Referential Tracks

Everybody loves horror movies, especially musicians. Here’s the songs they sung in ode to their favorite frights.

Audio

Why Was I Born (Freddy’s Dead)

TRACK #384

Why Was I  Born (Freddy’s Dead) by Iggy Pop

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 instillment 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 stuff of Hollywood irony.

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.

The 80’s were a hazy and slowly dissipating dream by that point, and the 90’s were unfortunately on full display with the Freddy’s Dead soundtrack.

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.

Thankfully (depending on your prospective that is) Hammer also unleashed his Addams Groove upon the world in 1991, preventing Iggy from taking the top spot. I’m sure he was grateful.

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 pop-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 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.’ Ya’ll know how I feel about this 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.

Audio

Man of Your Dreams

TRACK #383:

Man of Your Dreams by M.O.D.

Not to be outdone on the controversial front, Stromtroppers of Death vocalist Billy Milano said “hold my beer” and formed M.O.D. (or Methods of Destruction) in 1986 to continue that same Thrashy and offensive legacy.

Their debut album, U.S.A. for M.O.D. was released in 1987. Songs like Aren’t You Hungry, Imported Society and A.I.D.S. will not doubt find much harsher criticisms today than at the time of their release, where such attitudes were far more normalized. And that’s not to say they weren’t criticized in their day, it’s just, try releasing A.I.D.S. in 2024 and lemme know how that pans out for you and your band. I’ll bet it works out way less than it did in 1987. 

For their part, M.O.D. later apologized for the blatant racism found on Aren’t You Hungry. However, the juvenile (if not completely typical) Homophobia on display in A.I.D.S (which might appear almost jaw-dropping to an audience in 2024) has not received the same treatment, that I am aware.

Largely, people just regard Billy has a hateful racist bigot now and leave it there, choosing to either embrace the music while separating the art from the artist, or completely disregarding him and his artistic endeavors altogether, be they M.O.D. or S.O.D.

In subsequent albums, they never quite treaded as deep into the murky topical waters waded in on their debut, but they still maintained that off-putting and decidedly thrash-metal attitude all the same.

But we’re here for U.S.A for M.O.D., which like their S.O.D. counterpart’s debut, also contains a (thankfully) far less controversial ode to Mr. Big Time himself.

Love him or loathe him, Billy Milano just really liked Freddy Krueger I guess, cause here comes Man of Your Dreams.

 

 

Audio

Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys)

TRACK #379:

Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys) by Lou Gramm

So here we are, 12 years and almost 400 songs into this whole endeavor and we’re only now acknowledging iconic 80’s MTV Corey vehicle and known for its soundtrack vampire extravaganza, The Lost Boys? What in the actual bloody fuck, gang?

It’s shameful really, that it’s taken so long, and that its inclusion was ultimately by request, cause it shouldn’t have needed to be that way. A special shout out is in order though for Shindig enthusiast and Creep Phone caller, Peter Ostrowski, for finally asking what everyone probably should have been asking all along: “Hey! Where’s all the fuckin Lost Boys at, bud? And with the all the stupid shit you’ve forced us to listen to? Seriously?”

It’s a good question, as this is a pretty glaring omission. And, what’s more, is that it’s an especially shameful omission once you consider that this song, from Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm, is a Title Track.

I will add the caveat though that this is a Parenthetical Title Track, which certainly does not absolve me of failing to include it until now, but might possibly explain why. For years I simply assumed the song was only called Lost In The Shadows.

However, and as I must reiterate and can’t stress enough, this should not have prevented me from adding it to the playlist as an Inclusive Track during any one of the last 11 years. There’s just no excuse for that. Cause listen to this fuckin thing, it absolutely destroys. The 80’s synth, the driving bass line, the snare that doesn’t let your feet sit still. If there’s a song that had “Halloween Shindig” written on it, it was Lost in the Shadows.

But, like we always say around here, every song the should be on The Shindig will be on The Shindig…in time.

As for The Lost Boys, I’ll spare you any unnecessary dissertations. There’s a 99.9% chance that if you’re actually reading what’s written here, I don’t need to sell you on The Lost Boys, one way or the other. The odds that you might be sitting there all “The Lost Boys, huh? I think I’ve heard of that. Hmm, I wonder if I should watch it?” are practically fuckin zero.

So, let’s just blast through all that blah blah blah Corey Feldman is awesome, blah blah blah that sweaty saxophone guy from Monsterpalooza, and hey how bout that Jaime Gertz huh? Or man, it’s shame about Corey Haim though for real, he was great and yadda yadda yadda that Echo and The Bunnymen cover sucks, and hey it’s not nearly as badass as Near Dark but whatever I guess, cause it’s still cool cause man wouldn’t it be awesome to be a Lost Boy, with the dirt bikes and the hair and the sleeping all day and shit? Yeah.

So grab your copy of Batman #14, some takeout maggots and don’t waltz, cause with Lost in the Shadows, we can all Rock ‘N Roll.

 

Audio

Fear No Evil

TRACK #378:

Fear No Evil by Trybe

1981’s Fear No Evil has a pretty wild soundtrack.

It also has a scene where a very conflicted Antichrist magically makes his bully grow a pair of tits. That’s pretty wild too.

But let’s get back to this music, huh?

So yeah, this soundtrack is kinda nuts. Like, I’m not sure if they knew it at the time (maybe they did, who knows?) but looking back it’s like a who’s-who of the late 70’s punk and new wave scenes. It’s crazy to see a low budget directorial debut just stacking tracks like this.

The Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, The Rezillos, the B-52s, Richard Hell, The Boomtown Rats, The Sex Pistols! It’s plays like a compliation album you used to only be able to by off a TV commercial that came of 4 Cassettes or 2 Compact Discs.

It doesn’t appear as though they released this soundtrack, though. They released the score, by director Frank LaLoggia and David Spear, but not this. That seems like a real missed trick to me. I’ll bet they coulda sold a metric shirtsworth of these things at that time. And then I wouldn’t have to pull the song from the end of the DVD. But at least it’s clean and clear and presumably complete. Can’t say that about a lot of In-Movie-Only songs.

Now, I’m not sure how any of this actually works, cause I’m just a dumbass that recklessly types potentially unsubstantiated nonsense onto the internet for people all over the world to not read. But I’m gonna blame this collection of songs on Soundtrack Coordinator Jonathan Brett.

