If you thought you’d only get Tim Curry singing as Dr. Frank-N-Furter here on the Shindig, then boy are you in for a treat.
From the 1986 shot-on-video oddity The Worst Witchcomes this ridiculous tune about Halloween itself, sung by Grand Wizard (did they seriously call him Grand Wizard?) Tim Curry to Mrs. Cackle’s Academy for Witches.
Anything Can Happen On Halloween reassures us that anything can happen on Halloween, like a dog turning into a cat, or a toad appearing in your bass guitar. You know, crazy shit. Demonic shit.
Ah, Night of the Living Dead. A true classic by any definition. Romero’s Dead opener redefined horror, the zombie, claustrophobia and human villainy. And everyone’s been apin’ it since.
At the impressionable age of 12, it began a love affair with horror films that only gets stronger every year. It was the first one to really knock me on my ass:
“Holy shit?! Movies can end like that?!”
I shout to no one, in my Massachusetts bedroom late one Halloween night.
I respond 20 years later through a Halloween blog,
“They sure can kid, but most of em won’t, so don’t get too comfortable.”
It’s a film I love, no asterisk.
However, when it comes to a Halloween playlist, there ain’t much there to spin for your guest. No worries cause The Misfits have us all covered.
This ain’t no love-in, this ain’t no happenin’, it’s a goddamn Halloween party, so stumble in somnambulance!They’re coming to get you, Barbara…
Whatever Happened To Eddie by Eddie and The Monsters
Bob Mosher wasn’t the only one to throw some lyrics over Jack Marshall’s iconic theme.
In 1983, Butch Patrick, struggling to find his place as a child star in a Munster-less world, created the new wave band Eddie and The Monsters, and released this track featuring that recognizable theme to which he used to swing a giant bat.
The song finds Patrick, with his tongue planted somewhere around his cheek I suppose, poking fun at his flailing career and famous turn as TV’s favorite Wolfboy.
It’s certainly not the greatest track, but it’s kinda fun, with an uptempo enough beat. Definite Shindig material. It’s also fairly short too. So if you’re finding it difficult to endure, don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon.
However, if that’s the case, I might suggest avoiding TRACK #86. Cause if you think it can’t get any worse that this, you’re wrong.
Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors) by Michelle Weeks, Tichina Arnold and Tisha Campbell-Martin with Bill Mitchell
It’s a bit crazy to think we’ve made it 80 tracks into a horror themed playlist without including anything from one of the most beloved horror musicals of all time, Little Shop of Horrors.
I’ll be honest, I don’t care for musicals, generally speaking. They’re unnatural, disorienting and show tunes really aren’t my bag. Why is everyone singing all of a sudden? Am I on drugs? What’s going on up there? What world is this where random strangers are all suddenly singing, and well?
It’s never happened to me.
Granted, I’ve never been attacked by a mummy, either. Nor have I ever seen a Ghoulie in my toilet. But it could happen. I can imagine that world.
I can not, for one moment, imagine a world where all of my friends and I are having a conversation at a diner, then suddenly and for no apparent reason, we all burst out into song to detail plot points, describe feelings or externalize inner monologues through music.
So infectious is our glee that all the waiters and line cooks join in on the number, until our mirth can no longer be contained by the diner itself! We spill out into the streets and stop traffic. A crossing guard and truck driver add a verse. The whole of the town gather behind us in harmony, until finally a car careens into a fire hydrant and an urban geyser punctuates our final note! Then we just start talking again like normal people, without even acknowledging whatever the fuck that nonsense was that just happened.
Can’t picture that ever happening.
I can more easily imagine a cult of satanists rushing the door with an ancient amulet demanding the hostess be sacrificed over a plate of moons over my hammy. I’m prepared for that. I think I could handle that, mentally. I think an impromptu and unacknowledged musical number would fuck me up. I don’t know if I could move passed that. Maybe that makes it more horrific.
That being said, there are a few musicals I can enjoy, mostly because of their genre leanings or satiric nature. Rocky Horror, Cannibal: The Musical, and Little Shop of Horrors all have just the right amount of je ne sais quoi that allows me to get passed that unnatural sensation, and enjoy the musical as I believe it should be, without all my logical, earth-bound hang-ups.
So, in that spirit, we return to the Shindig after a long hiatus with the title track from Little Shop of Horrors. Enjoy!
It seems as though I’ve been ignoring my Horror Themes category. Better sock one in here before the playlist ends up with a giant lyric-less cluster somewhere in the middle.
