Why Was I Born (Freddy’s Dead)

TRACK #384

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

Alright, so we’re running outta Freddy songs here. Not really, but songs I feel like adding to this playlist anyway. After almost 400 tunes, we’ve covered all the heavy hitters from The Elm Street series and then some. But there’s one film we’ve yet to touch on, and that’s the much-maligned, Freddy’s Dead.

This is the instillment which purported to, in no uncertain terms, kill its main character and end the series. And that’s a particularly tricky proposition when that character was dead from the beginning and the franchise is still making money.

Though in fairness, Freddy’s post “dead” appearances are fairly well justified and certainly number less than his “pre-dead” escapades. The fact that Jason had more outings after his “Final Chapter” than before is the stuff of Hollywood irony.

But that’s neither here nor there when it comes to the film’s soundtrack, which, like the movie itself, is probably not what anybody actually wanted.

For one thing, there’s an uncomfortable amount of Goo Goo Dolls on this album for some reason. While certainly gaining a fair amount of popularity in the mid 90’s, I’m not sure they had the notoriety, or even the sound, to warrant 3 inclusions on a horror soundtrack in 1991. They’re not a band I wanna hear in a Freddy movie period, much less 3 times. More to the point, they’re not a band I even wanna hear, Freddy or not. Adding Freddy, and 2 other songs, is just offensive.

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

This is particularly disappointing considering that the Prince of Darkness himself, Mr. Alice Cooper, turns up in a cameo as Freddy’s Dad. They couldn’t get him to throw together a Title Track for this fucker? Hell, even lend a preexisting song to the proceedings? Nope, apparently not. And I’m sure you can guess that Music Supervisor David Chackler is nowhere to be found on this roster.

Yet, rising above the din of whatever-the-fuckery, like some emaciated spectre of 70’s swagger, is Iggy Pop.

They didn’t quite have the tenacity to let Iggy loose on a full-blown Title Track, however. Seems by 1991, folks were a little gun-shy (or perhaps a bit too hip) to indulge in the time-honored tradition of full synergistic Title Trackage . No, they pulled their punches with, what I will call, a Parenthetical Title Track. C’mon, grow some fuckin’ balls gang.

But while this may not be a full-on, true-blue Title Track, it’s a Title Track from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and it would be unbecoming of The Shindig to ignore it completely and with intention. Besides, it’s ain’t that bad. It’s not the best track on the playlist, no. It’s not the best Title Track either. In fact it’s probably not even a good one, but if you ask me, it’s not that bad.

Now, if you ask our old pals over at the Golden Raspberry Committee, Iggy served up one of the 3 worst original songs of that year.

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

I think it’s important to note that the 3rd song up for consideration that year was Vanilla Ice’s own Reverse Parenthetical Title Track, Cool As Ice (Everybody Get Loose.) So Iggy Pop, lead singer of The Stooges and Rock ‘N Roll legend, is now associated with 2 of the biggest running gags of 90’s pop-rap nonsense. My condolences Iggy.

This also affirms that 2 of the “worst” songs of 1991 are now featured on this playlist. A dubious honor. And that 3rd song is a goddamn Title Track from a guy already represented on this playlist?! Yeesh. I’m not sure what that suggests about this thing I’ve been wasting my time with for last 12 years, so I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

Since the worst song category only lasted for about 20 years, and we’ve added probably our last nominee/winner, I’d like to take a moment here to draw attention to a few other awesome songs deemed “unlistenable” by this group of unelected buzzkills.

Yor’s World by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis (who I guess is also known as Oliver Onions. What?) This one hurts fellas.

The Last Dragon by Dwight David Really? And a Track Track to boot? You gotta be kidding me.

Smooth Talker from Body Talk by Michael and David Sembello. For shame. At least it wasn’t that movie’s Title Track.

Drinkenstein by Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton from Rhinestone. This one actually took the title in ‘84. I get it I suppose, but seriously? This shit is great, and has been sitting in the bullpen for consideration on this playlist for many, many years.

