The Shindig Radio team returns to the scene of their original crime: Haddonfield!
3 years ago, Shindig Radio first exposed themselves to the world while jack-jawing about Halloween H40. So, you knew that when the sequel to that requel finally rolled around, we were gonna be right there weighing in.
Only that didn’t happen, did it?
Well, not as far as you’re concerned anyway, because a crippling technical difficulty prevented you from hearing that episode when it was originally intended to air.
Now, through the magic of modern audio technology and a little bit of patience, this once thought “lost forever” episode returns to life – a year late and totally irrelevant because a new Halloween has already come out.
STOP! wondering if evil is going to die tonight!
LOOK! at you’re phone or computer while 4 aging assholes complain about a thing not necessarily intended for them!
LISTEN! to Mikey blow the lid off of Tommy Lee Wallace’s 40-year-long mask deception!
Given their catalog, it’s actually shameful that it’s taken 10 years to finally get The Meteors on The Shindig.
These guys have been dishing out Horror and Sci-Fi tinged Psychobilly since…well…the beginning, as many credit them for being the very first Psychobilly band.
Whether or not they’re the one true originators of the genre, they are no doubt pioneers that shaped it’s sound and themes, that much is for sure.
I’ve had a couple Meteors’ tunes in the bullpen for a while now, but for some reason they’ve just never made the cut, and that’s the shameful part. They should have been given higher priority.
Well tonight they are, because they have just the song to prime us all for Michael’s big return tomorrow.
Yes, apparently it seems the Thorn Constellation is in alignment…again…and Michael Myers is back. To what? Face off against Laurie Strode. Again? To die maybe? Again? Finally maybe? Doubtful. When are we gonna be done torturing this poor dude, and ourselves to whatever I’ll-advised, money-hungry whim new producers have?
It doesn’t matter if you effectively incinerate him in a giant explosion, cause you can just give Loomis a little scar and have Michael wear some bandages. Let’s go!
Hell, it doesn’t matter if you cut off his head, cause you can always pull a Cincinnati Switch with some other poor bastard’s head in a Michael Myers mask. And off we go.
It doesn’t even matter if Paul Rudd mercilessly bludgeons him to an unrecognizable pile, cause you can always retcon your sequels to completely ignore that little detail, or any detail you’d like for that matter.
It’s the character that we can’t seem to kill, or perhaps more appropriately, audiences’ desire to make it worth the producer’s while to cook up some new fresh bullshit for poor Michael to sleepwalk through.
Now, say what you want about The Curse of Michael Myers (and people do…myself included) cause Lord knows the last thing…andI mean the absolute last thing…I want here is an explanation for this Michael Myers business. Michael greatest assets was always his mystery.
But hey, if you’re bent on giving people an explanation for this shit, because you’re 6 movies deep now and what the actual fuck is going on with this guy we’ve beaten, bucked and blown apart, then you can do worst than a weird cult of star-fearing Druids using Michael as a vessel for sacrifice.
So, let’s let The Meteors welcome Michael back…for the 11th time now I think, with their 1984 jam, Michael Myers.
God, I do hope that evil at least embarks on an incredible long hiatus tonight.
To kick off October proper, we’re gonna pull the lead-off batter from last year’s Heavy Metal Halloween episode of Shindig Radio, which segues nicely, being that it makes good use of a crude reworking of John Carpenter’s classic Halloween theme.
The oldest Heavy Metal Halloween track thus far on The Shindig, this one comes from Danish rocker’s Wasted, who formed in 1981. After releasing this demo in 1984, they toured extensively across Europe and began putting together a follow-up record.
Unfortunately, their record company at the time didn’t much care for this new material at all. They added insult to injury by suggesting the band would be more successful if they altered their style to sound more like Twisted Sister or Bon Jovi.
Wasted didn’t handle this seemingly constructive, yet mostly damn questionable, criticism all that well and slowly began imploding.
However, they reunited recently and just last year released a new album of brand new material that thankfully sounds nothing like either Bon Jovi or Twisted Sister.
So, despite the record company’s shortsightedness and the toll that not playing that type of ball offered Wasted, I’d like to personally thank them guys for sticking to their guns and providing this solid stand-up double, that wholly secures their place on Halloween Shindig.
As influential and essential as Alan Howarth may have ultimately been to that “Carpenter” sound, nothing proves John’s singular mastery like his score from 1978’s Halloween.
Everyone knows the iconic theme. Hell, people that haven’t even seen the movie recognize it’s repetitious, modulating sound.
However, John’s score is more than just that simple and oh-so-effective opening number. The entire sonic landscape of Halloween is synthy and unnerving, with buzzes and stabs that have become icons in and of themselves.
So we’d be remiss, particularly since our block of synthetic horror themes has bleed into Halloween, to leave out the man himself and one of his lesser heard arrangements from that classic seasonal favorite.
So, tingling your 31st spine is Shindig All-Star John Carpenter with the haunting and memorable and succinct, Laurie’s Theme.
Though over listed and a decidedly cliched choice, for the purpose of this list, of course John Carpenter’s classic has to take the pole position.
Though I give much love and respect to it’s Yuletide predecessor and inspiration Black Christmas, I still feel Halloween does it better. It is hands down my favorite slasher film and one of my favorite horror films period.
Effectively and methodically paced, Michael’s rookie outing is awash in strange glows and Halloween energy. And the music, not simply the theme (which is great) but all the incidental scoring throughout is eerie and seminal horror business.
The Shape had many sequels and imitators, but nothing holds a jack-o-lantern’s candle to this true American original. And it’s all on Halloween.
Many years have I watched this film on Halloween night and it’s never been a bad decision. Simply watching this film any night is never a bad decision, but from a young age, into my teenage and adult years, Halloween still makes Halloween feel like Halloween.
Long before Christopher Walken needed more cowbell, Annie Brackett and Laurie Strode we’re cruisin’ around Haddonfield, smokin’ a J and rockin’ out to some Blue Öyster Cult.
Almost inaudibly and without much ceremony at all, (Don’t Fear) The Reaper is the only piece of music appearing in the film not scored by John Carpenter.
If that wasn’t enough (and it is) the song also finds itself quoted in Stephen King’s original novel The Stand, as well as playing mood setter to it’s TV miniseries counterpart.
Though not appearing on the Shindig, honorable mentions go out to the 2 covers featured in The Frighteners and Scream, performed by The Muttonbirds and Gus respectively.
“It’s Halloween,” Sheriff Brackett tells us “I guess everyone’s entitled to one good scare, huh?”
Halloween Themeby The Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra
The first track on any Halloween playlist should probably be John Carpenter’s simplistic, iconic and downright horrific theme to his 1978 classic Halloween. Nothing quite sounds like Halloween the way this song does.
Call it nostalgia, call it indoctrination, call it whatever you’d like, when I hear this song I immediately think of jack-o-lanterns. That’s followed closely by children trick or treating, rounded out by some rustling leaves at 3rd, and perhaps coming in at a close 4th would be a white-masked sociopath by the name of Michael Myers.
Now, those are probably 4 of the most Halloweeny things I can think of, and they’re all elicited from just the first 3 notes of this song. For my money, that’s musical genius.
This is taken straight from the DVD, so no whack cover version, no trumped up Halloween CD nonsense, no later or slightly altered version for the other films in the series. This is the real deal, complete with the chanting trick or treaters at the end.
Black cats and goblins on Halloween night. Trick or Treat!
