We’ve talked about the expansive and wonderfully creative force that was The Real Ghostbusters in the past.
In the distance past, as it happens, when we posted Touching Old Magic back in 2018.
That piece of highly specific musical gold came from the prime-time Halloween special, The Halloween Door, from 1989. Prior to that however, The Real Ghostbusters had already indulged in 2 Halloween specials. 1986’s When Halloween Was Forever and 1987’s Halloween II 1/2.
Both specials feature the villain Samhain, which is true Sam Loomis fashion, they pronounce as Sam Hain. No matter, cause he’s the Pumpkin-headed spirit of Halloween and he’s incredible. His plan to turn Halloween on forever is commendable and the episode is a great example of what The Real Ghostbusters was great at – a crazy occult plot with wild ass creature taking center stage.
Now, peppered throughout the show’s original season, you can hear a bunch of fun synth pop tunes just kinda hanging out in the background. In particular, there’s one in When Halloween Was Forever that plays briefly during a montage that distinctly says “Frankenstein is groovin!” and if that, playing during a Halloween special of The Real Ghostbusters doesn’t equal “Shindig” I don’t know what the hell does.
Normally when confronted with fleeting inclusive songs of this nature, we just kinda have to accept that probably no one really cared about the song and it’s was never released. Well, not with this number.
Not in the slightest.
Cause they released all these songs as an audio cassette in 1986 called The Real Ghobusters Soundtrackand thank the goddamn maker they did, because fuck yeah. You can listen to that whole album over in the mini-playlist section. Just click the link above.
So thankfully for once, instead of telling you how shitty it is that we can only present you with some 45 second clip of this potentially awesome, we can proudly say here it is, in all it’s Dracula Rapping glory. Oh yeah, Dracula shows up and raps and goddamn great.
So, let’s add yet another Mysterioso Pizzicato offender to this year’s pile, here’s Tahiti with Midnight Action!
I’m sure I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again, but it’s wild to me that after 14 years and 430 songs, we can still dig up straight monster heat like tonight’s track.
I’ve got a ton of songs in the bullpen of a monstrous, or inclusive or holiday variety that simply haven’t made their way to the rubber yet. I know about ’em, but they just haven’t gotten their day. But sometimes I’m totally sideswiped by a song that somehow seems to have evaded all my years of scouring and digging.
But maybe y’all been bumping this one secretly. Maybe you’ve all been hoarding it and just not tellin’ ya boy. Well, one guy who is definitely tellin’ ya boy is Shindig Radio personality Graham C. Schofield, who hipped me to this hidden banger over the summer, and it became an instant add.
Seriously, where has this song been hiding? And how come we’re not talking about it til song 435? It’s criminal really. And if you’ve got a Halloween playlist that doesn’t feature this tune, I can now say with full indignant judgment, you’re fuckin’ up.
But like we tend to say around here, all these hidden treasures will soon be brought to the light, and today, that gem comes from The Flirts.
Now it seems these Flirts were the musical brainchild of Mr. Bobby Orlando aka Bobby O. He basically wrote, produced and performed all the music and employed a rotating stable of models to act as the faces (and sometimes voices) of the group.
Now, we’ve talked about Bobby before, as he was a pioneering force behind what became known as High-NRG, which was sort of the Stateside answer to Italo-Disco. Additionally, Bobby is a Shindigger himself at #66 with Whisper to a Scream from Freddy’s Revenge.
Given these two facts, perhaps it should come as no surprise that The Flirts pumped out a synth heavy monster dancer entitled Teenage Werewolf (I Was A).
And make no mistake, this is a straight up monster mash banger. Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Igor and even a “Mummy” are all getting shouted out here, in their way, anyway.
And the song itself is a curious blend of 50’s sensiblities, teenage werewolves, with 80’s socio-economic concerns, teen pregnancy.
See, this Teenage Werewolf is the Bride of Frankenstein. But she cheated on Frankenstein with Dracula. Once Ole Frank catches wind though, he gives her the boot, cause I guess Frankenstein was living with a teenager. Weird, but OK. These are not only fictional characters, but also creatures of the night and maybe we shouldn’t be expecting that they don’t engage in problematic behavior beyond, ya know, all the murder. But the point still stands. It’s a little weird.
Well, it gets weirder, because that teenage werewolf becomes pregnant with Dracula’s love child. OK, Frankenstein living with a teenager is one thing. Cheating on Frank with Dracula is another, maybe it was just an emotional affair, ya know just holding hands. But Dracula impregnating her definitely removes any plausible deniability that this was simply a platonic relationship. Then, given that Dracula is at the very least 120 years old at this point (and potentially almost 500 by most accounts) puts this well beyond statutory rape. Even if she’s 18 or 19, I’m pretty sure the absolutely egregious age gap there should not allow a year or 2 to get chalk up to “well technically she’s an adult.”
But again, this is fuckin’ Dracula we’re talking about. What are we expecting here? Him to have some kind of moral compass? The guy literally feeds off the blood of humans to sustain his unnatural existence. He’s the goddamn definition of non-consensual. This ain’t right Drac buddy, but I guess I’m saying maybe we should expect that at this point, and not hold him to some sort of natural decency.
Anyway, she gets kicked out again for being pregnant and has to go back to live with Daddy and Mummy, which is weird cause I thought she was already living there. Did she move back in with Frankenstein? Did she move in with Dracula? I sure don’t know.
What I do know is there’s a dude saying “hip hop” almost as much as Bobby O is firing off that 808 cowbell, and it’s goddamn glorious.
Here to get your feet moving, it’s a pure slice of 80’s Monster Dance Pop withThe Flirts and the curiously parenthetical Teenage Were (I Was A).
House That Rocked wasn’t the only new Monster Rap DJ Ryan flipped our way. Coming on its heels is one from 1989 that was also flying under my radar called Tales of the Twins.
Twins? What Twins? Well, Twin Hype, they’re the twins in question. They were pair of actual twins, Glennis and Lennis Brown, who came up from the South Carolina to New Jersey in the late 80’s.
The duo released a pair of albums, 1991’s Double Barrel, and their eponymous 1989 debut which features tonight’s monstrous addition.
The tune finds the brothers hanging out one night looking for a party when their buddy Shawn pulls up. He tells them he’s heading to a party at the house at the end of the block, and that’s all the brothers needed to hear. The pair proceed to tell Shawn what a bad idea that is, and promptly detail a supernatural experience they once had at that very house.
But Shawn ain’t buying it, so in an attempt to dissuade him, the duo recall increasingly incredulous tales of the wild and monstrous situations they’ve gotten into at the house on the end of the block.
Aside from being pretty funny, these are some of the more referential bars Monster Raps have seen til this point. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, The Wolfman, Count Dracula, The Munster’s, Jason Voorhees, The Ghostbusters, The Wicked Witch with a 40 of beer. Fuckin’ Gargamel for Christ’s sake. Even Freddy Krueger makes an appearance rolling up a blunt in the dungeon. This shit is nuts. And if that wasn’t enough, Shaggy and Scooby pop up, with Scoob whipping out a bag of that loud for the whole gang. Just bonkers.
We never really find out if Shawn ever decided to go to that party or not. The song just kinda leaves us hanging, like a good scary movie. I like to think he still went, cause hell, I think I would.
This song is great. It’s a straight up jam that’s fun as shit, monstery as hell and makes for an insanely festive addition to any Halloween playlist.
I wanna thank Ryan Kellner once again, cause I love this song. It’s one of my favorite new tracks of this season and without him I don’t know if I ever would have found it.
Now, you might look at Frankenstein The College Years and think “Yeah, ok. So they just made Encino Man but changed him to a Frankenstein? Cool, I guess. Whatever,” and you really couldn’t be blamed for thinking such a thing.
But then, you might notice that this movie debuted almost 7 months before Encino Man hit theaters. Interestingly for us, it aired on October 28th, 1991 as part of Fox’s Halloween Bash, which I fully have memories of watching, as I was already a loyal Simpsons fan by that point, eagerly awaiting the new Treehouse of Horror.
