Florence Henderson, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Larry Hagman and even Alice Cooper, but the resulting fiasco was canceled after just 6 weeks.
It is considered by many to be one of the worst shows in television history and is cited as almost single-handedly killing the entire variety show format in America. Snap. That’s wild.
The duo was allowed to sing 2 of their Japanese songs on the final episode however, they’re massive hit UFO and…you guessed it, Monsutā
So all this to say, yeah we don’t even have that song on the playlist. Weird right? Yeah, I get it. But I like this weird Disco Version better.
Here translated (however accurately) by Google translate, are the lyrics to Monsutā:
I can get you tomato juice
I can get you an emery board
Night is young
Spread your wings
And enjoy the night
Take a walk
They are not necessarily scary people
They are not necessarily bad people
In this world now people who are not accepted are crawling around everywhere and this is pitch black
There is nothing to be scared of, just scream and run away
I’m worried about your wimpy heart
You are too kind, your heart might be hardened
Monster, this is my cute person.
Monsters wake up your eyes.
Monster, it’s your turn.
Monster, it’s a full moon. Wow…
If you’re thirsty and in trouble, I’ll buy you tomato juice.
If your fangs are itchy, I’ll buy you an iron file.
There’s still a while until dawn.
Let’s enjoy it. Take a walk at night.
Even if there are seams on the face, it’s not necessarily scary.
Even if your nails are sharp, it’s not necessarily a bad person.
I can’t get it in this world
I wonder if it’s dark with all the people.
I’m going to indulge in sex on summer nights.
Everyone dodges a hot kiss and I can’t stand it.
Get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Monster, come on, be brave.
Monsters are big.
Monsters shouldn’t be shaking.
Monster, raise your hand.
The monster is here. The monster is here. The monster…
I’ll follow you, so there’s nothing scary.
If something happens, scream and run away.
I’m worried about weakness.
That heart that is too gentle may be hurt.
I’m going to indulge in sex on summer nights.
Everyone dodges a hot kiss and I can’t stand it.
Get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Monster, you’re too kind.
Monsters are tattered.
Monster, this is my cute person.
Monster, good night.
Monsters are here. Monsters are here.
Outstanding.
Now how much of that is accurate, I couldn’t say. Matt’s wife insisted the translation wasn’t too bad. Without speaking Japanese myself, I can certainly spots instances where, if not inaccurate, a one to one translation is probably not in order. This is why context is important, and having a command of both languages is probably preferable for translation.
But I’d rather see crazy ass lines like:
I’m going to indulge in sex on summer nights. Everyone dodges a hot kiss and I can’t stand it.
Than anything close to an accurate translation.
Seems to me like, I dunno, they’re hot for the monster? He’s into but he’s kind of a ween? Or maybe that’s what makes him a ween? I can’t really tell. Doesn’t really matter, honestly. Firstly cause the lyrics are in Japanese, and secondly cause it’s disco and really, that ain’t what anyone is here for really.
So, lets turn on the lights to the dance floor, toss on an old Don Post mask and boogie the fuck down with The Saturday Night Disco Bandand their cover of Pink Lady’s Monsutā known simply as Disco Monster.
Do you remember back in 2023 when we were talking about The Monsters from the UK and I said they weren’t these Monsters over here to the left, but that we’d get to them in just a bit?
Oh course you don’t. Why would you? What am I, fuckin ridiculous? I barely remember it and I wrote all this dumb shit. Nobody even read that post, much less remembers it 2 years later, let’s get real here.
At any rate, I said that and you can cross reference that if you want, but I don’t know why you would. Either way, that “just a bit” I was talking about was apparently 2 years, cause we’re about to talk about those Monsters and their “disco jammer” right now.
The Monsters (pictured above looking appropriately fiendish in this graveyard, you ask me) started life as actual monsters, dressed up and everything, but calling themselves Children of the Night. Check them out over here on this other album looking just as Monstery.
Now, they dropped that album and an accompanying single in 1976, but began life their musical life 3 years prior in New York.
For some reason, after this LP and some monster swapping, they became The Monsters proper in 1977 and released this album. Even looking through some of this great promotional material and reading the interview with The Wolfman found there as well, it seems a bit unclear why they changed the name. I would venture to say it was less of a mouthful than Children of the Night. Catchier and easier to remember as well. But who knows. They’re dressed up as monsters and their holding guitars, they can call themselves whatever the fuck they want really. We’re on board, either way, I mean, c’mon.
That album features a cover of the Monster Mash, a solid jam about The Mummy and this banger that gives the disco treatment (yet again) to that Monster Party ethos. And as we like to say, if that kinda thing can’t be here, then it can’t be anywhere. This is the place where things like this land. This is where it belongs.
I will say the narrative on this one kind feels a little bit like The Monster Club, where this square fella gets seduced by a Vampire bar and then taken to a club where a bunch of different monsters are dancing and having a great time. It’s a fun story and when the guy goes back even, the club is gone!
It makes a for a fun Disco monster tune, that’s for sure. But no one old enough to know what The Hustle is actually reading this blog. In fact, I’d say no one is, period, but you get the point. No one that would have been doing The Hustle is here right now reading this.
But if there were, they might tell you that The Hustle was a popular line-dance that became associated with Disco and then sort of turned into a catch-all for several similar dances across the scene. It originated with Puerto Rican teenagers in the South Bronx in 1973 before becoming a mainstay at clubs all throughout the mid-70’s, then becoming the subject of a song by Van McCoy in 1975, culminating in John Travolta Hustling it up in Saturday Night Fever, simultaneously exposing the entire world to the dance and shooting it in the back of the head.
Eventually, like most dance crazes, it landed in Transylvania, were monsters of prestigious report, like Dracula and The Wolfman – to lesser ghouls, like The Cyclops and The Thing, all partook in its stepping shuffle of this
Apparently, at some point in the 80’s, the band were trying to get a TV show made. What? Gimmie a break, and no one gave the green light to that thing? If that had gone through you know I’d be posting those episode to TeleWeen right now, but here we are in reality without any Children of the Night TV show.
But we do have some Children of the Night music. Or at least some musics from The Monsters, at any rate. So let’s give in and do the Transylvania Disco Hustle.
