Halloween by Bing Crosby, Boris Karloff & Victor Moore
Many of you are no doubt familiar with Bing Crosby, if only as the narrator of Disney’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or from White Christmas. Already, no Holiday slouch.
Well, back in October of 1946, ole Bing here started hosting Philco Radio Time, a program sponsored by the Philco Corporation, who made phonographs back then. This program was known for being the 1st pre-recorded radio show in America! This was no doubt due to Philco’s influence as pioneers in the recording and reproduction of sound. Pretty neat
Like the variety television shows that would follow in its footsteps, this programm featured Bing and various musical guests performing songs and skits. Mostly though, it featured ads for Philco phonographs, unsurprisingly.
On October 29th 1947, Bing invited Universal Horror star Boris Karloff onto the program for a little festive spice. You can listen to the entire program here, if you’ve got a thing for old timey radio.
That night, stage actor and comedian Victor Moore was also on hand and the 3 of them decided to sing everybody a song for Halloween.
Now, this song was later released on a Bing Crosby compilation with much better audio quality then what’s available on the full program. However, I’ve taken the intro from the full episode to give the song a bit more context, which will explain the sudden shift in audio quality.
Long sitting in the Shindig Bullpen, 2020 seemed like an appropriate to year to finally add a song about folks being too afraid to leave their houses for Halloween.
I’m not sure what next week is gonna look like, mostly because I’m writing this under quarantine 5 months before Halloween. But also because, in this moment, it’s hard to imagine folks opting to have their children walk up to several dozen houses and grab fistfuls of unsanitized candy from the communal bowls of complete strangers. We’ll see I suppose.
However society ends up handling this already anemic autumnal activity, I’m sure it’ll be a thing straight out of 2020. So, let’s hear the newest oldest track on Halloween Shindig. But first, as the old Silver Shamrock ad says…
We’ve long talked about our love forThe Old Gray Goosehere on both Halloween Shindig, and Shindig Radio.
An old story and songster from New England, Goose weaves many a tall tale in a way that only he can.
Here, he spins us several Halloween themed yarns, and damn it if I don’t just love the hell out of it. This album is an annual favorite of mine, and I hope it can become one for you all as well.
Unfortunately, we are no longer able to provide this album for your listening pleasure. As you can see below, the copyright holder has begun selling this album again and has kindly asked us to remove it from the site.
As long time fans and supporters of The Old Gray Goose, we have no intention of disregarding the wishes of the man who originally urged The Goose to finally step into the recording studio and provide us all with these stories.
The Great Coron-Out of 2020 put a lot of different shit on hold. Traveling, going to school, supporting local businesses, licking the palms of total strangers, weddings, feeling healthy, casually coughing in public, playing professional sports, trusting your fellow man, trusting authority, making movies, going to see movies, hell, just fucking hanging out with friends, all put on ice until further notice.
Unsurprisingly then, this heighten cautious state also put the brakes on independent bands that were trying to shoot music videos.
So this past summer, when faced with just such a dilemma, the latex mask guru’s atNightmare Forceand the Dutch Death Dealers Fondlecorpseapproached Halloween Shindig in hopes of producing a quarantine team-up to battle back the blockade.
The result was the video below; a visual barrage of over 40 years worth of Satanic Panic set to the soothing sounds of shredding and screaming: The Nightmare Force.
But that’s not the only thing Fondlecorpsehas to say on the matter of melting faces.
Not by a long shot. Ya see, Fondlecorpse has been peeling off VHS Metal for almost 20 years now. And with albums like Creaturegoreand Set the Drill to Kill, I wish I’d known about them sooner, because these guys could have been Shindiggin’ for years already.
And with songs like Krite Attack!, Choppingmall and Terrorvision, we wouldn’t have had to stretch even one inch to make room for them on the roster. Hell, they’ve got All-Star status just waiting for them in the rafters.
But strictly referential tracks won’t be necessary to include Rotterdam’s finest. Not in the slightest. At least not for their rookie at-bat, anyway. And that’s because Fondlecorpse took the main artery straight to the heart of this thing here with their 2007 full length release, Blood and Popcorn.
