“Man, I really love that Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, but I just wish it had more synths, ya know? Like some newer synths…and maybe even a drum machine, yeah! And hey, what if it had some lyrics too, ya know, instead of being an instrumental? And dude, the lyrics could really be about Frankenstein, so it would actually be a real monster song! And oh shit, what if Edgar himself, weirdo, freaky 70’s looking, literal-ass whitest dude ever was rappin’ all over the motherfucker?”
Well my friend, have I got some good news for you today, courtesy of Edgar Winter’svery own Frankenstein 1984.
Yep.
Now, why Edgar decided to update Frankenstein, I couldn’t say. I wasn’t able to find any interviews with him talking about this particular version. But my guess is, Edgar is a pretty experimental guy. The original Frankenstein was the first ever #1 hit to heavily feature a synthesizer. And Edgar is perhaps the inventor of what we think of today as a keytar, as he was the first one to strap the ARP2600’s keyboard around his neck.
As synthesizer technology and their use in popular music grew over the decade or so following this hit, I’m sure Edgar wanted to take another stab at it and incorporate more electronic instrumentation.
Now, why…in addition to this…Edgar decided to remix a slightly different version of the song and then rap over the top of it…that’s about anyone’s guess. As we’ve reckoned many times here on The Shindig before, Rap was starting to emerge as a legitimate musical force and in those early days, everybody decided to take swing.
So let’s thank Edgar Winterfor deciding to throw his hat in the ring and take a song with dubious connections to both Halloween and Frankenstein himself and turn it into the full-blown epic Monster Rap we always wished it could be.
He even went so far as to call it the Monster Rap version.
Speaking of bizarre skin-flicks disguised as Disco Dracula films, let’s talk about Dracula Blows His Cool, a German sex comedy with a surprisingly interesting soundtrack.
When smut photographer and “Dracula” descendant Stan decides just shooting nudie pictures in his old family castle isn’t quite enough to keep it from being repossessed, he does what any self respecting Bavarian in 1979 would do. He opens a disco!
What ensues is a bevy of silly sex gags, tons of mistaken identity hi-jinx and some funny English dubbing. While certainly not even approaching good, there’s less amusing ways you could spend an hour and 20 minutes, if you like this sort of 70’s sex trash. I mean, check this out:
It’s at least worth a viewing.
Additionally, the film is filled with tons of fun (read: appropriately ludicrous if you have a horror-themed music blog) songs.
Most notable of course, and submitted for your approval this evening, is the 1979 hit Rock Me Dracula, performed by Mokka.
Mokka is an iteration from the brief musical career of Italian twins Nadia and Antonella Cocconcelli. Nadia and Antonella even appear in the film performing the tune. Or at least they appear dancing around with garden hoses and lip syncing to it poorly, anyway. But hey, we’ll take it!
Though played several times throughout the film, it is not included on the official Gerhard Heinz soundtrack for Dracula Blows His Cool, which has several potential Shindig inclusions like Graf Dracula and Disco Strip. Both of those songs are pretty great and may find their way into the playlist in their own right.
For now though, we’ll only indulge in the perfectly appropriate and extra referentialRock Me Dracula, from Mokka.
Shindig Radio personality Graham C. Schofield doesn’t much care for disco music. And as you know, we’re currently knee deep in a Monster Disco Block.
So it may shock you to hear he’s actually responsible for our next tune, another vampire related rug cutter from the 70’s monster comedy, Love At First Bite, starring George Hamilton.
See, last Halloween, Graham bestowed upon The Hole this fresh piece of vinyl soundtrack goodness, and there was much rejoicing.
And if he didn’t think one of these fuckers was gonna find its way onto the playlist this year, he’s out of his mind.
Now, perhaps he did. Perhaps he was even ok with the idea. But what he probably didn’t know was that I already had a few disco-diggers waiting in the dugout, and that this specific gift was the catalyst for me diggin’ up a couple more and making a whole block out of the affair.
So, if you need a scapegoat for any ire you’re experiencing at the hands of a solid week filled with goofball monster disco bullshit, he’s your guy. I’m sure he sympathizes.
As for Love At First Bite, give it a go. It’s a surprisingly measured and effective vampire comedy with a fine and funny Dracula performance from George Hamilton.
It is alleged to have ripped off the plot of 1971’s Guess What Happened to Count Dracula? almost to the T, but as of the time of writing, I have not seen that film and can make no assessment.
What I can say is that it was one of 5 Dracula movies released in 1979. You have, of course, John Badham’s classic starring Frank Langella, Donald Pleaseance and Sir Laurence Oliver. Not to be outdone, you got Werner Herzog’s chilling Nosferatu, starring the unearthly Klaus Kinski. And then, no doubt attempting to a capitalize on the success of Love at First Bite, is Germany’s DiscoDracula film Dracula Blows His Cool, but more on that one in a bit.
Because we can’t talk about Disco Draculas without talking about the other Dracula film from 1979.
Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula, is perhaps the Disco Dracula movie, drenched as it is, almost front to back, in so much Disco it actually gets a little hard to watch. It’s practically an hour and 20 minute Disco music video.