I can’t say I watched Frankenstein the College Yearswhen it aired. I most certainly saw a promo for it, but I have no recollection of seeing this at the time. It’s possible my mind blocked that memory to protect itself, but this sort nonsense is the kind of thing I might have enjoyed at that age, so I think that rules out any subconscious memory suppression.
I wish I could very much consciously suppress the more recent memories I have of watching it, but that’s only due the movie’s failure to delivery on what is, at its core, a great concept. The idea of Frankenstein getting into some sex-fueled college hi-jinx has lots of comedic potential. Frankenstein The College Years, in practice however, lives up to almost none of that potential.
When 2 college students find a Frankenstein in the laboratory of their deceased professor, they decide to animate him, as ya do. What ensues is a lot of football and wardrobe changes, honestly. H.O.T.S.!this ain’t.
But, like any good movie from the early 90’s that hadn’t fully accepted the 80’s were over yet, Frankenstein The College Years features a sweet montage set to a song that’s practically begging to be on The Shindig. It’s a monster of an Inclusive Monster Song called Monster Rock.
Instead of showing us a bunch of Frank-out-of-water buffoonery around the campus though, the film quite literally spends the entire length of this song having him changes outfits. It’s pretty harmless, but it’s definitely a prime example of the movie squandering its promising premise.
This song comes to us courtesy of Mark Keeiner, who is probably best known for not being known at all. Outside of this particular song, I can’t seem to find any mentions of him at all whatsoever. So there’s that.
However, I forgot his name, so I looked at the credits the last time I watch it (yeah, I’ve seen this more than once) and the fuzzy quality of the rips left me with a bit of a mystery. See, IMDb is really the only place I see the performer’s name listed as “Mark Keeiner,” and so of course, all the YouTube videos of this song follow suit. However, I believe this is just an error. The on screen text is blurry but, to me at least, the “I” in Keeiner looks like an “f.” I know last names can be strange, but let’s be real here, how the hell would one even pronounce “Keeiner.” Surely it’s Keefner, right?
Here’s a screenshot, just to prove I’m an absolute loser who isn’t making any of this shit up. This is what I really do, in my spare time, as a fuckin adult no less – triple verify the performer of some goofy monster song featured in an completely memory-holed 90’s made-for-TV monster comedy. What in the quantifiable fuck.
C’mon! Is that an “i” or an “f”? Well, honestly it’s kind of unclear, and this was the cleanest copy I could find. Looks like and “f” to me, but I can see how this got input into IMDb as “Keenier” for sure.
On a whim, I gave the “f” a go, and as luck might have it, Mark Keefner got a hit! He’s a composer and performer no less, who wrote the song Where’s the Fire for 1989’s She’s Out of Control and performed the song Feels Like Home for the 1993 Swayze comedy vehicle Father Hood. Now, is this the same guy? Seems like a pretty odd coincidence that changing one letter (and into the exact letter I figured it looked like, mind you) produced a fellow performer and songwriter from the exact same era, no? I’m not finding shit else for a Mark Keeiner, with his weird ass last name.
After arguing with Google’s AI search for what felt like 3 hours, trying to find the song Feels Like Home and investigate Mark Keeiner vs Mark Keefner, believe I finally found proof that the performer in question is indeed Mark Keefner.
AI is dumb, especially when searching for basic information online. It confidently comes to conclusions that can’t be verified while tripping all over itself to confirm your bias. When you call it out on this (which I did, several times, and I have the logs) it simply admits to hallucinating details and apologizes. Ok. Thanks?
However, one thing it did provide, in the midst of all its back tracking and being wrong, was the web address for the United States Copyright Office. There, you’ll find a searchable database for any copyrights filed by (in our case) songwriters for music that’s been made commercially available. Of course, while what it was claiming it found on said database was completely false, I was able to search it myself and find some information.
Now, a search of copyrights filed on commercially available songs doesn’t necessarily help us when it comes to one-off, commissioned tracks for films that never got released publicly. But, as luck would have it again, Mark had written a second tune for Frankenstein The College Yearsthat was later made available on a compilation CD of television love songs. I’ll give the AI search for being at least partially correct in digging up that little nugget of info. It was of course wrong about the title and performer, but that’s water under the bridge.
That track was titled Can’t Stop (Dreaming About You) as performed by David Burns for the film. A copyright was filled by a one Mark Keefner on the 8th of May, 1990 for that very song.
So, I can confidently say (with a verifiable, traceable source, unlike the overly confident Google AI) that Mark Keefner is indeed the performer of Monster Rock and as such Mark Keefner can proudly and officially enter the pantheon of Halloween Horror Music that we call The Shindig.
Here’s Monster Rock.
Thank you Mark Keefner. Sorry everyone’s calling you Keeiner, but maybe you’d rather not be associated with this song, so for that I apologize too.
Wait, wait wait. What? You got second song about a fuckin’ hop? And it’s a whole other song actually called TheMonster Hop?
Yep.
Well, I mean, if you wanna be annoying about it, this isn’t technically another Monster Hop. Bert Convy’s 1958 tune is The Monsters Hop, and Jack and Jim’s 1959 diddy is Midnight Monsters Hop. But yeah, there is yet another hop with monsters in attendance and that’s a little weird.
A hop, by the way (in case you were at all curious, or are under the age of 70, which is statistically most probable) was an informal dance mostly held at schools. It’s actually a shortening of Sock Hop, which they were called because all the kids were made to take off their shoes as not to scuff up the gymnasium floors.
You may be familiar with the song At the Hop, by Danny and The Juniors, which hit number 1 on the billboard charts in early 1958. So, Bert Convy and Jack and Jim seem to be right at the cutting edge of adding monsters to this particular event. Shock Theatre + Popular Teen Activity apparently = 3 goddamn songs basically called the same thing in 4 years, because this particular Shoeless Monster Dance is from 1962, the same year as Boris Pickett’sThe Monster Mash.
So how does the 3rd installment in our Monster Hop Trilogy differ from its predecessors?
Well, for one, there aren’t many monsters on the roll call here. We get a vampire woman and a Frankenstein eating people’s blood. There’s some Grave Robber named Harry (question mark, am I hearing that right?) and he’s there with a Sasquatch lady. That’s it? Ok then, I guess. Cool party, bro.
Both Jack and Jim and Bert’s hops are much better attended than Jimmy’s here. Jimmy’s hop, in fact, sounds like kind of a drag, the way he describes it anyway. I will say, there does appear to be a monster band though, much like in Midnight Monsters Hop, and that’s definitely a plus. There’s a werewolf on drums, some guy in a hood I guess, and maybe a zombie playing a saxophone? I dunno. It’s hard to tell, cause Jimmy’s song’s a bit lacking in the “making me give a shit about this party at all” department. I’m practically falling asleep over here. What gives? This is a monster party, buddy. Why am I so bored?
Anyway, like Bert, Jimmy says he’s scared of this party, but I don’t buy it. Nothing about this song is scary, nor is Jimbo’s reaction to any of it all that appalled. Bert Convy is horrified by what he sees, and I believe him. This guy? I feel like he ain’t even at this party the way he’s so nonplussed about it all. Oh, fuckin Draculas or whatever? Yeah they’re dancing, I guess. What?! That’s crazy, Jimmy. Why you acting like it ain’t fuckin bonkers to see a Frankenstein eating blood. Even if you’re ok with seeing a Frankenstein, why the fuck is he eating people’s blood? That’s not what he does, Jimmy! There’s no reason to be this nonchalant about this shit.
Jack and Jim on the other hand, now they’re some cool customers. They’re cold chillin at their party. I don’t think they’re perturb at all by what they’re seeing. In fact, they seem kinda into it and what they’re describing sounds like a great time.
Now, I can appreciate that we just came off of a pretty whack monster party. I apologize for serving up two in a row. But, Jimmy Dee’s party, lame though it may be, is a far sight cooler than Earl’s. He’s got a monster band, a larger roster, more monster happenings; it’s just better. But maybe that says more about Earl’s Hop than it does about Jimmy’s.