Going back-to-back Stallone on it, you have Peace in Our Time, a great song by Frank Stallone from Rambo 2. This was also a winner in its respective year.

Then you got Howard the Duck sung by the lovely Lea Thompson in 1986. Now this is a solid Title Track. Thankfully it didn’t “win” but a disrespectful nomination for sure.

You Can Be a Garbage Pail Kid from 1987. Ya know, we might actually add this song as Expanded Title Track at some point.

Big Guns by AC/DC from 1993’s Last Action Hero. Really? C’mon! Again though, it’s thankful that the film’s Title Track escaped unscathed.

But enough of all that hemmin’ and hawin.’ Ya’ll know how I feel about this Golden Raspberry dildos, so let’s just get to it.

Here it is, playing as a sweet song over the end credits to Freddy’s convoluted, bizarre and mostly unsatisfying demise, it’s Iggy Pop’s Parenthetical Title Track Why Was I Born (Freddy’s Dead).

PS: Oh, since we talk about this on the “next” episode of Shindig Radio, an episode that was recorded before this song was posted, we discuss whether it should be included on the playlist. I think Mikey essentially makes the argument I’m making here that it’s a Nightmare on Elm Street and it’s a Title Track and c’mon, are you serious? Of course you need to add it. Needless to say, I agree with him. And apparently I have, because my first draft of this post was dated from 2019! Ha! Takes a while to get around to some of these. And even then, sometimes i’ll bump songs from year to year.

Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys)

TRACK #379:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fear No Evil

TRACK #378:

Fear No Evil by Trybe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, but hey! What about the movie?

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

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

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

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

Hard Rock Nightmare

TRACK #377:

Hard Rock Nightmare by The Bad Boys

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never Cry Devil

TRACK #376:

Never Cry Devil by Willy DeVille

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

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

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

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

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

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

But I can picture wilder. Much wilder.

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

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

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

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

Witches’ Brew

TRACK #375:

Witches’ Brew by Joyce Vincent Wilson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scary Scary Movies

TRACK #349:

Scary Scary Movies by Ossie D. and Stevie G.

Cause what would the Shindig be if we only offered up one referential tune called “Scary Movies” from a referential horror movie about Horror Movies themselves?

I guess technically this one is called Scary Scary Movies, but that’s close enough for me, especially since it’s a Referentially Inclusive Monster Rap to boot.

From our old Prom Night pal Paul Zaza comes this tune, the sweet song from 1991’s horrorthon gone wrong, Popcorn.

Now, if you’re a keen eared viewer, a giant fan of Popcorn or you just happen to own this soundtrack, you’ll note that there actually is a song featured in the movie called Scary Movies. It’s briefly played and in front of the theater too, right before the horrorthon starts.

To be fair, it’s pretty much the same song, only it’s not a fun rap, and you know how we roll on The Shindig.

We’re using the term “rap” here pretty loosely, as you’ll hear, cause this thing ain’t droppin bars. In fact, it’s kinda difficult to listen to, but that’s never stopped us before and it probably never will when a certain set a circumstance arrives.

And all of those boxes are being ticked by this one;

From a horror movie? Check
About horror movies? Check
Fits the current block like a glove? Check
A monster rap? Goddamn right
A sweet song? Oh yeah

So here is where you’ll find it, no matter how it may sound.

Now, IMDb claims the song was written by Paul Zaza (the film’s composer) Yvonne Murray (another performer on the soundtrack) and Alan Ormsby (the film’s writer and original director.) Curiously though, the soundtrack credits only Paul Zaza and no one else. However, the film itself credits Alan Ormsby as its sole writer, with Ossie D. and Stevie G. as the song’s performers. Ossie and Stevie were a duo of prolific Reggae artists from Jamaica. They may very well be the band playing out front of the theater as well. If they were, which I suspect, they are uncredited for their performance.

Now, if that seems a little weird it’s probably because Popcorn was shot almost entirely on location in Kingston, Jamaica, and I’m sure they scooped up some locals to lend some tunes.

