It’s in the movie. It’s about the movie. It’s named after the damn thing too. It’s The Title Track, and it’s always awesome. My favorite category of all.
We can’t just give you a Title Track about a woman and not a Title Track performed by a woman, that would be cruel and unusual. So here comes a Title Track from a film that is itself cruel and unusual.
From Mark Pirro’s 1991 “comedy” comes this absolute hitter from Joyce Mordoh, a through and through Title Track of the highest order.
We recently recorded our 7th volume of Title Tracks on Shindig Radio, and this one was definitely the big dog at that party. I’m not sure when you’ll finally get to hear that episode, but I’m hoping for a 2026 release.
Now, I haven’t listen through any of the raw audio yet, but I remember being pretty unkind toward Mark Pirro’s lighthearted musical. Perhaps too uncharitable. I know why I was unkind (cause I pretty much hate it) but it was late in the episode and I went a bit too hard, I think. If you’ve seen Mark’s other films like A Polish Vampire in Burbank or Curse of the Queerwolf, you have an idea of what’s going on with Nudist Colony of the Dead.
I get that it’s silly and not meant to be taken very seriously. That’s fine. I have plenty of patience for things that are objectively bad or silly for the sake of being silly. But so much of this movie is just bad humor that absolutely does not land, that it’s relentless torrent of unfunny bits just becomes tiresome and annoying. There’s nothing quite as infuriating to sit through as comedy that’s just not working for you. That’s not to say there aren’t of some bits I found funny, or that no one could find joy and humor in it, it’s just that I do not.
But alas, that takes nothing away from what I think is an absolute masterclass in Title Trackery from a woman who was no stranger to the game. She also sang Deathrow Gameshow for Mark Pirro and wrote the Title Tracks for Mark’s summer buffoonery Buford’s Beach Bunnies. Not a bad showing, Joyce. 3 puts you in Irene Cara territory. But nobody can touch the Queen.
So, let’s go bare assed, balls to the wind and stick it to those religious shitheels with a Title Track that’s enough to wake the dead!
Here’s Joyce Mordoh with Nudist Colony of the Dead!
Holy Jesus, that doesn’t feel good to type. Doesn’t feel good that there’s even call to type such a thing, but facts is facts.
There’s also a man singing here, which while not exclusively against policy this week (there’ll be others), singing that is about a Woman rather than by a Woman is definitely a bit less than. However, this is a Title Track, and for that we can make this exception.
Because it simply wouldn’t be Halloween over here at Halloween Shindig if we didn’t add some more Title Tracks to the mix.
Actually, now that I’m reading that back, I wanna cross reference this claim of mine. One moment please.
Ok, Nevermind. Apparently it can very much be Halloween over here at Halloween Shindig without any Title Tracks at all, as both 2018 and even 2023 featured no Title Tracks on the countdown.
Still, 11 out of 13 years ain’t a bad ratio, and it suggests that Title Tracks are kinda of a thing around here. And for anyone around here who’s been around here who knows the score knows that.
Tonight’s Title Track comes from a British film called Vampira, pronounced Vam-PEER-a as opposed to Malia Nurmi’s original horror host Vam-PIE-ra. Not sure why the writers decided to call the film that but pronounce it differently, particularly since by 1974 (even in England) Vampira would have been a known quantity. Perhaps that why they pronounced it different? But who knows with them Brits.
I guess Malia took no issue with them taking her name, regardless of pronunciation, as I could find no evidence to suggest she approached production or sued the production company over the rights to the moniker.
And that might just be because, generally speaking, the film is widely known by its overseas title, Old Dracula. To capitalize on Mel Brooks’ smash hit Young Frankenstein, they released this sucker stateside as Old Dracula, get it? Har de fuckin har.
Despite that poor attempt to sideline a perfectly good Title Track, the movie was originally released in the UK as Vampira and features this definite Title Track from The Majestics, so step off, ya Yanks!
Plot wise we have the Notorious Phantom, Mr. David Niven, playing an aging and lonely Dracula attempting to resurrect his long dead love, Vampira, using the blood of young Playmates. Seems he needs a special sort of blood and he’s just gonna invite all these Playmates to his castle for a photo shoot and weird Dracula party (where he pretends to be Dracula) and gets the playmates to sleep overnight.
It’s a solid plan, except that the one the playmates (incidentally, the one with the special blood) is also Black, so Vampira is resurrected as a Black woman.
Now of course this isn’t a problem at all if you’re not a total piece of shit, but this is a guy who has literally murdered thousands of humans so he can live, what’s a little casual racism on top? It might be hard for non-murdering not-pieces-of-shit to understand how naturally one might take to simple racism while regarding an entire species as sub-vampire.