Either way, they’re both prime examples from the golden age of Monster Songs that should definitely appear on The Shindig, however uneventful they might be.
We’re gonna say goodbye to the witches for now and lay down a little Monster Song block for you here to wrap up the 420s.
And our first moldy oldie comes from the year 1959. Yep, it’s another example of a monster party that pre-dates The Monster Mash by 3 whole years. It’s from Texas songman Earl Patterson, who only appears to have released one single. On the b-side is a track called Ready for Love, but we don’t care about that, do we? No, we’re only interested in the a-side, a rockabilly monster tune called Nightmare Hop.
We know from monster parties around here, don’t we gang? Sure we do. One might even say we’re all amateur scholars on the matter. So, how does this one stack up against the others? Is it worth attending, let alone writing an entire song about? What’s happening over at Earl’s shindig?
Well, not a whole helluva lot, I can tell you that.
In Earl’s tune, a Teenage Werewolf (released 2 years prior in 1957) takes Dracula’s Daughter (released over 20 years prior in 1936) to the hop. Her name is Betty Vampire, which I have to admit is a weird choice on Dracula’s part. Betty’s fine I suppose, given it’s 1959. But Vampire? Why would Dracula name his daughter Vampire? It’s like you naming your son Jimmy Human. You just wouldn’t do it.
But I digress.
At this hop, they dance (which is to be expected) but they also eat goulash sandwiches and drink tequila from a pot. Now, contrary to, well my belief anyway, those are very real sandwiches. Goulash is real, sure, but it’s basically a stew with big chunks of beef and vegetables like onions and carrots. Now, that seems a strange thing to put between two slices of bread, but apparently they do. It’s a much thicker version of the soup that’s tossed into a crusty bread and sometimes topped with a slaw. It sounds pretty good, honestly. I’d eat that shit right now.
This makes sense in the context of the song too, as goulash is a traditional Hungarian dish. What’s crazy is that we have a version of it in the United States which they call American Goulash.
Now, apparently American Goulash is called American Chop Suey specifically in New England, and I had no idea the 2 dishes were connected. Growing up, American Chop Suey was basically the only thing my father knew how to cook. So every Saturday, like clockwork, he’d get to chopping and boiling and whipping up some American Chop Suey. I wasn’t the biggest fan. Didn’t care for all those onions as it made it hard to just shovel in by the spoonful. Had to pick around ‘em. But I probably ate that stuff every week for what feels like 18 years straight. Always hated those onions though, but he’d never take them out.
Wait, what the hell were we talking about? Oh yeah, this boring party. Did they have anything more frightening than sloppy beef sandwiches?
No. Not really. Frankenstein and The Mummy show up, and maybe that could be scary, but here it’s definitely not. The Teenage Werewolf sees them on his way to the door, which he heads for after eating his goulash sandwich cause I guess the chunky beef, or maybe all that pot tequila, had him needing some fresh air. Guest are actively heading for the exits?Jesus, this party is a bust. I’d head for the door too.
Anyway, he sees the monsters strolling across the floor, which you might just interpret as another boring ass thing happening here at this snoozefest of a party, but The Stroll was a popular dance at the time. But don’t worry, cause it’s one of the most boring dances conceived and fits this party like a glove.
Basically, because 1950, a line of girls and a line of boys would face each other on the dance floor. The first boy and girl would step into the middle, take each other by the hand and walk-dance down to the end and then rejoin their respective lines. Wash repeat.
Jump back! White people are getting wild on the dance floor everybody! They’re slowing walking while holding hands. Holy shit.
Apparently, Link Wray’sRumble was a number that used to get a lot of action during The Stroll, so there’s that. It’s a sleepy kinda tune though, so it makes sense I guess, but fuck. Could they pick a more Thorazined dance for this Monster Party, the fuck is happening over there?
So anyway, Earl mentions from the outset that this Teenage Werewolf was interested in doing The Stroll, so seeing these 2 abominations performing the dance reminded him of why he was there I guess, so he goes back to Betty instead of going outside. The end.
That’s it? That’s all you got Earl?
I guess.
So, that’s what’s goin on at this party. I will say, despite all that, I still like the tune, which I think is the important part. Monsters are mentioned, albeit not many and none doing anything terribly monstrous, but they’re there. Also, we got those American Chop Suey sandwiches, which reminds me of being a kid, so that’s a plus.
All and all? I think it’s a Shindigger for sure, cause we like to rock ‘n roll, and we didn’t want to stop!
Here Comes the Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein)by Elvira
You didn’t imagine we could do a Block of Hallo-Women and not feature possibly the greatest Hallo-Woman of all time, did you? Of course you didn’t. You’re actually surprised she wasn’t in the top spot.
We haven’t heard from Elvira in a bit. 5 years to be exact, and it’s largely because we’ve run through most of her original tracks. But we did have an Elvira original tucked up our sleeves, one that coincidentally makes for a perfect inclusion in our Hallo-Women run. Cause what’s more Hallo-Womany than Elvira singing about the Bride of Frankenstein?
From her 1994 compilation Elvira Presents Monster Hits it’s Here Comes the Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein), a very 90’s-Elvira track with all of her trademark lampoonery.
Now, if that other singer sounds a bit familiar to you, that’s because it’s the song’s co-author, Mr. Fred Schneider of the B-52’s.
The other co-writer here is Ms. Holly Knight, who herself co-wrote both Tina Turner’sThe Best and Pat Benatar’sLove is a Battlefield with Mike Chapman. Damn! That is some solid 80’s lineage on loan here to The Mistress of the Dark, who certainly makes this her own in the process.
I’m not sure if The Gal in Black Who Keeps Coming Back will truly be back after this. Here Comes The Bride really is one of the last big hitters we have from Elvira. There is still Zombie Stomp and 2 Big Pumpkins of course, but I’m not too crazy about either song. I know, it’s sounds like a sacrilege to say, especially about 2 Big Pumpkins, but that’s just the truth of it. There is one, very random other track I have in the bullpen from the Mistress, but barring that, this may be Elvira’s last hurrah on The Shindig.
If that really ends up being the case, then I can think of no better note for her to go out on than this block of Hallo-Women and with her track Here Comes The Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein)
Do you remember back in 2023 when we were talking about The Monsters from the UK and I said they weren’t these Monsters over here to the left, but that we’d get to them in just a bit?
Oh course you don’t. Why would you? What am I, fuckin ridiculous? I barely remember it and I wrote all this dumb shit. Nobody even read that post, much less remembers it 2 years later, let’s get real here.
At any rate, I said that and you can cross reference that if you want, but I don’t know why you would. Either way, that “just a bit” I was talking about was apparently 2 years, cause we’re about to talk about those Monsters and their “disco jammer” right now.
The Monsters (pictured above looking appropriately fiendish in this graveyard, you ask me) started life as actual monsters, dressed up and everything, but calling themselves Children of the Night. Check them out over here on this other album looking just as Monstery.
Now, they dropped that album and an accompanying single in 1976, but began life their musical life 3 years prior in New York.
For some reason, after this LP and some monster swapping, they became The Monsters proper in 1977 and released this album. Even looking through some of this great promotional material and reading the interview with The Wolfman found there as well, it seems a bit unclear why they changed the name. I would venture to say it was less of a mouthful than Children of the Night. Catchier and easier to remember as well. But who knows. They’re dressed up as monsters and their holding guitars, they can call themselves whatever the fuck they want really. We’re on board, either way, I mean, c’mon.
That album features a cover of the Monster Mash, a solid jam about The Mummy and this banger that gives the disco treatment (yet again) to that Monster Party ethos. And as we like to say, if that kinda thing can’t be here, then it can’t be anywhere. This is the place where things like this land. This is where it belongs.
I will say the narrative on this one kind feels a little bit like The Monster Club, where this square fella gets seduced by a Vampire bar and then taken to a club where a bunch of different monsters are dancing and having a great time. It’s a fun story and when the guy goes back even, the club is gone!