It even features the tune Love Is Just a Heartbeat Away (Nocturna’s Theme) from I WillSurvive Disco Superstar, Gloria Gaynor. How they managed to pull her for this weird-ass, low budget monster picture is probably a miracle. She was apparently talked into providing the track by her then manager and future husband. Apparently she’s not too proud of that song in the slightest. We’ll spare you that tune, inclusive and semi-referential though it be, as it’s a fairly standard (albeit pretty decent) Disco tune, with no fun Draculaness.
When it’s not indulging in overly long bouts of dancing to repetitive beats and string synthesizers, Nocturna’s a totally bizarre quasi-skin flick with some weird vampire lore.
See, for Dracula’s granddaughter (played by belly dancer and screenwriter Nia Bonet), the power of disco music slowly changes her into a human or some such nonsense.
It even features a scene with a governing vampire assembly and a new, designer form of blood that the vampires can snort. It was 1979, after all.
Also on tap is actual Dracula John Caradine (even wearing his costume from 1945’s House of Dracula) and Lily Munster herself, Ms. Yvonne DeCarlo. Bonus!
If you’re into bizarre shit and love the idea Disco Draculas, definitely give it a watch. It’s worth it for Nia Bonet’s positively otherworldly performance. Plus, you get to see shit like this:
Outstanding.
But enough about Nocturna, we’re here for Fly By Night from soul singer Pat Hodges, dammit!
Now, out of the box, this fucker is a 12 and a half minute song. Talk about goin’ hard. That’s indulgent, even for Disco.
So, we’ve enlisted the help of our Shindig Audio Magicians to make this one a bit more manageable, with a totally unique Shindig Special Edition version. Not gonna lie though, it hurt a little. Despite the length of Fly By Night, I’m all about how long and epic its Disco is. It pained me to snip out resonant filter sweeps or Simmons drum hits, but it had to be done.
If we’re not gonna use the full length, 12 minute version of Helloween’sHalloween, you better believe Fly By Night ain’t getting no special dispensation.
Without any further ado, though somewhat truncated, here’s Pat Hodges singing Fly By Night!
It had been a long time since I had sat down and watched Toxie’s back-to-back shot sequels, and I had completely forgotten about this tailor made tune sung by Scott Casey.
This one slightly jukes my (admittedly somewhat rigid) definition of a Title Track by being featured in the sequel and having the word “theme” tacked on the end, but I don’t think there’s any other word for this song.
It explicitly describes, in very detailed fashion, the events of the first film. And Scott enthusiastically chants the title over and over again, making for a textbook Title Track under any other circumstances.
So we’ll overlook the fact that it’s from Toxie’s second outing, and that it has the word theme slapped on there, and simply bask in the relentless 80’s power-synth-rock awesomeness of The Toxic Avenger Theme. Just listen to those falsettos! When Lloyd decided to give Toxie his own theme, he definitely didn’t skimp.
As I stated in an episode of Shindig Radio that you readers have yet to hear, most people seem to refer to our next song as “The Dead Are After Me.”
And once that chorus hits the first time, there’ll be no doubt in your mind why.
However, it is my assertion that this song, composed and performed by George Edward Ott, is actually a Title Track, despite its chorus.
See, the film itself only ever credits this tune as “Title Song” and George Edward does say the phrase “Raiders of the Living Dead.”
Says the title?
Claims it’s a title song?
Good enough for me, internet be damned.
Now, if George Edward Otthimself reaches out to me and says…
“No, ya moron. Listen to that chorus! Obviously the title of the song is “The Dead Are Are After Me.” What kind of idiot are you?
…then I’ll stand down. But until that day, I’m holding fast. This is a Title Track.
Either way, it’s a great little lo-fi piece of analog rock accompaniment that definitely belongs on this playlist, under any name.
As for the film, it’s a crack up. Featuring Flick from A Christmas Story as a industrious young inventor who accidentally turns his Grandfather’s laserdisc player into a death ray. Score.
There’s this Doctor on some prison island, and he’s turning dead convicts into Zombies, as ya do. That gets a little hairy and they’re running amuck. Then a reporter and a local librarian (yeah, it’s that kinda movie) get webbed up in this zombie business, but eventually they team up with Gramps and his recurve bow and Flick with his laser ray to save the day.
Top all that off with a Title Track like this, and you got yourself a kind of a winner.
If you’re a Shindig Radio fan, you’re no doubt familiar with our next tune, which we clowned around on pretty heavily during Title Tracks Part 4 last season.
It’s Teenage Exorcist, the Title Track which says the name of the film incessantly, while never really talking about the film at all. Even the title doesn’t make any sense. There’s an exorcist, but he’s hardly a teenager, played by 66 year old Count Yorga thespian, Robert Quarry.
Additionally, I’m not sure anyone appearing in the film is even in their 20’s, much less a teenager. Brinke Steven, whom the exorcism is performed on, was 37 at the time. Pizza delivery “boy” Eddie Deezen was 34. So much for that, I suppose.
Though, to clarify our “uninformed” query from that episode, this box art here to your right seems to suggest that, yes, someone (at least someone in marketing anyway) did in fact consider Deezen to be the “teenage” exorcist. Ok then.
Whomever this song is about, it’s a fun tune which, as Mikey and Graham so easily illustrated, can perfectly accommodate any 5 syllable movie title.