If you’ve never seen Popcorn (which isn’t so crazy, as this early 90’s slasher has somewhat fallen through the cracks) I highly recommend giving it a go. Certainly do not judge it by this song alone. If you’re a genre fan, the film department’s William Castle inspired horrorthon of in-theatre gags like Fright Form Waivers, Aroma-Rama and the Shock Clock countdown, is a definite treat.

Then there’s all prop building, life-casting, mask masking and movie theatre hokery that brings the horrorthon to life. Add to that the absolutely incredible crowd that shows up to the theatre. It’s a bevy of Don Post and Distortions mask and homemade costumes. It’s a blast and makes for great Halloween viewing.

Genre staples Jill Scholen, Dee Wallace, and Kelly Jo Minter are joined by the likes of Mr. Hand, Crispin Glover’s dad, and One Crazy Summer’s Clay Stork (in an inspired turned as the face-swapping Toby) all conspire to make this early 90’s offering a fun time.

It wouldn’t make a bad double feature with last night’s Return to Horror High either. So, pick up that one, grab some popcorn and kick back this October with the very Halloweeny Popcorn and enjoy some scary scary movies.

You know the kind I mean!

Scary Movies

TRACK #348:

Scary Movies by Pleasant Company

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Satan (Theme)

TRACK #318:

Satan (Theme) by Paul Wibier

Our next stop on Satan’s Cannonball comes from a picture you could argue isn’t exactly a horror picture. I dunno though. Being rundown, raped and murdered by freaky, gakked out bikers sounds pretty goddamn horrific to me. But hey, everybody’s got different ideas of a good time. Either way, when you’re throwin’ me a tune which sounds as at-odds with its subject matter as this one does, The Shindig takes note.

From Al Adamson’s 60’s biker freak-out Satan’s Sadists comes our 318th track, Satan (Theme).

Starring the incomparable Russ Tamblyn as Anchor, leader of the biker gang “The Satans” with such fantastic biker members as Willie, Muscle, Firewater and Acid. The latter of which is played by none other the the films writer, and director of such classics as Without Warning, Satan’s Cheerleaders, Wacko, and The Uninvited, Mr. Greydon Clark.

It’s a 60’s biker explotation picture, so if you’re familiar, you know what you’re getting into and whether that’s frying your bacon or not. Again, it’s not explicitly horror in tone or vibe, but exploitation veers so close sometimes, and this song is just too awesome too ignore. And c’mon, we need a little more Satan around these parts.

So here comes his theme!

Is There a Phantom in the Mall?

TRACK #312:

Is There a Phantom in the Mall? by The Vandals

Speaking of Phantoms, we have another Phantom that made his debut on Ep. 19 of Shindig Radio, and that’s the infamous Eric!

Yeah, Eric. You know Eric, right? He’s just like Jason or Freddy except his generic and innocuous name still sounds generic and innocuous cause no one knows who the fuck he is. But he got a subtitle, all about his revenge, which you didn’t even know he needed cause you’ve never seen him before in your whole goddamn life.

Yeah, it’s weird, but it’s The Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge, coming to you direct from the old (and way awesomer) Sherman Oaks Gallery.

Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge is a fairly late-in-game, but still pretty fun, slashery take on the Phantom storyline featuring an all-star (if you’re The Shindig, anyway) cast.

You got Death Spa’s Ken Foree, Action U.S.A.’s Gregory Scott Cummings, Pee-Wee’s Morgan Fairchild and a pre-weasel Pauly Shore all doing their damnedest to try and turn this business into a legitimate franchise. It didn’t quite work out that way for them, but it’s totally worth watching anyway. Maybe even more so.

However, there’s still the matter of this song, from LA punk legends The Vandals, to contend with and reconcile.

See, if there was ever a contender for “Almost a Title Track” then it was certainly this one, and we definitely should not have included it on Title Tracks Pt. 5. But I hadn’t really considered the option of a Not Quite Title Tracks episode until after the fact. So, Eric just snuck on in, without paying his dues, just like he tried to do with the horror franchises, giving himself a subtitle like he was a somebody. The balls on this guy.