Featured on that album is, you guessed it, a straight up Halloween song. A Halloween song about Halloween ‘78, no less. And damn it if that’s not a sure-fire way to get webbed up in this Samhain soirée.
Loomis, Laurie, Smith’s Grove, Jack-O-Lanterns, and Trick-Or-Treating are all boxes getting ticked off here. Hell, even Samhain, the lord of the dead, gets a shout out from Sly, if you can actually make out what the fuck he’s saying anyway. I mean, this is Death Metal after all.
You can find more songs, CD’s, and merch at the Fondlecorpse Bandcamp, or you can follow them where ever you get shit beamed directly into your corneas: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
This quarantine saw Halloween Shindig joining forces with Fondlecorpse. Now, Halloween draws the circle closed, as Fondlecorpse joins the hallowed ranks of Halloween Shindig.
Welcome aboard fellas. Your brothers in Halloween Heavy Metal welcome you.
To kick off October proper, we’re gonna pull the lead-off batter from last year’s Heavy Metal Halloween episode of Shindig Radio, which segues nicely, being that it makes good use of a crude reworking of John Carpenter’s classic Halloween theme.
The oldest Heavy Metal Halloween track thus far on The Shindig, this one comes from Danish rocker’s Wasted, who formed in 1981. After releasing this demo in 1984, they toured extensively across Europe and began putting together a follow-up record.
Unfortunately, their record company at the time didn’t much care for this new material at all. They added insult to injury by suggesting the band would be more successful if they altered their style to sound more like Twisted Sister or Bon Jovi.
Wasted didn’t handle this seemingly constructive, yet mostly damn questionable, criticism all that well and slowly began imploding.
However, they reunited recently and just last year released a new album of brand new material that thankfully sounds nothing like either Bon Jovi or Twisted Sister.
So, despite the record company’s shortsightedness and the toll that not playing that type of ball offered Wasted, I’d like to personally thank them guys for sticking to their guns and providing this solid stand-up double, that wholly secures their place on Halloween Shindig.
By association, Shindig Superhero King Diamond finally becomes the Shindig All-Star he was always meant to be.
From Mercyful Fate’s 1983 debut album, Melissa, comes this Satany as shit foray into Halloween with Mr. Diamond at the helm, falsetto and all.
And, for King Diamond fans, the name Melissa is an important one.
According to the album’s final song (and title track) Melissa was a witch who owned the heart of King. She was (presumably) burned at the stake by a priest, to which King Diamond swore revenge.
Melissa then reappeared the following year, again on the final track, of the album Don’t Break the Oath called Come to the Sabbath. That song details the performance of a ritual that will curse the priest responsible for murdering Melissa.
King with his famous Melissa mic stand, though I doubt that’s the original skull.
Finally, Melissa appears on the 1993 Mercyful Fate reunion album, In the Shadows, on the song Is That You, Melissa? Here, King attempts to convince a Coven to perform a ritual which will allow him to speak with Melissa’s ghost. Though the Coven refuses, King is later visited by her spirit. They share a kiss and Melissa is never spoken of again.
However, Melissa holds even more significance to Mr. Diamond than that. See, sometime in 1981, King procured human remains from a medical school in Copenhagen. He then proceeded to named those bones “Melissa.”
King would go on to form his legendary mic stand from the femur and tibia of “Melissa’s” remains. Additionally, he would carry her skull around with him on stage. That is, he did, until one night at a show in the Netherlands (he reckons) Melissa’s skull was stolen!
King still uses his Melissa mic stand to this very day, but her skull has never…been seen…again.
It’s Halloween Night(The Witches’ Jack-O-Lantern) by Acid Witch
Welcome back Weeners! Thanks for joining us. Here’s to a new season on Halloween Shindig. We hope you all enjoy all the new tunes we have lined up for you this year.
Last year, recording and editing Shindig Radio kept me on my heels once the season for songs rolled around. So this year, I decided to get a little head start.
But then, California decided making fake rubber bullshit for crummy new movies that you’ll never see popping up on this website, wasn’t an “essential” service during a global pandemic. Go fig.