So try it out with your favorite 5 syllable movie title while we rock a little closer to Halloween 2021!
Since we’re talking about 80’s Monster comedies, and that subject is near and dear to my heart, let’s keep that theme running with our next track.
Way back in 2013, when the Halloween Shindig blog was in it’s infancy, we dropped Maria Vidal’sHands Off from the film Once Bitten. It’s a prominent feature in the film, which plays during the very memorable 3-way dance-off between Lauren Hutton, Kim Coppins and a young Jim Carrey.
Now, why it’s taken 8 years to get that same film’s Title Track in the rotation is anyone guess, particularly since it’s been in the bullpen since before The Shindig ever made its way to the internet. For shame.
This one comes from the relatively unknown synth-pop band out of Boston called 3 Speed. They were pretty much a local act until they’re manager randomly sent a demo tape off to MGM. So impressed, the studio immediately flew the band out to do some recording for a new film.
They enjoyed some moderate success after this tune too, opening for the likes of Pat Benatar, but they were never offered a full-on record deal. Mostly, they just appeared on film soundtracks. Their song Cry can be heard in the Linda Blair’s awesome crossbow ladened revenge actioner, Savage Streets. Packed among all the tunes in bizarro 80’s sci-fi musical Voyage of the Rock Aliens is their song Back on the Streets. And Wind Me Up is featured in 1986’s BMX freakout, Rad – a movie I love that I’ll probably have to crowbar into an Action Distractions episode at some point.
But for now, let’s keep this spooky with 3 Speedand their synth pop title tracks Once Bitten.
So, yesterday I talked about how Child’s Play and My Mom’s a Werewolf both contain the same song by D.B. Night. Now that’s a rather obscure track to be featured on either soundtrack, to be sure. But both? That’s even more bizarre.
On the surface, Child’s Play and My Mom’s a Werewolf don’t have much else in common. Although only 6 months separate their releases, they’re both produced, written and directed by completely different people.
However, if you dig a bit deeper, a common name appears, and it’s music supervisor David Chackler.
And Chackler’s no slouch, as he’s responsible for uniting Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks with Fleetwood Mac, bringing Queen to the United States and recording 2 Live Crew.
In the early 80’s David began working as a music supervisor in Hollywood. And if you take a browse through his storied filmography, a lot of Shindiggery starts making a lot more sense.
First and foremost, he was the music supervisor for Quiet Cool in 1986. Then in 1987, he provided that same duty for Dream Warriors, which draws an immediately line from the replacement of Dokken’sInto The Fire with an instrumental version of Joe Lamont’sQuiet Cool for the opening credits of Dream Warriors’ home video release. Pretty nifty.
Now flashback to 1985 and you’ll see David was the music supervisor for Tom Holland’s original horror hit, Fright Night. That film features one of the greatest title tracks of all time by the J. Geils Band. But do you know who actually wrote that song? Why it was Joe Lamont.
Sidestepping Joe Lamont for a moment, consider that David Chackler was the also supervisor on 1986’s rap classic Knights of the City. That movie, if you’re not familiar, features an awesome jail cell performance from Kurtis Blow and The Fat Boys. Well, guess what? David Chackler was also the music supervisor on A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4 and is directly responsible for TheFat Boys doing Are You Ready for Freddy. That alone makes this guy a Shindig legend, you ask me.
And speaking of The Dream Master, guess who also shows up on that soundtrack? Yep, it’s Joe Lamont, writing and performing a song called Pride and Joy.
And, since it’s what we’re here talking about, is Joe Lamont featured in My Mom’s a Werewolf? You bet he is, singing (as it happens) a version of his very own Fright Night!
I’m sorry, what?! And it’s playing a during a Halloween party? Get right outta town. I need to hunt down this version of that tune, pronto. Though I must say, my initial surface search proved fruitless. When (and if) I find it though, you’ll definitely be the first to know.
Considering all of this, it perhaps comes as less of a surprise that both Child’s Play and My Mom’s a Werewolf each feature the song I’m Hangin’ by 80’s heavy-hitters D.B. Night. David Chackler makes it happen.
And then, connecting these 2 films even further is our next Shindigger, You Bring Out the Werewolf in Me, written and performed by Simon Stokes, whom some of you may know as the guy behind The Chucky Song. Yep, same the track unceremoniously axed from…Child’s Play.
Filling the same role here, Simon’s light hearted track plays over the end credits in much the same way The Chucky Song should have. I guess the producers all felt it was more appropriate at the end of something like My Mom’s a Werewolf, and I can’t say I disagree.
Here’s Simon getting straight beastly with You Bring Out the Werewolf In Me!
Haunted is one of those weird, toothless horror flicks that didn’t seem to get the memo about what the hell was going down with the rest of the genre in the late 70’s.
Mostly, it just feels like an overlong episode of some 70’s TV show you never liked that somehow managed to escaped to the big screen, doubled-billed with something people might have actually wanted to see.
Consensus seems to be that it’s a Horror film. I guess you could call it that, as there is the ghost of an Indian woman talking out of some weird payphone we see installed at the edge of a cemetery for no particular reason. Oh, and a guy attempts murder at one point.