Jonathan had just come off coordinating the soundtrack for 1979’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Highschool, which we know definitely featured the Ramones. Hell, the whole movie does.  That’s an interesting story too.

Apparently that movie was originally titled Disco High, and producer Roger Corman wanted Todd Rundgren, despite Todd not producing anything close to what I’d call Disco. But Todd wanted more money than the notoriously cheap Corman was willing to part with for the job. At least that’s how I read it. Wikipedia says it was a “scheduling conflict” but IMDb says they “couldn’t come to an agreement.” Oh yeah? An agreement about the scheduling, I’m sure.

So, they went to Roger’s second choice, Cheap Trick. As it turns out Cheap Trick isn’t quite as affordable as they bill themselves and not nearly enough for the miserly Corman, and they were summarily dismissed. Or rather, ya know, they just couldn’t come to an agreement.

However, The film’s director, Mr. Allan Arkush, had some connections over at Warner Bros. Music, and after poo-pooing both Van Halen and Devo, they finally landed on The Ramones,  because they recorded on Warner subsidiary Sire Records. Ahh interesting.

Ok, well that’s just fuckin’ swell, buddy. What the fuck does all this Rock ‘n’ Roll High School have to do with Fear No Evil?

Well, just about the entirety of the Fear No Evil soundtrack is Sire Record acts, including Title Tracker’s Trybe.

And outside of that fact, I can’t find a one lick of information about this fuckin band. Discogs list about 6 different Trybes and not a single one performed this Title Track.

I will say that Colin Jacobson over at DVD Movie Guide called the tune an “awful title song by some flop band called Trybe.” Nice!

This is good news, as it seems to suggest that he thinks they were some band that just didn’t make it. I wonder what he knows?

Me? I’m not convinced they’re even band at all and aren’t are just some one-off from writers Andy Paley and Erik Lindgren. We may never know.

Oh, but hey! What about the movie?

Well, I’ll tell ya, as derivative as it feels most of the time, it’s not terrible. It’s got some good moments in it, some creepy, some with fun FX or some that are just plain bizarre. It’s a weird movie, with a weird vibe.

I like the look of it. It’s hazy and warm, like comfort photography. This isn’t too surprising, directed as it is by Frank LaLoggia, the man behind the Class of 1988 alumni Lady In White. That movie have a spot on feel of fuzzy vintage Halloween, with a hazy glow of its on.

But that’s all a whole lot, so I’m gonna let y’all get the song already.

Here’s Fear No Evil from Trybe, whoever the hell they even are.

 

Audio

Hard Rock Nightmare

TRACK #377:

Hard Rock Nightmare by The Bad Boys

If a movie hits you off so with its Title Track before introducing you to all of its main characters or even an inkling of its plot, than you know you’re off to a good start.

When that Title Track get played diegetically in the film by a literal garage band, that’s even better.

If that Title Track is played directly after a young boy drives a stake through his grandfather’s heart cause the old bastard was terrorizing the kid by screaming “I’m a Vampire!!?” at the top of his lungs…then you’re watching Hard Rock Nightmare, my friend.

This psychological thriller cum Scooby Doo episode features a fair amount of rocking from our heroes, The Bad Boys, a name so dumb even their own band members clown on it. But as you’ll hear in the song, the local police force is getting a little tired of their loud and lousy rock.

So, now they’re out practicing at Jimmy’s Grandma’s house. Ya know, the one she left him despite him ruthlessly murdering her husband like a creature of the night. Hey, he was being kind of an asshole. She said as much herself.

But, it seems that there’s a werewolf on the loose too and doing some murdering of its own. But is the wolf real? Are the mysterious phone calls Jim’s getting from his Grandfather hallucinations? Is anyone gonna get to bang the undercover reporter writing about the band for her sister‘s rock magazine? Who knows!

What we do know is that it’ll be a Hard Rock Nightmare, cause they’ve let us know that shit right out the gate. And God bless ’em for that.

Here it is, just another Title Track from 1988. It’s Hard Rock Nightmare!

 

 

 

 

Audio

Never Cry Devil

TRACK #376:

Never Cry Devil by Willy DeVille

We’re keeping Title Track train chuggin’ along with a Title Track to 1989’s Night Visitor.

Now you may notice, however, that this song is not Night Visitor. That is because tonight’s Title Track is an Alternate Title Track, where the song was very much a True Title Track for most of the film’s inception and production (and hell, even in some Foreign market releases) but for some reason was stripped of its status by reckless executives.

Because dear readers, I ask, is Night Visitor a better title than Never Cry Devil? I should think not.

This thick slice of late 80’s Rock ‘N Roll cheesery comes from Willy DeVille, whom is perhaps best known being the leader of Mink DeVille, an early house band at New York’s famed CBGB.

Willy also earned himself an Academy Award nomination for writing and recording Storybook Love with Dire Straits’ Mark Knophler for the film The Princess Bride. Aces.

Here, Willy sets a mood while vaguely (very vaguely) singing about the things that might have something to do with the plot of this 1989 thriller about a boy who thinks he’s gonna see his sexy neighbor Shannon Tweed get buck, but just ends up seeing his fat History teacher ritualistically murdering her in a crazy Satan mask. It’s kinda wild.

But I can picture wilder. Much wilder.

Michael J. Pollard plays the muderer’s brother and (as always) just about steals the show. Elliot Gould showed for a few days to collect his checks and they somehow talked Shaft himself, Mr. Richard Roundtree, into playing the investigating detective.

None of it’s bad, per se, but it doesn’t quite amount to what you want from the premise.

However, it might just be more evidence for Mikey’s theorem that the quality of a movie’s Title Track is directly, and inversely, proportionate to how much that movie sucks.

Now, I’m not sure if that’s always true, particularly for the heavy hitters (Fright Night, Monster Squard, fuckin Ghostbusters for fuck’s sake) but it definitely seems to be the case here again at Track #375, cause this song’s delivering the goods. It’s Wily DeVille with Never Cry Devil.

 

Audio

Witches’ Brew

TRACK #375:

Witches’ Brew by Joyce Vincent Wilson

Ok, that’s enough fake Title Tracks. Let’s get to with real deal, cause we got a bunch of these.