It makes a for a fun Disco monster tune, that’s for sure. But no one old enough to know what The Hustle is actually reading this blog. In fact, I’d say no one is, period, but you get the point. No one that would have been doing The Hustle is here right now reading this.
But if there were, they might tell you that The Hustle was a popular line-dance that became associated with Disco and then sort of turned into a catch-all for several similar dances across the scene. It originated with Puerto Rican teenagers in the South Bronx in 1973 before becoming a mainstay at clubs all throughout the mid-70’s, then becoming the subject of a song by Van McCoy in 1975, culminating in John Travolta Hustling it up in Saturday Night Fever, simultaneously exposing the entire world to the dance and shooting it in the back of the head.
Eventually, like most dance crazes, it landed in Transylvania, were monsters of prestigious report, like Dracula and The Wolfman – to lesser ghouls, like The Cyclops and The Thing, all partook in its stepping shuffle of this
Apparently, at some point in the 80’s, the band were trying to get a TV show made. What? Gimmie a break, and no one gave the green light to that thing? If that had gone through you know I’d be posting those episode to TeleWeen right now, but here we are in reality without any Children of the Night TV show.
But we do have some Children of the Night music. Or at least some musics from The Monsters, at any rate. So let’s give in and do the Transylvania Disco Hustle.
When my 4 year old daughter first heard this song while driving around in my car this summer – which opens as it does with background singers proclaiming “Frankenstein is a great big friend of Dracula” – she very innocently asked me “Is that true, Daddy?”
So obviously I told her, “Of course they are! They hang out all the time.”
She accepted that answer, but I quickly realized that wasn’t gonna be quite enough for the internal nerd that was now silently screaming inside my head “Oh yeah, smart ass? Are they? Are they fuckin’ boys?”
So now, of course, I had to investigate.
So, Dracula and Frankenstein, the novels at any rate, both received the silent film treatment as far back as 1910 for Frankenstein (by Thomas Edison, no less) and 1922 for Drac, though German and totally unauthorized, as Nosferatu. They remained separate entities (as well they should have, they are completely unrelated characters) for the next 20 years of so.
The first time I think they even exist in each other’s realities is in Universal’s first full monster rally attempt in 1944, House of Frankenstein. But that movie sucks and they don’t actually share the screen together.
The following year, Universal tried again (and fucked up again) with House of Dracula, which also kinda sucks and again features no real interaction by these two characters, friendly or otherwise.
Now in 1948, Universal finally got the Monster Rally formula right with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. This entry, in addition to finally being good, also featured actual Bela Lugosi Dracula reviving an actual Frankenstein’s monster in the form of Glenn Strange. Now those particulars are somewhat beside the point, but it is cooler than if it wasn’t them. Also, it establishes a long standing tradition of Dracula endeavoring to control Frankenstein as a means to his own ends, much like in Monster Squad or Van Helsing – two other instances where they’re together but I wouldn’t really consider the relationship friendly.
Things got pretty quiet for the dynamic duo through the 50’s and 60’s though, what with Hammer taking up the monster mantle but producing no crossover rally efforts of their own.
Then however, the early 70’s offered up 3 distinct versions of the two, but decidedly at odds with each other. At least, conceptually anyway.
First up, from 1979, was Germany’s Assignment Terror, where aliens hatch a Plan 9–esque scheme to take over the world using monsters. It’s not really Dracula and it’s not really Frankenstein, but it doesn’t really matter cause they’re not really friends. They’re just kinda there. This one got retitled Dracula Versus Frankenstein for US distribution, but they don’t really fight either, so, while it’s cool and totally worth watching, it’s kind of a bust for our purposes.
The following year, trash auteur Al Adamson unleashed his own Dracula vs Frankenstein on the world and everybody rejoiced.
Well, not really, but maybe they should have cause that shit is wild and absolutely worth watching. What’s more, Dracula finally squares off against Frankenstein and it’s pretty damn great. Seriously, if you’ve never seen Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (1971) I highly recommend a viewing. Well, I recommend it for a certain kind of viewer, cause it’s bad. Like bad, bad.But it’s also awesome cause Dracula has a laser ring and he basically dismembers Frankenstein, and that credit sequence! Oh boy. It’s a winner for sure.
But then, not to be outdone (or at least not to be left out maybe) good ole Jess Franco joined the party and offered up Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein in 1972. Now this one kinda flips the script and sees Dr. Frankenstein using Dracula to further his plan for world domination. It’s got something to do with creating an Army of Shadows using Dracula blood or some shit. It doesn’t really make any sense, but it is kinda fun to watch. Frankenstein rolls around in a weird ass Van-Hearse, there’s a tiny bat with a giant stake through its heart, and then The Wolfman shows up for some reason and just fucks shit up. Its pretty cool. Unfortunately it isn’t helping us pin down this idea of platonic love between these 2 monsters.
But hold on, what if we step away from the movies for a moment and talk about some television? It may have been quiet at the movies in the 1960’s, but the television featured lots of the monsters interacting in a friendly capacity.
First up is probably no surprise, but 1964 gave us The Munsters, turning the family sitcom formula of the late 50’s on its head by inserting Monsters into the mix as an average suburban unit. Now, it’s not exactly what we’re talking about, but it’s certainly on the right track.
A closer approximation is not a TV show, (though certainly worthy of note at this point in the timeline) but Rankin and Bass’ 1967 feature Mad Monster Party. The stop motion animation from the team that gave us Rudolph and The Year Without Santa Claus delivered a full on Monster Party of friendly fiends.
After that, we got the Groovie Goolies from 1970, which was purposely fashioned as an animated Laugh-In for monster kids growing up with Aurora kits and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Dracula, a Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolfman all hang out in Horrible Hall, making jokes and performing monster songs. It’s pretty goddamn great and I’m sure you’d assume we’re fans over here at The Shindig – and we are.
Similarly, in 1976 we got the live action Monster Squad TV show, featuring wax versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf Man coming to life to fight crime. If that sounds awesome to you, that’s because it is and you should watch it.
Then the early 80’s followed suit, bringing such things like Scooby Doo’s A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle and Hanna-Barbera’s Drak Pack, which almost plays like an animated version of The Monster Squad show, with the trio fighting crime in an attempt to redeem themselves for their former evil deeds. Weird.
Now, that’s a lot of examples of them being friends, but where did television suddenly get this idea?
While it certainly seems like we can point a finger squarely at The Munsters, I think the lion’s share of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of…and maybe you’ve already guessed it… but Monster Songs! Do we even get a prime time sitcom like The Munster’s if not for the popularity of The Monster Mash? I doubt it. But The Monster Mashdoesn’t just spring up outta nowhere, and as avid visitors here can attest, it’s not even close to being the first Monster Party Anthem that suggests monsters might hang out.
So, somewhere between Universal’s Monster Rally pictures of the late 40’s and the 70’s homage-oddities from around the globe, we have a very interesting phenomenon, and it’s the Shock! Theater revival of the late 50’s.
In October of 1957, Universal bundled much of its back catalog into a syndicated packaged known as Shock! Theater. Suddenly, TV stations all across the country were playing classic horror movies while meteorologists dressed up like Draculas and Monster Mania took a nation by storm.
And wouldn’t you know it, 1958 seems to be the precise moment that we start seeing bona fide Monster Songs. And not just run of the mill monster songs about a Dracula or a Wolfman, but full-on, Monster Rally-style gatherings of monstrous proportions.
There’s A Screaming Ball (At Dracula Hall) from The DuPonts, Bert Convy’sThe Monsters Hop, Big Bee Kornegay gives us At the House Frankenstein, and well, well, well…look at what we have here, also from 1958. It’s tonight song, Frankensteinby Bart Lewis, the song which posits that these 2 dudes might be friends.
So where did everyone get this idea, we ask? Well, hell…it might have just come from this very song itself. How about that?
Our next Shindigger here is from the band L7. No Rach, not that L7.
But wait, you say you’re not this “Rach,” and you’ve never heard of any band named L7? Oh, that’ll make this a bit easier then.
