It’s been roughly 7 years, 6 months and 16 days since Blue Öyster Cult has made an appearance on The Shindig. Roughly.
Back then, it was their contribution to John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, which afforded them an early nod on The Playlist.
Well now they’re back, all these years later, with the less inclusive, though infinitely more referential, Nosferatu.
This one was the final track on their 1977 release Spectres, an album which opens with the much more celebrated (though no less referential) Godzilla. As it happens, Nosferatu was actually the B-Side to Godzilla, making for one very referential 45.
Being horror fans, Nosferatu is a word I’m quite sure you are all fairly familiar with. But what hell is Nosferatu?
Well, it’s a word that for sure appears in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, though Ole Bram claimed he got it from Emily Gerard’s Transylvania Travelogue The Land Beyond the Forest. However, Emily seems to merely claim it’s a Romainian word which means “Vampire,” although no such word really seems to exist in Romanian.
Some claim the word came from the Greek “nosphoros” which meant “disease-carrying.” Others say it takes root in the old Romanian term “necurat,” meaning “unclean.” It was the kinda thing you’d say so you didn’t have to say “vampire,” lest speaking it’s name called the creature to you.
Lotta ideas. No concrete answers.
At any rate, occultist producer Albin Grau and screenwriter Henrik Galeen liked the word so much, they used it to evade securing any rights for their unauthorized 1922 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
They were unsuccessful however, as Bram Stoker’s widow, Florence, sued the shit out of them, bankrupted their fledgling occultist studio Prana-Film, and almost had every copy of the FW Murnau’s film Nosferatu burned into oblivion.
So, for almost 100 years now, “Nosferatu” has directly related to not just vampires, but specifically, Dracula.
And Blue Öyster Cult, like Grau, Galeen and Murnau, are clearly referencing Bram Stoker’s classic novel. So much so that some of the lyrics directly reference passages from the book.
But, since the 1922 Nosferatu is a silent picture, I’ve added some samples from Werner Herzog’s awesomely unsettling 1979 remake, just for a little ambiance.
So get unclean with Klaus Kinski and the disease carrying cultists of the Blue Öyster with…
No movie gets championed around here quite like 1986’s Trick or Treat. And why not? It’s everything we’re on about over here. It’s a Rock ‘N Roll Horror movie that takes place around and then on Halloween. An undead rock star electrocutes an entire gymnasium of teenagers with a real electric guitar. It’s got Gene Simmons. I mean, what more do you need?
The Super Soundtrack, which I thoroughly recommend listening to the day before Halloween, features loads of songs by Fastway, including tonight’s penultimate selection of the season.
When a movie like Trick or Treatis throwing a Sweet Song at you like After Midnight, how can we ignore that?
My personal pick for Favorite Addition to the Playlist: 2019 has got to go to Philip J. Settle’s rockin’ 80’s, four-to-the-floor Title Track, Dead Heat.
Shindig Radio personality and Showdown Shogun himself Graham C. Schofield brought this glaring omission to my attention just before the season started. And I couldn’t believe I had totally forgotten about this track.
How had this track, this Title Track of all things – particularly one as awesome as this – to a movie I thoroughly enjoy – eluded The Shindig for so long? I love Dead Heat, but I must admit, it’s been some years since I’ve just sat down and watched in it’s entirety…
And this track isn’t just a Title Track, it’s also a Sweet Song, so you gotta stick it through to the end credits to be treated to this dozy, which I definitely would have loved to have taken a go at on any one of our Title Tracks episodes of the Podcast.
All good things eventually reveal themselves to The Shindig and we can thank a dutiful rewatch from Graham for bringing this champion of Title Tracks home, where it belongs.
Playlist fans can now rock out to this tune, which is kind of an Indirect Title Track; one of those song where they definitely say the name of the movie incessantly, but aren’t quite talking about the movie at all really.
Playing off the films double-entendre, Philip J. Settle settles for steering this hot rod of the track toward the racing side of a dead heat, and it works out just fine.
If you’ve never seen this Treat Williams/Joe Piscapo/Kolchak The Night Stalker/Vincent Price zombie-gore bonanza, I say correct that as soon as possible.
With out of control FX from Steve Johnson’s XFX team and additional work from the likes of Todd Masters and Rick Lazzarini, Dead Heat is an 80’s gore/make-up/creature tour de force.
I first saw Dead Heat after my first day of work at an old video store called “Mike’s Movies” in Boston. I had just been introduced to a co-worker (and eventual good friend) named Malachi (I know, right?) and was tasked with assisting him in creating a small shelf of Halloween recommendations to be placed near the entrance for October. What a first day, huh?
We each split up grabbed a handful of titles from the impressive selection that store had to offer. He came back with some selections you might imagine, probably along with some foreign shit (he loved weird old foreign shit.) But it was one cover in particular (and the only one I 100% remember) that caught my attention.
“Piscopo? An Uzi? What the fuck is this?” I asked “This is a horror movie?”
“No.” He replied. “It’s so much more. You gotta see this.”
So we proceeded to get higher than shit that night, and became fast friends while watching his hero, Treat Williams, become the Dead Heat. And Malachi was right. Cause you gotta see this.
So, it seems only fitting then, that 2 days before Halloween, from a small Halloween shelf on the other side of the country, Dead Heat joins the ranks of Halloween Shindig. This one’s for you Malachi!
Right on the heels of Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, David DeCoteau grabbed up Linnea, Brinke, Michelle and most of the crew, then ran across town to began shooting this sister film. 4 days later they had Nightmare Sisters in the can.
