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!
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!
I came across this randomly, on eBay as it happens, and was instantly intrigued. I had yet to come across this yet. What was this curious title? It was a cassette and it was expensive. Apparently this thing is pretty rare, so I immediately investigated.
While the actual copies may be in short supply and command a hefty price, the music itself is fairly available. But hey, who wants to just listen to things on YouTube? And how annoying is it if I simply direct you to YouTube when we have all these playlists here?
Time was it was on Spotify. Dunno about Apple Music, cause fuck apple music (I mean, fuck Spotify too, honestly, but definitely Apple Music as well) Either way, it’s not on Spotify anymore, so I figured I might as well toss it up here.
Cause this shit is the straight trunk-rattler I wish I had back in the fall of ’97, bombin’ around Brockton Massachusetts in my buddy’s busted-ass Nissan Sentra with a bass box he had no business having. This boom-stick of a Horror soundtrack would have shaking windows all up and down our block ’til Hallow-goddamn-Ween.
So bump this shit and get rattled, cause it rules.
The Creature from the Black Lagoonby The 3-D Invisibles
Speaking of things the Shindig has inexplicably avoided for 13 years, let’s talk about The 3-D Invisibles. Because it’s crazy to me that we haven’t talked about The 3-D Invisibles this far into this whole Halloween-Monster-Movie-Music-Whatever-The-Hell-Is-Goin-On-Around-Here Playlist thing.
Being a huge surf music goon from an early age, The 3-D Invisibles are a band that’s been on the edges of my radar forever, appearing on numerous surf and rockabilly compilations since the mid 80’s. Back before Spotify existed, Napster didn’t exist either and I certainly didn’t exist near a record store better than a Sam Goody, (Newbury Comics notwithstanding. They probably might have actually carried them, to be honest) so the chances of me having access to a band like The 3-D Invisibles was a pretty unlikely.
Now, that certainly doesn’t account for the nearly 12 year span from 2000 to 2012 before I created this website (where I had increased access to such music) or the 13 years since (where I had absolutely unprecedented access) where they have gone completely unheralded. But, like I said, existing on the edges. I wasn’t really thinking about them. If I was, it wasn’t for long and if I was hearing them, I certainly doesn’t appear as though i was absorbing them properly.
And that’s a shame. These guys could easily have been Shindig All-Stars by now, and probably should be. But all recalculations start somewhere, and for The 3-D Invisibles, and garage punk outfit from Michigan that’s been pealin’ off monster rock from over 40 years, that starts with Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Cause you can’t do a Classic Monster block without good ole Gill-Man, I don’t care how under represented he might be. And make no mistake, of the Big 5, poor Gil is woefully under represented. I think this is like the 3rd track we have that’s exclusively about him, and that’s not for a lack of searching either.
So, let’s finally welcome The 3-D Invisibles aboard and chalk up another one for ole Fishman, Lord knows he could use all the help he can get.
Also, if you are an Invisibles fan, I’m aware this song was released on the 1993 Split LP B-Movie Brain from Neurotic Bop Records, I decided to go with the Love of Mars/Monster Island single just cause it’s got a stereoscopic anaglyph of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and says it says The 3-D Invisibles. C’mon, how could I not?
Alright, so we’re running outta Freddy songs here. Not really, but songs I feel like adding to this playlist anyway. After almost 400 tunes, we’ve covered all the heavy hitters from The Elm Street series and then some. But there’s one film we’ve yet to touch on, and that’s the much-maligned, Freddy’s Dead.
This is the installment which purported to, in no uncertain terms, kill its main character and end the series. And that’s a particularly tricky proposition when that character was dead from the beginning and the franchise is still making money.
Though in fairness, Freddy’s post “dead” appearances are fairly well justified and certainly number less than his “pre-dead” escapades. The fact that Jason had more outings after his “Final Chapter” than before is the kind of irony only Hollywood could produce with a straight face.
But that’s neither here nor there when it comes to the film’s soundtrack, which, like the movie itself, is probably not what anybody actually wanted.
For one thing, there’s an uncomfortable amount of Goo Goo Dolls on this album for some reason. While certainly gaining a fair amount of popularity in the mid 90’s, I’m not sure they had the notoriety, or even the sound, to warrant 3 inclusions on a horror soundtrack in 1991. They’re not a band I wanna hear in a Freddy movie period, much less 3 times. More to the point, they’re not a band I even wanna hear, Freddy or not. Adding Freddy, and 2 other songs, is just offensive.
