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.
I’m not really one to disparage an entire genre of music. I tend to think every style has its artists and releases that prove a good song is just a good song.
But man, do I not like Reggae.
It’s just not a sound I want surrounding me. At least not the Reggae I’ve been exposed to anyway. Which admittedly, while more expansive than simply Bob Marley, isn’t the widest range. I’m sure there’s songs and artists that would prove my opening statement true, but I’m not sure I’m tryin to find out.
Now, that all might seem perfectly evident to long time listeners, as The Shindig thus far contains exactly no Reggae. I’m pretty sure it’s not because there’s just a dearth of Reggae songs about Monsters, because there seems to be a bunch. Not an abundance, but they’re out there. The ones I’ve come across over the years, though, haven’t really tickled the itch. Is that even a saying? Probably not.
Except for this one, which despite its name, doesn’t sound all that much like Reggae to me. Sure, there’s nothing else you’d really call this, what with that shuffley guitar riff and it’s general tempo. And hell, it’s certainly claiming to be Reggae and who am I to argue? But hey, Boris Picket claimed The Monster Rap was Rap, so. And yeah, I mean I guess technically it is that. But it’s not exactly that. And let’s not forget Edgar Winter or Elvira, each of whom claim the same, and I can certainly envision staunch pushback from the Hip-Hop community.
What I mean to say is is that this song is not irritatingly Reggae sounding, ya know, like most Reggae.
Which helps, because this song is practically begging to be on The Shindig, an entreaty I’ve denied to more than just a handful of songs based on my own personal preferences over the years. Not sounding irritating is certainly a plus over here.
But this one? I dunno. I kinda like it. And man if it ain’t Monstery. And it’s a Mysterioso Pizzicato offender to boot? It’s like the most Mysterioso Pizzicatoy song ever! The entire bass lick is the Pizzicato for almost the entire song, c’mon now. It’s also our first Pizzacato offender of the season, I might add.
So maybe this is the one. Maybe this is the song I point to when I say, “Hey, every genre has good shit. Even Reggae.”
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.
Several years after The Sonics broke ground with their Witch, folk rock outfit October Country threw another one on the stake with their hit, My Girlfriend is a Witch.
While we never get any kind of real physical description of our femme fatale, we’re given a much less ambiguous description of, let’s say, her “witchy” activities.
She flies on a broom. She’s got lots of spells around her. She’s apparently telepathic. She worships magic. OK. I think we’re dealing with a real life witch here, gang.
Now that we cleared that up, what about the band?
Well, October Countrywas a short lived affair that only released one self-titled album in 1968, on which you’ll find tonight’s jam. The band, the album and the title track October Country, were all named after a Ray Bradbury short story collection, which pretty much gets you instant access to The Shindig, even without a Witch song, but here we are none the less.
Interestingly, this song was re-recorded for an episode of The Chattanooga Cats, which was an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon featuring hep cartoon cats playing instruments. I dare say it’s the more popular version of the song, as you can find the clip spread across the internet, and it’s a pretty fun little video.
Another interesting notch on October Country’sshort belt is having their music appear in Steven Spielberg’s 1968 short film Amblin’, of which his production company, Amblin Entertainment, takes its name. Nice.
That’s all we seem to get from these hippies for a paycheck (apparently they were pretty square and not at all into the psychedelic movement, despite their music) but when your name is October County and your song is My Girlfriend is a Witch, that’s all you really need to get hemmed up in The Shindig.
Remember when I said that’s there’s a song every year that’s been waiting around forever to finally get on the playlist? Well, I said that about Don’t Let Go this year because, well because that’s true, but mostly because our next song was originally scheduled for next year. Now, I did include the caveat that there’s usually more than one a year, especially at this stage in the game. And I’ll admit, Don’t Let Go has been waiting for much longer than tonight’s jam, but no song has been burning a hole in the bullpen for me quite like this one.
When I first ran across this tune (whenever that was originally) I dismissed it as a Screaming Lord Sutch cover, tossed it onto the YouTube Bullpen playlist and promptly forgot about it altogether.
Then, while randomly listening to that playlist in my car (who knows how many months later) this song fired up and it immediately grabbed my attention. What the hell was this? And when the hell had I added it?
I drop a lot of boring and forgettable songs on that playlist, just to see what they got going on. Some of it never gets a 2nd listening before being summarily dumped. But this song, this was a stake straight through the heart of a listless Dracula block filled with just those kind of boring and forgettable tunes.