The good news is I thought I’d be playing catch up here with all the new songs from Title Tracks Pt. 6, but since that episode has yet to air, they can all debut right here on the Playlist for a change, like the old days!

You can thank Mr. Josh Spiegel over at Movie Timelines for our first Title Track, as I became aware of this tune and film it hails from while watching an episode of his ongoing series, The 80’s Project.

But Josh is generally pretty good about throwing Title Tracks my way whenever he stumbles across new ones. I’m just grateful to have a guy in the field doings some work for Title Track identification and acquisition.

And this one is a funky, disco-esque groover from Joyce Vincent Wilson, who is perhaps best known for being part of the group Dawn, as in Tony Orlando and Dawn. They were a trio of singers responsible for a string of hits in the early 70’s including Candida, Knock Three Times and Tie a yellow Ribbon Round the ole Oak Tree. They were so popular in fact that they even had a short lived variety show on CBS called, you guessed it, Tony Orlando and Dawn.

I love this tune, and since he mentions it in the first 2 seconds of the show, it’s going to be no spoiler to say it was Kyle Sullivan’s choice for favorite Title Track out of the Ep. 6 lineup.

No one else felt that way however, particularly Graham, who used it as solid evidence that he didn’t actually need to watch the film. Which I had to concur with, he didn’t. No one does, honesty. I mean, it’s fine, for what it is, but it doesn’t need to be burning a hole in anyone’s watch list, knowhutimean?

It’s a bit of a lighter, comedic take on the Fritz Leiber novel Conjure Wife, which had previously been adapted into the 1944 film Weird Woman and the 1962 film Burn, Witch, Burn.

There’s a cool gargoyle thing that comes out of a giant egg, I’ll say that. Richard Benjamin, of Love at First Bite fame is pretty fun. Terri Garr is great, and it was Lana Turner’s final film appearance. Whether that’s a positive or not is up to you, but she gives a solid performance despite the general Made-for-TV vibes this movie generates.

But you can’t blame Joyce Vincent Wilson, that’s for sure, cause it may not really fit that vibe, but this is a certified jammer. Kicking off a full-on Title Track Pt. 6 block, here’s the 1980’s Witches’ Brew!

 

Audio

The Tingler

TRACK #374

The Tingler by The Tinglers

We’re gonna hit ya with another Tie-In Title Track here, this one from 1959, that I very much wish was in the actual movie.

Cause I love The Tingler. It’s easily and simultaneously one of my favorite William Castle and Vincent Price movies. It balances the right amount of camp with just the right amount of ingenuity to create a memorable picture that has truly stood the test of time. And not for nothing, but it features the very first LSD trip ever shown on film. And it’s taken by Vincent Price no less. What could be better?

Well, how about this song? C’mon, it’s amazing. It’s everything you want from a Title Track in 1959 to a movie about a creature that lives in your spine and feeds on fear. So why wasn’t it featured in the film itself? Well, it’s a great question and of course it’s one that I have absolutely no real answer for.

I could suggest that it’s perhaps because the song was produced after the film was shot and edited, solely for the purpose of marketing the film. That seems reasonable. Maybe it was just an after thought. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have dropped it on the credits real easy before they released the film, but they didn’t, so here we are.

Or I could assume it’s because they didn’t think the tone of this song really matched the tone of the movie, like say The Chucky Song. And perhaps just like that tune, they pulled it from the release. However, unlike The Chucky Song, they didn’t want the tune to go to waste and used it’ll as a piece of the marketing. Perhaps.

I honestly don’t think this song would have felt that out of place played over the credits or diegetically featured somewhere during the film. I guess I can understand why maybe Williams Castle and team thought so. It is a bit campy and silly. But I guess that’s my point, so is The Tingler.

Interestingly, the B-side to this Tie-In Title Track was another (Truncated) Tie-In Title Track called The Thirty Foot Bride from the Lou Costello comedy The 30ft Bride of Candy Rock, also from 1959.

But who are The Tinglers? Well, much like The Five Blobs, they were studio musicians and we might never know for sure. Except, that is, for once vocalist in particular. A very prominent voice you might just be familiar with.

Yep. That main voice belongs to Tony the Tiger himself, Mr. You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch, Thurl Ravenscroft. How cool is that?

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but you give me something like this, sung by someone like that, then watch out, cause that shit’s hittin’ The Shindig harder than a cease and desist from the Universal Music Group. I don’t care if it was featured in the film or not. Don’t get me wrong, that would certainly help, but it definitely won’t detract from The Tingler by The Tinglers.

 

 

 

Audio

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors

TRACK #373:

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors by Roy Castle

If you’ve been hangin around here for any amount of time, then you know we talk a lot about Title Tracks. This is especially true what with Shindig Radio’s Title Tracks Pt. 6 dropping. Oh wait, that hasn’t happened yet. Shit. My predictive drafting has failed me yet again.

Well, in that episode, I kinda break down all the different types of Title Tracks, everything from Parenthetical jammers to Title Track After the Facts.

But there’s another sort of Title Track that I didn’t mention on the show, and that’s because they’re technically not really Title Tracks at all. But these are Tie-In Title Tracks.

These are songs that, for all intents and purposes, are true blue Title Tracks, meeting the same criteria and serving the same or (in some cases) an even more overtly, promotional purpose.

There’s just one problem; they’re not actually in the goddamn movie. Nope. They just exist, outside of the film, in a purely musical space operating as a full fledged audio commercials for the films they’re named after.

Now, we already have one of these on the playlist at #319 in The Devil Rides Out, but I’ve dug up a few more.

I wonder if they weren’t sort of a precursor to full-on Title Tracks, from a time when producers were starting to realize the potential effect a popular song could have in generating interest, but didn’t want to sully their film with something as coarse as a rock and roll song tonally incongruous to the film being marketed.

It’s possible. The oldest Title Track featured on the playlist is still  The Blob from 1958. Not for nothing either, but it’s one of the oldest Title Track period. 1955’s Love is a Many-Splendored Thing has it beat by 3 years, but I’m not really seeing much else earlier than that, but I am always on the lookout.