Another silly and scandalous horror/nudie/sex comedy from DeCoteau and company, Nightmare Sisters is a fun flick that would make a great double-feature with Bowl-O-Rama.
We mentioned Dukey Flyswatter in our last post, as he provides the voice of old Uncle Impy. Dukey also appears here, in his human form, as the opportunistic mystic Omar.
Dukey Flyswatter, however, is just the stage name of actor/singer/writer Michael Sonye, who also happens to be the lead singer of L.A. splatterpunk outfit Haunted Garage.
As such, Haunted Garage provides 4 different tracks for Nightmare Sistersand our selection this evening, Sorority Sister Succubus acts as an introductory track, running over the film’s opening credits.
What better way to follow up a David DeCoteau sorority flick without a title track, than with another David DeCoteau sorority flick with an almost title track about sorority sisters from a movie called something else?
All right. So I think we can all agree He’s Coming Back is a pretty bad Monster Rap.
I mean, it’s a Good Monster Rap, in that it’s a prime example of what these songs are all about and how that usually just goes terribly awry. But it is not a Good Monster Rap. Dig?
So, in an effort to redeem the Monster Rap genre (if that’s even feasible or worthy of attempt) we present to you Scream by Ice MC.
If you’re not familiar with Ice MC, please do not feel the least bit bad. This is no deficiency on your part.
Mostly likely this is because you’re either:
An American.
Not listening to Raggamuffin rap and/or
A regular person doing regular things and not wasting what short time we have on this planet associating with shit like Scream by Ice MC. And I don’t blame you. I sometimes wish I was just that sort of person doing just those sorts things, whatever they may be.
In fact, I was that person until last week. Well, I was those first 2 types of people, anyway. Still an American too. Still not listening to any Ragamuffin rap, either. However, I do know what it is now and I have heard this song and I am quite presently wasting all kinds of precious time with it. But I digress.
I was definitely not familiar with this song until last week. That’s when Shindig super enthusiast and research beast Devin Connors hipped me to this track. And within about 30 seconds I knew he’d discovered gold.
What Ice MC has created here is a more approachable and less Faygo-drenched associative Monster Rap than a similarly themed example from another ice-based rapper.
Ice MC sets his sights and weird British accent to referencing several horror movies amidst the heavy electronic back beat and sample-stuffed rhythms of the Raggamuffin sound; a subset of Dancehall and Reggae music where sampling forms the backbone of the melody.
What unfolds is something somewhat unique in the Monster Rap game; A song strangely catchy, somewhat legitimately fun and yet laughably ridiculous. Boardering on bad while flirting with good, this song rests in a limbo not entirely either.
Run DMC’s Ghostbusters is too crafted to be thought silly. The Chucky Song too white and corporate to be considered real. Or something like last night’s He’s Coming Back, which is a bit too tedious to be genuinely enjoyed.
While attempting to pull some samples from Repossessed for its Title Track, I naturally stumbled across this end credit oddity, which can only be called a gem when you host a playlist like the one I’ve constructed here.
A highly referential Monster Rap Sweet Song? Oh, this is going on the playlist for sure, I don’t care how bad it is.
That this is my knee jerk reaction is a bit of a shame, because this song is bad. And I mean it’s bad, so I apologize for that.
So bad in fact, that you happen to be looking at the proud recipient of 1990’s Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Song from a Motion Picture.
I hope you all can understand and appreciate it’s inclusion. My compulsive need to include inclusive (and referential) Monster Raps Sweet Songs prevents me from treating this thing objectively, or considering your overall enjoyment of this playlist. But my hope is you can at least see why, when stumbling upon something of this nature, it has to be included.
Well, either way I apologize.
In fairness, the verses aren’t so bad. It’s really the chorus here that’s dragging this whole track down. But lyrically, you’re getting a heaping helping of allusions to the film, plenty of bizarro lines and a rhyme structure that is off-center, to say the least.
Not helping matters is it’s length. It’s crazy to me to think Repossessed had enough credits to sustain a 4 minute song. For real? That many heads on Repossessed? They must roll at an unnaturally slow pace, cause I don’t know what the hell all those people were doing.
I will say, I wish I had rediscovered this thing earlier so we could have had the chance to really dig into this one on our Monster Raps episodes. Oh well. Perhaps we’ll amass enough new Monster Raps to warrant a Part 3. Fingers crossed.
In closing, I do hope that somewhere, someone listening to this playlist actually likes this song. Or at the very least, appreciates the necessity of it’s inclusion, because I’m fairly sure they’ll be the only one.
While certainly not what I’d call a good movie or even all that funny, you can do a lot worse than 1990’s Horror Spoof Repossessed. Namely Transylvania 6-5000. But I digress.
The best thing going for this silly slice of parody is Linda Blair. Landing the star of the original film you’re spoofing is a big play in this racket, and here she does a fine job lampooning herself, tongue firmly in cheek. It’s neat just to see her there in the blue dress taking a poke at herself and it goes some distance to endearing this movie to a certain audience.
I’m also a sucker for Leslie Nielsen, though I have to admit, his accent takes me out of this one a little. This is not one of his crowning comedic works, but it certainly beats Spy Hard or 2001: A Space Travesty.
A lot of the jokes here don’t land well, but there are a number of smaller gags that I think work and produce some genuine laughs. This, however, is not the gold standard of horror parodies, by any means. Hell, it ain’t even a copper standard.
Making all of this a little easier to ingest though is its upbeat Title Track from Teen Witch’sown Cindy Valentine. A second (hell, maybe even 3rd or 4th) tier 80’s pop singer you may or may not be familiar with. I vaguely recognized a couple of her bigger hits (from where exactly, I could not say) but if you had no recollection of ever hearing any of her assembly line genri-pop, that would be perfectly understandishable.