This is particularly disappointing considering that the Prince of Darkness himself, Mr. Alice Cooper, turns up in a cameo as Freddy’s Dad. They couldn’t get him to throw together a Title Track for this fucker? Hell, even lend a preexisting song to the proceedings? Nope, apparently not. And I’m sure you can guess that Music Supervisor David Chackler is nowhere to be found on this roster.
Yet, rising above the din of whatever-the-fuckery, like some emaciated spectre of 70’s swagger, is Iggy Pop.
They didn’t quite have the tenacity to let Iggy loose on a full-blown Title Track, however. Seems by 1991, folks were a little gun-shy (or perhaps a bit too hip) to indulge in the time-honored tradition of full synergistic Title Trackage . No, they pulled their punches with, what I will call, a Parenthetical Title Track. C’mon, grow some fuckin’ balls, gang.
But while this may not be a full-on, true-blue Title Track, it’s a Title Track from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and it would be unbecoming of The Shindig to ignore it completely and with intention. Besides, it’s ain’t that bad. It’s not the best track on the playlist, no. It’s not the best Title Track either. In fact it’s probably not even a good one, but if you ask me, it’s not that bad.
Now, if you ask our old pals over at the Golden Raspberry Committee, Iggy served up one of the 3 worst original songs of that year.
I think it’s important to note that the 3rd song up for consideration that year was Vanilla Ice’s own Reverse Parenthetical Title Track, Cool As Ice (Everybody Get Loose.) So Iggy Pop, lead singer of The Stooges and Rock ‘N Roll legend, is now associated with 2 of the biggest running gags of 90’s coomercial-rap nonsense. My condolences Iggy.
This also affirms that 2 of the “worst” songs of 1991 are now featured on this playlist. A dubious honor. And that 3rd song is a goddamn Title Track from a guy already represented on this playlist?! Yeesh. I’m not sure what that suggests about this thing I’ve been wasting my time with over here for last 12 years, so I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.
Since the worst song category only lasted for about 20 years, and we’ve added probably our last nominee/winner, I’d like to take a moment here to draw attention to a few other awesome songs deemed “unlistenable” by this group of unelected buzzkills.
Yor’s World by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis (who I guess is also known as Oliver Onions. What?) This one hurts fellas.
The Last Dragon by Dwight David Really? And a Track Track to boot? You gotta be kidding me.
Smooth Talker from Body Talk by Michael and David Sembello. For shame. At least it wasn’t that movie’s Title Track.
Drinkenstein by Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton from Rhinestone. This one actually took the title in ‘84. I get it I suppose, but seriously? This shit is great, and has been sitting in the bullpen for consideration on this playlist for many, many years.
Going back-to-back Stallone on it, you have Peace in Our Time, a great song by Frank Stallone from Rambo 2. This was also a winner in its respective year.
Then you got Howard the Duck sung by the lovely Lea Thompson in 1986. Now this is a solid Title Track. Thankfully it didn’t “win” but a disrespectful nomination for sure.
You Can Be a Garbage Pail Kid from 1987. Ya know, we might actually add this song as Expanded Title Track at some point.
Big Guns by AC/DC from 1993’s Last Action Hero. Really? C’mon! Again though, it’s thankful that the film’s Title Track escaped unscathed.
But enough of all that hemmin’ and hawin.’ Y’all know how I feel about those Golden Raspberry dildos, so let’s just get to it.
Here it is, playing as a sweet song over the end credits to Freddy’s convoluted, bizarre and mostly unsatisfying demise, it’s Iggy Pop’s Parenthetical Title Track Why Was I Born (Freddy’s Dead).
PS: Oh, since we talk about this on the “next” episode of Shindig Radio, an episode that was recorded before this song was posted, we discuss whether it should be included on the playlist. I think Mikey essentially makes the argument I’m making here that it’s a Nightmare on Elm Street and it’s a Title Track and c’mon, are you serious? Of course you need to add it. Needless to say, I agree with him. And apparently I have, because my first draft of this post was dated from 2019! Ha! Takes a while to get around to some of these. And even then, sometimes I’ll bump songs from year to year.
Hard ‘Til Halloween. Hashtag it. It can be a thing. People can take that in any direction they want, too. Let’s put some creative shit on that tag. I don’t wanna see a bunch of boners either. A few is fine, it’s unavoidable. But let’s not have another #erectfest incident, ok? Cool.
So yeah, Heavy Metal Halloween. It’s a phrase we’ved use a lot around Halloween Shindig. Hell, our Halloween episode of Shindig Radio in 2019 was literally called A Heavy Metal Halloween.