An awesome Dracula voice, a spooky organ, a seriously fuzzed out guitar lick and an aggressive female vocal all demanded I take notice. This was no Screaming Lord Sutch cover. No, it was much more.
What follows, amid epic 70’s strings, some assaultive brass stabs, that classic werewolf sound effect and is that a fuckin clarinet (?) is one seriously rocking Monster Song. It’s like ABBA blasted a few rails and covered Spirit in the Sky at a Halloween party but forgot how it went so they just sang whatever the fuck about Dracula, and I’m about it.
And look at this 45 sleeve! That’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, despite the song being readily available on the internet, I shelled out to get one shipped from England just so I could get a high rez scan and throw it on a T-Shirt. It’s available here, in the Shindig Shop (or here, if you prefer Redbubble). Don’t make me the only weirdo rockin’ this thing, alright? Everyone buy one cause that’s the coolest thing ever.
Back to this song, or rather to Thunderthighs, which is awesome name for a female rock group, let’s be real. I had never heard of this band and I wondered what their story was all about.
Turns out they were a backing vocal trio from the UK consisting of Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou and Casey Synge. The were most known from providing Lou Reed with the do-do-doos for Walk On the Wild Side. They are not, in fact, “colored girls”, despite chiming in right at the moment Lou suggests they might be. Over the years, some folks have taken umbrage with this fact, and I can see why. If you’re satirizing the music industry’s proclivity for taking advantage of minority singers without providing the proper credit, proper compensation, proper royalty structures or the opportunity to step out from behind the shadow of their white counterparts, doing so with trio white women may just be undercutting that point. Perhaps it’s not though. Perhaps that’s the only responsible way to make such a critique. Or maybe it’s not that deep at all and it’s simply Digital Blackface in the analog era. I’m not sure. All I know is that regardless of what Lou sings, the girl’s were Thunderthighs.
As an act on their own, Thunderthighsnever really seemed to catch on. They released a handful of singles to critical acclaim and some chart performance, but nothing viewed as an undeniable hit. They recorded a debut LP, but the label cut their losses and shelved the effort. Years and years later the material was released as an untitled album and is currently available to listen to on the various streaming services.
Despite struggling to find solo success, these woman were still very sought after for their incredible vocal gifts. The trio can be heard on various albums from Mott the Hoople, Arthur Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis and David Verity.
But for our week of Hallo-Women, we don’t want them in the background. We want the ladies of Thunderthighs front and center singing about possibly the most monstrous woman of them all, Dracula’s Daughter.
Dracula’s Tango (Sucker For Your Love)by Toto Coelo
Since we’re talking about women talking about monsters, how about 5 women talking about monsters. Or at least one monster anyway. Yeah, you guessed it – Dracula. Of course it’s Dracula. It’s always Dracula. So much Dracula. Too much Dracula.
I know I said I was only gonna give you 1 Dracula song this year, and that’s because this block wasn’t initially scheduled for this season. But as I was finishing up the Disco block I wasn’t quite settled about how it was segueing into the next part of the playlist. So, I decided to move these songs up a bit, shuffled out a few tunes, and viola! Now you got more Dracula. It’s honesty just that easy to suddenly have Dracula around here, such is the extent of Draculas littering the bullpen. There’s a whole other crop coming at you in 2026. Just Draculas. So much Draculas. Too much Draculas.
But this one’s a great monster dance song that’s pretty well known and exactly the type of song that should have made the list years ago. It’s been hanging around the bullpen forever just waiting to find the right spot to call home, and I think we’ve now found it.
It’s a poppy number that comes from a group of British ladies originally named Toto. The United States made them change their name though to avoid confusion with the real Toto, cause that’s the kinda bullshit the United States does. I suppose I get it, but this seems more geared toward preventing a customer from buying an album they maybe didn’t want, than it is seems geared toward maybe helping an artist sell some records on a little borrowed name recognition. The music industry suddenly developed a consciousness toward its customers, or something? Get the fuck outta here.
I will say that I wouldn’t have complained at all about an alternate cut of Lynch’s Dune scored by the likes of Toto Coelo.
Speaking of which, that’s what they changed their name to, Toto Coelo. In Latin it means “by all of Heaven” or “the whole of the Heavens.” It seems like a fancy way of saying completely, or absolutely. So there’s that.
According to Wikipedia, By The Full Breadth of The Heavens formed in ’81 and their first recording was a Buggles tune produced by Trevor Horn. How do you like that? Sometimes the small weird ways things end up unintentionally connected around here is kinda wild. Apparently this was an unreleased track though, but that little thread is still interesting.