This is compounded by the that fact that Vampira is played by the stunningly gorgeous Teresa Graves, who was very famous at this exact time for playing TV cop Christie Love on Get Christine Love. Readers might remember the scene from Resevoir Dogs where the gang wonders aloud about who played Christie love – you under arrest sugar! Well, Vampira played Christie love, that’s who
In addition to Niven and Graves, it being a British production and all, there’s definitely Hammer babes afoot. Here we have the gorgeous Veronica Carlson from Dracula Has Risen from the Grave and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed anLinda Hayden from Taste the Blood of Dracula and The Blood on Satan’s Claw and that’s pretty cool. So big up there.
We also get Nicky Henson, whom you may remember from Witchfinder General and Psychomania, which is also a treat.
Thanks to the blog Denim Disco, where I’ve been lucky enough to find out about a number of different tracks, I can tell you the guy who wrote this also wrote the lyrics for Goldfinger, his name was Anthony Newley. And that singer? Despite The Majesticsbeing a UK soul band, that’s American actor Clarke Peter’s whom you may now as Dectective Lester Freamon from The Wire.
So, let’s turn the mic over to a man, for a moment, as he does what so many men with microphones have done for as long as their have been microphones; sing the praises of a woman. In this case, the resurrected body of a bloodsucking Queen of the night named Vampira.
It’s been 5 long years since Shindig Radio kicked down a stack of action-packed tracks. So, we’re coming to hard hand-off a whole new volume of wilding-ass tunes!
Join fan-tolerated guest, and Action Distraction rookie, Matt Mastrella, as we laser-focus on Action Title Tracks and the songs of PM Entertainment genius Jastereo Coviare: The King of The Title Tracks.
So, put your pimps up and hose down with the summer’s coolest diversions fromL.A. Heat, Lady Avenger, Shotgun, Drug Runners and more!
There’s always more action-strapped tracks to extract on…
The Action Distraction Vol. 3
And don’t forget to pick up some horror-themed cookies for your own listen-along snack breaks at Coven Cookies!
And this were a link to Graham C. Schofield’s Hard Handoff (aka Deadly Currency) would be, if it was available yet. Check back soon, cause you know we’ll update this link immediately.
Shindig Radio is finally back with fan favorite Kyle Sullivan listening to some fan favorite Title Tracks, as promised.
Join Kyle as he sleepwalks through a Non-Halloween Halloween episode with pals Mikey Rotella, Graham C. Schofield and a hit list of misses from the likes of…
1963’s Ruby, the subtextually frustrated Fear No Evil, the packed and stacked Dangerous Seductress, the unfortunately titled Night Visitor, the unfortunately made Road Meat, the long ignored Lost Boys…and many more.
It may be literally over a year late, feature absolutely nothing Halloweeny, and contain an uncomfortable amount of questionable songs, but we hope you remember…
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 installment 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 kind of irony only Hollywood could produce with a straight face.
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.
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.
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 coomercial-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 over here 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.’ Y’all know how I feel about those 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.
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.
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 Schoolhave 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 Evilfrom Trybe, whoever the hell they even are.
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!
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.
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 atMovie Timelinesfor 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!
We’re gonna hit ya with another Tie-In Title Track here, this one from 1959, that I very much wish was in the actual movie.
Cause I love The Tingler. It’s easily and simultaneously one of my favorite William Castle and Vincent Price movies. It balances the right amount of camp with just the right amount of ingenuity to create a memorable picture that has truly stood the test of time. And not for nothing, but it features the very first LSD trip ever shown on film. And it’s taken by Vincent Price no less. What could be better?
Well, how about this song? C’mon, it’s amazing. It’s everything you want from a Title Track in 1959 to a movie about a creature that lives in your spine and feeds on fear. So why wasn’t it featured in the film itself? Well, it’s a great question and of course it’s one that I have absolutely no real answer for.
I could suggest that it’s perhaps because the song was produced after the film was shot and edited, solely for the purpose of marketing the film. That seems reasonable. Maybe it was just an after thought. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have dropped it on the credits real easy before they released the film, but they didn’t, so here we are.
Or I could assume it’s because they didn’t think the tone of this song really matched the tone of the movie, like say The Chucky Song. And perhaps just like that tune, they pulled it from the release. However, unlike The Chucky Song, they didn’t want the tune to go to waste and used it’ll as a piece of the marketing. Perhaps.