Though only a refreshing 80 minutes in length, it takes about 50 for anything even close to horrific to take place. And then, it takes another 25 for something else resembling horror to come to pass. And even then, you’ll likely be pretty unimpressed.
It isn’t a complete loss however, depending on how much you enjoy strange overdubbed dialogue, nudity for nudity’s sake, weird cigar-store Indians that look like regular-ass dudes and Aldo Ray drunkenly shouting all his lines in that awesome raspy voice of his. Those things go some distance for guy like me. It’s enough to make it mildly watchable in the moment, but not much beyond that. I doubt I’ll be firing up Haunted anytime soon to get a fix of anything. Well, except maybe Aldo Ray. He is pretty great here.
What does set Haunted apart however, as you might have already guessed, is a pretty fantastic opening credit song called Indian Woman.
Sung by Billy Vera, who’s hit single, At This Moment, initially fell on deaf ears when it was released in 1981. But then, it found its way onto an episode of Family Ties in 1985, where a little bit of that Michael J. magic rubbed off and sent the track to #1.
Michael and fellow Family Ties actress, Tracy Pollan, shared their first kiss to that tune while shooting the scene. Shortly after sharing the screen again in Bright Lights, Big City, the two got married. Michael J. later said the couple couldn’t get on a dance floor anywhere in the world for almost 10 years without hearing At This Moment come flying out of the speakers.
If you’re not one of those big Family Ties enthusiasts, or particularly up on your 80’s ballads, you may still be familiar withVera , albeit through another avenue.
As a struggling musician, Billy started taking acting gigs to make ends meet. He then landed himself a role as Pinky Carruthers in a little Peter Weller movie called The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. That’s weird.
Check him out here with his green fedora and John Parker. Yep. This guy, from this other weird-ass movie, sings this weird-ass song from this weirder-ass movie.
Hey, maybe you’re a 90210 fan! Maybe you even remember him as Brandon Walsh’s bookie, Duke Weatherhill?
Maybe not. I know I don’t. I just read that 5 minutes ago while researching Billy Vera. But, hey, maybe you do.
Either way, it seems Billy isn’t too proud of his work here on Haunted, as neither his Wikipedia entry nor his own website (containing his entire discography) makes any mention of Indian Woman. Can’t imagine why.
Perhaps it’s not the same Billy Vera? I dunno. Were there 2 different Billy Veras that were famous singers around this time? I guess it’s possible. I was wrong about Paul Williams. And there is that whole Cat’s Eye/Ray Stephens spelled Ray Stevens business. So conflating 2 different Billy Vera’s here is a distinct possibility.
All I know for sure is that if I was the guy responsible for this bizarro 70’s horror crooning, you better believe I’d be pullin’ up a table at the HorrorHound straight bumpin’ this shit, signin’ 8×10 glossies of Pinky Carruthers and Haunted one-sheets. Given, of course, I was in fact that same guy who did both.
Since I can’t actually do most of that, I’ll just do the one thing I can and bump this shit.
Here’s the sleeper hit of 2020. The probably retroactively offensive, and thus perhaps under-celebrated winner, Indian Woman.
In 1973, William Friedkin tapped straight into some ancient Catholic corner of the world’s collective unconsciousness with his masterpiece The Exorcist. People went berserk.
As in the wake of anything that hugely successful, the imitators quickly emerged.
From India’s Seytan, to Canada’s The Manitou, to Spain’s Excorsimo, to Germany’s Magdalena, to our own home grown Abby… there’s definitely no shortage of Exorcist knock-offs.
But nobody pumped em out like the Italians, Pope John Paul II be damned.
There’s The Antichrist, ya know, that one where a paraplegic Rosemary-look-alike totally licks a goat’s asshole. And I mean totally. That one’s pretty awesome.
Or there’s L’Ossessa, also known as Enter the Devil, The Eerie Midnight Horror Show, The Sexorcist, The Devil Obsession,The Obsessed, The Tormented, or The Movie with the Most Alternate Titles Trying to Capitalize Whatever Film Was Most Popular at a Given Time.
That one finds a wooden crucifix Jesus coming to life Morty-style and having his way with our young protagonist. He’s actually the Devil, and later he climbs off a different cross during a weird ritual and totally crucifies this poor girl to it instead. Yikes.
Or how bout poor Bava’s previously titled Lisa and The Devil? It wasn’t faring too well, so the producers re-cut that fucker to improve marketability. They infused it with new scenes deliberately ripping off The Exorcist and released it as TheHouse of Exorcism. Some of those scenes were even shot by Bava’s son (and Demonsdirector) Lamberto Bava, but Mario claims that version is no longer his film at all really.
While all these have their place and finer points, none of them are quite as head scratching or entertaining as Italy’s original Exorcistknock-off, Chi Sei?, which was released to American audiences as Beyond the Door.
More importantly, none of them feature a funked-up ode to the Devil himself like Bargain with The Devil.
From the weird voice dubbing, to the strange children, to Dimitri being a general skeezer, it’s all pretty bizarre. For me though, it’s weirdness culminates when an aggressive pack of street musicians accosts Robert, one of whom appears to be playing a recorder through his nose. That’s creepy.