However, The Blob was released the year before 3 out of the 4 Promotional Title Tracks I’ve found, so a True Title Track certainly wasn’t unprecedented. But The Blob, at present, appears to be a bit of an outlier, as Title Tracks didn’t seem to gain real prominence until the mid 1960’s. James Bond films, long known specifically for their Title Tracks, didn’t start that ritual  until 1963’s From Russia with Love.

The next closest thing is Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte from 6 years later in 1964. That one’s interesting as it wasn’t technically a Title Track originally, because the movie was shooting under the name What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte. Bette Davis reportedly disliked the name as it made the film sound far too much like a sequel to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. This song had already been written and recorded though and Bette recommended changing the films title to match. Wild! The movie naming itself after the original song to instantly turn that song into a Title Track is baller as fuck. That’s a powerful ass Title Track.

But I digress. Back to Dr. Terror, cause it’s interesting in its own right.

See, this track is sung by Dr. Terror actor Roy Castle, star of the Voodoo segment. Roy was an accomplished singer and trumpet player in his own right, which probably led to him being tapped for the task. Though Roy plays trumpet player Bailey in the film, the trumpet parts were apparently recorded by legendary Jazz player Tubby Hayes and not Roy himself. He does do a bang on job miming those parts though, as one might expect.

Another curious aspect of the song is that, despite it being sung by someone from the film itself, it completely misrepresents the nature of Dr. Terror’s house of horrors. Its treats it as though it were an actual brick and mortar location filled with horrifying surprises. If you’ve ever seen the film, you’ll know that the house or horrors is simply a metaphor Dr. Terror (or, more appropriately, Dr. Schrek) uses to describe his tarot deck. The fact that Roy enters a spooky old house and keeps meeting strange characters is so wildly out of sync with the film it seems almost laughable, particularly considering this is suppose to be the audio equivalent of a trailer or print ad. You’re selling the wrong film here fellas.

Either way, it’s a fun song with silly interludes that reminds me quite a bit of Carry On Screaming! also British and from the following year, 1966. I wonder if Ray Pilgrim and the crew were taking a bit of a piss on Amicus and Roy here. I certainly wouldn’t put it past them.

At any rate here’s the first of 2 Tie-In Title Tracks we got on tap for you this season. It’s Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors!

 

Audio

The Evils of Frankenstein

TRACK #365:

Evils of Frankenstein by Choctaw John

Look, we’re reasonable people.

And as reasonable people, we can overlook the fact that there isn’t any actual film called The Evils of Frankenstein

Cause c’mon, it was 1976, after all. Cross referenceable material, albeit available, wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous as we’ve come to expect in our cushy age of instantaneous digital information. Unwittingly adding an “S” to the title of some movie you randomly caught on Creature Features one night…a movie that scared the shit outta you so bad you had to write a song about it…isn’t nearly the worst thing you could do. Who knows, he was probably hammered anyway.

But was this dude even watching The Evil of Frankenstein?

First and foremost, he describes Frankenstein and his hunchback assistant building a creature. This does not happen in The Evil of Frankenstein. Not only does Victor not have a hunchback assistant, he doesn’t even build a creature. They discover Victor’s original creature frozen in ice, ala Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.

And speaking of ala, of all the Hammer Frankenstein’s to write a song about, you pick Evil? Hammer’s co-opted, financed by Universal “let’s just retcon this whole thing and port the entire Universal aesthetic over to Bray Studios” travesty? Really? C’mon John. Just about every other Hammer Frankenstein is better than that mess.

And to that point, despite being called The Evil of Frankenstein, it’s probably Cushing’s least evil portrayal of the character, and thus the least likely to turn your hair white.

Part of the Universal-ization of Evil extended to the Doc’s entire demeanor, I guess. Cause gone was Hammer’s original and refreshing take, which placed Victor front and center as a villain, a man willing to straight up take life in his obsessive quest to create life.

But hey, maybe he just picked that name out of a hat. Maybe he just liked the way it sounded… after he added an “s” of course.

Cause I mean, he clearly didn’t watch it. And if he did watch it, he didn’t remember it too well. Maybe it just scared the shit so far outta him his mind blocked all the small details like, ya know, the entire goddamn plot. Who’s to say?

But then he changes the channel and lands on some idealized version of House of Frankenstein or some such thing, who knows. We’re clearly in the realm of fantasy here and that’s fine, cause I don’t wanna pick on Choctaw John too much here. I mean, outside of perhaps naming yourself Choctaw John, but that’s a matter for a different website.

For our part, John recorded a great Frankenstein tune and we’re happy to have him. This 7″ also contains the B-side World of Darkness, which is another wild-ass banger chocked to the brim with dark imagery about global nuclear holocaust. Shit, John. I guess when you weren’t sittin’ around getting scared by old monster movies, you figured you might as well just scare the fuck outta everyone else, huh? Yeesh.

Well, thanks for the dark twang, bud. Now go rewatch…or maybe even just watch…The Evil of Frankenstein, will ya? And when you’re done, pop in any other Hammer Frankenstein flick, as they’re pretty much all superior to that pile.

 

Audio

Hey Frankenstein

TRACK #361:

Hey Frankenstein by Ecstasy

So, what’s all the fuss about Dracula, anyway?

Guy’s kinda boring, ain’t he? Drink a little blood, flash a little cape, hiss a bit with some fangs maybe, whatever. Big deal. Why’s this dude getting so much love in the tracks?

What about ole Frankenstein?

Well, while seemingly not as referenced as The Count, Frankenstein is still no slouch when it comes to recordings. In fact, according to a title search of “Frankenstein” on Discogs, there’s 785 master recordings. That’s almost 120 more than Dracula! Maybe old nut-neck ain’t 2nd banana after all. Maybe he is the big dog at the party. Though in fairness,  a ton of those releases are just various compilation appearances and covers of the Edgar Winter classic. Without meticulously scrubbing either search for duplicates of that nature, it would hard to say for sure who emerges as the clear winner.

That’s of no real concern to us though, cause we’re gonna show Frank a little love now anyway, cause Lord knows he’s been getting the high-hat. Plus, I got a bunch of Franken-Jams clogging up the bullpen. Not as many as Dracula, but still quite a few.

I think it’s worth noting that in 9 out of 10 songs it’s the monster that’s being referenced rather than the Doctor. Sometimes that can be hard to determine with some of these songs, but it’s a safe bet it’s usually the creature.