I honestly don’t think this song would have felt that out of place played over the credits or diegetically featured somewhere during the film. I guess I can understand why maybe Williams Castle and team thought so. It is a bit campy and silly. But I guess that’s my point, so is The Tingler.
Interestingly, the B-side to this Tie-In Title Track was another (Truncated) Tie-In Title Track called The Thirty Foot Bride from the Lou Costello comedy The 30ft Bride of Candy Rock, also from 1959.
But who are The Tinglers? Well, much like The Five Blobs, they were studio musicians and we might never know for sure. Except, that is, for once vocalist in particular. A very prominent voice you might just be familiar with.
Yep. That main voice belongs to Tony the Tiger himself, Mr. You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch, Thurl Ravenscroft. How cool is that?
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but you give me something like this, sung by someone like that, then watch out, cause that shit’s hittin’ The Shindig harder than a cease and desist from the Universal Music Group. I don’t care if it was featured in the film or not. Don’t get me wrong, that would certainly help, but it definitely won’t detract from The Tingler by The Tinglers.
If you’ve been hangin around here for any amount of time, then you know we talk a lot about Title Tracks. This is especially true what with Shindig Radio’s Title Tracks Pt. 6 dropping. Oh wait, that hasn’t happened yet. Shit. My predictive drafting has failed me yet again.
Well, in that episode, I kinda break down all the different types of Title Tracks, everything from Parenthetical jammers to Title Track After the Facts.
But there’s another sort of Title Track that I didn’t mention on the show, and that’s because they’re technically not really Title Tracks at all. But these are Tie-In Title Tracks.
These are songs that, for all intents and purposes, are true blue Title Tracks, meeting the same criteria and serving the same or (in some cases) an even more overtly, promotional purpose.
There’s just one problem; they’re not actually in the goddamn movie. Nope. They just exist, outside of the film, in a purely musical space operating as a full fledged audio commercials for the films they’re named after.
Now, we already have one of these on the playlist at #319 in The Devil Rides Out, but I’ve dug up a few more.
I wonder if they weren’t sort of a precursor to full-on Title Tracks, from a time when producers were starting to realize the potential effect a popular song could have in generating interest, but didn’t want to sully their film with something as coarse as a rock and roll song tonally incongruous to the film being marketed.
It’s possible. The oldest Title Track featured on the playlist is still The Blob from 1958. Not for nothing either, but it’s one of the oldest Title Track period. 1955’s Love is a Many-Splendored Thing has it beat by 3 years, but I’m not really seeing much else earlier than that, but I am always on the lookout.
However, The Blobwas released the year before 3 out of the 4 Promotional Title Tracks I’ve found, so a True Title Track certainly wasn’t unprecedented. But The Blob, at present, appears to be a bit of an outlier, as Title Tracks didn’t seem to gain real prominence until the mid 1960’s. James Bond films, long known specifically for their Title Tracks, didn’t start that ritualuntil 1963’s From Russia with Love.
The next closest thing is Hush Hush Sweet Charlottefrom 6 years later in 1964. That one’s interesting as it wasn’t technically a Title Track originally, because the movie was shooting under the name What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte. Bette Davis reportedly disliked the name as it made the film sound far too much like a sequel to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. This song had already been written and recorded though and Bette recommended changing the films title to match. Wild! The movie naming itself after the original song to instantly turn that song into a Title Track is baller as fuck. That’s a powerful ass Title Track.
But I digress. Back to Dr. Terror, cause it’s interesting in its own right.
See, this track is sung by Dr. Terroractor Roy Castle, star of the Voodoo segment. Roy was an accomplished singer and trumpet player in his own right, which probably led to him being tapped for the task. Though Roy plays trumpet player Bailey in the film, the trumpet parts were apparently recorded by legendary Jazz player Tubby Hayes and not Roy himself. He does do a bang on job miming those parts though, as one might expect.
Another curious aspect of the song is that, despite it being sung by someone from the film itself, it completely misrepresents the nature of Dr. Terror’s house of horrors. Its treats it as though it were an actual brick and mortar location filled with horrifying surprises. If you’ve ever seen the film, you’ll know that the house or horrors is simply a metaphor Dr. Terror (or, more appropriately, Dr. Schrek) uses to describe his tarot deck. The fact that Roy enters a spooky old house and keeps meeting strange characters is so wildly out of sync with the film it seems almost laughable, particularly considering this is suppose to be the audio equivalent of a trailer or print ad. You’re selling the wrong film here fellas.
Either way, it’s a fun song with silly interludes that reminds me quite a bit of Carry On Screaming! also British and from the following year, 1966. I wonder if Ray Pilgrim and the crew were taking a bit of a piss on Amicus and Roy here. I certainly wouldn’t put it past them.