I’ve yet to hear a Cindy Valentine song I didn’t like and that very much includes Never Gonna Be The Same Again from Teen Witch. But in fairness, I haven’t listened to the breadth of her catalog. I’m sure there’s some turkeys in there, even by my admittedly dubious standards.
But here it is, my personal pick from the crop of Bad and Ugly Title Tracks of Episode 8, it’s Cindy Valentinewith Reposssessed!
Since I basically read the write up for this song on Episode 10 of Shindig Radio, I’ll spare you all the tedium of posting a direct transcript.
The short version is that Transylvania 6-5000 gives you 2 different Title Tracks and hey, isn’t that swell.
The other Title Track, which plays as a Sweet Song during the end credits, is a direct spoof of Glenn Miller’s Pennsylvania 6-5000 and its serves a nice coda to the film.
And despite how I may feel about that film, which is not terribly positive, I love this Title Track which plays right at the beginning of our ill-fated adventure.
Paul Chiten delivers the goods here with a very referential and appropriately 80’s pop theme the fits the movie quite nicely.
One thing I failed to mention during the show, is that the film actually apes it’s title from a 1963 Bugs Bunny short. This may make the allusion to Glenn Miller’s 1940 big band hit a little bit more understandable; 23 years on verses 45.
Another thing I’d like to address here is, on the show Kyle and myself answer Mikey’s question about the nature of the 6-5000 incorrectly. We both quickly state it is the hotel’s address, when in fact it is the hotel’s telephone number, PEnnsylvania 6-5000, in accordance with the old telephone exchange system. What can I say? Research is not our strong suit and confident misinformation flows freely. C’est la vie, it would seem. Je suis désolé, mon Mikey!
And with all that said, we’ll just follow the best thing about Transylvania 6-5000, with the 2nd best thing about Transylvania 6-5000.
A Merry, Shh, Creepy Hallowe’en by David Levy & George Tibbles
The Addams Family is a staple of classic American pop culture that has evolved over time to adapt to any medium thrown its way.
The Addams took their first breaths in 1938 as a single panel comic strip from cartoonist Charles Addams. Featured in the New Yorker magazine, they would be run periodically for 50 years until Addams’ death in 1988.
During that span (and then beyond), The Addams set about conquering every corner of entertainment the tried their hand at. First as the 1964 sitcom we all know and love, which ran for 2 seasons.
In 1972, the first animated incarnation of the Addams met Scooby-Doo. After that, a variety show was planned featuring (strangley) Butch (Eddie Munster) Partrick as Pugsly. A pilot was filmed but the show was ultimately not picked up by the networks.
Then, in 1973 The Addams Family became another beloved show, this time a cartoon which also ran for 2 seasons and featured a young Jodi Foster as the voice of Pugsly. Weird!
After that, the original cast reunited for the Television film Hallowe’en with the New Addams Family. In it, the legend of old Cousin Shy is told; a Chirstmas-like tale about a family ghost that mysteriously carves pumpkins and brings presents on Halloween.
Then, in 1991, The Addams took to the big screen in the Paramount Pictures adaptation which spawned a sequel in 1993 and then a direct to video reboot starring Tim Curry as Gomez.
After that, another animated series based on the new film followed before a second live action television show took form in 1998 as The New Addams Family.
In 2010, The Addams Family took on Broadway in a musical starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Nuewirth. Was there anywhere The Addams could not make their own peculiar home?
Today, as I’m sure you’re all aware, America’s First Family of the Macabre takes another trip to the big screen and gets another animated makeover, this time of the digital variety. Now, while sadly this not the much anticipated (and later canceled) stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams’ original designs that Tim Burton had planned, it is good to see The Addams back on their feet and ready to capture a whole new generation of fans.In honor of the return of The Addams Family, Halloween Shindig presents the very Halloweeny but Christmas-like carol A Merry, Shh, Creepy Hallowe’een from their 1977 Halloween Television reunion special.
Because how long could we ignore a Halloween song sung by The Addams?
Are you into D&D, community college theater or weird masquerade sex-parties that feature no sex?
Yeah, I didn’t thi…
Wait, what? You are? Oh…all right then.
I still don’t think I should recommend 1983’s Skullduggery though, even if you have the added perquisite love for low-rent, bizarro horror movies produced by alien-people making lots of real confusing decisions.
I’m pleased to report it does feature a surprise reference to Halloween though, as you will hear attached to our next sonf, which is a totally out of left center Title Track that caught me right off guard. Skullduggery coming hard right out of the gate, huh? If only the film followed through on such a promise.
On the 1st part of Shindig Radio’s Title Tracks retrospective, we did a fair amount of clowning on this Scooby-Doo theme of a song which sounds dated even for its time. Mikey likened it to a 70’s television drama, ala Fantasy Island, and we think you’ll agree.
Despite a couple laughs had at its expense, I rather enjoy this Title Track. It’s got a good beat and is suitably mysterious, much like the plot of its namesake, Skullduggery.
Speaking of the film, you can soft pass on Skullduggery, unless you’re feeling hard pressed for something you haven’t seen before and aren’t too protective of your free time.
I will say, if you do decide to watch the film, you’ll hear this song featured prominently over its “we couldn’t really figure out how to not make this just a plain blue screen” credit sequence, which perfectly informs the next 90 minutes or so you’ll be spending with Skullduggery.
Personally, I recommend spending at least 2 minutes with it, which is just enough time to enjoy this weirdo Title Track.
And now, we have our first track to make its debut on Shindig Radio before being added to the playlist, and what a perfect song for that honor.