That episode featured songs exclusively called Halloween performed exclusively by 80’s Metal bands. In fact, our last track was very much one of them. There was enough of those bastards to populate an entire episode, and we still found even more after the fact! There’s a couple in the Bullpen even, if you’ll believe that. Hell, there’s another on coming in like 10 days. It’s crazy.
So, I was pumped to stumble across this song literally called Heavy Metal Halloween. I wish it had been featured on that episode, but hey, we can’t have it all. But we can have it ring the bell for our Hard ‘Til Halloween countdown.
There is some solace in the fact that I found this after 2019 though, and that’s that despite being called Heavy Metal Halloween, this song isn’t exactly the most Metally, nor Heaviest, song we’ve ever featured. And it’s certainly not played by an aging 80’s metal band from Europe either. I think these guys are from Rhode Island in the 90’s, so it’s really just as well that it wasn’t featured.
It is performed by Great Whyte Lyin’ Snake, which, if you’re a keen-eared Metal fan, will song like a fun portmanteau of Great White, White Lion and White Snake.
The band seems to be the jokey product of performers from a variety of punk bands including Sleigher, Vague Perception, Beer and Suckface.
Oddly, the song hails from their album Great Whyte Christmas, which features a lot of fun and silly tracks including the Misfits Last Caress turned into LastChristmas. It honestly sounds a bit like Deck My Balls to me and if I didn’t know any better I’d accuse Mikey and the Crypt Keeper Five of lifting this entire concept wholesale from The Snake. This is such a weird and rare little album though, I seriously doubt that’s the case.
I might end up posting the whole thing up on YouTube, as I had to grab a hard copy to ad this song, but I’m not sure. Until then, let’s kick out this block and get Hard ‘Til Halloween with Great Whyte Lyin’ Snake’s Heavy Metal Halloween!
Cause what would the Shindig be if we only offered up one referential tune called “Scary Movies” from a referential horror movie about Horror Movies themselves?
I guess technically this one is called Scary Scary Movies, but that’s close enough for me, especially since it’s a Referentially Inclusive Monster Rap to boot.
From our old Prom Night pal Paul Zaza comes this tune, the sweet song from 1991’s horrorthon gone wrong, Popcorn.
Now, if you’re a keen eared viewer, a giant fan of Popcorn or you just happen to own this soundtrack, you’ll note that there actually is a song featured in the movie called Scary Movies. It’s briefly played and in front of the theater too, right before the horrorthon starts.
To be fair, it’s pretty much the same song, only it’s not a fun rap, and you know how we roll on The Shindig.
We’re using the term “rap” here pretty loosely, as you’ll hear, cause this thing ain’t droppin bars. In fact, it’s kinda difficult to listen to, but that’s never stopped us before and it probably never will when a certain set a circumstance arrives.
And all of those boxes are being ticked by this one;
From a horror movie? Check
About horror movies? Check
Fits the current block like a glove? Check
A monster rap? Goddamn right
A sweet song? Oh yeah
So here is where you’ll find it, no matter how it may sound.
Now, IMDb claims the song was written by Paul Zaza (the film’s composer) Yvonne Murray (another performer on the soundtrack) and Alan Ormsby (the film’s writer and original director.) Curiously though, the soundtrack credits only Paul Zaza and no one else. However, the film itself credits Alan Ormsby as its sole writer, with Ossie D. and Stevie G. as the song’s performers. Ossie and Stevie were a duo of prolific Reggae artists from Jamaica. They may very well be the band playing out front of the theater as well. If they were, which I suspect, they are uncredited for their performance.
Now, if that seems a little weird it’s probably because Popcorn was shot almost entirely on location in Kingston, Jamaica, and I’m sure they scooped up some locals to lend some tunes.
If you’ve never seen Popcorn (which isn’t so crazy, as this early 90’s slasher has somewhat fallen through the cracks) I highly recommend giving it a go. Certainly do not judge it by this song alone. If you’re a genre fan, the film department’s William Castle inspired horrorthon of in-theatre gags like Fright Form Waivers, Aroma-Rama and the Shock Clock countdown, is a definite treat.
Then there’s all prop building, life-casting, mask masking and movie theatre hokery that brings the horrorthon to life. Add to that the absolutely incredible crowd that shows up to the theatre. It’s a bevy of Don Post and Distortions mask and homemade costumes. It’s a blast and makes for great Halloween viewing.
Genre staples Jill Scholen, Dee Wallace, and Kelly Jo Minter are joined by the likes of Mr. Hand, Crispin Glover’s dad, and One Crazy Summer’s Clay Stork (in an inspired turned as the face-swapping Toby) all conspire to make this early 90’s offering a fun time.