See, there was (evidentially anyway) an American Funk band by the name of L7. I call them Funk because this song is listed as being Funk and since it’s their only release, I guess that makes them a Funk band. I genuinely don’t know enough about the in’s and out’s of Funk to say whether or not this claim holds any water, but they might as well be Funk. Sounds Funky, anyway. They’re definitely not a Country band. And I wouldn’t call it this Metal. It’s certainly something. Funk is something. So, let’s go with them on Funk then.
Now, this precursory Funk iteration of L7 it’s is best known for…well…this release. In fact, they’re only known for this release, cause it’s, ya know, their only release. And it’s a Funk release, and Frankenstein, which is always a plus around here.
The 12” Maxi-Single, The Bride of Frankenstein, contains 4 tracks, but essentially only 2 songs. There’s Mr. Boogie Bop, which gets the standard and instrumental treatment, and the title tune, The Bride of Frankenstein. That one gets the standard treatment as well, but also an extra-special “Rap” version. And I say extra-special because this single is from 1983, the very year I believe to be the birth of Monster Rap itself.
That year gave us Whodini’s Haunted House of Rock, Edgar Winter’s futuristic Frankenstein 1984 and now, The Bride of Frankenstein Rap. I’d say only one of these tunes is legitimately Rap, however. Can you guess which one?
Yep, it’s the only one not actually claiming to be Rap. Go figure there.
But while this song may not pass a street test, for us ‘Diggers lookin for Halloween tunes, you can’t ask for much better than this. It’s solid gold.
Dudes strapping some reasonable whack-simile of Rap onto an otherwise bizarre “Funk” tune and just running with it? Oh you know we’re all over this.
Apparently a guy in the graveyard (why he’s in this graveyard is anyone’s guess) meets a dancing corpse that claims to be The Bride of Frankenstein. At least she shows him a gravestone to that effect. Now, why The Bride of Frankenstein would have “Bride of Frankenstein” carved into her tombstone is also anyone’s guess, but here we are.
Then, all of sudden it’s Halloween and the Rap shows up. Nice! Now the guy is looking for the Bride of Frankenstein and he winds up at the Monster Club. Which isn’t a bad place to look for her really, so I get it. Does the actual song shed any light on these events?
No, not really.
I’ll say this, they are 2 separate songs. They’re pretty much the same song musically, but the lyrics are all different. This isn’t just L7’sThe Bride of Frankenstein single with a Rap verse tacked on, and I can appreciate that.
In the original tune (which was perhaps a more fitting tune for the playlist, but oh well) our narrator is at a monster party where he meets a girl that he takes a liking to. However, he is warned, as he learns that she is the Bride of Frankenstein. Bummer for him I guess.
So, it’s kinda more dance-able, makes a bit more sense (albeit a very small bit) and is generally just a more regular tune. It definitely has less weird “mommmy mommy mommy” sounds, whatever the hell those are suppose to be, and that counts for something.
But that version of the song has no Rap (or whatever this is that is calling itself Rap) and it definitely doesn’t have any Halloween. So, when it comes to the playlist, we’re goin The Bride of Frankenstein Rap all day long on this one.
And as reasonable people, we can overlook the fact that there isn’t any actual film called The Evils of Frankenstein
Cause c’mon, it was 1976, after all. Cross referenceable material, albeit available, wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous as we’ve come to expect in our cushy age of instantaneous digital information. Unwittingly adding an “S” to the title of some movie you randomly caught on Creature Features one night…a movie that scared the shit outta you so bad you had to write a song about it…isn’t nearly the worst thing you could do. Who knows, he was probably hammered anyway.
But was this dude even watching The Evil of Frankenstein?
First and foremost, he describes Frankenstein and his hunchback assistant building a creature. This does not happen in The Evil of Frankenstein. Not only does Victor not have a hunchback assistant, he doesn’t even build a creature. They discover Victor’s original creature frozen in ice, ala Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.
And speaking of ala, of all the Hammer Frankenstein’s to write a song about, you pick Evil? Hammer’s co-opted, financed by Universal “let’s just retcon this whole thing and port the entire Universal aesthetic over to Bray Studios” travesty? Really? C’mon John. Just about every other Hammer Frankenstein is better than that mess.
And to that point, despite being called The Evil of Frankenstein, it’s probably Cushing’s least evil portrayal of the character, and thus the least likely to turn your hair white.
Part of the Universal-ization of Evilextended to the Doc’s entire demeanor, I guess. Cause gone was Hammer’s original and refreshing take, which placed Victor front and center as a villain, a man willing to straight up take life in his obsessive quest to create life.
But hey, maybe he just picked that name out of a hat. Maybe he just liked the way it sounded… after he added an “s” of course.
Cause I mean, he clearly didn’t watch it. And if he did watch it, he didn’t remember it too well. Maybe it just scared the shit so far outta him his mind blocked all the small details like, ya know, the entire goddamn plot. Who’s to say?
But then he changes the channel and lands on some idealized version of House of Frankenstein or some such thing, who knows. We’re clearly in the realm of fantasy here and that’s fine, cause I don’t wanna pick on Choctaw John too much here. I mean, outside of perhaps naming yourself Choctaw John, but that’s a matter for a different website.
For our part, John recorded a great Frankenstein tune and we’re happy to have him. This 7″ also contains the B-side World of Darkness, which is another wild-ass banger chocked to the brim with dark imagery about global nuclear holocaust. Shit, John. I guess when you weren’t sittin’ around getting scared by old monster movies, you figured you might as well just scare the fuck outta everyone else, huh? Yeesh.
Well, thanks for the dark twang, bud. Now go rewatch…or maybe even just watch…The Evil of Frankenstein, will ya? And when you’re done, pop in any other Hammer Frankenstein flick, as they’re pretty much all superior to that pile.
Whether talking about the man himself or his godforsaken creation, lots of folks have sung about Frankenstein. I still think not as many as Dracula, but it’s a pretty hefty list either way.
However, I don’t think anyone has sung about him as enthusiastically as Chuck Osbournedoes here, on his 1975 single, Frankenstein.
Like the bastard son of Louie Armstrong and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Chuck practically throws my voice out screaming the praises of the creature for doing a bunch of shit I’m not even sure he ever did. Hard to know really, cause I can’t rightly understand most of whatever the hell Chuck’s even saying in this song. But man, is it awesome.
I might even go so far as to call this the coolest song I’ve ever heard about Frankenstein, Doctor or otherwise. I’m not sure why it took me so long to find this one, but I’m sure glad I did, and I hope that you are too.
Seems there’s a little confusion over Chuck’s name, though. See, he released this song twice on a Pennsylvania label called Hittsburgh USA, which I gotta say, is a pretty outstanding name for a label from the Monongahela Valley.
Can’t tell which record was first though, as they both got released in ‘75. One of them was the B-Side of Day Dream Drifter. That one is credited to Chuck Osborne. And that guy had a couple of other singles.
The other one is a A-Sider with an instrumental version of the tune on the B-side. Now, that one is credited to a guy named Chuck Osbourne, with a U. That’s weird. Chucky U doesn’t have any other singles, just this one.
Was this just a typo? What gives? Guy hiding from the Feds? What’s the deal here?
I imagine if my name was spelt wrong on my own goddamn single, the only single Hittsburgh USA had to their name mind you, I’d be pretty pissed off. Maybe that’s why he spends the whole song just screaming.
And it’s not like they didn’t know how to spell it. One of these pressings got it right. Useless, of course, that’s not even his name at all, and it’s some kinda cover. Maybe he is hiding from the Feds. Guy sounds a little unhinged here about Frankenstein, it’s not outta the realm of possibility to think he’s done some wild shit. I better stop asking so many questions.
I’d say I’m gonna go with Osborne, cause that guy had more releases, but I don’t think so. That no U business is some B-Side bullshit.
I’m goin Osbourne, cause that’s the guy who released the full-on Frankenstein single, with the instrumental on the flip. Frankenstein by Chuck Osbourne is an goddamn A-sider, fuckin’ Hittsburgh USA. Put some respect on that name, however you spell it. Cause if this song is any indication, Chuck deserves it.