An 80’s disco Title Track for the slasher classic Prom Night, composer Paul Zaza cranked out a doozy with this one. Perfectly capturing the mood of the film and the vibe of its era, Prom Night is, at least sonically anyway, a fantastic Title Track.
Featured during the film’s climactic Prom sequence, it’s catchy, danceable and more importantly (like any good Title Track) it repeats the title ad nauseam.
Though, as noted by The Shindig Radio crew, that’s about where any references to either this movie or even an actual Prom, end. Which is a shame, as just a little bit could have gone a long way to taking this from just a passing Title Track to something really great.
No matter, because despite how Graham Schofield may feel about this cut, it’s unused sister Title Track or dancing disco bullshit in general, I think this song boogies.
Allegedly, this sequence was shot with a bunch of popular disco tunes playing in the background. Once the producers realized it might cost them a small fortune to secure the rights to such recognizable hits, they tasked Paul Zaza with recreating reasonable facsimiles as replacements.
Unfortunately, he only had about a week to do it.
Given the tight timeline, I think Paul knocked this one out of the park, creating a disco slasher Title Track for the ages.
Just remember, it’s not who you go with, it’s who takes you home.
On the surface it might seem like The Monster Club and Halloween Shindig would go hand in hand; a horror anthology starring such genre vets as Vincent Price, John Carradine, Donald Pleasence and Britt Ekland, that has tons of fun monsters and masks plus numerous monster related musical numbers? It’s a no brainer, right?
And it’s true, we love The Monster Club. It’s kinda like Night Train to Terror, only it’s coherent and cuts back to different and actual songs. It has a fun premise, with 3 solid monster vignettes and a spooky, synthy score.
So what’s the problem? Where’s the “but” that has kept this blog for talking about it for 7 years now?
That, dear readers, is my own prejudice against those same monster related songs. I kinda hate them. I don’t want to, but I kinda do. I want to love them. I want to include them all and have wanted to since the beginning. But I’m just not a huge fan.
I’ve tried, over the years, to warm up to them but the love just never seems to flows out of me. They have this late 70’s/early 80’s British new wave, pseudo-reggae, Clash meets The Police vibe that neither suits the movie, the songs or me, despite their monstrous leanings.
Because I think it needs to be represented and because I do quite enjoy the film, Halloween Shindig has decided to include the tune I’ve warmed up to the most. Performed on camera by The Pretty Things, it also happens to be (perhaps not so incidentally) the film’s Title Track.
After discussing over 30 different Title Tracks across 6 or so hours on the podcast, how did we not mention this one? Well, as we noted, there’s a mountain of Title Tracks and we had to keep some in our pocket, no? Leave a few surprises for the blog still, right? And we may even have a few more up our sleeve this year.
Additionally, this seemed like an appropriate way to kick off the season and usher in a monster block of Monster Songs, which have been sorely under represented as of late.
Lead in here with Vincent Price’s overly long (and overly awesome) laundry list of solid reasons the Human Race deserves to be represented in a club full of horrible monsters.
A Nightmare On My Street (Extended Mix)by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
I think it’s a testament to Freddy’s legacy and iconography that this Monster Rap is more well known than the Referentially Inclusive (and wildly superior) song by The Fat Boys. Seems more people are familiar with Freddy as a pop culture window cling than they are with the films themselves.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy A Nightmare On My Street. Quite the contrary! I think it’s a great Monster Rap, and all the more so that the song is its own entity outside of the films. But when comparing the 2, I feel it is the clear also-ran, and i wish Are You Ready For Freddy was the more popular cut.
But here we have the DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Princedetailing an evening in which they take to the cinema with Ready Rock C and some honeys. There, they enjoy a new (and generic) Elm Street film, only to find themselves tormented by Freddy in the real world once the film ends. Shades of New Nightmare, or simply imagery from the original? Only Wes Craven knows for sure.
Though recorded in ’87, this single was released in August of ’88, right when Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was about to hit theaters. And while it’s more probable the the trio was seeing Dream Warriorsat that time, the song seems similar in tone and even references Freddy’s Revenge. So who knows which Elm Street they did in fact see that night. Either way, it was def.
Speaking of The Dream Master, the producers actually considered including this song on the soundtrack, but ultimately could not come to an agreement with Misters Jeff & Fresh. New Line decided instead to just sue Jive/RCA Records for copyright infringement. How’s that for a 180? Apparently there was a music video that was pulled from MTV as a result. Bet that was pretty def too. Unfortunately, that video seems to be lost forever, as it has yet to resurface on the Internet. It’ll be a pretty def day when someone find some forgotten copy and posts it.
Adding more intrigue to the mix, there’s even a handful of different versions of this track. The original LP and cassette version ran over 6 minutes long and contained some different lyrics. Now, a 6 minute rap song about a popular horror icon just won’t do for radio play, and the song was not simply trimmed, but altered somewhat. For reals?
Yep, that version we’ve all been listening to for the last 30 years ain’t the original. But, since the Shindig rolls hard on such matters, it has included the original 6 minute LP version for your enjoyment.
What revelations are to be found in this uncut version? Well for one, The Fresh Prince mentions Nancy, and while that could also refer to Dream Warriors, in context It seems more referential to the original. And while the extended lyric of “something about Elm Street was the movie we saw” is more ambiguous than him stating simply (but also a bit ambiguously) “we saw Elm Street,” I think it suggests they indeed done rushed a screening of Wes Craven’s 1984 classic.
What else is revealed? Welp, perhaps most strangely is that a rather innocuous original line about grabbing something cool to quench his thirst was replaced by a completely unnecessary product drop for Coke.