And we can look the other way on that one, right gang? We can just accept that most people are calling the creature “Frankenstein,” accurate or not. I’m prepared to let it go for a block of Franken-Rock, aren’t you?

Yeah, of course you are, cause you don’t give a damn. Does the track groove? Yeah? Well then fire it up.

And groove this one does, cause we’re flippin’ the switch on this block with another song I had to fish outta the drink just to hear. And once again, it was definitely worth it. Some people had the A-side from the Ecstasy single What’d I Say? but no one seemed to have the B-side, Hey Frankenstein.

Ecstasy was a French disco band in the late 70’s that cut a number of 45s, but seemed to fizzle out just before the turn of the decade.

Chris Dobat, otherwise known as Mister Ecstasy, was the driving force behind that band and he seems to have pivoted to solo Funk work in the 80’s. Not bad.

Here, he lets it all hang out with some funky disco dedicated to Doctor himself. At least, I think anyway. Cause I’m not gonna lie, half the time I can’t tell what the hell Chris is actually saying. The fact that this is the B-side to What’d I Say? seems entirely appropriate.

However, I didn’t wanna leave y’all hanging. So, I decided to listen to this song on repeat, for an ungodly amount of times, until I figured out what the lyrics are.

Here is my best attempt. If anyone would like to assist me or correct any of these lines, I’ll take all the help I can get. We posted the song to YouTube last year, and you can use their playback speed to help with the translation. Though I warn you, it’s only so helpful.

Hey Frankenstein
Hey Hey, Hey Hey (x2)

Hey Frankenstein
Comes walking in
you know its him
Oh, bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein

He takes a drink
To make it quick
It’s all feelin fine
He can’t play fair
He doesn’t care
He’s bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s doctor
When his medicine
Oh, he’s Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He wore his dice
And they’ll look nice
He’s no valentine

So full of ice
He wore them twice
He’s no friend of mine
And if your taught
To live to start
Don’t, bad Frankenstein

Hey Frankenstein
Hey Hey, Hey Hey (x2)

He’s moving fast
He’s moving where it’s at
Looking for fun
Anyway, anywhere, anyone

When there’s no more fun
He’s back on the run
Playboy #1
Always looking for fun

On the run

?
He’s got a secret
Dice!
He wore them twice!
Louder
Sexy
Horns
He begs it

Mr. Frankenstein
Comes a-walking in
Mr. Frankenstein
Funky Valentine

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
When it get hot
He’s very bad
He’s bad, Frankenstein

He knows the way
To scare his prey
Oh he’s Frankenstein
He’ll never let you get away
Here comes Frankenstein

Hey Frankenstein
Comes walking in
you know its him
Oh, bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein

He takes a drink
To make it quick
It’s all feelin fine
He can’t play fair
He doesn’t care
He’s bad Frankenstein (x4)

So, that’s what I got anyway.

Can’t say I’m entirely convinced I got any of this right, and lots of it just sounds wrong. But some it of seems right, and after entirely too many listens, I gotta call it a wrap. But please, if you’re feeling like maybe you also gotta know what this guy is saying and my translation seems like trash, help me out. Lemme know what you think.

Oh, and hey! Speaking of letting it all hang out, that’s a full on fully up there adorning the front of this 45. Cause hey, if you jump into a tub to record your single, maybe a nipple slips out, ya know? It’s ‘78! It’s disco! What’s a nipple? C’mon, get loose, will ya?

Mary Shelley would have wanted to see her nipple.

 

 

Audio

Werewolf (Loose In London)

TRACK #359:

 

Werewolf (Loose In London) by Meco

Now, I probably should have just wrapped this all up with another Drac-Track and gotten us straight to the 10 slot on nothing but Draculas. And I could have too, Lord knows I have enough. But I figured we’re all a little fanged-out.

So we’re gonna double down on Meco and pivot to a bit referential werewolf action.

Cause If you ever wanted to hear what it might sound like if you asked AI to give you 80’s KISS covering Queen’s nonexistent Almost Title Track from An American Werewolf in London, allow me to present Meco’s Werewolf (Loose in London.)

In 1967, Mike Nichol’s tapped Simon and Granfunkel to provide songs for his new film The Graduate, and proceeded to blow Hollywood’s collective mind. A #1 hit single, a #1 hit album and 3 Grammy awards later, that town had a whole new blueprint for cross-marketing. One that generated its own goddamn revenue stream to boot.

And it was cheaper too. At that time, anyway. It isn’t any longer, but in the late 60’s and 70’s it sure was. Need a soundtrack? Just populate your film with licensed music, get a popular band to cut ya an exclusive track or two, then take all the money you just saved and put it in the bank to wait for all the other money you’re gonna make.

In 1977 however, John William’s skirted this new trend and brought soundtracks back to the golden era with Star Wars. In the process, he created the best selling non-pop album of all time and a theme which itself hit #10 on the Billboard charts.

As we know, Meco then made his disco version, and that fucker shot to #1 and stayed there for 2 weeks.

The same year though, the Bee Gee ladened soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever dominated the charts with four #1 hits and selling over 16 million copies. It’s still one of the best selling albums, not just soundtracks, but albums of all time. It was even the first soundtrack to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. And that’s only happened twice since.

So by 1981, movie soundtracks we’re big business. They could helped promote a film just as much as TV and Radio spots or good word of mouth. The movie sold the soundtrack and the soundtrack sold the movie and everyone was riding that ouroboros all the way to the bank.

But John Landis’ new horror comedy An American Werewolf in London posed an interesting problem to the formula. Elmer Bernstein’s score for the film, though wonderfully atmospheric, only ran about 7 minutes long. The rest of the soundtrack was made of moon-tunes from the likes of Van Morrison, Creedence Clearwater Revival and 3 different versions of Blue Moon. All good stuff, to be sure.

However, trying to pass off that limited assortment as a real LP for public consumption seemed like like a hard sell, I guess.

So, Polygram got the ingenious idea to let international Disco soundtrack leech Domencio Monardo loose on an “inspired by” album.

What resulted was Impressions of An American Werewolf in London, a double entendre of an album that I’m not sure was intentional or not.

This bizarre mishmash of weird covers, reworkings and strange originals is the official soundtrack for the film. For real. It’s listed in the credits. This was it. This is the thing. And they weren’t exactly flying off the shelves either.