At any rate here’s the first of 2 Tie-In Title Tracks we got on tap for you this season. It’s Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors!
I have been writing about the greatness of old horror Title Tracks for roughly 10 straight years now. They’re my favorite type of track on the playlist. They have the power to elevate bad movies to ones worth talking about, and the finesse to turn great movies into legends.
I’ve been speaking publicly about that same greatness for roughly 4 years now, half in the bag, obnoxiously crooning along out of tune. Hopefully, that has illuminated some of the finer, and even perhaps less finer, examples the sub-genre has to offer.
Presented for your enjoyment, is a Maxi-Playlist of all the Title Tracks currently present on the Full Playlist plus any featured on Shindig Radio (5 volumes, at the time of writing) including all the ones not presently included (or will ever be included) on The Full Playlist. So yes, that means even Body Melt (sorry, no 9 to 5 though, or Spaceballs, or any of the action extractions either.)
Rather than putting them together as they appeared on the show however, I have ordered this playlist chronologically with date makers to illustrate the rise of and eventual fall of this particular fad in film history.
I would also like to note that the new additions Bad Taste and I Was a Teenage Zombie plus previously unaccounted for The Monster Squad tips the scales into 1987’s favor for “The Year of the Title Track” at 8 total! That’s even with 1988 getting the padding of fake track Big Breasted Girls Go to the Beach and Take Their Tops Off. Not too shabby 1987. Let’s see what the future holds as these two juggernaut years continue to slug it out!
I will add to this playlist as more volumes of Title Tracks continue to spill out from the Halloween Hole, as (despite what this playlist may suggest) there are still so many Title Tracks in the bullpen left to revel in, make fun of, and sing along to poorly.
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 need to rewatch this thing.
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!
The Shindig Radio gang finally returns, and regionally specific fan favorite, Kyle Sullivan, is returning along with ’em!
Join him as he joins Graham C. Schofield and Mikey Rotella to endure more Horror Movie Title Tracks of dubious quality.
Laugh, You Clown! as you hear them hear songs from genre classics like 1973’s Arnold, Mexico’s Don’t Panic! and Alan Plone’s Phantom of the Ritz!
Marvel, You Rube! as they reference events from almost one full calendar year ago, like Matt Mastrella’s 43nd birthday and the passing of film legend William Smith.
Recoil, You Pussy!as they eat dusty skillet chips and scratch dry shit!
It had been a long time since I had sat down and watched Toxie’s back-to-back shot sequels, and I had completely forgotten about this tailor made tune sung by Scott Casey.
This one slightly jukes my (admittedly somewhat rigid) definition of a Title Track by being featured in the sequel and having the word “theme” tacked on the end, but I don’t think there’s any other word for this song.
It explicitly describes, in very detailed fashion, the events of the first film. And Scott enthusiastically chants the title over and over again, making for a textbook Title Track under any other circumstances.
So we’ll overlook the fact that it’s from Toxie’s second outing, and that it has the word theme slapped on there, and simply bask in the relentless 80’s power-synth-rock awesomeness of The Toxic Avenger Theme. Just listen to those falsettos! When Lloyd decided to give Toxie his own theme, he definitely didn’t skimp.
As I stated in an episode of Shindig Radio that you readers have yet to hear, most people seem to refer to our next song as “The Dead Are After Me.”
And once that chorus hits the first time, there’ll be no doubt in your mind why.
However, it is my assertion that this song, composed and performed by George Edward Ott, is actually a Title Track, despite its chorus.
See, the film itself only ever credits this tune as “Title Song” and George Edward does say the phrase “Raiders of the Living Dead.”
Says the title?
Claims it’s a title song?
Good enough for me, internet be damned.
Now, if George Edward Otthimself reaches out to me and says…
“No, ya moron. Listen to that chorus! Obviously the title of the song is “The Dead Are Are After Me.” What kind of idiot are you?
…then I’ll stand down. But until that day, I’m holding fast. This is a Title Track.
Either way, it’s a great little lo-fi piece of analog rock accompaniment that definitely belongs on this playlist, under any name.
As for the film, it’s a crack up. Featuring Flick from A Christmas Story as a industrious young inventor who accidentally turns his Grandfather’s laserdisc player into a death ray. Score.
There’s this Doctor on some prison island, and he’s turning dead convicts into Zombies, as ya do. That gets a little hairy and they’re running amuck. Then a reporter and a local librarian (yeah, it’s that kinda movie) get webbed up in this zombie business, but eventually they team up with Gramps and his recurve bow and Flick with his laser ray to save the day.