Now, I’ve read about fans being upset about this, but I’m not convinced its the nefarious product placement it may seem.
I guess if you need to shorten the song, the whole bit about coming downstairs, being alone but seeing the TV on is a little expository, so its a good spot for some revision. Moreover, the replacement of “remote” with “coke” actually alleviates the initial false rhyme with choked. It’s not great, but its an improvement.
Is it the marketing arm of Jive records stepping in and forcing a commercial? Naw, probably not, but I will admit, it is a little suspect. But mostly the omitted lyrics just add a little color, honestly. Just some more depth of descriptions to the events.
Because I couldn’t find one online (read: because no sane person really gives a shit or wastes their time on such nonsense) I’ve composed a comparison of the 2 versions for other dorks to look at and find interesting for a half a second.
Lyrics featured in both verisons will be in normal text color.
Lyrics specific to the Single version will be in green.
Lyrics specific to original Extended Mix will be in orange.
[Fresh Prince:]
Now I have a story that I’d like to tell
About this guy you all know him, he had me scared as hell!
He comes to me at night after I crawl into bed
He’s burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred!
He wears the same hat and sweater every single day
And even if it’s hot, outside he wears it anyway!
He’s gone when I’m awake but he shows up when I’m asleep
I can’t believe that there’s a nightmare – on my street!
It was a Saturday evening if I remember it right
And we had just gotten back off tour last night
So the gang and I thought that it would be groovy
If we summoned up the posse and done rushed the movies
I got Angie, Jeff got Tina
Ready Rock got some girl I’d never seen in my life
That was all right because the lady was chill
Then we dipped to the theater set to ill
[Fresh Prince single:]
We saw Elm Street
And man, it was def!
Buggin! Cold havin a ball
And somethin bout Elm Street was the movie we saw
The way it started was decent, ya know nothing real fancy
Bout this homeboy named Fred and this girl named Nancy
But word, when it was over, I said, “Yo! That was def!”
And everything seemed all right when we left
But when I got home and laid down to sleep
That began the nightmare, on my street!
It was burnin in my room like an oven
My bed soaked with sweat, and man, I was buggin
I checked the clock and it stopped at 12:30
It had melted it was so darn hot, and I was thirsty
I went downstairs to grab some juice or a coke
Flipped the TV off, and then I almost choked
I wanted something cool, to quench my thirst
I thought to myself, “Yo, this heat is the worst!”
But when I got downstairs, I noticed something was wrong
I was home all alone but the TV was on!
I thought nothin of it as I grabbed the remote
I pushed the power button, and
then I almost choked
When I heard this awful voice comin from behind
It said, “You cut off ‘Heavy Metal’ and now you must die!”
Man, I ain’t even wait to see who it was
Broke outside in my drawers and screamed, “So long, cuz!”
Got halfway up the block I calmed down and stopped screamin
Then thought, “Oh, I get it, I must be dreamin”
I strolled back home with a grin on my grill
I figured since this is a dream I might as well get ill
I walked in the house, the Big Bad Fresh Prince
But Freddy killed all that noise real quick
He grabbed me by my neck and said, “Here’s what we’ll do.
We gotta lotta work here, me and you.
The souls of your friends you and I will claim.
You’ve got the body, and I’ve got the brain.”
I said, “Yo Fred, I think you’ve got me all wrong.
I ain’t partners with nobody with nails that long!
Look, I’ll be honest man, this team won’t work.
The girls won’t be on you, Fred your face is all burnt!”
Fred got mad and his head started steamin
But I thought what the hell, I’m only dreamin
I said, “Please leave Fred, so I can get some sleep;
Or gimme a call, and maybe we’ll hang out next week.”
I patted him on the shoulder said, “Thanks for stopping by.”
Then I opened up the door and said, “Take care guy!”
He got mad, drew back his arm, and slashed my shirt
I laughed at first, then thought, “Hold up, that hurt!”
It wasn’t a dream, man, this guy was for real
I said, “Freddy, uh, pal, there’s been an awful mistake here.”
No further words and then I darted upstairs
Crashed through my door then jumped on my bed
Pulled the covers up over my head
And said, “Oh please do somethin with Fred!”
He jumped on my bed, went through the covers with his claws
Tried to get me, but my alarm went off
And then silence! It was a whole new day
I thought, “Huh, I wasn’t scared of him anyway.”
Until I noticed those rips in my sheets
And that was proof that there had been a nightmare, on my street
Oh man, I gotta call Jeff, I gotta call Jeff
Come on, come on
Come on Jeff, answer
Come on, man
[Jazzy Jeff] Hello?
[Fresh Prince] Jeff, this is Prince, man
Jeff, wake up,
Jeff, wake up
[Jazzy Jeff:] What do you want?
[Fresh Prince:] Jeff, wake up, man, listen to me, Jeff
[Jazzy Jeff:] It’s three o’clock in the mornin, what do you want?
[Fresh Prince:] Jeff, Jeff, would you listen to me?
Listen, whatever you do, don’t fall asleep
[Jazzy Jeff:] Man!
[Fresh Prince:] Jeff, listen to me, don’t go to sleep, Jeff
[JJ:] Look, look, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, I’m going to bed
[Freddy:] RRAHHHH!
[JJ:] Ahhhhhh!
[Fresh Prince:] Jeff! Jeff!
[Freddy:] Ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!
[Jazzy Jeff:] Ahhhhhh!
[Fresh Prince:] Jeff!
[Freddy:] RRAHHHH!
[Fresh Prince:] Jeff! Answer me, Jeff!
[Freddy:] I’m your D.J. now, Princey!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!