It wouldn’t make a bad double feature with last night’s Return to Horror High either. So, pick up that one, grab some popcorn and kick back this October with the very Halloweeny Popcorn and enjoy some scary scary movies.
Of all the categories on Halloween Shindig, the one that never seems to get much representation is The Devilish Track. I’m not even sure how many there are in total. Hang on a sec.
Jesus, there’s only 13 of these things? Really? I need to double check that number right quick, maybe I didn’t label a few.
Nope. 13 seems legit. Man, I knew it was low but geez, that’s only like 4% of the playlist.
At any rate, those are some pretty rookie numbers in this racket, so we’re gonna add a little padding to that percentage here (honestly only a measly 1% though) with a couple Satany tunes for all ya’ll to groove on.
Aptly leading off the charge is the song Hey Satan, from the San Fernando Valley’s own Clown Lord’s of the Garage-Bizarre, the splatter-glam festooned, Fearless Leader.
Known for the generalized insanity of their live stage shows (which often included the cramming of spam into various orifices) Fearless Leader were something of hometown heroes around these parts,…to a certain section of weirdos anyway.
Their album ¡#$;!, which features the bands name written in such a way as to maybe cause one to raise an eyebrow, actually got them banned in Germany. Worry not though, as it’s simply a KISS reference and not some secret Gestapo salute.
What’s more? These guys actually made a fuckin movie. Yep, and it’s pretty great. 1992’s Graveyard Rot is a bona fide piece of feature-length Rock-N-Roll music video horror-trash SOV madness, and comes highly recommended…to a certain section of weirdos anyhow. You know who you are.
Click to Watch!
This particular copy featured here may or may not have sold for $500 buck. Seriously? Even asking that much is ridiculous. Get real VHS community. You needn’t shell out that kinda dough though, cause you can just click that picture to watch the movie on Vimeo thanks to the fantastic Hamilton’s Trash Cinema. Big ups!
Sarge, Alien Rock, Oral B. Goode and Spammy Haggard set upon a little road trip to shoot a new music video for this very song. In the process they run afoul some hostile local rednecks and inadvertently raise a long dead Rock-N-Roll singer.
It’s silly, no-budget, band-just-having-a-good time-with a camcorder fun that features (as you might imagine) lots of Fearless Leader tunes.
However, if you’ve never seen Graveyard Rot, this song might still sound familiar if you’ve ever treated yourself to Everything Is Terrible’s The Great Satan.
If you haven’t, I recommend doing that as soon as possible, because it’s fucking bonkers, and Hey Satansets the whole thing off and running perfectly. Click this to get a little taste.
If you’re not aware of the found footage fiends over at Everything is Terrible, I also recommend familiarizing yourself with them as a whole post-haste.
The Great Satan specifically, is a mind-melting media-mashup of all things Morningstar, spliced at breakneck speed for maximum what-the-fuckery. We’re talking batshit Christian scare-programming, z-grade yard sale movie clips and bizarro homegrown freakouts.
A good-time Satany garage rocker, technically featured in 2 separate, definitely worth your time, movies? Hey, that’s Shindig material all day long.
Hey Satan, Fearless Leader wants to party, but don’t worry, they brought their own sandwiches!
When it comes to moments that embody the 3 principle of The Shindig – Halloween, Horror and Music – nothing quite combines them all like Angela’s dance from the original Night of the Demons. Set as it is on Halloween and to Bauhaus’ Stigmata Martyr, you can read me drool over this classic moment here.
So, when Brain Trenchard-Smith and company we’re asked to navigate a trip back up to Hull House and hey, why don’t you bring Amelia Kinkade along with you while you’re at it – fans assuredly wondered if Angela would dance on r again.
The answer was “yes.” And an empathic “yes” at that, as they upped the ante in a few ways, as a sequel is wont to do.
First and foremost, they gave Angela a larger crowd. Secondly, they put her up on a table in front of a banner that says “Happy Halloween.” Thirdly, they gave her a dance partner in the form of beautiful, genre staple, Zoe Trilling. And lastly, they slapped a Morbid Angelsong on that motherfucker.
This dance however, is a microcosm of the film itself, at least in relation to the original Night of the Demons. Bigger doesn’t always mean better.
As a result, this dance (this scene…this movie) is less elegant, less important, less interesting, less sexy, less creepy and above all, less memorable.
But that won’t stop Morbid Angel from making the playlist. No way. Cause when you’re the backing track to any Angela dance sequence, you’re in.