Here’s the soulful tune about soullessness, Bargain with the Devil. You know, it sounds like a jerk-off session in the bathroom.
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.
The Beast Withinby Perry Monroe, Mike Pasqualini and Asbestos Felt
Next up is The Beast Within, another solid Title Track from 1982…
..,is what I would be saying if this song was actually from the film The Beast Within and not confusingly from Tim Ritter’s 1986 fever dream Killing Spree.
If you’ve ever seen Killing Spree, than you might recall that most of the music is practically note for note homages to John Harrison’s Creepshow score. And they sound good, too. I wonder if composer Perry Monroe had an actual Prophet 5 on hand.
No matter though, because wrapping up this bawdy and almost Shakespearean tale of paranoia and deadly misunderstandings, is the aforementioned Beast Within.
It may not be a Title Track, but someone must have hipped Tim to the next best move, cause this Rock ‘N Roll Sweet Song 180’s into a full on Monster rap, complete with a highly detailed plot summary. Yeah, you bet.
It’s also predictably spit in that hard, racially appropriative fashion of the late 80’s, by none other than the films lead, the curiously named Asbestos Felt! Check him out.
But don’t judge this book by its title alone. Judge it by its cover. Then, go ahead judge it by its contents, and then come back and rejudge it by its a title, cause all 3 are working perfectly in tandem to deliver exactly what you’d imagine.
Felt is all-in here and his maniacal expressions and glorious performance are much of what make Killing Spree such a joy to behold. I love this guy, and wish he had more films to his credit.
So, let’s enjoy some low-budget 16mm 80’s backyard madness with the boys from Killing Spree. Here’s The Beast Within.
A Critical Madness by Kay Reed with The Church of Our Savior Choir
Tim Ritter is pretty awesome. If you’re a fan of 80’s shot-on-video, backyard horror, than you’re definitely familiar with old Tim.
The auteur behind such insane fare as Twisted Illusions, Creepand Day of the Reaper, Tim was a to-the-bone horror fan armed with a camera who just said “Hey! I can do that.”
And did it he did, creating some of the most entertaining and charming additions to this bizarre, homespun sub-genre. If you like that sort of thing.
And I do, so I’m gonna give you all a double shot of Tim Ritter tunes. First up, the by-line Title Track to his 1986 bonkers opus Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness.
Like most of Tim’s output, it’s a film that really must be seen to be believed and even then I’m sure it’ll be a little tricky to fully wrap your mind around.
After happening upon his wife fuckin his best friend, Mike Strauber begins spiraling into a critical madness, first by playing increasingly masochistic games of truth or dare with people that aren’t really there, sending him straight to the nuthouse.
Eventually, he disfigures his own face and then fashions himself a weird-ass cooper mask. Then the dickhead orderlies give him a picture of his wife, ya know, to warm up his cold, padded cell. Yeah, that’ll probably lead to increased mental stability.
Predictably (and thankfully for us) it does no such thing, propelling Mike to escape and embark on a Silent Night, Deadly Night 2-style daytime killing spree complete with nunchucks, a full-on mace and maybe even a grenade, I dunno.
Shot when Tim was only 18, it belies his age and at times appears to be the work of more mature folks. Not all the time of course, but it’s still pretty impressive for someone who couldn’t even legally get drunk.
Which leads us to this song, this gloriously bizarre and out of place song. Some kinda Dion Warwick sounding left field commission, A Critical Madnessappears to be sung from perspective of Mike’s wife, by crooning woman Kay Reed, complete with an accompanying children’s choir.
I dunno why Tim thought a movie like his should end with a song like this, but thank God he did.
Dr. Hackensteinby Claude LeHanaff and Hard Roaders
Sometime after Stuart Gordon made Re-Animator but before Henenlotter made Frankenhooker, writer/director Richard Clark released his lone feature, Dr. Hackenstein, which combines elements of both in a more traditional Frankenstein setting.
It’s a quaint little horror comedy that, while not especially noteworthy, is perfectly watchable and even somewhat charming. I’d have a hard time imagining anyone who likes either of the aforementioned films not finding at least something about this one they enjoy. Particularly considering the FX, which were provided by none other than Kurtzman, Nicotero and Berger EFX Group. Ya know, B.C. KNB EFX
It stars David Murr from Neon Maniacs as the titular physician, a guy who you’d almost mistake for Roddy McDowell. Playing along side him, as the main damsel in bodily distress, is the lovely Stacey Travis, whom some of you may recognize from Phantasm 2, Hardware or even Earth Girls Are Easy.
Additionally, you get some fun guest appearances from both Ramseys Anne and Logan, Phyllis Diller, and that cheapskate Hotel Manager from Ghostbusters! Not a bad showing.
What’s more? You guessed it. With only one feature to his credit, Richard Clark had the wherewithal to include an honest to God Title Track.
That egghead Stanley Kubrick never had a Title Track. Some auteur he was. No wonder he never got an Oscar. And don’t give me any of that “Well, Dr. Strangelove’sWe’ll Meet Again was technically a Title Track from the musical We’ll Meet Again” baloney, cause I ain’t having it! If we all just start throwing other people’s Title Tracks into our movies with different titles and no Title Tracks and and then calling them Title Tracks, what does that make us? No better than the terrorists, that’s what.