Cause, let’s face it, this track is flagrant two-time offender.

First, you got all these extra words, a Title Track faux pas from the jump. And it’s not just a simple addition either, it’s now a whole goddamn sentence, with punctuation no less!

And sometimes we’ll look the other way; He’s Rockula, The Toxic Avenger Theme, maybe even Midnight Again (but not fuckin’ likely, not after Eric’s transgression) but this one’s asking a bit too much.

Now, if that was all, then maybe all could be forgiven. But that’s not all, because this song title doesn’t isn’t even the name of the movie. Now they say, at one point in the chorus, is there a Phantom of the Mall, but when it came to titling the track, they went ahead with Is There a Phantom IN the Mall?

And baby, that’s just not the title of this movie.

Call me a nitpicker. Call me a hair-splitter. Call me an imbecile for devoting so many pseudo-serious words in a comedically aggressive tone to one of the most inane topics for a full 10 years of my life.

That’s fair. You call me whatever you’d like. But facts is facts, Jack.

And while this is a shinning example of everything a Title Track could and should be in almost every sense of the word, it just ain’t a Title Track where it counts…the Title itself.

Later Eric. You almost had it.

All that being said, this a great Referentially Inclusive Almost Title Track that 100% deserves to be here today.

So go grab a hotdog on a stick and maybe even a gun, cause you’re at The Chopping Mall, and there’s a Phantom in there too, and his name is Eric, and he’s lookin for some revenge. Are you a phony security guard with an ostentatious dangly earring? Did you burn down his house just so you could put up the coolest mall the 80’s had to offer? Boy, I sure hope not.

Phantom of the Ritz

TRACK #311:

Phantom of the Ritz by The Waters

Since last year’s countdown got cut a little short, we ended up with a couple Shindig debuts on Title Tracks Pt. 5. Let’s take a moment here to get some of those guys on the official roster, shall we?

First up is this banger from The Waters.

Now, I’m not 100% sure The Waters listed in the credits of Phantom of the Ritz are actually THE Waters. Ya know, like how it’s not really Ray Stevens or Paul Williams.

But if this really is THE Waters, then they were a family band from LA that mostly worked as backup singers to the stars. Oren Waters specifically sang for the likes of Michael Jackson, John Fogerty, Paul Simon, Neil Diamond and has personally been featured on over 100 platinum albums. Wild.

He’s even responsible for the vocals on the The Jefferson’s theme song, Movin’ On Up! I guess imagining they are The Waters from Phantom of the Ritz isn’t so out of the question after all.

Additionally, Oren and his sisters Maxine and Julia, all appear in the 2013 Academy Award winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, which shines a light on all the great backup singers and musicians responsible for so many famous hits over the years.

Unfortunately, they were more like 20 miles from stardom when the recorded the Title Track to this turkey.

Phantom of the Ritz is not entirely unenjoyable but it is definitely missable. That is, unless you’re this guy, who’s all about Phantom of the Opera interpretations. His write-up actually made me reconsider my stance on the film. He’s into it. Maybe I end to rewatch.

However you feel about this Phantom, I think it’s clear that he doesn’t deserve a Title Track of this caliber, cause it jams, and The Waters, professionals that they are, absolutely belt it.

Here’s it is, Graham’s pick for Title Track of the year: 2022, he’s the Phantom of the Ritz!

Living After Death

TRACK #306:

Living After Death by Al Festa & Maurizio Cerantola

Since we’re talking about the Zombie series, let’s jump to this “Almost a Title Track” from Claudio Fragasso’s Zombie 4: After Death.

Claudio’s directorial effort never quite hits those moments of gonzo joy on display in Zombie 3, but it’s certainly not the worst thing to carry the “Zombie” moniker. And it does have it’s predecessor licked in one very important department; and that’s the opening credit number.

If you thought Clue in the Crew were 80’s up wait til you get a load of Metropole keyboardist Al Festa and singer Maurizio Cerantola’s Living After Death.