And if you need a go-to Horror Theme, then Francis Haines’ Return of the Living Dead Main Title Theme will do just fine.
Perfectly creepy, perfectly Halloweeny, The Trioxin Theme is just the break we need from the rock to bring a little ambiance back into the mix.
As soundtracks go (official, purchasable albums that is) The Return of the Living Dead is a great one. Not only is the music awesome, but it chock full of so many great samples from the movie I don’t even need to bust out my DVD to lead them in. Just grab 2 tracks, splice ’em a little and we’re good to go.
From one of the greatest zombie movies ever made, here’s the synthy and spooky Trioxin Theme from The Return of the Living Dead.
Disco was no stranger to novelty tracks. And as all you Shindiggers know, novelty tracks were no stranger to monster songs.
Though originally recorded in 1979 by Andy Forray, The Shindig prefers this slightly more up-tempo version by Red Lipstique.
Never heard of Red Lipstique? Well, that’s because they weren’t really a real band. It was a pseudonym The Bollocks Brother’s used when they released several singles, including this cover of Andy Forray’s disco hit.
Never heard of The Bollocks Brothers? Well, I hadn’t either.
However, I have heard of this song, and it’s definitely Shindig material, no matter what band records it, or what name they use.
So c’mon Weeners, sing along…
“I wanna suck your OOOOOHHHH!”
Dracula, Drac’s back!
(side note: I could think of nothing more fitting to lead this track in than a clip from Hammer’s Dracula A.D. 1972, which finds Christopher Lee’s Drac being resurrected into London of the early 70’s. Not quite the disco era but still appropriate.)
Once in blue Moon (or maybe 3 times in roughly 230 tracks) a song comes along so awesomely perfect that it defies my categories. It flagrantly rebels all, encompasses, and becomes more. It demands representation and it’s exclusion from any Halloween playlist is a crime against the holiday, so perfectly suited is it.
It’s a +1 to the trinity; it’s from a horror movie, its about the movie, it’s the movie’s fucking Title Track, and against all odd, it’s about Halloween too.
Are you kidding me? Nope. It’s a Referentially Inclusive Halloween Title Track, or a Great Pumpkin. I’d call it the Holy Grail, but there’s a couple of these fuckers on the Shindig.
While Trick Or Treat isn’t the ultimate example of such a song, it does appear before that track, so it gets the lead-in.
That’s not to say it’s any slouch though. Lets look at the stats:
It’s a Title Track, already 3 shots to it.
In that it’s called Trick Or Treat, is played live by an undead rock star in the movie, at a Halloween party, on Halloween, while he’s killing teenagers with a guitar that shoots lightning, is effort enough to earn it’s keep at the top of the heap.
You have a Halloween playlist and it doesn’t feature this song, you’re doing it wrong.
I love Trick Or Treat and it’s definitely an annual watch somewhere between October 1st and 31st.
Metal head dork Eddie Weinbauer accidentally resurrects his recently deceased rock hero Sammi Curr by unwittingly playing his final and unreleased album backwards.
At first Sammi aids Edward in his game of revenge, but when Sammi’s game becomes too real, Eddie pussies out and Sammi takes matters into his own hands. Awesomeness ensues.
The soundtrack, presented in the form of Sammi Curr’s music, is provided by butt-rockers Fastway, whom I’m not sure achieved much notoriety beyond this Soundtrack.
Either way, it all adds up to a pretty fantastic Heavy Metal Halloween. Enjoy!
Let’s keep the 80’s dance party/Oddball sequel thing going here.
1985 offered us Freddy’s first foray into sequel-dom, however Jason was already and old man by ‘85, going on his 5th outing.
Perhaps one of the more derided films of the series, and certainly it’s oddball entry, Friday 5 is still Paramount, still hugely 80’s and (I think) rather unfairly maligned.
It’s hard to say which is the “worst”, as some thrive where others lack and vice-versa. Honestly, a lot of it just comes down to personal preference after a point.
5 however has the distinct honor of being the only entirely Jason-less sequel (save for the pre-credit sequence…I guess) as the killer is merely assuming the MO and hockey mask. This, more than any other reason, is why it finds itself on the bottom rung with fans.
What 5 has going for it however is a serious body count. Notably the most of any Friday the 13th film at 22. That’s gotta be worth something.