Needless to say, I had a bit of extra time on my hands. So this year, we’re starting things just a little bit early (and on the first day of Fall even!) as we’ve got 40 new Title Tracks, Monster Raps, and Halloween Scats to fill your Autumnal airwaves.
Leading us off this year, as promised, is a group of Shindig All-Stars that dropped a brand new Halloween Song just as I was finishing up last year’s countdown. C’mon, it was a wrap! But along came Acid Witch making me wish I had lagged just a little bit longer.
No matter! They’re here now to start the season off right, with another sludgy ode to the Eve of All Saints. This time around, they’re detailing the necessary steps for a Witch to turn a dude’s head into a Jack-O-Lantern…on Halloween Night, no less.
All right, fella. Sold.
This song is tough as shit and an instant inclusion. We hope you like it too, cause there’s more Acid Witch on the way, as we’ve yet to tap into their 2017 release Evil Sound Screamers, which is practically a Halloween Album unto itself. But until then…
Now, that should earn everyone hangin’ around here a new Halloween song. But the last time I checked, I noticed we completely flaked on our end on the Halloween last year.
We did deliver Acid Witch’sOctober 31st, so we didn’t completely abandon ya’ll. But, we didn’t make good with a new Halloween song, at least not one called Halloween, anyway.
So we’re making doubly sure we got you covered this year.
For our 2019 Halloween induction of a Halloween song, we figured we’d dig right into our Heavy Metal Halloween line-up and pull out an exclusive.
And what better exclusive than the secret song I stumbled upon the night before we recorded that episode – 220 Volt’s 1985 rockin’ Metaller, Halloween!
Ya know, that Swedish metal band that formed after an unfortunate mini-golf accident? I don’t know about you guys, but to me, nothing spells evil metal like minor hand injuries at the Dragon Castle on hole 7.
And since we had such a great time listening to all of Busta Rhymes’ nonsense from Halloween: Resurrection, and I have a habit of trickin’ out these tracks with Halloween franchise samples, we Busta Busted all over this one for yinz.
Happy Halloween everybody! Thanks for coming along for the ride. We’ll see ya’ll again on Oct. 1st, 2020 sharp!
Until then, stayed tuned for more episodes of Shindig Radio and definitely stay spooky!
Oh, and here’s that weird picture we referenced during the show. I think Matt was right, this singer definitely looks like a labradoodle.
It’s Halloween again and Shindig Radio is celebrating its reason for your season: Halloween Songs.
But not just any Halloween Songs. These are songs exclusively called Halloween and performed exclusively by weird 80’s metal bands.
It’s a Heavy Metal Halloween!
Matt Mastrella returns to join Graham C. Schofield and Mikey Rotella on a Halloween journey through Heavy Metal history with 10 of the hardest, most head bangin’ Halloween hits the world has ever heard!
It has come to our attention that the previously slotted song, for reasons that will hopefully become clear to Shindig fans soon enough, does not deserve a place at this table.
The short version is that Captain Clegg and his Night Creatures are apparently villainous (possibly even fictitious!) scoundrels, ungraciously aping the vibe and appearance of Shindig All-Stars, The Ghastly Ones. And an affront to The Ghastly Ones is an affront to this playlist.
Despite its Halloweeniness, and its appearance in a Halloween film (albeit Rob Zombie’s unfortunate Halloween II) we can no longer, in good conscience, continue to host it on this playlist.
And I’m quite sure they’ll be terribly upset, too. Who am I kidding right now with all this official business? No one sees this blog or reads any of my nonsense, least of all the bands that are featured here within.
Unless that band is The Ghastly Ones.
So while, Captain Clegg may never be aware that this playlist is here, or that he was ever here, or that he was then removed – Norman, Garret, Kevin and Dave may very well. And as far as we’re concerned, they’re the only Ones that matter.
So, we now interrupt your regularly scheduled Halloween song…Without Warning!
Some of you may be familiar with 2 time Face/Off contestant and Shindig Radio personality Graham C. Schofield. What you may not know, however, is that he is also a massive Frank Zappa fan.