So there you have it. Far too much copy regarding a silly novelty song about Freddy Krueger. But, I’m not sure The Shindig would have it any other way. Enjoy the extended version of A Nightmare On My Street.
Here’s some certified, all-American, 80-proof ridiculous bullshit from the incomprehensibly titled Freddy’s Greatest Hits.
Greatest Hits? Why, that suggests a larger body of work cultivated and condensed into only “the tracks you wanna hear,” no?
First of all, Freddy doesn’t have any other albums. This is it, folks.
Secondly, even if there were several albums, are these the choice cuts? Are these just the “tracks you wanna hear?” Probably not. They’re the tracks I wanna hear, no doubt, but I don’t speak for anyone else, much less everyone else.
Perhaps there were other Freddy songs. Maybe they had 3 albums worth and just decided these were the best, and released it as a Greatest Hits to spare everyone. If that’s the case, then fuck gang, what did those other songs sound like?
These greatest of hits encompass mostly cheese-ball covers of songs that feature the word “Dream” while Freddy cackles randomly around the melody. However, there are a few original cuts, like this number – perhaps the collection’s most unfathomable offering.
The “Do The Freddy” sticker from my toolbox at work. It’s pretty great.
What is this shit? Do the Freddy? He’s got a fucking dance now? Are you kidding me? This shit is out of control.
Nowadays, whenever I hear that people find it impossible to be scared of this character, I completely understand, and it’s because of shit like this.
Once a master of fear in the hearts of children the world over, Freddy is here reduced to a few dance moves. And not even good ones! Behold…
Pick your feet up
swing your arms up too
Move you head both ways
like you see him do
Then jump 3 feet to the swinging beat
Of The Freddy
What? What kind of fucking dance is this? I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be doing really. And the weirdest part (as you may have thought to yourself) is clearly the “move you head” instruction.
What, exactly, does moving your head both ways actually look like? Is it just shaking your head? Turning and looking in either direction like your crossing a street? It’s too vague.
Moreover, is this Freddy’s signature move? Not “claw at the air” or “scrape your blades on the wall.” Nope, it’s moving your head both ways. Ya know, that thing everyone probably does several times a day. That’s it. That’s Freddy’s big move. You could have written a more appropriate, or hell, even a slightly less vague line with roughly 2 minutes worth of thought.
Also, I think it’s important to note that no one listening to this song has a 3 foot vertical. Fuck, Michael Jordan had a 46 incher, and he’s one of the greatest dunkers of all time.
To put a more comparative and current prospective on it, Russell Westbrook has a 36.5 inch vertical. He can barely complete this dance. And Kevin Durant, at a paltry 33.5″, can’t Do The Freddy at all.
I’d ask “Just who the hell is this for, exactly,” but as you’ll soon hear Mr. Robert England proclaim straight away – “this is for you.”
So, there’s that. Enjoy this song, because it’s for you.
As we’ve often said here on The Shindig, it seemed like everything and everyone was rapping in the late 80’s. If you wanted to lame something up real quick, you made a fuckin’ rap.
Which is apparently exactly what composer Joe Renzetti and songwriter Simon Stokes did in 1988 for Child’s Play. Only problem was that someone above their pay grade said “Yeah, I dunno about this bullshit, fellas.” And like that, the The Chucky Song was shelved.
Now, while that person may have had half a brain, they were also a goddamn communist. How the fuck do you axe this track? In 1988? As a Sweet Song playing over the end credits? I mean, I understand why maybe it makes some logical sense, if you’re attempting to keep up the appearance of a legitimate horror film, but c’mon. This shit is gold, and not just because it’s ridiculous. I mean, it is, but all playing aside, this is a legit song, and not a half bad one.
Sure it’s goofy, but it’s catchy as shit and the lyrical content is on point. There’s tons of direct references, Good Guy Doll phrases, a Chucky voice, kids singing, and they even toss in Charles Lee Ray’s voodoo chant. C’mon! There’s a lot of bad monster raps out there, and this definitely isn’t one of them.
As such, I’m stoked (pun firmly intended) that this escaped. I don’t know how, why, or who’s responsible for this ultimately seeing the light of day, by they deserve the goddamn Noble Peace Prize.
This could easily have never graced the public’s ears. Or worse yet, we could have quiet rumors of it’s existence with no actual proof. But we are a fortunate people, and for that we bestow upon it the highest of honors we can…a spot on The Shindig.
When it comes to Monster Raps, I’m a huge fan. A legitimate fan. I legitimately like these songs.
That’s not to say I don’t see why they’re ridiculous. But I like them. I bump them in my car. In a lot of cases, they’re actually good songs.
I can not say the same for this particular Monster Rap.
Don’t get me wrong, I love The Leprechaun. I love Warwick Davis. I have the box set. Vegas is awesome. Space is fun as well. Leprechaun in the Hood is a particular joy, and even Back 2 the Hood has its moments. But Lep In The Hood is not a good song.
I enjoy it. I love that it exists. It’s hands-down playlist material, but it’s a bad song, to be sure.
It could have been good too; with a better beat, some more inspired lyrics and a little more commitment than the halfassery on display here, this could have been a great Monster Rap.
But I’m not one to stare a gift horse in the mouth, and any Warwick Davis rapping as the Leprechaun is better than no Warwick Davis rapping as the Leprechaun, so hats off to the producers on that account.
Thank you for giving this to the World, even if the World doesn’t really appreciate it.
Yeah, I think it’s gonna be another one of those funky ones…
Ghostbusters 2, the definitive statement on Monster Raps, continues its genre dominance here with perhaps its most popular track, Bobby Brown’sOn Our Own.