Sure the effects aren’t on par with other entries and a lot of the murders are cut-aways but this dude ices 22 different people and that’s an achievement, however lessened it may be by the fact that its not actually Jason killing these people (except the first 2 guys…I guess.)
This song, by Australian pop-smiths Pseudo Echo, plays while Violet is dancing and being murdered. The song was actually a suggestion of actress Tiffany Helm, a fan of the new wave and punk music of the day.
Imagine being able to select which song to which you’d be murdered by Jason? Pretty dope.
Interesting side note regarding Violets death. Originally, she was to take a machete to the vag. Now that’s a way to go.
However, the producers thought that was a bit much, and changed it to her stomach, which they don’t even really show anyway, so I guess it doesn’t even matter. Oh well.
This song is pretty awesome though and almost sounds as if it were written specifically about Jason. It was produced a year early however, so no luck there. It does fit in nicely into the movie however, and makes a great addition to The Shindig.
Whisper To A Screamby Bobby Orlando & Claudja Barry
Lets get a Freddy two-fer going, cause your guests are still pissed…
“How the fuck am I supposed to dance to some bullshit like ‘Down In The Boiler Room’…? Are you serious right now?!”
And fair enough. I’m not sure that song’s palatable, much less danceable. So let’s look to Freddy’s soundtrack offerings for a little relief. And what better place to go for a dose of danceable 80’s synth-pop than Freddy’s Revenge.
Certainly the black sheep of the series (and with good cause), A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 is probably the worst way you could have followed the highly original and groundbreaking hit.
Every franchise has its Oddball Entry. Ya know, that one that doesn’t quite jive for whatever reason; be it overtly non-canon (Halloween 3), lacking its main character (Friday 5) or plays fast and loose with the primary mythos, as is the case with Freddy’s Revenge.
While not so out of place at the time, just a little curve ball for the sequel, the fact that subsequent Elm Streets have totally ignored this entry, its characters and its logic, makes it the strange, stand-out entry it seems today.
Basically, Freddy attempts to possess Jesse, the new teenager living in Nancy’s old room at 1428 Elm., choosing to work through the boy in the material world, as opposed to terrorizing all the children in their sleep. Granted, he does possess Jesse through his dreams, but all the kills are carried out by Jesse in the waking world, as he slowly transforms into a flesh and blood Freddy Krueger.
Needless to say, that pissed off a lot of fans at the time, and still continues to do so today. Coupled with its generalized shortcomings (acting, writing, direction, etc), its bizarre homo-eroticism and its overall weirdness, Freddy’s Revenge is not a fan favorite, and is offend cited as the series’ low-point: a rushed and lazy attempt to cash-in on the success of the original, with Dream Warriors being a much more creative and fitting sequel. True enough, I can concede.
However, I have a soft spot for Elm Street 2, cause well…
I’m a sucker for bad movies, and this one delivers.
Clu Gulager is awesome. I don’t care what movie he’s in, he’s always on point.
Grady is the man (as played by Ron Rusler of The Daggers….fuck yeah Thrashin’)
Freddy is still scary, and he retains his creep-factor before plunging into total buffoonery as per 3, 4 et al.
Jesse is such a little wiener, it’s hard not to love him. Horror’s first male Scream Queen.
And I appreciate the attempt to do something different. Though its failure does lead to subsequent films treading back (and back again) into more familiar waters, it’s still nice to see people trying something different.
That being said (and long-windedly at that) let’s get to Bobby Orlando’s funky beats, as heard during the pool party sequence of Freddy’s Revenge.
Segueing nicely out of our Horror Host block is this oddity that only the 80’s could have produced, featuring a man whom himself was briefly a Horror Host, Mr. Big Time…Fred Krueger.
Between Dream Warriors and The Dream Master, Freddy-Mania was nearing its peak, and some producer (bless their soul) thought it made perfectly sound financial sense to green-light Freddy’s Greatest Hits.
Beyond the costumes and suction-cupped window dolls was this album. This beautiful album, aimed at God knows who. I doubt it sold more than a few thousand copies, but then, maybe no more than a few thousand copies were produced to begin with.
It’s a bizarre thing with no clear audience. Too sophisticated for kids, too stupid for adults. Too much like show tunes for the horror crowd, too much like scary bloody horror for anyone else.
A mix of covers and original songs, Freddy Krueger is all over the album, but only rarely does he actually “sing.” Usually, he just tacks one-liners onto the verses. The actual music-making was done by the “Elm Street Group,” who I’m guessing were regular studio musicians gathered to make two months’ rent with the weirdest work they’d ever do.