What you may also not know is that I have known him for over 13 years. In all of those 13 years I have been compiling, in various forms, the playlist you’ve come to know as Halloween Shindig.
In fact, the first Halloween I ever spent with him took place in my old backyard in Van Nuys, CA. At this Halloween gathering, an older version of The Shindig was playing to everyone’s delight.
So why, you might ask, did it take until a random pool gathering in 2019 for Graham to casually mention that Frank Zappa had a Halloween song?
It’s a solid question, and one I’m not sure he provided a satisfactory answer to when pressed. Probably something about plants.
Whatever the reason, late is definitely better than never, as we can now add Frank Zappa to the list of very famous and accomplished musicians that can stand proudly among the greats of true Halloweendom here on the Playlist.
While we all might clearly know (or can at least quickly gather) what Frank is actually talking about here, on the surface, Goblin Girl offers a fun and festive groove that tips its hat to the Eve of All Saints. All clear over here, kid.
So take a moment to bop along with Frank and the gang and their Goblin Girl.
She’s black and green,…cause it’s Halloween!
Interesting festive side note: This album was originally release in October of 1981 on Barking Pumpkin Records!
Let’s keep the weird late 70’s Halloween Special train rolling here with this strange number from perhaps the strangest Halloween cartoon of them all, Witch’s Night Out.
First aired on October 27th in 1978, this festive Canadian offering follows the Halloween adventures of 2 children named Small and Tender. Fully disillusioned after their Werewolf and Ghost costumes fail to scare a single soul in their small town, they unwittingly call an equally disillusioned Witch to their aid.
She promptly turns them (and their weird babysitter Bazooey) into literal versions of their get-ups. They then proceed to scare the hell out of an entire Halloween party and then the whole town. Despite being hunted down like dogs by a town full of joyless assholes, the children (and then everyone else) manage to rekindle their love of All Hallows’.
Highly stylized and very 70’s, the characters are all monochromatic and the voices (provided by Gilda Radner and Catherine O’hara to name a couple) are weird. Hell, this wholething is just plain weird, but if you grew up watching it on the Disney channel during the ’80’s and ’90’s, chances are it’s nostalgic as all get out.
YouTube can definitely provide you with several trips down memory lane of varying qualities, if you feel so inclined.
As for The Shindig, we’re gonna slot in its bizarro, vocoder heavy theme song, Witch Magic and send you down an audio nostalgia trip to a time when Halloween Specials were great, and filled analog airwaves with festive joy.It’s a bag of garbage!
A Merry, Shh, Creepy Hallowe’en by David Levy & George Tibbles
The Addams Family is a staple of classic American pop culture that has evolved over time to adapt to any medium thrown its way.
The Addams took their first breaths in 1938 as a single panel comic strip from cartoonist Charles Addams. Featured in the New Yorker magazine, they would be run periodically for 50 years until Addams’ death in 1988.
During that span (and then beyond), The Addams set about conquering every corner of entertainment the tried their hand at. First as the 1964 sitcom we all know and love, which ran for 2 seasons.
In 1972, the first animated incarnation of the Addams met Scooby-Doo. After that, a variety show was planned featuring (strangley) Butch (Eddie Munster) Partrick as Pugsly. A pilot was filmed but the show was ultimately not picked up by the networks.
Then, in 1973 The Addams Family became another beloved show, this time a cartoon which also ran for 2 seasons and featured a young Jodi Foster as the voice of Pugsly. Weird!
After that, the original cast reunited for the Television film Hallowe’en with the New Addams Family. In it, the legend of old Cousin Shy is told; a Chirstmas-like tale about a family ghost that mysteriously carves pumpkins and brings presents on Halloween.
Then, in 1991, The Addams took to the big screen in the Paramount Pictures adaptation which spawned a sequel in 1993 and then a direct to video reboot starring Tim Curry as Gomez.
After that, another animated series based on the new film followed before a second live action television show took form in 1998 as The New Addams Family.
In 2010, The Addams Family took on Broadway in a musical starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Nuewirth. Was there anywhere The Addams could not make their own peculiar home?