Their actual breakout hit came the following year in the form I Eat Cannibals. Not exactly a number one hit, either in England or here (peaked at 8 in the UK and 66 here in the states) but it was enough to warrant a follow up single right on its heels.
Now, why someone thought a weird song about wanting to fuck Dracula was the ticket, I couldn’t say. Never seems to me like the thing to bet the farm on, and I’m a guy who literally wants your next hit to be a song about you wanting to fuck Dracula. Like I’m here for it, literally. I’m literally here at this domain for the express purpose of talking about your weird 1982 hit song about how you’re getting all horny for Dracula. But yeah, I’ve seen the numbers. It’s not a large constituency.
So, as you might imagine Toto Coelo’s flash was of an “in the pan” variety. They went for the hat trick and released Milk From The Coconut, the 3rd single off their 1983 album Man O’War, but that one didn’t really move the needle either. Anyone who was really feeling I Eat Cannibals had moved on.
Now, I’m usually a pretty generous listener with things like that, and there is a vocoder, and that’s awesome obviously, but I struggle with Milk from the Coconut a bit. It’s ok, but I’m not surprised this one failed to chart.
Now Dracula’s Tango, on the other hand, provides no such obstacle. It is the clear winner of the 3 singles, my biases not withstanding. Anyone claiming I Eat Cannibals is the better single is not to be trusted. So, while I think I Eat Cannibals could make for a perfectly reasonable addition to The Shindig, we have obviously and predictably staked our flag on Dracula’s Tango.
An interesting bit of trivia about the ladies of Toto Coelo; they fully appear performing in the 1983 sequel, Grizzly II: The Predator. That sucker was shot in Budapest, and the production ran out of money so the Hungarian government confiscated all their equipment. As a result, the movie was never released or finished. Canon bought the rights with the intention to release it in the late 80’s but that didn’t happen before Canon fell apart.
In 2020, an independent company shot some extra footage and finally got the film released as Grizzly II: The Revenge. It’s not good, and has tons of weird new footage spliced-in that feels all out of place. And since it featured a bunch of young actors that had since became famous, they bill them all like the real stars of the film.
It’s got John Rhys-Davies and Louise Fletcher and Charles Cyphers. But those are the real actors. In small ass cameos you had the likes of George Clooney, Laura Dern and even Charlie Sheen! According to IMDb Charlie Sheen actually turned down the role of Daniel in The Karate Kid so he could go to Hungary and be in this trash. Holy shit. Poor guy. No wonder he kept bangin’ 7 grams rocks. I would too if I had given up a shot at bring the Karate Kid for fuckin Grizzly II, only to see it get full-on shelved for 40 years.
Though, to be fair, being Topper Harley and Rick Vaughn kinda makes up for not getting to be Daniel Larusso. In the grand scheme of things, maybe that’s even better. Maybe he really was winning. In the end though, he’s still Charlie Sheen, and that don’t sound like any kind of winning to me. Rest in peace Corey Haim.
Holy shit, that was a detour. What the hell were we talking about again? Oh, another song about women obsessed with a fucking literal creature of the night, that will completely drain their body of life in order to sustain their own, with absolutely no thought or concerned paid to the very object of that sustenance, rendering them into what one Dracula referred to as a “beautiful wine press” ?Yeah, that sounds about par for the Dracula course.
Here’s Toto Coelo with a toto dance-floor ‘digger sure to get your blood flowing. It’s Dracula’s Tango (Sucker For Your Love)
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)
Sometimes there’s just some bands that somehow fly just under the radar. Bands that almost seem to actively evade me. Bands that absolutely defy the odds that, given the stuff I’m searching for and the amount of time I spend searching for it, I’m guaranteed to find them.
Nightmare is just such a band.
Nightmare is so just such a band that they’re already Shindig All-Stars. It’ll take at least 3 seasons to get em in there, but they’ll join up soon enough, it’s already a done deal.
When I stumbled upon them last year it was like one of those weird explosive epiphanies where it almost feels like they’re being willed into existence at that very moment. How had I not come across them yet? How had no one sent them to me before? How were they not a more widely popular band?
At their core Nightmare was a shock-rock group from the UK that had wild onstage illusions in the vein of Alice Cooper, W.A.S.P. or GWAR. Their show was a show, and not just any show, but the Shock Show! They employed fire eating, sexy witches, hangings, impalement, an electric chair, burning coffins and beheadings with a big ass guillotine. Fun stuff.