100% anachronistic and totally 80’s, this goofy as all get-out Title Track gets the extra special treatment of being a Sweet Song too boot. Double bonus!
So, sit back and relax, the doctor will see you now.
He calls himself an Obstetrician! He’s Dr. Hackenstein.
Call me an idealists. Call me old fashion. Hell, call me an 80’s fetishist, but I wish every movie ended like 1986’s portmanteau horror, Cat’s Eye.
The 3-pronged anthology from Stephen King and Lewis Teague isn’t even particularly fantastic. It’s all right, I enjoy it, but I wouldn’t put it at the top of any anthology list.
The James Woods story about an invasive smoking cessation program has some fun moments, despite being a little under cooked.
The second story has an intriguing premise, is well acted and provides a fair amount of tension, given a predisposition to acrophobia.
And the final story, the one which everyone remembers, with a cat named General protecting a young Drew Barrymore from a horrible, little, breath-stealing troll. That troll, designed by FX maestro Carlo Rambaldi, is fantastic. And all that set dec making the him look tiny is 80’s practical FX gold.
But that’s not what I mean. No, what I want is for every movie to end with this same kind of weirdly referential, ridiculously popped-out, Title Track bullshit. Say that Title over and over! Gimme that hot synth bass! Talk about the movie in indirect ways! Make it feel like an event. Make me feel like I just watched a movie. Leave a mark.
And boy howdy does Ray Steven’s Cat’s Eye do just that. He Billy Oceans the fuck outta this thing and produces a shinning example of a Title Track. It’s doing everything right.
Green Slimeby Sherry Gaden, Richard Delvecchio & Rick Lancelot
Now, we’re gonna kick things all the way back to ‘68 with a brand new contender for Oldest Title Track on the Shindig. And what a doozy of a contender it is.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the Title Track to The Green Slimemust be a joke. It sounds almost like an anachronism. It sounds like it doesn’t belong in this movie. It sounds awesome.
Produced by Surf Rock pioneer Richard Delvecchio and sung by Frank Zappa vocalist Rick Lancelot, Green Slime is a rollicking garage-rock romper that feels a little ahead of its time, and a bit out of place.
This Japanese produced space-standoff proceeds like Sid and Marty Croft directed a Toho remake of This Island Earth. It’s a movie with a weird vibe.
What’s weirder? The fact that this song kicks off the whole damn thing. It honestly gets you pumped. Almost too pumped. This song is probably the coolest thing about the movie. Not that there’s anything specifically terrible about the movie, it’s just that cool of a song.
I mean, I won’t lie, you really gotta be into 60’s sci-fi monster movies. And being frank here, that’s not gonna be everyone’s bag, particularly these days. The miniatures look like the model train sets your Dad built in the basement, the acting in stagey and the aliens looks like 33rd degree Sigmund the Sea Monsters. But all of that is the charm. If you’re in the right mood, anyway.
Also, the pacing is pretty crisp for its day, though nothing close to what audiences have become accustomed to over the intervening 40 odd years.
So, you know yourself. Would you like that? Eh, then maybe give The Green Slime a go. If not, at least kick back and enjoy this trailblazing tune. One of the great Title Tracks of all time.
After 3 Monster Raps, 2 of which I can fully understand struggling with, we have to break out the plastic pumpkin and make with some treats, right?
And around here, nothing spells “treat” like Title Tracks.
So here comes a rockin’ block of plot-talk with some of the finest Title Tracks xx yet featured on the playlist. And it you listened to last months Fistful of Title Tracks episode of Shindig Radio, you got an idea of what’s comin’
First up? Hidden.
Ever seen The Hidden? It’s kinda like The Thing meets Dead Heat, just with less Piscapo and no snow. There’s also little bit of Men In Blackgoin’ on too.
Plus, if you’re a Twin Peaks fan, it can serve as a quick Dale Cooper fix, with Kyle Maclachlan playing another FBI agent amidst high strangeness. Additionally, Hank Jennings shows up, just for good measure.
But that’s not all, as you get Clu Gulager, Jermone from Summer School, a young Danny Trejo, Lin Shaye and even Kincaid’s dog Jason, who took a piss on Freddy’s grave in The Dream Master. Weird.
What’s also weird, is that just like Men in Black, it also has a Title Track. It actually has a pretty kickin soundtrack altogether, as the body jumping alien imposter seems to have an affinity for loud, ruckus music.
Before we get into any of that though, we’re gonna highlight the soundtrack’s crowning achievement, from The Truth.
If you told me you thought Waxwork 2: Lost In Time was a bunch of foolishness, I’d have to concede that yes, it is quite silly. At times even annoyingly so.
However, I would then have to counter with “Ok, yeah, but it’s also pretty awesome.”
If, as a horror fan, you are not enamored (at least somewhat) but it’s loving horror parodies, I might have to revoke your nerd card.
From the awesome Aliens send-up with its fantastic creature FX from Bob Keen’s Image Animation, to the Bruce Campbell-anchored William Castle-meets-Evil Dead Haunted House spoof, it’s a treat for any horror fan.