Today, as I’m sure you’re all aware, America’s First Family of the Macabre takes another trip to the big screen and gets another animated makeover, this time of the digital variety. Now, while sadly this not the much anticipated (and later canceled) stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams’ original designs that Tim Burton had planned, it is good to see The Addams back on their feet and ready to capture a whole new generation of fans.In honor of the return of The Addams Family, Halloween Shindig presents the very Halloweeny but Christmas-like carol A Merry, Shh, Creepy Hallowe’een from their 1977 Halloween Television reunion special.
Because how long could we ignore a Halloween song sung by The Addams?
It’s good to have you back. Hopefully you’ve been listening to the podcast we’ve been producing over the last year and it hasn’t been too long since you’ve last visited the ole ‘Dig here. Either way, you’re here now and we appreciate that.
Speaking of last year, our 1st track of 2019 was supposed to be the last track of 2018. Seems I was too busy handing out candy and futzing with malfunctioning fog machines to remember to post the last track. Oh well, at least it was for a good and truly Halloweeny cause.
Well, last year’s lost is this year’s gain, as rather than ending the season with a song called Halloween, we’re gonna start the season with one; a Shindig first!
And we got a doozy for ya in the form of another good ole fashioned 80’s Metal Halloween headbanger we’re so fond of over here.
This time, it came from deep in the heart of Texas. The band? Ripper!
Formed in 1977, they had a flare for the theatrical, taking cues from Alice Cooper and KISS with their ghastly appearance and spooky names. They even toss in some sinister horror synths on ya, just for ambiance! Though, admittedly, I think this is one of the few songs where they don’t utilize any de-tuned saw waves. Bummer.
Rippers’sHalloween comes from what is essentially the bands only album …And The Dead ShallRise, which is definitely worth checking out in its entirety.
Spruced up here with some cuts from 1988’s Halloween hoot Hollow Gate, for a little extra festive flare. Listen to local nutcake Mark Walters taunt his grandmother and cause some costumed havoc as you ring in the new season.
So let’s let ‘er rip, and let’s let Ripper lead the way.
For 2018’s 3rd belated official-induction of a Shindig All-Star, direct from Motor-City, it’s Halloween Metallers Acid Witch. They’re coming correct with the calendar date on which this whole holiday has always taken place.
Posting this song on any other day seemed, well, it seemed pretty stupid. So, we’re kicking off a heavy metal Halloween double-header with this tune, sure to make your Halloween a little more rockin’.
We’ve led it in with a sample from Halloween 2, where Loomis explains the meaning of that strange word they just found graffitied on the school chalk board to Haddonfield’s finest.
Of course, Donald Pleasence pronounces “Samhain” phonetically, but we can forgive him that transgression because, as always, he just sells the fuck out of this dialogue.
V. Ice, as the horror-core iteration of Robert Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) refers to himself, was actually born on Halloween. October 31st 1967, to be precise. That’s pretty awesome as far as The Shindig is concerned. What’s more? He cut a referential Halloween track about it.
Double bonus.
Depending on your perspective that is.
From The Shindig’s perspective, it’s an all around winner. First and foremost, its a Referential Halloween Monster Rap. That’s pretty special. Referential Halloween tracks are a rarity, and the few others that appear on this playlist are weakly included in either direction. Not V. Ice’s jam though. Born On Halloween a card-carrying referential Halloween Monster Rap.
This is not a good song though. I love it. At times it fills me with Halloween joy. At other times it makes me laugh. I rock out to it in my car. Genuinely. I don’t change it at red lights when cute girls or tough guys pull up next to me.
It’s on The Shindig, hands down, no question, but it can’t really be called good. I love a lot of things genuinely that are not objectively good. Go scrolling randomly through this playlist; the evidence to that fact is compelling. Many things about this song are not good.
Starting with it’s absolutely ridiculous chorus. Random weirdo’s chant “Born On Halloween” in a manner that sounds suspiciously like This Is Halloween from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Fitting then, 100 songs after posting that track, we’ve finally decided to post this one.