Well, I shouldn’t say that, cause that song from Part 3 is absolutely atrocious and will never grace this playlist. I’m not even sure what the producers were thinking with that one. Was that the only song they could actually get the rights to play? Was it on some generic, royalty free CD they just had lying around the editing bay? Had they never seen the other 2 Night of the Demons films? It’s almost laughable how at odds it is with the other 2 Angela tracks.
Then, there’s still the matter of the dance from the remake to consider, which despite my hesitance, has a couple compelling things going for it:
It still happens on Halloween.
Though played by Shannon Elizabeth, it’s still technically Angela and
It’s set to a Type O Negative song. A song which is already under yearly consideration for being a Halloween song in its own right.
However, despite all of that, and the fact that I’ve already included 45 Grave’s Title Track Night of the Demons from the very same film, I still don’t think Type O is making the cut. At least not this year. Sorry gang.
Well, it just wouldn’t be Christmas around here without a little ghoul-tide cheer from Father Cryptmas himself, The Crypt Keeper.
From 1994, the height of Cryptmania, comes this absolute gem of holiday horror, and one of my favorite Christmas albums of all time.
Not only are these spoof’s clever and humorous, but John Kassir is so 100% onboard for this shit, that it just effortlessly works .
If you don’t like Christmas music, I certainly doubt this album will change your mind. If you don’t like the ghoulishness of Halloween infecting your Christmas spirit, then definitely give this a pass.
But if you do like Christmas music, and you do a like a little gore decking your halls, then by golly, have a very scary little Christmas…this year.
With that bit of seasonal tabling setting out of the way, let’s move onto a straight up banger from Buddy Miles.
Buddy has quite storied musical career. He began early, playing in his dad’s band The Bebops. Then, as a teenager no less, he performed with acts such as Wilson Pickett and the Delfonics. Eventually Buddy teamed up with Mike Bloomfield to form Electric Flag and later became a founding member of Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys. Solid repertoire.
What’s more? Buddy is actually the lead singer of The California Raisins. Yep, Will Vinton’s iconically 80’s claymation spokes-band. That’s this guy. Well, I guess.
See, all of this info leads me to believe that Children of the Night, which sounds almost nothing like anything Buddy had been involved with up to that point, is sung by a totally different Buddy Miles altogether.
But apparently, no. After a bit of cross referencing, it seems that they are in fact the same Buddy Miles. Not shocking, given Buddy’s numerous musical projects, but if some new info came to light disputing that claim, I think I’d believe it.
But I’ll only I say “think” because Buddy here, whichever Buddy it may be, is straight belting it. And OG Buddy Miles can fuckin’ belt it. So yeah, maybe this really is that Buddy Miles, cause this tune is a stone cold jam.
You can find it playing during Cheryl’s dance at The Club 69 in Larry Cohen and William Lustig’s more than worthy follow-up, Maniac Cop 2.
Now, I never went to any in a strip clubs in 1990. At least none that I remember anyway, so I can’t confirm if this is the sort of thing they would have been playing. It certainly isn’t anything close to something I’ve heard in a strip club, but maybe that’s how they got down 30 years ago. I dunno. Or maybe I’m just goin to the wrong damn strip clubs, cause if I went to one that was bumpin tracks from the Maniac Cop 2 soundtrack, I’d pull up a stool and open a fuckin’ tab, real quick.
So let’s do just that, and maybe even hit the buffet, as we join Buddy and his new fiends, the Children of the Night, for a little October striptease.
If you told me you thought Waxwork 2: Lost In Time was a bunch of foolishness, I’d have to concede that yes, it is quite silly. At times even annoyingly so.
However, I would then have to counter with “Ok, yeah, but it’s also pretty awesome.”
If, as a horror fan, you are not enamored (at least somewhat) but it’s loving horror parodies, I might have to revoke your nerd card.
From the awesome Aliens send-up with its fantastic creature FX from Bob Keen’s Image Animation, to the Bruce Campbell-anchored William Castle-meets-Evil Dead Haunted House spoof, it’s a treat for any horror fan.
Yeah, maybe the Mideavel segment overstays it’s welcome a little, but even that has some awesome imagery spread throughout. And director Anthony Hickock still manages to find time to spoof Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,Nosferatu, Dawn of the DeadandInvasion of the Body Snatchers. C’mon now. It’s just fun.
They even nick the end of Back to the Future 2 for some reason. Kinda weird really, but no less fun.
And what’s more? Oh yeah, they wrap it all up with a Monster Rap Sweet Song. Bonus.