And why not? Isn’t that why people buy soundtracks? To listen to a bunch of weird shit that wasn’t in the movie mixed with bastardized versions of the stuff that was?

No. It’s not. And they didn’t.

For us fans though, some 40 years after the fact looking for referential jams for our Halloween playlist, Impressions is like a weird little dish of what-the-fuckery cooked to order.

Namely, the cut Werewolf (Loose in London), which is exactly the kind of song you’d wish had actually been in the film, if only it didn’t sound like the kind of song that shouldn’t be in a film like this at all.

But it’s here for us now, in all it’s officially sanctioned and referential glory.

I’ll leave you with this quote from John Landis himself, which like Meco’s Moondancer, appears right on the back of the sleeve.

“Here I would like to brag about how unique this is, however I’m afraid Meco has done this same thing rather spectacularly before with the scores of STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, SUPERMAN, STAR TREK, THE BLACK HOLE, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK….”

Oh, I’d say this is just a little bit different than that, John.

And pretty fuckin’ unique.

 

 

Audio

The Halloween Song

TRACK #350:

The Halloween Song by The Four Downs

Look, I know this album cover over here ain’t exactly selling the sizzle or the steak, but the 2006 CD Bomp in the Night is actually a pretty solid Halloween compilation.

It’s a 30-track packed offering of, mostly old (but trusty) Halloween staples. Bert Convy, Danny Hutton, Jack and Jim, Lee Ross and Mann Drake all appear on this comp. It even features a rare cover of Spooky Movies by Ron Barrett. Nice!

Now, this sort of thing is completely irrelevant these days, given that most of the songs here are readily available, if not on music streaming services, then most certainly YouTube. And that affords you all the ability to take or leave as many of these songs as you’d like in the building of your own personal Halloween playlist.

Most of them.

There are a few rare and unique tracks here that might cause a guy like me, in a year like 2020, to actually seek out this album, including the song I fully purchased this album to hear, The Mysterial’s Halloween (It’s Your Big Scene).

This tune is only available either here, or (I think anyway) on their 2008 release Theatre of the Seasons under the title Halloween (The Story of Linus). I assume this is the same song, but I ain’t in no rush to confirm that shit, because I don’t really like this song. It’s definitely not making the playlist, either way. Such is life. So it goes. Thanks for playing.

It’s a throwbacky Doo-Wop snoozer about Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin, which might sound great, but it doesn’t actually sound great, so here it ain’t.

I will make it available on DigTV however, so that any potential diggers out there can spare themselves any serious scouring or dollars and decide for themselves if they want to hear it a 2nd time.

Ok, then why the fuck are we even talking about this damn CD then?

Well, I mention it because it’s also the only place I’ve ever seen where you can hear tonight’s track, outside of finding it’s original 45 anyway. And it’s The Halloween Song by The Four Downs.

Of course, I found that 45 before I found this CD, but I enjoy having the 45, and it certainly didn’t cost much, so either way.

However, that 45 contained some sort of scratch or imperfection that made it so I couldn’t actually rip a clean copy from the vinyl, even after hours of cleaning, brushing, replaying and trying again.

So, in went the CD. But, ah-ha! This CD apparently contained its own imperfection, as it would only rip to track 25 before promptly ejecting the fuckin’ thing over and over and over. What is this, some sick joke? It played fine in my car, so what gives?

I ended up having to drag my DVD player out to the Halloween Hole and hook it up to my inputs and manually record the output of the CD to get this digital copy. Holy shit.

But after all of that, I can confidentially state that this tune was actually saved from Halloween obscurity by Bomp in the Night. Big ups.

And now my frustration is the world’s gain as in addition to this song now being featured on the playlist, I will post it on YouTube for Halloween hungry hermits the world over. No longer need The Halloween Song by The Four Downs be hard to come across, scratched and digitally corrupted. Nay!

Because this is exactly the sort of thing we wanna have cap off our Referential Monster jam mega block. This mellow tune (which sounds suspiciously similar to Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da) is possibly the most Referential Halloween Monster Song this side of Vanilla Ice’s Born on Halloween.

V. Ice probably still holds the crown, based on sheer volume, but for the quality over quantity crowd, The Four Downs have got you covered. The record itself is even dedicated to George Romero and Billy Cardille. Nice!

The song details some martial strife that plagues a Pittsburgh couple (newlywed on Halloween, no less) after they festively ring in the occasion with a little Chiller Theatre marathon. After their night of Chilly Billy and chill, the husband starts acting a little peculiar.

Gorgo, Dr. X, Rodan, Willard, The Crawling Hand, Day of the Triffidsy? Even The Tingler gets a shout in their rapid-fire referential litany. Not necessarily deep cuts in ‘79, but it’s a refreshing and old school hit list in 2023.

What’s more? It’s yet another instance of The Mysterioso Pizzicato. What is it with that lick? People composing Halloween Songs love that shit.

And a plus 1 here to Baader-Meinhof, because ever since putting those 2 songs next to each other last year and talking about The Mysterioso Pizzicato, I have run across no less than 5 additional songs incorporating that tune. That’s almost as many as were on the playlist already! I’d call it synchronicity, but it’s really not at all important. Either way, you know a playlist is eminent.

For now, kick back with Dave Goodrich and Julie Holzen as they work through some monster inspired trouble in paradise with The Halloween Song.

 

Audio

Scary Scary Movies

TRACK #349:

Scary Scary Movies by Ossie D. and Stevie G.

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.

You know the kind I mean!

 

Audio

Scary Movies

TRACK #348:

Scary Movies by Pleasant Company

We’ve been on a pretty solid referential run here so far in 2023. It’s been 13 tracks since we had an inclusive jam (that I’m aware of anyway) and to be fair, that last inclusive tune was a pretty classic referential monster song that just became inclusive less than a year ago.

Tonight’s tune, however, was born into that role. And 36 years ago to boot.

At least, that’s how it appears anyway. The band Pleasant Company has only 1 release, so far as I can tell. It’s a 5 song eponymous LP with the inscription “Featured in New World Pictures – Return to Horror High” on the label.

So, I think it’s safe to say it appeared in the film before it appeared on this LP. Now, I couldn’t say whether is was written specifically for the film, but Scary Movies plays like just the right kinda comedically self referential thing for a film like Return to Horror. So much so in fact, I find it hard to imagine anything other than it being written for the film. But I could not say.