Add to that some of the weakest referential rhymes to hit The Shindig since The Maniac Cop Rap, and it’s hard to make a strong case for the quality of this song.
“Some call him Psycho
the Norman Bates of Hip-Hop.
The ladies call him Alfred
Cause they’re all over his Hitchcock”
Wow.
No one calls V. Ice that, full stop. I doubt anyone calls him V. Ice for that matter, but hey.
I’ll also set my watch and warrant that no woman anywhere has ever referred to Vanilla Ice as “Alfred” for the sole purpose of alluding to his cock.
There’s no fucking way that’s mathematically possible. The amount of cognition involved in devising such a reference, divided by the relevance and knowledge of Alfred Hitchcock to any ladies within shouting distance of Robert Van Winkle on any given night, produces a probability that could only be visible through a high powered telescope, so fucking insane is it.
The kicker is that this incredibly juvenile rhyme…doesn’t even rhyme!
All of the above would be completely forgivable (as with most ridiculous rap boastings) if the lyric was actually clever. This one is not. And I fucking love it for that.
Violent J (not in fact born on Halloween, as he [perhaps] suggests) shows up to add some much needed street cred to the whole affair. I’m sorry, what?
When a rapping Clown from the Posse Insane is noticeably stepping up your track’s game, something is fucking broke. J quite honestly puts V. Ice to shame on this song with better rhymes, better rhythm and a tone becoming of the subject matter. It’s a breath of fresh air when J steps up to the mic. And that’s not a joke, either. That’s my sincere assessment.
The weirdos will intermittently spout off “With my mask I trick or treat, spooks and freaks all over your street” and “born on Halloween” to everyone’s delight, giving the song it’s air of Halloween spirit.
My research suggests that most listeners will find that all of this nonsense adds up to about 4 minutes of Halloween torture they’d rather have no part of. Can’t blame them for that. The more masochistic audiophiles however or any undercover Juggalos in your crowd might actually enjoy this business. Can’t blame them either, except maybe the undercover Juggalos, for well,…being fucking Juggalos.
I’ve been hard here on V.Ice here, as has the world as a whole for the last 25 years or so. Most of that is completely reasonable considering the seemingly disingenuous output of Robert’s career.
But seriously V.Ice, if you’ve somehow miraculously stumbled across this blog and are reading this, The Shindig loves this song, both genuinely and ironically, all at the same time. It loves that it exists and hoists it proudly among the ranks of Halloween rockdom. We wouldn’t change a thing about it. Your references, as weakly constructed as they are, jam-pack the front end of this track and the Halloween quotient is undeniable, right down to the cribbing of Danny Elfman and the good people of Halloweentown.
Please accept my apologies if I have made you feel, through any of the above criticism, that I am anything less than a fan of this track. There’s a lot of Halloween music I hate (there’s a few ICP songs that come to mind here) that I roundly refuse to include on this playlist. Born On Halloween is not one of those tracks. Born On Halloween is a Halloween song for the ages.
By far the spookier (and more mellow) track with this title, Blug Magic’sBorn On Halloween may take the prize for smoothest song on The Shindig. This a slow jam of the baby making variety. Provided of course you’ve found the right spooky lady.
No one affiliated with Blue Magic appears to have been born on Halloween. That’s okay though, because their song is not about themselves, but rather the spookiest girl in town; the Queen of Witchcraft.
She was born on Halloween, and since I’m 99% sure she’s 100% fictional, that can hardly be cross-referenced. We’re just gonna have to take their word for it.
So grab that witchy woman, dim the orange lights and fire up your favorite horror movie, cause Blue Magic’s about to smooth up your holiday with Born On Halloween.
We’re gonna slow things down a bit here, just before our run to Halloween, when things are bound to get all types of hairy.
In my research for an upcoming (and long overdue) addition to The Shindig, I came across not 1, but 2 different songs of the same title. Now you know what we say around here whenever that happens…
Pick ’em up!
From the 1976 album Winningfrom Russ Ballard comes Born On Hallowe’en.