Naturally, there’s a couple of these gems on Shindig, starting out with this particularly strange number concerning Freddy’s boiler room.
Led-in with a clip from Freddy’s Nightmares – Mr. Krueger’s own personal horror anthology television show that first aired the following year. The program had Freddy playing Rod Serling to all manner of neutered Elm Street-style tales where Freddy fucked with the protagonists for any number of ridiculous reasons.
If John Zacherle is the grandaddy of Horror Hosts, then Maila Nurmi is their mother goddess.
Back in 1954, The Vampira Show was the first program to feature a spooky host introducing (and mocking) old B-movies.
Though only on the air for about a year, Vampira’s mark on horror culture can still be felt today, particularly tooling around Tumblr, where her image is ever present.
And why not? As Mr. Danzig so succinctly puts it:
Two inch nails Micro-waist with a pale white feline face inclination eyebrows to there Vampira Mistress to the horror kid
Vampira is the embodiment of the classic horror image. Young fangirls still want to be her, and young fanboys still want to be with her. And though nothing but a few old kinescopes exist of the short-lived program, Maila Nurmi’s legacy will forever live on with the genre.
Fittingly led in by Martin Landu’s oscar-bearing Bela Lugosi, exulting Ms. Nurmi’s appealing qualities to Johnny Depp’s irritated Ed Wood.
Go try on a sweater then, Nerd-o. Me and Bela here will just sit back with some morphine and enjoy the show.
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’sMonster Rap is Shindig gold, all the way around.
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.
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.
Perhaps the only track on the playlist that doesn’t fall into one of my fairly open-ended categories, Raining Blood is an old hold-over from the days when the Shindig wasn’t a dense as it is today.
I’ve always used it as a lead-in to Helen’s Theme (from Candyman) by Phillip Glass, as the rain effect at the end was too perfect.
I’ve never removed it for that very reason, despite the small annoyance it’s always posed me knowing it isn’t about, featured in, or even remotely related to any horror movie or Halloween.
Maybe you could call it a Devilish Track, and perhaps I will, because well, the guy is busting out of purgatory on his way to heaven to “fuck that place up,” as Jeff Hanneman worded it.
Besides, this song fuckin’ owns. How much more justification do you need?
Led in by Father Urbain Grandier’s sentencing from Ken Russell’s 1971 nusto-mastepiece The Devils.
When it comes to Monster Raps, no movie’s got that category on lock down like Ghostbusters 2.
Whatever your take on the movie itself (I happen to enjoy it, though not nearly as much as the superior original) its soundtrack is pretty serious, and as such has a lot of representation on The Shindig.
The year was 1989 and this soundtrack certainly feels that way, bridging the gap between 80’s pop and paving the way for what would be the mainstream explosion of rap the following year. Hats off the the music supervisor’s foresight on that one.
Like any good soundtrack it also consistently reminds one of the movie, as the music is featured so predominately within the film.
The first Shindig cut from that album is Doug E. Fresh’sSpirit. Some people hear it, some people fear it. Some people just won’t go near it.
Segueing nicely from that last sample is this gem from everyone’s favorite wet nightmare Elvira.
Of all the Elvira originals on The Shindig (and there’s a few), this is perhaps my favorite. It’s got a fun 80’s synth-pop sound, and it features the Mistress of the Dark singing seductively about how essentially a full moon makes her crazy horny. Um, ok. ‘Nuff said. I’m in.
If you’re a bunch of kids that have to do battle with a gang of famous monsters and you need to resort to smelting down your mom’s fine silverware, jacking the school’s archery equipment, and belt sanding stakes in shop class, then you could probably use a montage.
That oughta free up valuable screen time to cut some business cards, write a letter to the Army Guys, grab a soda and maybe do a spit take when seeing naked pictures Frankenstein accidentally took of your buddy’s hot sister.
And if you do need a montage, then this song oughta fit the bill just fine; a song which instructs you, with gleeful irresponsibility, to be completely reckless in your rocking. Suggested amongst the dangerous activities are “dancing until your feet fall off” and “partying until your brains fall out.” Both of which, I might add, are terrible things to encourage of children. Ah, the 80’s, that wonderful place where no one gave a shit about children or their safety.
From 1987’s horror answer to The Goonies, it’s Michael Sembello’sRock Until You Drop. Go forth weeners and try this at home.