IMDb, surprisingly, has a fair amount of information about Signore Cerantola. Seems he was in a Led Zeppelin tribute band called Custard Pie. Then after that, he fronted 2 separate Whitesnake cover bands, one of which was fantastically named Cover-Dale.

Well he’s got the pipes, that’s for sure, as he belts it out here on the kind of song you just wish was a true Title Track. All the hallmarks of the finest are on display. It’s was right there fellas, starrin’ ya in the gullet, all you had to do was grab it.

But alas, their synthy banger will need to be relegated to an Almost Title Tracks episode of Shindig Radio in the future.

As for Zombie 4…that 2nd “Hey, let’s just take a movie that’s not really a sequel to Zombie and call it one anyway” installment…what’s the old chestnut? Zombie 4 makes Zombie 3 look like Zombie 2? Perhaps that’s applicable.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Blue Heart sets ‘em up and the Shindig knocks ‘em down.

Here’s the somehow even more 80’s rocker Living After Death.

The Sound of Fear

TRACK #305:

The Sound of Fear by Clue in the Crew

Let’s keep the Italian horror train rolling along with this little number, straight off of Blue Heart’s turntable, Clue in the Crew’s rocking Zombie-Bird Winnebago Attack/Sweet Song, The Sound of Fear.

The Lucio Fulci/Bruno Mattei/Claudio Fragasso mega-team up Zombie 3 delivers just about everything you’d expect outta that unholy and contentious alliance: Italian weirdness, synthy goodness, nonsensical plotting , machete-wielding, decapitated-head-flying zombie madness and generous amounts flagrant intellectual theft.

I mean, let’s start with that poster art alone. It’s straight up the Force: Five fist mixed with Freddy’s eyes from Dream Warriors and the lady’s face from the Absurd poster. If Stay The Night didn’t indicate the kind of shameless theft that’s rampant in Italian cinema, or just what kind is in store from Zombie 3, then this pilfery collage passed off as “promotional material” ought to give you an idea.

What was marketed as the second sequel to Romero’s Dawn of the Dead actually plays out more like Italy’s answer to Return of the Living Dead and I honestly don’t have 1 single problem with that.

You throw in radio DJ Blue Heart, straight rockin’ the Jose Canseco shades, pushing his ecological agenda alongside the hottest Phillipino tunes 1988 had to offer, and the Shindig is in Paradiso.

Here’s Clue in the Crew’s referentially inclusive, 80’ser-than-shit hit, The Sound of Fear.

‘Cause sometimes you just wanna piss on a bush.

Rock Me Dracula

TRACK #294:

Rock Me Dracula by Mokka

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 referential Rock Me Dracula, from Mokka.

Fly By Night

TRACK #293:

Fly by Night by Pat Hodges

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 Disco Dracula 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 Will Survive 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’s Halloween, 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!

The Toxic Avenger Theme

TRACK #288:

The Toxic Avenger Theme by Scott Casey

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.

Raiders of the Living Dead

TRACK #287:

Raiders of the Living Dead by George Edward Ott

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 Ott himself 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.

I said the dea-ea-ea-ea-ed….are af-ter meeee!

Teenage Exorcist

TRACK #286:

Teenage Exorcist by Tim De Nardo

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!

Sleep-A-Way Camp 2….Un-Happ-y Camp-ers!

Once Bitten

TRACK #285:

Once Bitten by 3 Speed

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’s Hands 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 Speed and their synth pop title tracks Once Bitten.

You Bring Out the Werewolf In Me

TRACK #284:

You Bring Out the Werewolf In Me by Simon Stokes

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’s Into The Fire with an instrumental version of Joe Lamont’s Quiet Cool for the opening credits of Dream Warriors’ home video release. Pretty nifty.

Is it any wonder then that David was also the music supervisor for Return of the Living Dead 2, a movie which features certified banger and Shindig hit Flesh to Flesh from the same Joe Lamont?

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 The Fat 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!

Halloween Shindig

The Horror Fan's Halloween Playlist

Referentially Inclusive Tracks