Their music is a weird blend of goth, new wave, rock and novelty song. They’re like something that stepped out of an unofficial but scarier Rocky Horror sequel. And anytime horror meets rock, The Shindig should be there, tipping the hat.
Nightmare was the passion project of singer, bassist and testicle arsonist Ron Dickson, who started out in the late 60’s with the glam/psych outfit Light Fantastic. Their wild and unpredictable stage performances quickly gained them a following in the UK and no doubt set a blueprint for the onstage antics of Nightmare to come.
After about a 10 year run, Ron says himself in this detailed history of Light Fantastic, the band separated and that’s when he formed Nightmare. Their Facebook page is a wonderful repository for old newspaper clippings and videos of Nightmare in the glory days. Like this photo, used to produce the Great Balls of Fire EP sleeve.
In addition to touring extensively and firing off several EPs throughout the early 80’s, they released only one, but one glorious LP in 1985 entitled Children of the Night. The album itself claims it’s more of an approximation of the band’s work on stage. An afterthought almost. A souvenir, if you will, of that time you spent seeing the crazy Nightmare Shock Show. This entire album is a festive treat that I highly recommend spinning this and every Halloween.
While there are probably at least 7 different songs on here we could pump directly into the playlist straight away, it is Track #4 which is fashioning Nightmare’s debut on The Shindig.
While not technically a Haunted Disco, Boogie Bogie Man definitely concerns a haunted theater, a ghostly band and one hell of a lead riff. If this graveyard stomper doesn’t get you moving, you just might not be dead yet.
What’s interesting is that this song is a reworking of sorts (or a cover, if it do ya) of the Light Fantastic song titled Boogi Woogi Bogiman. The two tracks are strikingly similar, if not basically identical. I admit to liking the Nightmare version more, though I’m probably biased, as it’s the version I heard first. I do think it rocks a little harder and is a bit more sinister. That chipmunk voice in the Light Fantastic version kinda kills it for me. That album cover though, holy smokes, that’s a fun sleeve. Again, not quite as sinister as Nightmare, but definitely weird and hedging in the Nightmare direction.
So, let’s welcome a band that should have been here since jump. A band I shouldn’t even be talking about 13 years into this business because all of their songs should have already been added by now. Let’s welcome the children of the night! Let us welcome, Nightmare!
Holy shit, more Haunted Discos? Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. It’s kinda why I kept the Disco Draculas together and held onto these for a different season.
This particular Haunted Disco, actually called Haunted Disco, comes to you from Chromium, a one-off project from British producer Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes.
Now, if those names don’t sound familiar, (and let’s face it, they probably don’t) perhaps their original band, The Buggles, will ring some bells. Still nothing? Well OK, but how bout their huge single and MTV kickstarter Video Killed the Radio Star? There it is. Now we’re cooking.
Whoa, wait, whaddya mean you still don’t know who or what the hell i’m talking about? Really? Well shit, I don’t know what else to say if you don’t know Video Killed the Radio Star. This obviously means you’re entirely too young to recognize that song, which by default means you aren’t actually reading this post right now. In which case I guess you don’t exist in this reality and I’ll stop addressing you. If you are old enough and you still somehow don’t know that song, I’m still gonna assume you’re also not reading this and move on.
Now, it seems they recorded the Chromium album Star To Star between forming The Buggles in 1977 and releasing their own first album, Age of Plastic in 1980. But the single for Video Killed the Radio Star dropped in 1979, after the Chromium album was released. So they seem to have been jumping back and forth.
However, after that song hit, both Trevor Horn and Downes we’re back at it and recording next to Prog-Rock outfit Yes, whom had recently shed their lead singer and keyboardist (Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, respectively.) They asked Trevor and Geoff if they wanted to join Yes, and who says “No” to Yes, so they stuck around to record their 1980 album Drama. But Yes called it quits a year later, so the duo fell back on The Buggles and released their follow up album entitled Adventures in Modern Recording.
Right after that though, Downes went for the Prog-Rock mega team-up with Yes guitarist Steven Howe, King Crimson bassist John Wetton and ELP drummer Carl Palmer to form the Supergroup Asia. The Shindig maintains a deep lineage, continuing to show that anyone who’s anyone in this game has some weird Monster Song roots.