Top all that off with a Title Track like this, and you got yourself a kind of a winner.
If you’re a Shindig Radio fan, you’re no doubt familiar with our next tune, which we clowned around on pretty heavily during Title Tracks Part 4 last season.
It’s Teenage Exorcist, the Title Track which says the name of the film incessantly, while never really talking about the film at all. Even the title doesn’t make any sense. There’s an exorcist, but he’s hardly a teenager, played by 66 year old Count Yorga thespian, Robert Quarry.
Additionally, I’m not sure anyone appearing in the film is even in their 20’s, much less a teenager. Brinke Steven, whom the exorcism is performed on, was 37 at the time. Pizza delivery “boy” Eddie Deezen was 34. So much for that, I suppose.
Though, to clarify our “uninformed” query from that episode, this box art here to your right seems to suggest that, yes, someone (at least someone in marketing anyway) did in fact consider Deezen to be the “teenage” exorcist. Ok then.
Whomever this song is about, it’s a fun tune which, as Mikey and Graham so easily illustrated, can perfectly accommodate any 5 syllable movie title.
So try it out with your favorite 5 syllable movie title while we rock a little closer to Halloween 2021!
Since we’re talking about 80’s Monster comedies, and that subject is near and dear to my heart, let’s keep that theme running with our next track.
Way back in 2013, when the Halloween Shindig blog was in it’s infancy, we dropped Maria Vidal’sHands Off from the film Once Bitten. It’s a prominent feature in the film, which plays during the very memorable 3-way dance-off between Lauren Hutton, Kim Coppins and a young Jim Carrey.
Now, why it’s taken 8 years to get that same film’s Title Track in the rotation is anyone guess, particularly since it’s been in the bullpen since before The Shindig ever made its way to the internet. For shame.
This one comes from the relatively unknown synth-pop band out of Boston called 3 Speed. They were pretty much a local act until they’re manager randomly sent a demo tape off to MGM. So impressed, the studio immediately flew the band out to do some recording for a new film.
They enjoyed some moderate success after this tune too, opening for the likes of Pat Benatar, but they were never offered a full-on record deal. Mostly, they just appeared on film soundtracks. Their song Cry can be heard in the Linda Blair’s awesome crossbow ladened revenge actioner, Savage Streets. Packed among all the tunes in bizarro 80’s sci-fi musical Voyage of the Rock Aliens is their song Back on the Streets. And Wind Me Up is featured in 1986’s BMX freakout, Rad – a movie I love that I’ll probably have to crowbar into an Action Distractions episode at some point.
But for now, let’s keep this spooky with 3 Speedand their synth pop title tracks Once Bitten.
A Critical Madness by Kay Reed with The Church of Our Savior Choir
Tim Ritter is pretty awesome. If you’re a fan of 80’s shot-on-video, backyard horror, than you’re definitely familiar with old Tim.
The auteur behind such insane fare as Twisted Illusions, Creepand Day of the Reaper, Tim was a to-the-bone horror fan armed with a camera who just said “Hey! I can do that.”
And did it he did, creating some of the most entertaining and charming additions to this bizarre, homespun sub-genre. If you like that sort of thing.
And I do, so I’m gonna give you all a double shot of Tim Ritter tunes. First up, the by-line Title Track to his 1986 bonkers opus Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness.
Like most of Tim’s output, it’s a film that really must be seen to be believed and even then I’m sure it’ll be a little tricky to fully wrap your mind around.
After happening upon his wife fuckin his best friend, Mike Strauber begins spiraling into a critical madness, first by playing increasingly masochistic games of truth or dare with people that aren’t really there, sending him straight to the nuthouse.
Eventually, he disfigures his own face and then fashions himself a weird-ass cooper mask. Then the dickhead orderlies give him a picture of his wife, ya know, to warm up his cold, padded cell. Yeah, that’ll probably lead to increased mental stability.
Predictably (and thankfully for us) it does no such thing, propelling Mike to escape and embark on a Silent Night, Deadly Night 2-style daytime killing spree complete with nunchucks, a full-on mace and maybe even a grenade, I dunno.
Shot when Tim was only 18, it belies his age and at times appears to be the work of more mature folks. Not all the time of course, but it’s still pretty impressive for someone who couldn’t even legally get drunk.
Which leads us to this song, this gloriously bizarre and out of place song. Some kinda Dion Warwick sounding left field commission, A Critical Madnessappears to be sung from perspective of Mike’s wife, by crooning woman Kay Reed, complete with an accompanying children’s choir.
I dunno why Tim thought a movie like his should end with a song like this, but thank God he did.