This By-Line Title Track from Muffla and Big Dad of the L.A. Posse might not be the finest example of the sub-genre (admittedly, it’s a little on the dull side of hype) but it’s better than some of the other turkeys on this list and it definitely comes correct with an extremely detailed plot synopsis.
Mark ain’t a mark
Cause Mark got heart
But Mark won’t stop
Cause Mark is a part
Of the mystery
Back and forth through history
Gold plated.
So hang out with Billy from Gremlins, Bruce Campbell, that one dude from Die Hard, Rex Manning, Deanna Troi, perpetual on-screen bum Buck Flowers (for a second anyway) and all your favorite monsters, and get Lost In Time…
We’re gonna keep the Golden Raspberry theme goin here for a sec with a song I’ve actively avoided adding to the playlist since 2013, when we had a whole block of Addams Family tunes.
Much like Hammer’sToo Legit with A Little Bit of Peppa (For My Chicken), Miami-Bass duo Tag Team repackage their preexisting hit Whoomp! (There It Is) for the 1993 sequelAddams Family Values.
Despite the general consensus that this song is a complete pile of auditory bullshit, I rather like Addams Family (Whoomp!), as can be cross referenced on Shindig Radio Ep. 4: Monster Raps Pt. 2.
I think the verses are clever, well spit and highly referential. It even refers to itself as the movie’s theme song. That’s a solid play for a song of this nature. And quite frankly, it should have come loaded with a full-on fucking spoiler alert, cause it details the entire plot of this film. It’s a movie theme to the max.
And I get it, maybe it seems lazy just taking your own song and moving some words around and calling it a day. But honestly, its just a sound maneuver to keep the money train on the tracks from a pair of “alleged” rip-off artists who didn’t have a hell of a lot going on outside of Whoomp!
Yeah, you read that right. I referred to them rip-off artists, come at me. Since no one actually seems to have Tag Team’s back except me, I shouldn’t experience any sort of backlash from such a bold assertion. However, I will indulge a small detour here to clarify my statement for those unfamiliar with the sordid backstory concerning Tag Team‘s original #2 peaking hit, Whoomp (There It Is.)
The year was 1993. The month? March. Jacksonville’s Miami Bass trio 95 South just released their hit, Whoot! There It Is! Things are looking good for 95 South. The world is their oyster.
That is until May of 1993, when a curious tune titled, Whoomp! There It Is!, from the Atlanta Georgia duo Tag Team hit the charts like an overhand right from Riddick Bowe.
95 South, goes “Da fuck? What is this bullshit? This song sounds exactly our song. I mean, exactly. Listen to that chorus!”
Tag Team’s DC Brain Supreme claims the phrase was popular in Atlanta strip clubs and they just grabbed it up and put on in wax, suggesting any similarity in the cadence of the chorus being dictated by the phrase itself.
Carlos Spencer of 95 South, however, tells the story just a little bit differently.
He says they recorded their track at Atlanta’s Digital Edge Studio. Shortly after that, they gave the track to a local DJ to see if he would spin it at the club. That DJ? You guessed it. DC Brain Supreme.
And the plot thickens. Seems DC Brain Supreme knew the cats over at Digital Edge, where they were using a newfangled computer program to make records. It was called Pro Tools, maybe you’ve heard of it.
It’s Spencer’s assertion that DC and Steve Roll’n just went in there and laid their own vocals over the track 95 South had already produced.
Snap.
Either way, it seems Tag Team changed the song just enough. They used some different samples and eschewed the raunchier, sex-based lyrics for a more commercial, party-like tone.
And just like that, 95 South’s track is buried under the rubble of a more intelligible, less sexualized and altogether more mainstream-friendly crossover hit.
Despite Spencer’s claims however, there was never much outward animosity between the 2 groups. They even appeared together in July of that year on The Arsenio Hall Show, where they battled it out for “There It is” supremacy.
For 95 cents a pop, viewers at home could call-in and vote on which group they liked more. That night, it was 95 South that walked away with the crown. Very judicial.
The Billboard Hot 100 Chart tells a different tale however, with Tag Team’sWhoomp! reaching number #2 and staying in the top 10 for an unprecedented 24 non-consecutive weeks. It would become the longest running Top 10 song of all time, a place it held until 1997, when Toni Braxton’sUnbreak My Heart went to 25. Snap again. To date, Whoomp! has sold over 3.5 million copies.
Whoot! There It Is? Well, it never got passed #11. That’s still pretty pretty good, but one can’t help but wonder what that number might look like if Whoomp! didn’t come in hot, stealing all it’s thunder, and potentially confusing consumers, who may have even preferred Whoot! and unwitting purchased Whoomp!