And the movie lucked out, cause Pleasant Company smashed out a banger for ‘em, that’s for sure. I love this tune, and its tone is perfectly suited for the picture. Return to Horror High knows exactly what it is, and it’s exactly the sort of thing that ends with Scary Movies by Pleasant Company.

All the tropes and cliches of horror are on display in this end credit Sweet Song. And what better way to send off a hyper referential, movie-within-a-movie meta-meditation like Return to Horror High.

It’s probably best known now for being an early film in the career of George Clooney, who takes his leave pretty quick despite his name being smeared across subsequent DVD releases.

So, I wouldn’t watch it specifically for him, Return of the Killer Tomatoes this is not. But it’s fun to see him, and Marcia Brady and Moe Greene, and that jerk from the diner who beats up Clark Kent in Superman 2, all playing it for laughs along side some good gore gags with a behind the scenes bent.

Those are all pluses to an already fun and self aware late 80’s slasher story that, when capped it all off with a song like Scary Movies, is a return worth making.

 

Audio

Scary Movies (Monica Kirby)

TRACK #347:

Scary Movies by Monica Kirby

So, all the guys wanted to take the gals to the movie house on a Friday night and see a monster picture. It’s the age old trope, right? And why not? It was dark, close quarters together, away from prying eyes of parents or teachers. And the movie was sure to scare her, right? Right into your arms anyway, was the hope, I’m sure.

And we’ve heard some here from the guys about the practice, but what of the ladies? Surely they went on record about this time honored ritual of patriarchal heteronormativity, right?

Indeed, but probably not in the way that last sentence might suggest. It was, after all, 1963.

No, this just kinda plays out like one of the girls from the previous songs is singing that story from her perspective. He takes her to the scary movie, she gets scared, they “cuddle” and she seems to enjoy that.

However, this one kicks you down a cool Dracula singing alongside her. He’s basically saying, “hey, if you don’t know about this move, here’s this move and let’s let her confirm that move works.” And she does. Not sure why we need this Dracula, but I appreciate his appearance, as always.

As for Monica Kirby, the girl in question, she didn’t release too many other singles. According to Secondhandsongs, she sang for Coral Records (the company that released her singles) in the early 60’s. By the mid 60’s she was in nightclubs in New York City, where (according to them anyway) she was recruited into the New Christy Minstrels in ‘67.

They were a folk ensemble famous for spring-boarding many famous singers to prominence, most notably Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes. Interestingly, Karen Black was a singer with the Minstrels for a spell. Yep, Karen Black. Like Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings Karen Black. Weird.

What’s more weird is that I can’t really corroborate Monica’s membership. Some sites, like Secondhandsongs and AllMusic mention her, whereas the Wikipedia roster doesn’t feature her at all, nor is it included on her Discogs or Rateyourmusic resumes.

So who knows?

What we do know is, she loved those scary movies, and God bless her for that.

 

Audio

Spooky Movies

TRACK #346:

Spooky Movies by Lee “The Big Masher” Lilly

Curiously, 1962 saw the release of 2 songs called “Spooky Movies” where a guy discusses how his girlfriend is all into the horror pictures. That’s a little weird, no?

Since we don’t know exactly when Gary Paxton’s song came out, we can’t for sure say which one of these came first. But apparently, in 1962,  2 different somebodies thought it was a good enough idea to put a pen to paper on the matter.

In this case, it was a fella named Buddy Lee.

Steve Stone gets the credit for Gary Paxton/Roy Clark version.

Now, the Discogs “notes” tab would have you believe this record was reviewed in an issue of Billboard Magazine from October 20th of 1962. I was pumped to read that too, and was very eager to find that review and glean some first hand, 60 year-old hot-takes on this tune.

I was not previously aware, but apparently all the old Billboards were digitized years ago, so you can look ‘em up by date. Score! So, I scoured through that entire issue, and while it does make an appearance, buried as it is under the 3-star “Moderate Sales Potential” section on page 44, I’d hardly call it a review.

So, unfortunately, there was no information to be gained down that particularly avenue. However, I did manage to pick up a new tune thanks to this issue. Cause just off to the side, under the “Limited Sales Potential” column was Vladamir and The Grave Diggers, with their single Vladamir Twist/Drac Walk. Now, I can’t say for certain if either will get added to the official playlist, but they’re both sitting in the Bullpen right now getting the requisite consideration. It’s always fun going to look for information on one monster tune and walking away with the title of 2 others. That’s a double bonus.

But for now, let’s just listen to Lee Lilly, the man they called “The Big Masher.” Which, now that I’ve typed out, reminds me.  If you will, indulge me here for a moment please.

So, apparently Lee Lilly, was known around town as The Big Masher, which isn’t so weird, really. Lots of musicians had these kinda nicknames. It appears ole Lee got his name from a song he performed called The Big Masher. Only, this 45 is the only 45 Lee Lilly seems to have released. And it’s the one that features The Big Masher! It’s not even the A side, it’s on the flip? What?

This guy is goin so hard with this name that they emblazon it upon a record that no one has heard yet, featuring the very fuckin’ song he’s named for? Am I missing something here? That’s weird, right?

Like, the guy’s not even a real guy yet when the records getting pressed, and yet he’s got a nickname from a song that not only is not itself a hit yet (cause it hasn’t been release) but isn’t even the feature track?

Maybe he was called The Big Masher for some other reason, unrelated to the song. And perhaps the song itself is all about how he’s The Big Masher and all the big mashin he gets up, whatever wholesome thing I’m sure that’s suppose to be in 1962s

I couldn’t say, cause it didn’t listen to that song, cause that song doesn’t feature any monsters.

Or shit, maybe it does. I wouldn’t know, cause I was too busy gettin spooky.

Here’s The Big Masher himself, Mr. Lee Lilly, not mashing with some monster kind you, but with some Spooky Movies.

 

Audio

Spookie Movies

TRACK #345:

Spookie Movies by Gary Paxton

Though made popular by famous country singer Roy Clark in 1963 as Spooky Movies, according to secondhand songs.com, it was first recorded by Gary Paxton here in 1962 as Spookie Movies.