So here’s another (allegedly) Italo tune about Frankenstein. This one is really from Italy as well, which is nice. It also appears to definitely be about the Doctor, which is also nice.
It’s also by The Doctor, which is a little confusing. It also seems to be The Doctor’s only musical contribution to the world.
Here he is rockin a sweet Frankenstein mask, which is more than I can say for the intense and sweaty Phoebus. But maybe Phoebus had just taken his Frankenstein mask off. Latex is notorious for inducing a good sweat.
What’s also peculiar about this song, is that it too is from 1986. So, that year saw 2 separate Frankenstein related Italo-Disco tracks that were actually from Italy, by acts that never released ny other records? That’s weird. I mean, at least i think so. Is that weird? Seems weird to me anyway. What was going on in Italy in 1986 with Frankenstein that produced such similar efforts? Beats me, cause these songs don’t even really sound similar.
I do like this one though. More than the Phoebus tune anyway. It’s strange. What’s also strange is that The Doctorhere is sporting that mask while the song appears to be about Doctor Frankenstein for a change. Meanwhile Phoebus, clearly singing about how The Monster gives him a boner or whatever, appears mask-less, all intense and sweaty. Hmm. Perhaps that’s more apropos than I initially gave it credit for.
But I digress. This song is fun and certainly very danceable, but I’ll be honest here, I don’t really know what The Doctor is saying. But, unlike the Ecstasy song, I’m not sure I really care. Something about Chris Dobarts accent and the variety of words in Hey Frankenstein made me genuinely curious as to the lyrical content.
But here, I dunno. I guess I’m just not as interested. Either way, this could be the night!
We’re gonna segue out of Disco here with 2 different Frankenstein tunes from the same year out of the Italo-Disco scene.
We’ve got a few Italo-Disco tracks already on The Shindig, namely Disco Halloween from Forbidden Fruits. But what the hell is Italo-Disco? It doesn’t seem much like Disco, nor does it sound terribly Italian.
It’s been years now since we posted that song, and you don’t feel like clicking away to reread stuff you maybe never even read back then, so why don’t we just talk about it again, huh?
Well, it seems the question of “what is Italo-Disco” elicits a fairly complicated answer. Enthusiasts and historians can’t seem to agree on what exactly is, where and when it all started or what even really qualifies as, Italo-Disco.
As such, the sound of Italo-Disco can be a bit elusive. Some of it skews more Disco and Space Disco, while a bunch of it leans more toward dancey 80’s Pop.
The short versions seems to be that it’s what happened when inexperienced Italian producers in the late 70’s tried to imitate the Disco hits that were no longer flooding in from outside Italy in the wake of Disco’s stateside decline.
That said, it was also the eventual electronification of Disco and the precursor to just about every form of EDM that now exists. Wow, ok Italo-Disco, shit. Take it down a notch, huh. That’s a pretty bold statement.
These 2 things seem to be most important to a definition though: heavy use of electronic instrumentation (synths, drum machines and vocoders) and either overly melodramatic themes of love and sex, or robots. There’s lots of robots.
Most of it was sung in English, perhaps explaining why a lot of it doesn’t sound terribly Italian. Dunno if that was an attempt to mimic classic disco tracks or simply to appeal to an American audience.
Oddly enough, it’s was a German Record label ZYX, that is largely cited as being the originators of the term. They marketed full-on mixes of the emerging pop scene out of Italy as “Italo-Disco.” Soon, that sound was coming from all corners of the globe and getting slapped with the same moniker.
Meanwhile, over here in the States, guys like Patrick Crowley and Bobby Orlando were touching upon some similar sounds with Hi-NRG. That also featured heavy use of electronic instruments, but typically ran at a higher tempo than Italo, so is somewhat easy to pick out of a lineup. It was popular in the Gay club scene of the mid-80’s and was very much a precursor to Techno and House. We even have a Hi-NRGhit here on the playlist courtesy of Bobby Orlando’s own Whisper to a Scream, which appeared (perhaps less than coincidentally) in 1985’s Freddy’s Revenge.
So, as you might suspect, I’ve been listening to a lot of Italo-Disco over the last year or so, and given its overall variety, I find it to be a wildly mixed bag. Some of it I love, some of it I hate.
The beat and the bass are typically right on the money. The first couple minutes of any Italo song is usually pretty great. But by the time the singer joined the party, it seemed like a 70/30 split on whether I was bailing out. A lot of it just sounds like cheeseball dance music of a variety I’m not terribly fond.
Now, I love Giorgio Moroder, and his pop-driven 80’s work is great. Kano released some good tunes. Koto, Scotch and Casco too. But the genre seems less defined by particular artists then it does the one-off records dropped by total randos never to be heard from again. Those can definitely be hit or miss.
I seemed to prefer the older, earlier variety which leaned a little more into Space Disco territory, a genre that I love which has a lot of overlap with Italo.
But the point at where a thing stops being Italo and starts being any number of other genres that sprung up in its wake, is located somewhere just outside my range of hearing.
Consensus seems to be that the genre had mostly dried out by the early 90’s and had given way to House, or Eurobeat or Eurodisco.
Tonight’s selection, Frankenstein by Phoebus, is a great example of what I’m talking about. This song doesn’t bear the hallmarks of what I think of when I think of Italo-Disco. To me, this just sounds like generic 80’s dance music, which isn’t not what Italo is, but it’s hard to explain. I dunno, maybe I’m not even really sure what Italo is, but I don’t know if it’s this. However, according to the folks on Discogs anyway, it definitely is.
Despite that, I still kinda dig this tune. Perhaps it’s a testament to the fact that just singing about Frankenstein can afford you a fair bit of goodwill over here with The Shindig.
This one seems to be about the Monster. And specifically the monster from the movie, as Phoebus has just recently seen a Frankenstein picture at the cinema.
From what I can gather, the monster has left an impression on our dear narrator. The nature of which, however, I can’t exactly say. Is this guy sexually attracted to the creature? Is that what’s goin on here? Am I adding that in? Am I sexually attracted to the creature? What’s the deal? Cause Phoebus seems to be getting real worked up over this thing, and I’m not sure it’s of the “Hey, just pick up a copy of Famous Monsters and an Aurora Model kit and work it out” variety.
So much so, in fact, that his friends all say he needs a doctor, his dad has kicked him out of the house and his girlfriend won’t even talk to him.
As such we dropped in some clips from Andy Warhol and Paul Morrisey’s Flesh For Frankenstein, cause…c’mon.
But enough of my rambling about a genre you probably don’t care to know about for some Monster song that I’m not even sure is prime example of that genre, in theme or sound.
He’s talkin’ about Frankenstein, so lose your mind already.
P.S. – If anyone listening happens to be familiar with this song but is finding they not familiar with this particular version, that is because it is a Shindig specific edit exclusive to the playlist.
It is a mashup I made of the 7” Mix and the Horror Mix. Not sure why I did this exactly, as I did it quite a while back. I think I liked the Horror Mix better in general, but preferred the opening of the 7” Mix. I think anyway. There’s something going on at the end too that’s different. Either way, we hope you enjoy!
Guy’s kinda boring, ain’t he? Drink a little blood, flash a little cape, hiss a bit with some fangs maybe, whatever. Big deal. Why’s this dude getting so much love in the tracks?
What about ole Frankenstein?
Well, while seemingly not as referenced as The Count, Frankenstein is still no slouch when it comes to recordings. In fact, according to a title search of “Frankenstein” on Discogs, there’s 785 master recordings. That’s almost 120 more than Dracula! Maybe old nut-neck ain’t 2nd banana after all. Maybe he is the big dog at the party. Though in fairness, a ton of those releases are just various compilation appearances and covers of the Edgar Winter classic. Without meticulously scrubbing either search for duplicates of that nature, it would hard to say for sure who emerges as the clear winner.
