Gallery

Ray Chiodo

Some awesome stop-motion animation from The Chiodo Brothers, with a little nod to Mr. Ray Harryhausen.

R.I.P. Ray.

Audio

Freaked

TRACK #55:

Freaked by Henry Rollins & Blind Idiot God

From the extra-90’s, ultra-FX-ladened, creature-feature-comedy Freaked, comes this Title Track from Henry Rollins & Blind Idiot God.

I love Freaked. What’s not to love?

 

  • Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) writes, co-directs and stars.
  • Randy Quaid turns up as a nutball mad-scientist.
  • You even got Mr. T in there as a Bearded lady.
  • Keanu Reeves sneaks in as the (uncredited) Dog Boy
  • Bobcat Goldthwait voices Sockhead.
  • and William Sadler plays a sleazy corporate greaseball.Not to mention…
  • Awesome creature FX from Steve Johnson’s XFX
  • More awesome FX from Screaming Mad George and company.
  • Some great stop motion from the Chiodo Brothers
  • One of the coolest title sequences ever
  • and this awesome spinning Randy Quaid head

Plus, it has a pretty kick-ass soundtrack. A soundtrack, I might add, that was never officially released. These puppies come stolen clean from the DVD.

If you’ve never seen Freaked, and you’re at all about creature FX, foolish 90’s comedies, or bizarre movies in general – find someone who has a copy of this, mug them, and watch it immediately.

More music and gifs from Freaked to follow this initial blast, later in the playlist. For now, enjoy these humble Shindig offerings.

 

Audio

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

TRACK #54:

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes by Lee Lewis

The 1978 B-Movie horror-musical-comedy-spoof turned B-movie itself, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, was probably the first movie I was able to truly appreciate for its camp value.

I saw the light, so to speak, and it began the long love affair I still have today with horribly bad films. A love affair which was nurtured to its maturity on the early days of Comedy Central through Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Here’s the silly title track for the film. A film which, if you’ve never seen, I highly recommend…you know,…if you’re into that sort of thing.

Here’s a link to the full film on youtube.

Enjoy!

 

and remember…

 

Audio

Monster Rap

TRACK #53:

Monster Rap by Bobby “Boris” Pickett

Over the years, as the musical climate shifted, Boris Pickett attempted to recapture his Monster Mash lightning into all manner of bottle. The results were, well, not quite as successful.

In the early 80’s he tried rap, much to the delight of The Shindig.

Easily my favorite Boris Pickett tune, this goofy number is, I think, the funniest of his career. The ridiculous chorus of “Shock the body. Shock the body, body” in that Karloff voice is unmatched. Plus a rapping Frankenstein in the form of “Monster Mouth” is pretty fantastic too.

Though, I think the funniest aspect of the track is Boris’ initial excitement to hear the monster rap, and how quickly that turns to complete annoyance once the creature “won’t stop rapping.”

Even in the form of a silly rap, some remnant of Mary Shelley’s themes still persist,…kind of.

Either way, Boris Pickett’s Monster Rap is Shindig gold, all the way around.

 

Audio

Love Is A Lie

TRACK #52:

Love Is A Lie by Lion

We’ve already gotten a sampling of Freddy Krueger’s sonically iconic offerings, but surely his contemporary and adversary Jason Voorhees has a thing or two to say on the matter awesome 80’s soundtracks, no?

Yes. Yes he does.

From 1984’s prematurely subtitled The Final Chapter (a title made all the more ridiculous considering there are fewer Friday the 13ths proceeding it than following it), comes this tune from LA butt-rockers Lion.

Man, that’s pretty emphatic. They even blow up the mask for God’s sake.

This is the song to which Crispin Glover (aka George McFly, or Jimbo here) famously does he’s strange and erratic gyrations.

I’ve heard from unconfirmed sources (read: my buddy Matt Mastrella, AC/DC fan and possible rumorist) that during filming, the actual song playing was Back In Black, which they could not ultimately use after failing to secure the rights. If that’s true, it would certainly go a long way to explaining Jimbo’s arrhythmic seizing.

 

However, Crispin Glover is a pretty bizarre bastard himself and maybe that’s all the explanation needed. Click here for some support of this assertion.

Led in with the archetypal campfire tale of Jason, originally featured in Part 2 and rehashed in pieces during the pre-title sequence from Part 4. Its a favorite moment of mine from the series, and goes great with the song, if a tad lengthy.

I think it’s worth the wait though, and makes for a spooky interlude where your party guest can kick back and take in a little histrionic Voorhees history before Lion commence to rock.

Enjoy!

 

Audio

The Mummy’s Bracelet

TRACK #51:

The Mummy’s Bracelet by Lee Ross

Here’s a bizarre Shindig entry from singer Lee Ross.
Never heard of him? Well, don’t let it bum you out, cause neither has the Internet apparently. Digging up information on Lee seems to lead to a lot of cold trails.

What we can be sure of however, is that Lee definitely performed this catchy little number about the Mummy. Which Mummy, we’re less sure of, as Lee’s story doesn’t seem to match up to any Mummy film that I can cross reference.

This matters little however, because Mummy songs aren’t exactly falling out of the pockets of novelty-rockdom. In a genre choked with Vampires, Ghosts and Frankensteins, a song about a Mummy is a breath of stale and musty air.

So lets sit back and enjoy this strange little ditty about the Mummy, and his bracelet.