Featured during a montage of the GBs kicking it into gear and revving up for a final showdown with Vigo the Carpathian.
Total side note here, but if you’ve never heard the skinny on Vigo’s painting, definitely check this out.
This track’s especially relevant in that Bobby Brown actually has a cameo in the film! His excitement at seeing the Ghostbusters emerge from ECTO-1a is a great moment. He asks Egon and Ray if he can get a proton pack for his little brother. Naturally, Egon flat out rejects this ludicrous proposal, while Ray halfheartedly agrees.
“I guess he’s right.” Ray responds.
You guess? Really Ray?
Am I to believe that if Egon hadn’t been there, then Ray would have seriously considered giving Bobby fucking Brown a proton pack? For his kid brother, no less?
I’m not sure if Ray should be allowed to handle such dangerous equipment if he doesn’t know well enough not to just hand it over to random citizens, or fucking children. Maybe dickless Peck was right all along.
Bobby Brown gets in on the action all the same, proton pack or not, serving up a Ghostbusters jam to beat all. Yeah, yeah, you know it.
V. Ice, as the horror-core iteration of Robert Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) refers to himself, was actually born on Halloween. October 31st 1967, to be precise. That’s pretty awesome as far as The Shindig is concerned. What’s more? He cut a referential Halloween track about it.
Double bonus.
Depending on your perspective that is.
From The Shindig’s perspective, it’s an all around winner. First and foremost, its a Referential Halloween Monster Rap. That’s pretty special. Referential Halloween tracks are a rarity, and the few others that appear on this playlist are weakly included in either direction. Not V. Ice’s jam though. Born On Halloween a card-carrying referential Halloween Monster Rap.
This is not a good song though. I love it. At times it fills me with Halloween joy. At other times it makes me laugh. I rock out to it in my car. Genuinely. I don’t change it at red lights when cute girls or tough guys pull up next to me.
It’s on The Shindig, hands down, no question, but it can’t really be called good. I love a lot of things genuinely that are not objectively good. Go scrolling randomly through this playlist; the evidence to that fact is compelling. Many things about this song are not good.
Starting with it’s absolutely ridiculous chorus. Random weirdo’s chant “Born On Halloween” in a manner that sounds suspiciously like This Is Halloween from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Fitting then, 100 songs after posting that track, we’ve finally decided to post this one.
Add to that some of the weakest referential rhymes to hit The Shindig since The Maniac Cop Rap, and it’s hard to make a strong case for the quality of this song.
“Some call him Psycho
the Norman Bates of Hip-Hop.
The ladies call him Alfred
Cause they’re all over his Hitchcock”
Wow.
No one calls V. Ice that, full stop. I doubt anyone calls him V. Ice for that matter, but hey.
I’ll also set my watch and warrant that no woman anywhere has ever referred to Vanilla Ice as “Alfred” for the sole purpose of alluding to his cock.
There’s no fucking way that’s mathematically possible. The amount of cognition involved in devising such a reference, divided by the relevance and knowledge of Alfred Hitchcock to any ladies within shouting distance of Robert Van Winkle on any given night, produces a probability that could only be visible through a high powered telescope, so fucking insane is it.
The kicker is that this incredibly juvenile rhyme…doesn’t even rhyme!
All of the above would be completely forgivable (as with most ridiculous rap boastings) if the lyric was actually clever. This one is not. And I fucking love it for that.
Violent J (not in fact born on Halloween, as he [perhaps] suggests) shows up to add some much needed street cred to the whole affair. I’m sorry, what?
When a rapping Clown from the Posse Insane is noticeably stepping up your track’s game, something is fucking broke. J quite honestly puts V. Ice to shame on this song with better rhymes, better rhythm and a tone becoming of the subject matter. It’s a breath of fresh air when J steps up to the mic. And that’s not a joke, either. That’s my sincere assessment.
The weirdos will intermittently spout off “With my mask I trick or treat, spooks and freaks all over your street” and “born on Halloween” to everyone’s delight, giving the song it’s air of Halloween spirit.
My research suggests that most listeners will find that all of this nonsense adds up to about 4 minutes of Halloween torture they’d rather have no part of. Can’t blame them for that. The more masochistic audiophiles however or any undercover Juggalos in your crowd might actually enjoy this business. Can’t blame them either, except maybe the undercover Juggalos, for well,…being fucking Juggalos.
I’ve been hard here on V.Ice here, as has the world as a whole for the last 25 years or so. Most of that is completely reasonable considering the seemingly disingenuous output of Robert’s career.
But seriously V.Ice, if you’ve somehow miraculously stumbled across this blog and are reading this, The Shindig loves this song, both genuinely and ironically, all at the same time. It loves that it exists and hoists it proudly among the ranks of Halloween rockdom. We wouldn’t change a thing about it. Your references, as weakly constructed as they are, jam-pack the front end of this track and the Halloween quotient is undeniable, right down to the cribbing of Danny Elfman and the good people of Halloweentown.
Please accept my apologies if I have made you feel, through any of the above criticism, that I am anything less than a fan of this track. There’s a lot of Halloween music I hate (there’s a few ICP songs that come to mind here) that I roundly refuse to include on this playlist. Born On Halloween is not one of those tracks. Born On Halloween is a Halloween song for the ages.
Aside for his contribution to Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, and this (almost) title track for the 3rd installment, I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of info floating around about 80’s rocker John Altyn.
I guess he wasn’t a fan. As you’ll hear in the song, that “Same old story” part toward the end was John taking a little jab at the script for Teenage Wasteland, which I guess he thought was pretty lame.