That’s of no real concern to us though, cause we’re gonna show Frank a little love now anyway, cause Lord knows he’s been getting the high-hat. Plus, I got a bunch of Franken-Jams clogging up the bullpen. Not as many as Dracula, but still quite a few.
I think it’s worth noting that in 9 out of 10 songs it’s the monster that’s being referenced rather than the Doctor. Sometimes that can be hard to determine with some of these songs, but it’s a safe bet it’s usually the creature.
And we can look the other way on that one, right gang? We can just accept that most people are calling the creature “Frankenstein,” accurate or not. I’m prepared to let it go for a block of Franken-Rock, aren’t you?
Yeah, of course you are, cause you don’t give a damn. Does the track groove? Yeah? Well then fire it up.
And groove this one does, cause we’re flippin’ the switch on this block with another song I had to fish outta the drink just to hear. And once again, it was definitely worth it. Some people had the A-side from the Ecstasy single What’d I Say? but no one seemed to have the B-side, Hey Frankenstein.
Ecstasy was a French disco band in the late 70’s that cut a number of 45s, but seemed to fizzle out just before the turn of the decade.
Chris Dobat, otherwise known as Mister Ecstasy, was the driving force behind that band and he seems to have pivoted to solo Funk work in the 80’s. Not bad.
Here, he lets it all hang out with some funky disco dedicated to Doctor himself. At least, I think anyway. Cause I’m not gonna lie, half the time I can’t tell what the hell Chris is actually saying. The fact that this is the B-side to What’d I Say? seems entirely appropriate.
However, I didn’t wanna leave y’all hanging. So, I decided to listen to this song on repeat, for an ungodly amount of times, until I figured out what the lyrics are.
Here is my best attempt. If anyone would like to assist me or correct any of these lines, I’ll take all the help I can get. We posted the song to YouTube last year, and you can use their playback speed to help with the translation. Though I warn you, it’s only so helpful.
Hey Frankenstein
Hey Hey, Hey Hey (x2)
Hey Frankenstein
Comes walking in
you know its him
Oh, bad Frankenstein
Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein
He takes a drink
To make it quick
It’s all feelin fine
He can’t play fair
He doesn’t care
He’s bad Frankenstein
Hey, Frankenstein
He’s doctor
When his medicine
Oh, he’s Frankenstein
Hey, Frankenstein
He wore his dice
And they’ll look nice
He’s no valentine
So full of ice
He wore them twice
He’s no friend of mine
And if your taught
To live to start
Don’t, bad Frankenstein
Hey Frankenstein
Hey Hey, Hey Hey (x2)
He’s moving fast
He’s moving where it’s at
Looking for fun
Anyway, anywhere, anyone
When there’s no more fun
He’s back on the run
Playboy #1
Always looking for fun
On the run
?
He’s got a secret
Dice!
He wore them twice!
Louder
Sexy
Horns
He begs it
Mr. Frankenstein
Comes a-walking in
Mr. Frankenstein
Funky Valentine
Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein
Hey, Frankenstein
When it get hot
He’s very bad
He’s bad, Frankenstein
He knows the way
To scare his prey
Oh he’s Frankenstein
He’ll never let you get away
Here comes Frankenstein
Hey Frankenstein
Comes walking in
you know its him
Oh, bad Frankenstein
Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein
He takes a drink
To make it quick
It’s all feelin fine
He can’t play fair
He doesn’t care
He’s bad Frankenstein (x4)
So, that’s what I got anyway.
Can’t say I’m entirely convinced I got any of this right, and lots of it just sounds wrong. But some it of seems right, and after entirely too many listens, I gotta call it a wrap. But please, if you’re feeling like maybe you also gotta know what this guy is saying and my translation seems like trash, help me out. Lemme know what you think.
Oh, and hey! Speaking of letting it all hang out, that’s a full on fully up there adorning the front of this 45. Cause hey, if you jump into a tub to record your single, maybe a nipple slips out, ya know? It’s ‘78! It’s disco! What’s a nipple? C’mon, get loose, will ya?
Oh yeah? Big Eric, huh? So, what’s this guy’s deal?
Well, let’s start with that name. “Big Eric “ appears to be a one-off pseudonym used by German artist Eric Billinghurst specifically for this track.
But Eric Billinghurst is better know throughout Germany as Bill Hurst, a standard issue AOR style rocker who produced 2 albums including the (apparently quite rare) 1982 release, Ice Cold Calculation. That fucker’s going for over 200 buck right now on Discogs. This is a shame because it contains a track called Horror that I’d love to investigate. Is it a different take on this song? Is it some other referential rock rarity? Who knows? Not us. Well, at least not yet anyway. That’s fuck off dollars from something I ain’t heard before. I’m hesitant to buy the Critters LPs that are goin for half that much, and the playlist needs a cleaner copy of that song pronto. But Ice Cold Calculation is in our sights, so we’ll keep you posted.
Until then, we can satisfy our Bill Hurst fix with Horror Ball, a peculiar Discoish tune that doubles as a fun play on words.
This one’s a bit silly, but that’s never been a problem around here, and it’s got a good groove, which is always a plus.
On top of that, it’s giving you what you need. All the Monsters you want getting shouted out to an infection disco beat.
And look at the cover to this thing! That’s just plain old fashion monster awesome.
So let’s get some horror going with Big Eric, shall we?
Now, there’s a ton of this kinda old timey Monster Rock ‘N Roll, but I don’t add it to the playlist that often. It’s monstery, sure, but something about it always feels a little off, like they could be singing about any old thing. There’s nothing distinctly spooky or festive about it most of the time.
There’s even a similar tune to tonight’s inclusion titled The Mummy’s Ball by The Verdicts that I removed from this block of balls for just that reason.
But Screaming Ball has a few things going for it that help it make the cut.
First and foremost, I dig this tune. It swings.
Secondly, from what I can tell, this is the very first pop song to actually reference Dracula. At least in the title, anyway.
Thirdly, it’s a pretty referential tune. In fact,The Duponts even have a similarly structured reference to Spike Jone’s Ball-Tune, only The Duponts make The Thing from Another World do The Stroll instead of a Mole Person. But both of them do reference the Thing.
And lastly, it’s from The Duponts, whom were also know as Little Anthony and the DuPonts, after the main vocalist, Anthony Gourdine.
But The Duponts weren’t the only crew associated with a Little Anthony, as Anthony Gourdine is also the Little Anthony of Little Anthony and The Imperials fame, best known from their hits like Tears on My Pillow and I Think I’m Going Out of My Head.
In 2009, Little Anthony and his Imperials were all inducted into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame, and any time you can add a Hall of Famer to the roster, you should probably just do it.
And dammit if I don’t just love idea of a future Hall of Famer his cuttin’ his teeth on some forgotten old novelty monster record. What’s cooler than that?
Well, it’s also a Mysterioso Pizzicato offender. How do you like that? Another one for the fire, boys.
So let’s all having a screamin’ ball over at Dracula hall. C’mon, it’s a horror party!
Now here’s a song that we’ve been putting off since jump.
Yep, this one’s been in the bullpen forever. Literally since the bullpen was created.
So long in fact, it was on pre-internet versions of the playlist that were played and distributed. But it’s high time to kick it on out, if only so I can stop thinking about it anymore.
I don’t imagine any playlist featuring as much novelty music as The Shindig would be complete if it didn’t feature at least one tune from The Godfather of Novelty songs himself, Mr. Spike Jones.
In the days before Rock ‘N Roll ruined everything, Spike and his City Slickers reigned supreme. He was the Weird Al of his era, though I’m not sure if that reference even holds much weight here in 2023. But he was a songsman and comedian in equal order, and having your popular tune get “spiked” was a sign you had made it big.
Though WW2 era songs about Hitler and All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth are all well and good, they’re certainly not Shindig material. However, like any novelty man worth his weight in buffalo nickels, Spike released a Horror record. 1959’s Spike Jones in Hi-Fi featured a ghastly cover with Spike as a Teenage Brain Surgeon surrounded by monsters. The album had lots of horror goings-ons, including a reference to Plan 9 featuring Vampira herself, Ms. Malia Nurmi. Even legendary singer and voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, most notable for being Tony The Tiger and singing You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, makes an appearance.