Yeah, maybe the Mideavel segment overstays it’s welcome a little, but even that has some awesome imagery spread throughout. And director Anthony Hickock still manages to find time to spoof Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,Nosferatu, Dawn of the DeadandInvasion of the Body Snatchers. C’mon now. It’s just fun.
They even nick the end of Back to the Future 2 for some reason. Kinda weird really, but no less fun.
And what’s more? Oh yeah, they wrap it all up with a Monster Rap Sweet Song. Bonus.
This By-Line Title Track from Muffla and Big Dad of the L.A. Posse might not be the finest example of the sub-genre (admittedly, it’s a little on the dull side of hype) but it’s better than some of the other turkeys on this list and it definitely comes correct with an extremely detailed plot synopsis.
Mark ain’t a mark
Cause Mark got heart
But Mark won’t stop
Cause Mark is a part
Of the mystery
Back and forth through history
Gold plated.
So hang out with Billy from Gremlins, Bruce Campbell, that one dude from Die Hard, Rex Manning, Deanna Troi, perpetual on-screen bum Buck Flowers (for a second anyway) and all your favorite monsters, and get Lost In Time…
We’re gonna keep the Golden Raspberry theme goin here for a sec with a song I’ve actively avoided adding to the playlist since 2013, when we had a whole block of Addams Family tunes.
Much like Hammer’sToo Legit with A Little Bit of Peppa (For My Chicken), Miami-Bass duo Tag Team repackage their preexisting hit Whoomp! (There It Is) for the 1993 sequelAddams Family Values.
Despite the general consensus that this song is a complete pile of auditory bullshit, I rather like Addams Family (Whoomp!), as can be cross referenced on Shindig Radio Ep. 4: Monster Raps Pt. 2.
I think the verses are clever, well spit and highly referential. It even refers to itself as the movie’s theme song. That’s a solid play for a song of this nature. And quite frankly, it should have come loaded with a full-on fucking spoiler alert, cause it details the entire plot of this film. It’s a movie theme to the max.
And I get it, maybe it seems lazy just taking your own song and moving some words around and calling it a day. But honestly, its just a sound maneuver to keep the money train on the tracks from a pair of “alleged” rip-off artists who didn’t have a hell of a lot going on outside of Whoomp!
Yeah, you read that right. I referred to them rip-off artists, come at me. Since no one actually seems to have Tag Team’s back except me, I shouldn’t experience any sort of backlash from such a bold assertion. However, I will indulge a small detour here to clarify my statement for those unfamiliar with the sordid backstory concerning Tag Team‘s original #2 peaking hit, Whoomp (There It Is.)
The year was 1993. The month? March. Jacksonville’s Miami Bass trio 95 South just released their hit, Whoot! There It Is! Things are looking good for 95 South. The world is their oyster.
That is until May of 1993, when a curious tune titled, Whoomp! There It Is!, from the Atlanta Georgia duo Tag Team hit the charts like an overhand right from Riddick Bowe.
95 South, goes “Da fuck? What is this bullshit? This song sounds exactly our song. I mean, exactly. Listen to that chorus!”
Tag Team’s DC Brain Supreme claims the phrase was popular in Atlanta strip clubs and they just grabbed it up and put on in wax, suggesting any similarity in the cadence of the chorus being dictated by the phrase itself.
Carlos Spencer of 95 South, however, tells the story just a little bit differently.
He says they recorded their track at Atlanta’s Digital Edge Studio. Shortly after that, they gave the track to a local DJ to see if he would spin it at the club. That DJ? You guessed it. DC Brain Supreme.
And the plot thickens. Seems DC Brain Supreme knew the cats over at Digital Edge, where they were using a newfangled computer program to make records. It was called Pro Tools, maybe you’ve heard of it.
It’s Spencer’s assertion that DC and Steve Roll’n just went in there and laid their own vocals over the track 95 South had already produced.
Snap.
Either way, it seems Tag Team changed the song just enough. They used some different samples and eschewed the raunchier, sex-based lyrics for a more commercial, party-like tone.
And just like that, 95 South’s track is buried under the rubble of a more intelligible, less sexualized and altogether more mainstream-friendly crossover hit.
Despite Spencer’s claims however, there was never much outward animosity between the 2 groups. They even appeared together in July of that year on The Arsenio Hall Show, where they battled it out for “There It is” supremacy.
For 95 cents a pop, viewers at home could call-in and vote on which group they liked more. That night, it was 95 South that walked away with the crown. Very judicial.
The Billboard Hot 100 Chart tells a different tale however, with Tag Team’sWhoomp! reaching number #2 and staying in the top 10 for an unprecedented 24 non-consecutive weeks. It would become the longest running Top 10 song of all time, a place it held until 1997, when Toni Braxton’sUnbreak My Heart went to 25. Snap again. To date, Whoomp! has sold over 3.5 million copies.
Whoot! There It Is? Well, it never got passed #11. That’s still pretty pretty good, but one can’t help but wonder what that number might look like if Whoomp! didn’t come in hot, stealing all it’s thunder, and potentially confusing consumers, who may have even preferred Whoot! and unwitting purchased Whoomp!