Seems it didn’t see an official release, however, until 10 years after that though. I’m not sure. Information isn’t exactly abundant on this one. Gary’s 45 has no release year printed on it and discogs is apparently in the dark on a release date.

Either way, I’d probably opt for Gary’s version anyway, as I just like it better than Roy’s. Sorry Roy, I dunno what do say. I just like it more. Thankfully, you’re probably not digging around unfrequented corners of the internet looking for the dumb shit I’m writing. Although stranger things have happened.

Claude Lahenaff once commented on an episode of Shindig Radio that featured his title track Dr. Hackenstein. Seriously. Check it out! He’s down at the bottom chiming in.

Now sure, that could just be some bozo taking a piss in the comments, that’s certainly not unheard of on the internet. But I’ll tell ya, if that’s some prankster, then my hat is well the fuck off.

That is such a seemingly improper place to comment upon a song as wildly random as that, in the persona of such an insanely obscure musician that it’s approaching genius level fuckery. I’d be so impressed at that joke that I wouldn’t even care that Claude LeHenaff hadn’t actually reached out, as sad as that would be.

Now, unfortunately, I needn’t worry about that in this case, as Roy passed away in 2018. However, I’d still like that sentiment to be hanging out in the ether. Some people just like some things better than others. It ain’t personal. I’m sure you were a swell guy.

But hey, that’s enough about a guy not directly involved with this version of the song, so what’s up with Gary?

Well, Gary Paxton (or rather Gary S. Paxton, as he preferred to be referred) was an acclaimed producer, known to have struck fear into the heart of convicted murdered, Phil Spector. Now, that’s spookie with an IE.

Gary’s probably best known for producing the hits Alley Oop for The Hollywood Argyles, Sweat Pea for Tommy Roe and Along Comes Mary for The Association. He was also shot 3 times in 1980 by some hitmen. Like seriously, hitmen. Like men hired specifically for the purpose of rubbing him out. How wild is that? He lived thankfully, but it definitely put him out of commission for a bit, and the men were arrested. He supposedly visited them in prison and forgave them, as at that point Gary was a pretty devout Christian convert who was very much involved in the Christian music scene at the time.

However for our part, Gary S. Paxton most importantly (and most graciously) produced and recorded Boris Pickett’s 1962 smash The Monster Mash. Yep, the same year he was himself recording Spookie Movies, he cut the biggest novelty song to ever hit Halloween. So while Boris was shredding up the charts, Gary’s own spookie tune was slowly fading into relative obscurity. Considering the residuals on The Monster Mash, I’m on I’m sure he got over it.

So let’s pour one out for the man behind 2 monstrous novelty hits, including the biggest one of all time, Mr. Gary S. Paxton.

 

Audio

Horror Movies

TRACK #344:

Horror Movies by The Bollocks Brothers

The Bollocks Brothers have technically already appeared on the playlist, as they’re responsible for the cover of Andy Foray’s Drac’s Back under the pseudonym Red Lipstique.

But The Brother’s Bollocks cooked up a corker of referential monster madness under their Christian name with 1983’s Horror Movies.

And is it any surprised? The highly suggestive lyrical “omission” that makes Drac’s Back so fun is fully on display here with a song all about a guy and his gal bein real kinkos to the late show on a Friday night.

Not only that, but when it comes to references, this song is a monster. The first 30 seconds or so is a laundry list of great old titles and it perfectly sets the tone for this  moody groover.

White Zombie, House on Haunted Hill, Walking Dead, even Witchfinder General! They have a particular fondness for Vincent Price it seems, and who can blame them?

So grab you’re best girl (or boy), hit the lights and fix the rabbit ears so your not too distracted trying to “watch” some Horror Movies.

 

Audio

Horror Movies

TRACK #343:

Horror Movies by Dickie Goodman

There’s so many “Hey, girls get scared at horror movies, so maybe I can cop a feel” tunes that they could probably sustain their own mini-playlist.

Hell, the most universally recognized and beloved song on this playlist is kinda exactly that sorta tune. Referential sure (if mostly in a generic kinda way) but really just about a girl getting so scared they let ya get to second base maybe without putting up too much of a fuss. Now, how believable all of that is coming from the King of Pop, I’ll leave for you to decide

For now, I’ll spare you that mini-playlist and even some of the songs that might be on it, but I’ll rock a block of these fuckers cause, hey, that’s just the kinda ship we run around here. And off the bow of a course-correcting jam from Skyhooks seems like the perfect time.

We mentioned Dickie Goodman a while back, and he’s a pretty big wheel down at the Novelty Monster Song factory. Hell, the guy could even be considered the Grandfather of Sampling. See, Dickie made it big releasing what he called “Break-In Songs.”

Dickie would conduct an interview of sorts, with say, Frankenstein, and the responses would be in the form of samples from popular music at the time. They were a pretty big hit.

As clever and innovative as that was for the time, it doesn’t necessarily make for good playlist listening. Thankfully for us, Dickie cut some real songs too, and one of them just happens to be Referential Monster Song.

However, if you happen to be a Novelty Monster Song fanatic, you might think this tune sounds strikingly similar to the 1964 Jekyll and Hyde tune, My Baby Loves Monster Movies

And that because it’s basically the same song. It was even written and performed by Dickie as well. Outside of some differences of arrangement, and the line “Horror Movies” being changed to “Monster Movies,” it’s pretty much the same tune. Now, why he did this and released it under a different name is beyond me, but it certainly seems to be the case. His son Jon released a biography about him in 2000 called the King of Novelty. Maybe there’s an answer in there somewhere. I’ll keep you posted.

Dickie continued to make Break-In records for the better part of 30 years, covering contemporary events from the moon landing to The Watergate scandal and films like Frankenstein and Jaws. His break-ins even reached into the 80’s with songs like Hey E.T. and The Return of the Jedi Returns.

Unfortunately, at the age of 55, Dickie took his own life in the winter of 1989. Though he did live to see sampling utilized in the most unprecedented of ways (and was himself sued for using unlicensed material) he didn’t quite get to see just how ubiquitous sampling would become or just how much legal controversy it would stir.

What he left behind though was a legacy of innovation, parody and fun and a Monster Song so nice, he went and recorded it twice.

Here’s the man himself, The King of Novelty, lamenting that he can’t compete with those gnarly monsters his girl just goes crazy over in Horror Movies.