But for our part, it is track 6 which concerns us, a monster of a referential monster party tune, and one of the older Monster Songs on the playlist.
Spike details the gathering of Monsters big and small at his Monster Movie Ball, and as we’ve said several times around here, a full 3 years before Boris Pickett and his Cryptkickers.
But Spike’s song isn’t simply a Monster Song, featuring generic avatars of the Big 5. Nay! Monster Movie Ball, as its name suggests, is a bonafide referential hitter. In addition to name dropping all the classics, Spike finds time to reference House of Wax and The Mole People and actual creep Peter Lorre.
But he even mentions real-world singing fiends like Vampira, Zacherlee, Dave Savile’s Witch Doctor, and makes Dracula do the Cha Cha Cha à la Bruno Martino. Not too shabby.
So Spike, my apologies. Though you’ve been with us for 20 years and have been passed over, time and time again for 10, today is your day. Welcome aboard, buddy!
Speaking of Jack and Jim, here’s another duo knockin’ out some more old time Monster Roll for ya.
Clifton Nivison and Martin Fulterman (the Clif and Marty here, respectively) were both former members of The New York Rock and Roll Ensemble. As it happens, they’re also former members of Former Members of The New York Rock Ensemble, but that’s a separate and confusing matter involving Opal Records selling a bunch of their music without Clif or Marty’s knowledge.
The Rock Ensemble were a group of Juilliard music students who decided to bust out some Rock ‘N Roll using conventional orchestral instruments. A novel concept at the time, to be sure.
After releasing 5 albums over the course of 6 years, The Rock Ensemble parted ways. Seems Clif and Marty were disillusioned with the Ensemble’s lack of commercial success, and signed with Specter Records/Opal Productions in order to make some career headway.
At Opal, Clif and Marty acted as a kind of utility duo, recording demos, writing music for other acts and releasing tunes under various pseudonyms.
And their single, Monster Movies, appears to have been just that kind of assignment.
Now, why Opal Records would assign these 2 guys some novelty Monster song in 1972 is anyone’s guess. What was the temperature on Monster Songs in ‘72? Hell, I couldn’t tell ya, cause the only other Track on Halloween Shindig from 1972 is Edgar Winter’sFrankenstein, and that’s definitely not a novelty monster song. In fact, ‘66 through ‘73 is a pretty barren wasteland for that kinda stuff, at least as far as this playlist is concerned anyway.
Now, that’s not to say the public wasn’t hungry for Monster Songs in ‘72, it just means there aren’t any that I’ve found or found and enjoyed enough to add to a 300+ rooster of songs which pretty much meet that exact specification. Just saying.
Regardless of how the 45-buying folks of 1972 felt, this is a fun and referential jam which goes so far as to specifically declare its love, not just for Godzilla, but directly to him, as though he might be out there somewhere in the South Pacific listening. Now, I gotta give that kinda thing just a little bit of love myself.
Outside of The Ensemble, and this particular single, I can’t suss out much about our boy Clifton, but Martin Fulterman is a bit of a different story.
See, Martin apparently changed his name to Mark Snow and went on to compose music for an almost absurd amount of Films, TV movies and shows. The most notable of his creations, no doubt, has got to be the famous X-Files Theme.For real? Ole Monster Movie Marty? Pretty snazzy lineage attached to a 40 year old novelty song.
Other Mark Snow projects of note (to me anyway) include Ernest Saves Christmas, Dolly Dearest, Project ALF, Skateboard, TJ Hooker and even Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And let me tell you, that’s cutting the list real short.
Mark Snow has composed, written songs for or worked on the music department of more shit than you’d believe. Over 350 different credits, including some ridiculous sounding TV movie called Ghosts Can’t Do It, which sounds like some PG-rated Lifetime version of Hellraiser that somehow features our 45th President himself, Mr. Donald Trump.
I’ll just leave you with that as we drop the needle on Clif and Marty’s lone 45, Monster Movies.
We said we’re diggin’ deep and clearing out the bullpen in 2023, so here’s a Halloween compilation staple that’s been kicking around for longer than I can remember.
I’m glad I waited though, since last year’s Halloween Ends turned this Referential Monster dinger into a full blown Inclusive jam.
And much like Pete Antell’s It’s Halloween,Jack and Jim’s classic Midnight Monsters Hop is the best thing going for Halloween Ends and it’s literally the first minute and a half of the film.
Seriously, you can stop watching after this song ends. In fact, you could just listen to this, which features the opening dialogue with the entire tune, and probably have a more satisfying time than wading through that fan-fic grade, after thought, jerk-off session they tried to pass off as the ultimate bookend to a 40-year-old legendary Horror saga. Hell, H20 is a more satisfying conclusion to the whole affair than this turd.
But I digress, cause we got this song. A bonafide Halloween jammer from 1959. Yep, you read that right. 3 years before Boris Pickett unveiled his own swinging Monster Party, Jack and Jim were laying the groundwork for monster get-togethers everywhere.
However, Bert Convy still has ‘em all beat, and no doubt provided inspiration to both, with his 1958 cut simply titled The Monsters Hop.
Credit where it’s due though, cause I think Jack and Jim here are serving up probably the swingingest tune of the bunch. It’s used to great effect in Halloween Ends too, actually tricking you into thinking you’re about to watch something cool. No such luck.
We’ve led it in, of course, with hometown hero Willy the Kid on WURG The Urge… Haddonfield’s home for rock!
You gotta love it when a horror movie gives you some solid DJ action, and Willy gets it good to The Cramp’sI Was a Teenage Werewolf. I mean, I guess he gets it good. As good as that turkey is giving anyway. Unfortunately, he’s a little underutilized in the story and his death scene feels like it’s ripped from some other movie; some movie you might rather be watching.
At least, that is, compared to the one you’ve been watching. I’m not sure the movie on display at WURG is worth watching either, but at least Michael’s not getting slapped around in a cave by some dingus we’ve been watching get bullied by a bunch of high school band dorks. A shame really, what they did to Michael.
And not just in Halloween Ends either (though perhaps the most undignified) but the whole damn lot of it, all the way down the line. From making him Laurie’s brother, to bringing him back from complete incineration, to positing him as some sort of cursed Druid vessel, to making his mask CG, to letting Busta Rhymes karate kick him out a window on a reality show, to making him just another generic, white trash bully victim with a stripper for a mom.
It’s unfortunate that Michael couldn’t have been left to just wander off into the dark Halloween night, never to be seen again. Now there’s a reconned remakequel I could get behind.
Oh well, at least we got the 1st minute or so of Halloween Ends, featuring this classic monster tune from a duo who, like I so wish I could say for Michael Myers, we never heard from again.
2026 Edit:
Well, it finally happened. After almost 14 years, Halloween Shindig got its first legitimate (I guess) takedown request. I knew it would happen eventually, at least on one song or another, and honestly, I thought it would happen a lot sooner.
But it wasn’t Sony Music, or the Universal Music Group or even Warner Brothers that made the request. Nope, it was AVRA Records. And it wasn’t for Michael Jackson, or Alice Cooper or even Run DMC. Nope, it was for Jack and Jim and their lone, 67 years old record, Midnight Monsters Hop. Go fig.
Seems I spoke this reality into existence below. Way to go, me. At least I was right? Small consolation.
As such, I have removed the link below to the clean version of the song, and the attachment found here on this post. Hopefully that will satisfy the request .
I will say, AVRA (or whomever) has made the song available via streaming once again though, which might explain this request. I saw it up on Spotify but I’m sure it’s in other places too.
Just not here.
If anyone has any further inquires at all I can be reached directly at ed@halloweenshindig.com
Sorry Weeners, the inevitable has come to past. So long Jack and Jim. It was great spookin’ up the hop with ya for as long as we did.
His plan to turn Halloween on forever is commendable and the episode is a great example of what The Real Ghostbusters was great at – a crazy occult plot with wild ass creature taking center stage.