It’s not all sour grapes for the “Bass Mechanics” CC Lemonhead and Jay Ski though, the duo responsible from producing Whoot!. They had 2 other hits with separate groups, hits that you may even be familiar with . One was with the 69 Boyz track called the Tootsie Roll. The other was TheQuad City DJ’sC’Mon N Ride It (The Train.) And that’s not to mention their crowning achievement, the 1996 Title Track Space Jam. Eat that shit, Tag Team.
But of course, Tag Team edges out 95 South here in one small, but very important way; they segued pop dominance into Monster Rap gold. No small potatoes around these parts.
So with that being said, Halloween Shindig presents The Golden Raspberry’s Worst Song from a Film 1993 and Mikey Rotella’s pick for worst Monster Rap of all time, it’s Tag Team’sAddams Family (Whoomp!)
All right. So I think we can all agree He’s Coming Back is a pretty bad Monster Rap.
I mean, it’s a Good Monster Rap, in that it’s a prime example of what these songs are all about and how that usually just goes terribly awry. But it is not a Good Monster Rap. Dig?
So, in an effort to redeem the Monster Rap genre (if that’s even feasible or worthy of attempt) we present to you Scream by Ice MC.
If you’re not familiar with Ice MC, please do not feel the least bit bad. This is no deficiency on your part.
Mostly likely this is because you’re either:
An American.
Not listening to Raggamuffin rap and/or
A regular person doing regular things and not wasting what short time we have on this planet associating with shit like Scream by Ice MC. And I don’t blame you. I sometimes wish I was just that sort of person doing just those sorts things, whatever they may be.
In fact, I was that person until last week. Well, I was those first 2 types of people, anyway. Still an American too. Still not listening to any Ragamuffin rap, either. However, I do know what it is now and I have heard this song and I am quite presently wasting all kinds of precious time with it. But I digress.
I was definitely not familiar with this song until last week. That’s when Shindig super enthusiast and research beast Devin Connors hipped me to this track. And within about 30 seconds I knew he’d discovered gold.
What Ice MC has created here is a more approachable and less Faygo-drenched associative Monster Rap than a similarly themed example from another ice-based rapper.
Ice MC sets his sights and weird British accent to referencing several horror movies amidst the heavy electronic back beat and sample-stuffed rhythms of the Raggamuffin sound; a subset of Dancehall and Reggae music where sampling forms the backbone of the melody.
What unfolds is something somewhat unique in the Monster Rap game; A song strangely catchy, somewhat legitimately fun and yet laughably ridiculous. Boardering on bad while flirting with good, this song rests in a limbo not entirely either.
Run DMC’s Ghostbusters is too crafted to be thought silly. The Chucky Song too white and corporate to be considered real. Or something like last night’s He’s Coming Back, which is a bit too tedious to be genuinely enjoyed.
While attempting to pull some samples from Repossessed for its Title Track, I naturally stumbled across this end credit oddity, which can only be called a gem when you host a playlist like the one I’ve constructed here.
A highly referential Monster Rap Sweet Song? Oh, this is going on the playlist for sure, I don’t care how bad it is.
That this is my knee jerk reaction is a bit of a shame, because this song is bad. And I mean it’s bad, so I apologize for that.
So bad in fact, that you happen to be looking at the proud recipient of 1990’s Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Song from a Motion Picture.
I hope you all can understand and appreciate it’s inclusion. My compulsive need to include inclusive (and referential) Monster Raps Sweet Songs prevents me from treating this thing objectively, or considering your overall enjoyment of this playlist. But my hope is you can at least see why, when stumbling upon something of this nature, it has to be included.
Well, either way I apologize.
In fairness, the verses aren’t so bad. It’s really the chorus here that’s dragging this whole track down. But lyrically, you’re getting a heaping helping of allusions to the film, plenty of bizarro lines and a rhyme structure that is off-center, to say the least.
Not helping matters is it’s length. It’s crazy to me to think Repossessed had enough credits to sustain a 4 minute song. For real? That many heads on Repossessed? They must roll at an unnaturally slow pace, cause I don’t know what the hell all those people were doing.
I will say, I wish I had rediscovered this thing earlier so we could have had the chance to really dig into this one on our Monster Raps episodes. Oh well. Perhaps we’ll amass enough new Monster Raps to warrant a Part 3. Fingers crossed.