It’s not all sour grapes for the “Bass Mechanics” CC Lemonhead and Jay Ski though, the duo responsible from producing Whoot!. They had 2 other hits with separate groups, hits that you may even be familiar with . One was with the 69 Boyz track called the Tootsie Roll. The other was TheQuad City DJ’sC’Mon N Ride It (The Train.) And that’s not to mention their crowning achievement, the 1996 Title Track Space Jam. Eat that shit, Tag Team.
But of course, Tag Team edges out 95 South here in one small, but very important way; they segued pop dominance into Monster Rap gold. No small potatoes around these parts.
So with that being said, Halloween Shindig presents The Golden Raspberry’s Worst Song from a Film 1993 and Mikey Rotella’s pick for worst Monster Rap of all time, it’s Tag Team’sAddams Family (Whoomp!)
There isn’t a more surefire way to get your film webbed-up in The Shindig than to indulge in the time honored tradition of the Title Track.
Carry on Screaming! then, naturally, comes from the 1966 British spoof of the same name.
But what the hell is it?
Well, it’s the 12th installment in the expansive 31 film catalogue of the “Carry On” franchise, an ensemble comedy series which lampooned many popular British film genres.
Carry On Screaming! is a somewhat entertaining Hammer Horror send-up that features a couple of goofy monsters, a lot of yelling in British accents, copious amounts of innuendo and some hilarious mannequin tossing. Check that shit out.
Credited in the film to “Anon,” the identity of this singer remained a mystery for 40 years. In 2006 however, famous British big bander, radio broadcaster and Embassy session singer, Ray Pilgrim, at long last revealed his involvement
Also a member of bands like The Typoons, The Jaybirds and The Earthquakers!, Ray didn’t particularly think singing was a real career and apparently only did it to finance an economics degree. Pretty crazy for a guy with over 200 BBC broadcasts and 150 songs under his belt.
Once Ray achieved this goal, he promptly quit singing and took a “proper” job in senior management of an unnamed multinational company.
Ray came out of retirement to sing this track at producer Eric Roger’s request.
Here’s an interview from Ray’s website where he describes the whole situation:
“By April 1966 I’d been “retired” from singing for nearly a year and was deeply immersed in my ‘proper’ career. Then one evening, completely out of the blue, I got a phone call from Eric Rogers.
He told me that he needed to set up a very urgent session to record the opening title song for the new Carry On film and needed an ‘experienced, professional session singer who can cut it with the minimum fuss in the minimum time’ and wanted me to do it.
I explained that I hadn’t even sung in the bath for months and was really not in the business anymore. He said that they were on an extremely tight schedule, fast approaching the release deadline for the film and would appreciate it if I could come over to his house next day. I was really rather flattered, so I agreed.
Next day I took some time off work and drove up to his house and we ran through the music. I thought the words were a bit odd and he explained that it was a spoof horror film.
We settled on the overall treatment: The chorus (the Carry On Screaming lines) were to be sung reasonably straight in the style of a band ballad singer, with parts of the verse sung with a bit of emotional quivering vibrato. I can’t really remember, but I don’t think that the falsetto bit at the end came until we were actually on the set when we slipped it in because it felt a more natural lead into Odbodd coming through the mist and Doris’s scream.
What I do remember, was that there was no time for any practice or rehearsal because the actual recording session was set up for either the next day or at most a couple of days later.
Although the film was made at Pinewood, according to my 1966 diary, the title song was recorded on the nearby Denham Studios sound set. Probably that was because the actual film itself had wound up at Pinewood a couple of months earlier which, by then, was no doubt the home of a new, completely different film.
Eric had arranged for quite a large orchestra and the set was full of musicians … plus of course the lady who provided the very important screams during the song. I regret that I don’t remember her name. But I recall she was blonde and very attractive and did a brilliant scream.
At one end of the set was a huge screen onto which a silent version of the finished film was projected. I don’t think we had the titles and credits to play and sing to but in my mind’s eye I clearly remember a big clock on or above the screen that rapidly flicked through the fractions of seconds that lead up to the opening scene of the movie.
I was used to doing the recording sessions for Embassy in a just couple of takes so I was very surprised that we needed such a large number of takes to do the Screaming film soundtrack, which was really quite a simple song.
It wasn’t because we kept on making mistakes or bum notes but because the timing had to be absolutely meticulous with everything exactly to the split second. In fact I found it a bit boring doing the same thing over and over again. But when I eventually saw the finished film I realised why it had to be so exact, with each of the lines of the song and the punctuating screams fitting exactly with the quivering credits on the screen.
So that was it. I got paid the princely sum of 27 guineas (excluding any subsequent mechanical use of the recording) … which in those days was not to be sneezed at for a couple of hours work. In today’s money, after 40 years of inflation, I guess it would be worth something approaching £1,000.
I picked up the cheque and hurried back to my day job before I was missed! That was my very last professional session, after which I made a complete, clean break from singing so I was more than happy that my contribution to the film was credited as “Sung by Anon”.
Over the years I have always been amused that the question “Who was Anon?” crops up so frequently and the inevitable wrong answers it leads to. But now I’m coming up to my 70th birthday, it’s probably time to set the record straight. So here goes:
So, here it goes indeed, a silly and short little tune that may just burrow itself under your skull and rest there for a few hours, occasionally popping out ever so often as you find yourself humming its chorus.