Now, in case you were incredulous (I know I sure was) Russ Ballard was in fact born on Halloween in 1945, somewhere in Britain, if I recall correctly. Pretty spooky.
Unfortunately, this is the least spooky of the 3 songs featuring that title. Fine by us, as a song needn’t be spooky to find itself on The Shindig. It certainly helps, but it’s not a prerequisite.
While I’m quite sure none of us are terribly familiar with Russ, we’re probably familiar with his generous professional output, as many of his songs have been recorded and turned into big hits.
Originally the lead singer for the rock outfit Argent, who’s hits Hold Your Head Up and God Gave Rock N Roll To You are surely recognizable to anyone with even passing interest in classic rock or has seen Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.
He’s also responsible for America’s comeback hit You Can Do Magic, Rainbow’sSince You Been Gone, Santana’sWinning, Peter Criss’Let Me Rock You and the Ace Frehley solo track New York Groove.
Coming in at #198 to pump the breaks a little, here’s a mellow rocker from Halloween Hero Russ Ballard, who was definitely Born On Hallowe’en.
I love finding dusty, old songs called Halloween by forgotten metal bands.
It’s always the same exhilarating rush and it’s happened a number of times over the years. Bands like Halloween, Ostrogoth and Hallows Eve have all presented themselves to me in this way. Rest assured there are others whom have yet to have their day on The Shindig.
But, just when I think there couldn’t possibly be any more, I’ll discover a completely new one, as though through my own sheer will I’ve conjured it into existence.
Such solipsistic tripe is absolute nonsense, but I can’t help but feel that wave wash over me all the same, and it’s a bizarre feeling for a paranoid sort such as myself. Did all of these songs really already exist? Am I just now finding them because the playlist needs them? Is it synchronicity or something else? Frankly, I don’t think it really matters, so long as we can hear the tunes.
This was the case when I unearthed 3 new ones a few years back. Of course, due to the nature of the playlist, it’s accompanying blog and my stupid, now mathematically erroneous “every 20th, no wait, now every 10th song” clause, these treasures must be issued out slowly over time. Glad I didn’t decide on every 31st song, as would have been more appropriate.
But today, we’ve come to the moment for Iron Cross to step into the jack-o-lantern’s spotlight.
Formed in Pensacola Florida in 1979, Iron Cross played across their home state and Georgia amassing a sizable fan base before releasing a self titled album in 1986. The ensuing years saw more extensive touring, self promotion, and other EPs including “Die Like That” and “Halloween.” Unfortunately, these seeds of hard work did not blossom into wider recognition for Iron Cross.
As with every metal band tearing shit up in the 80’s, the grunge and alt rock scene of the early 90’s took the wind right out of their black sails. Iron Cross disbanded, like their fellow Halloween brethren, only to be born anew once Nu Metal and Corporate Pop totally ruined everything in the late 90’s and early 2000s. Suddenly, as if emerging from a curious slumber, everyone realized that shit was garbage and longed for the days of thrashing flying V leads and falsetto vocals. Iron Cross could rise again!
They reformed, released new compilations of unreleased material, got the self titled album pressed to CD and hit the road once more.
Though this song has appeared in some form on just about every release they’ve had since their 1986 debut, The Shindig has chosen to use the cover from their 2000 compilation simply titled “Iron Cross” because it has a skeleton shooting lasers out of it’s eyes at an actual iron cross, and that fucking rules.
Look at that drawing. Can you think of anything you’d rather have on your album than that? I know I certainly can’t.
Coming in hard at #190, it’s Iron Cross with….of course…Halloween.
PS: For some sample accompaniment, we decided to finally tap into Halloween 5aka Halloween: A Burned and Now Insane Loomis Repeatedly Screams at a Poor, Frightened 9 Year Old Girl and Uses Her As Bait to Ensnare a Homicidal Al Pacino-Masked Murderer With Whom She Suddenly Shares a Psychic Link.
Boycott ret-conned bullshit! Say “no” to unnumbered sequels and reboots! Stand tall against the repeated and failed attempts to rewrite Michael’s history! This is the true legacy…horrible masks and goofy family sub-plots and all!
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.