In closing, I do hope that somewhere, someone listening to this playlist actually likes this song. Or at the very least, appreciates the necessity of it’s inclusion, because I’m fairly sure they’ll be the only one.
While certainly not what I’d call a good movie or even all that funny, you can do a lot worse than 1990’s Horror Spoof Repossessed. Namely Transylvania 6-5000. But I digress.
The best thing going for this silly slice of parody is Linda Blair. Landing the star of the original film you’re spoofing is a big play in this racket, and here she does a fine job lampooning herself, tongue firmly in cheek. It’s neat just to see her there in the blue dress taking a poke at herself and it goes some distance to endearing this movie to a certain audience.
I’m also a sucker for Leslie Nielsen, though I have to admit, his accent takes me out of this one a little. This is not one of his crowning comedic works, but it certainly beats Spy Hard or 2001: A Space Travesty.
A lot of the jokes here don’t land well, but there are a number of smaller gags that I think work and produce some genuine laughs. This, however, is not the gold standard of horror parodies, by any means. Hell, it ain’t even a copper standard.
Making all of this a little easier to ingest though is its upbeat Title Track from Teen Witch’sown Cindy Valentine. A second (hell, maybe even 3rd or 4th) tier 80’s pop singer you may or may not be familiar with. I vaguely recognized a couple of her bigger hits (from where exactly, I could not say) but if you had no recollection of ever hearing any of her assembly line genri-pop, that would be perfectly understandishable.
I’ve yet to hear a Cindy Valentine song I didn’t like and that very much includes Never Gonna Be The Same Again from Teen Witch. But in fairness, I haven’t listened to the breadth of her catalog. I’m sure there’s some turkeys in there, even by my admittedly dubious standards.
But here it is, my personal pick from the crop of Bad and Ugly Title Tracks of Episode 8, it’s Cindy Valentinewith Reposssessed!
We’re gonna gonna keep the Monster Rap train rolling here for a bit with a Monster Rap performed by an actual Monster, Rockula.
This (essentially) 80’s Monster Comedy gets a little extra love from The Shindig for:
A.) Starring Francis “Chainsaw” Gremp, Dean Cameron.
B.) Taking place on Halloween and
C.) Featuring lots of music for use on the playlist.
Our next selection, perhaps the most sweaty of Rockula’s catalog, is his attempt to do what everyone was doing in at the in 1989…bust a rhyme.
It’s not as bad as you might think. It’s certainly not great, but it’s all in jest and there’s some funny lyrics, which is more than I can say for,…well it’s coming up at #203.
So, before you curse us for posting perhaps the worst Monster Rap in existence, give it a track or two before making any snap decisions.
Several years ago when Halloween made their Shindig debut on Halloween with their song Halloween, we immediately bestowed upon them All-Star status. This was very premature, because at that point, it was their only contribution.
I knew then that they would have multiple appearances. I have an auxiliary playlist called The Shindig Bullpen for all the planned additions that have yet to make their way onto the blog. They’re all there, but the move was still premature.
Tonight’s track, however, finally makes Halloween The Shindig All-Stars they were born to be.
Since they already had a song called Halloween, I’m sure they were pretty disappointed. Now, they probably could have gone the Danzig route and just made a song called Halloween II, but Halloween opted to tag the word “Night” on there, and call it a day. It’s a solid move.
And since we were just dealing with Dr. Crowley and his Anti-Halloween Machine, we thought we’d check in with Angela Harris, who’s own Anti-Halloween machine, a religious group called HARVEST, is responsible for all the mayhem in 2014’s nostalgia stuffed The WNUF Halloween Special.
Her alarmist petitions seem particularly in contrast to Halloween’s somewhat reassuring song, where they tell you everything’s all right, Halloween’s just a fun night out at the Heavy Metal Horror Show. Nothing to worry about here.
Mrs. Harris, well, she doesn’t exactly concur.
Here’s Halloween, once again singing about Halloween and taking their rightful place on the Shindig All-Star team, with Halloween Night.
How does one follow up The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Horror?
Well, if you’re Sam Raimi, you revisit the same basic concept and style, crank that shit the fuck up and call it “The Sequel to the Ultimate Experience in Grueling Horror.”
Fair enough.
You also create one of my favorite horror experiences of all time.
Well, if you’re Halloween Shindig, you take a page outta Sam Raimi’s book (of the dead), use another death metal song, this time about Evil Dead 2, follow the same basic concept and style, and crank that shit the fuck up!
And with that spirit firmly in mind, Halloween Shindig presents Deicide’sDead By Dawn, or The Sequel to the Ultimate Experience in Grueling Metal!