Can’t say I blame him really. As a franchise, Sleepaway Camp was never all that compelling, and I think there’s a little bit of a noticeable dip for the 3rd installment. And if you’re familiar with Sleepaway Camp IV’s troubles, or have ever seen the ret-conned and wildly uneven bootquel Return to Sleepaway Camp, you know things didn’t follow an upward trajectory.
But as far as late cycle slasher films go, it’s honestly not terrible. Pamela Springstein’s Angela is still very charming and is a pleasure to watch as she does her best here to have some fun with the overtly campy material.
The kills are all rather lazy and not terribly explicit. It takes place almost exclusively in broad daylight and all at a very leisurely, almost blase pace. It’s not to be taken all that seriously though, and for that we can cut it a fair amount of slack. It’s the Angela show, and for that it works well enough.
This song however, is pretty kick ass. It’s a “sweet song,” used during the end credits of the film. This is a term I just learned from John himself in the above interview, and will henceforth use constantly. In fact, I may even update The Shindig categories and add Sweet Songs. I love that this has a term, and there’s tons of them all over The Shindig.
Here’s the Sweet Song from Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, John Altyn’sSleepaway.
You’re Just What I’ve Been Looking For (Angela’s Theme) by Frank Vinci
Let’s take a little canoe ride from Camp Blackfoot across the lake to Camp Arawak for a 2 days overnighter with Angela Baker at Sleepaway Camp.
Mostly known for having the creepiest fuckin’ side-swipe ending of any generic Friday the 13thknockoff, Sleepaway Camp spawned several sequels and holds it own as a franchise that was able to climb out of Jason’s long shadow.
I’d love to post a gif, but I’d hate to spoil this for anyone that’s never seen it.
Ah, fuck it. This shit is 35 years old. If you haven’t seen this by now, I don’t know what to tell you, it’s just gonna get spoiled. Cause we can’t talk about Sleepaway Camp without talking about this ending. It’s the only thing that’s differentiates Sleepaway Camp from any number of faceless Friday clones.Horrifying.
Seriously. This shit still gets under my skin all these years later.
I had the fortune of seeing Sleepaway Camp long ago enough so that is wasn’t spoiled for me, and at an age where it could do maximum damage. And it did.
Given our current cultural climate, Sleepaway Camp tends to be derided as an artifact of Transphobia. Much the same way De Palma’s Dressed to Kill is now criticized.
And it’s a reasonable enough argument. If the sight of a girl with a penis was not frightening to you before, Sleepaway Camp certainly goes to some lengths making sure it forever will be. But, while I think that does support the argument against it, I think you can also cite those same lengths as reason why it isn’t perhaps wholly Transoygnist.
Like any good horror tale, Sleepaway Camp takes a social phobia (right or wrong) and uses it as a basis to create horror for its audience. I’m not sure the film is saying anything overt about that fear. Is it exploitive? Probably. But I don’t think it’s a condemnation. It’s not necessarily sympathetic either though, but films from the early 80’s rarely are in regards to any minority concern.
Now, you could argue that simply using a transgender reveal as a source of horror is insensitive, sure. You could also argue that by making a transgender character a violent and horrifying freak because of its transgenderism, and then having the other characters react as such, is just flat-out irresponsible. Thus you could condemn the film for perpetuating a negative cultural view of transgenderism. That is totally valid.
I think part of Sleepaway Camp’s defense though, could be that Angela’s transgenderism does not come from within her, but from an external source. She is forced into it by her adoptive aunt. Being abused into identifying as any gender against your will is wrong and itself horrifying. Almodovar’s similarly criticized The Skin I Live In also comes to mind here.
Considering this, one might argue that Sleepaway Camp is then perhaps even pro-transgenderism; a cautionary tale of the dangers (figurative or literal – mental or physical) of forcing anyone to align themselves with a gender they do not identify with. Maybe the biggest takeaway from Sleepaway Camp, intentional or not, is to let people just be who they are, whatever that is for them.
Additionally (for me anyway) the least horrifying aspect of this ending is the reveal of Angela’s gender. Sure, it’s part and parcel to the whole scene and its endurance, but there are several elements at work which give this scene its haunting quality. You could say they are thus making the transgender reveal horrifying, hence the argument against it. But I would say they are the factors, and not the reveal, which actually make this scene so horrifying. That might just be splitting hairs though.
Firstly, there’s the music. The piercing brass stabs are enough to set your teeth on edge by themselves.
Then there’s the build up. It’s abrupt and clumsy, but Aunt Martha’s characterization is so over the top and cartoonishly creepy, it is enough to give you the willies in context.
This is then followed by Angela’s guttural moaning. She says nothing. There’s no pleads of innocence, no explanations, just a heaving and animalistic breathing that send shivers down my spine still.
Then, the most effective part of this sequence, that wide shot. While this of course features the gender reveal, it is Angela’s frozen gaze which I’m actually disturbed by here.
This shot was made possible by life casting actress Felissa Rose’s face in the making the same horrifying look. They then turned that cast into a mask which was worn by a male actor. For me, this is the most upsetting part of the whole reveal; Angela’s static expression, made doubly creepy (and doubly static) by this horrifying mask.
It’s just stays there, frozen. And then the film freeze frames on Felissa Rose’s actual face and rolls the credits.
Credits over which you will hear this Shindigger, a creepy synth pop number seemingly written specifically for the film.
So whether or not this ending, or Sleepaway Camp as a whole, is something you find totally offensive and reprehensible, you can’t deny that it causes a deep emotional response, and that is something you don’t always get from this sort of lower-tier, copycat effort. And maybe that alone is worth the legacy.
