Ah, Night of the Living Dead. A true classic by any definition. Romero’s Dead opener redefined horror, the zombie, claustrophobia and human villainy. And everyone’s been apin’ it since.
At the impressionable age of 12, it began a love affair with horror films that only gets stronger every year. It was the first one to really knock me on my ass:
“Holy shit?! Movies can end like that?!”
I shout to no one, in my Massachusetts bedroom late one Halloween night.
I respond 20 years later through a Halloween blog,
“They sure can kid, but most of em won’t, so don’t get too comfortable.”
It’s a film I love, no asterisk.
However, when it comes to a Halloween playlist, there ain’t much there to spin for your guest. No worries cause The Misfits have us all covered.
This ain’t no love-in, this ain’t no happenin’, it’s a goddamn Halloween party, so stumble in somnambulance!They’re coming to get you, Barbara…
I Walked With A Zombie by Roky Erickson & The Aliens
Roky Erickson’s a pretty far-out cat. So literally far-out in fact, that he once claimed he was an alien.
He was also admitted to a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane where he underwent shock treatments, but that’s neither here nor there. Though the latter did occur before the former, I don’t mean to suggest that this clearly means he’s not actually an alien. Just saying…that happened too. It’s all pretty far out.
Originally the front man for psychedelia pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators, Roky embarked on a solo career after being released from the hospital in ‘74. What resulted was an altogether different experience in the form of Roky Erickson & the Alien’s The Evil One.
The Evil One is a pretty great album featuring all kinds of groovy monster tunes that could easily find a home on the Shindig. Particularly, I Walked With A Zombie, which has been a standing member of the playlist for some time.
There’s not much to it, honestly. It’s just the title, repeated over and over again, with the addition of the words “last night” attached to every 3rd go ‘round.
However, I like this song. Its got a cool and catchy, almost 50’s sound to it that I can’t help but sing along to. Maybe you’ll find yourself doing the same.
Included are some samples from the songs namesake, 1943’s I Walked With A Zombie. Here’s Roky & The Aliens kicking off a little zombie block here on the Shindig!
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!
Whatever Happened To Eddie by Eddie and The Monsters
Bob Mosher wasn’t the only one to throw some lyrics over Jack Marshall’s iconic theme.
In 1983, Butch Patrick, struggling to find his place as a child star in a Munster-less world, created the new wave band Eddie and The Monsters, and released this track featuring that recognizable theme to which he used to swing a giant bat.
The song finds Patrick, with his tongue planted somewhere around his cheek I suppose, poking fun at his flailing career and famous turn as TV’s favorite Wolfboy.
It’s certainly not the greatest track, but it’s kinda fun, with an uptempo enough beat. Definite Shindig material. It’s also fairly short too. So if you’re finding it difficult to endure, don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon.
However, if that’s the case, I might suggest avoiding TRACK #86. Cause if you think it can’t get any worse that this, you’re wrong.
The Munsters Theme (with lyrics)by Jack Marshall & Bob Mosher
Everybody loves The Munsters’ foot stompin’ surfy theme, but Jack Marshall’s tune actually had some lyrics to go with it.
Written by the show’s producer Bob Mosher, this version of the theme was never featured on the show.
However, thanks to the album At Home With the Munsters, fans are given a chance to hear this more typical sounding theme.
It may be a little slower, and definitely not better, but it does feature some clever lyrics and even a nod to our hallowed holiday. Shindig approved!
I led the track it with a clip from The Munsters’ Revenge, a TV movie produced in 1981 which actually takes place around Halloween, and features The Munsters at 2 different Halloween parities. Finally.
Because, every evening is Halloween, at The Munsters!
Speaking of iconic, it’s high time we talked about the most iconic family in all of horror-dom,The Munsters.
Though only lasting 2 seasons, Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie and Marylin Munster have lingered on, long past their short stint on the airwaves to become some of horrors most beloved characters.
With such talented actors as Yvonne DeCarlo, Al Lewis and Fred Gwynne hamming it up in such great costumes and make-up, it’s not hard to understand why the show has remained so wonderful to watch and still manages to capture new generations of viewers.
So loved are The Munsters, they’ve been revisited and recast more times than just about anything in the genre, with 5 separate actors playing Herman, Grandpa and Lily, and 7 stepping into the role of Eddie. Marilyn still has the most though, at 9, including 2 actresses (Beverly Owen and Pat Priest) during the show’s initial run. That’s pretty crazy.
However for fans, these revisits have run the gamut from quaint and acceptable (1981’s The Munster’s Revenge) to somewhat watchable (1995’s Here Come The Munsters) to the flat-out cringe inducing (the ill-advised, ill-conceived and ill-received The Munsters Today.) The latter, a rebooted, sequel-series that aired from 1988 to 199, somehow managed to stay on the air an entire season longer than the original show, though only producing roughly the same number of episodes.
While each installment has something of merit (The Munster’s Today does feature a rather good turn from Howard Morton as Grandpa) nothing quite matched or lived up to the series. Even 1966’s Munster, Go Home! (the closest to actually feeling like the show) is hampered by the decisions to film in color, recast Marilyn and lose the laugh track.
All that said, perhaps the most iconic aspect of the show is its oft played, oft covered and oft imitated theme song composed by Jack Marshall. If you’ve ever seen the un-aired (and colorized!) pilot for the show, you know just how instrumental Jack’s theme really was.
Instantly recognizable, it’s one of the great television themes of all-time, and just about every rehash (including Munster, Go Home!) has either failed to include it, or used some seriously bastardized version (TheMunsters Today) that feels egregious.
Though they were changed a bit between seasons 1 and 2, I’m not quite sure which I honestly prefer most. I’ve included the season 2 theme on the Shindig because I believe it’s the one most often referred to, covered and imitated. Also, The Los Straitjackets’ version appears later in playlist, and that definitely has a distinctly Season 1 sound.
So, let’s spend some time on the Shindig with America’s First Family of Fright, The Munster.
They’re coming to get you, Barbara…