Which brings me to a strange point. Wikipedia… OK yeah yeah, that’s the old trope, but I guarantee you it has more accurate and better sourced information than whatever Facebook link you just clicked or the dumb video you just watched.
But anyway, the Geoff Downes Wikipedia page claims “Then they formed the short-lived Chromium, with Anne Dudley and Hans Zimmer and recorded an album Star to Star in 1978”
I’m sorry, did you say Hans Zimmer? Like A League of Their Own, Zero Boys, Cool Runnings Hans Zimmer? Get the fuck outta town. I had to cross reference this claim.
Discogs, as you might imagine, makes no reference to Zimmer on the Star To Star album proper, so I was like, yeah, that shit ain’t true. But, searching within Hans’ specific discography does ping a small credit on some releases of Star To Star, including an unofficial expanded CDr release, the US cassette release and the Canadian LP. OK, that’s a little weird, but technically still true it seems. He is credited as “Electronics” whatever the hell that really means. Was he programing synths? Was he soldering SSM chips into a Fairlight CMI? What kind of electronics are we talking about here, fellas?
So, I don’t know if I’d say they formedChromium like with Hans Zimmer or if he was just like a studio tech or what, but he is actually credited in there. So chalk up another one for the Monster Song and it’s long line of decorated purveyors!
Anyway, let’s get on with this song, shall we? It’s almost midnight and my Internet’s been down for hours while I’ve been trying to wrap all this shit up.
Listen, the Disco Queen wasn’t buried where she should have been, and you know that shit is a problem. And if that same shit definitely doesn’t lead to a Haunted Disco, I don’t know what does!
For a Halloween playlist that basically didn’t feature a Phantom of the Opera song from like 13 years, dropping 2 in one season might seem a little over the top.
But as I was putting together that block of Classic Monster tracks to close out the 300s, this was my original song for the Phantom slot. But, as you’ll hear, it ain’t really much of a Phantom of the Opera song at all.
Sure, it’s called that. And they definitely say it, but I’m not really 100% on what this song is really all about. Turns out though, they say “haunted disco” a whole shitload. And, since I was also lining up a Monster Disco Block, it seemed like a perfect fit.
So, who says “haunted disco?” Why it’s Marzio, who I’d say is like an Italian Dio, but, ya know.
But like Dio, Marzio is the name under which Marzio Vincenzi released his sole LP Smoke on the Volcano. In addition to tonight’s tune, this album also features his disco take on the Deep Purple classic, hence the title, I guess anyway. Here’s a picture of him looking not at all like the guy you imagine is singing this weird disco horror song.
Prior to this solo venture, Vincenzi lent his vocal talents to a disco team-up of Italian musician Mauro Malavasi and sketchy business man Jacques Fred Petrus called Macho.
Macho’s big number was a 1978 cover of Chicago’s cover of The Spencer Davis Group hit (written by Steven Winwood) I’m A Man. This 17 minute exercise in keeping coked-up boomers on the dance floor for as long as possible is impressive in its ambition. It’s a jam too, but 17 minutes of anything is asking a bit much, even for notoriously long disco songs.
Thankfully, tonight’s tune is only asking about 6 minutes of our time, which should be just enough to throw down a few moves on the floor and head back to the bathroom for bumps.
Holding up the back end our Monster Disco block, here’s Marzio with Phantom of the Opera!
We’ve already established that disco was pretty big in Japan. I don’t remember when, but i’m pretty sure we did. Maybe Sweet Sexy Dracula? That’s a guess, but I’ll link to in anyway. Let me know, yeah?
But anyway, yeah, disco was big in Japan. And as you can see below, our next track, the title track from the 1978 compilation Disco Monster, was a Japanese release.
Unfortunately, I don’t speak Japanese, so I had no idea if the song was a suitable addition outside of its title.
So, I enlisted some assistance from Shindig Radio guest Matt Mastrella, as his wife is Japanese.
What I also don’t speak, evidentially, is internet, cause fuckin Google translate can process images and I could have very easily found all the information I needed simply by translating the album cover, like so.
But indeed, they were able to help, translating this cover and hunting down the group Pink Lady and then finding the original lyrics. See, the song Disco Monster (here performed by the dubious Saturday Night Disco Band) is just a fun disco version of this duo’s #1 hit Monsutā. This song topped the Japanese Oricon Charts for 8 whole weeks in 1978, and was the 3rd best selling record of that year.
You see, Pink Lady was a big in Japan, which is entirely non-pejorative if you’re actually a Japanese artist. From 1976 to 1979 the duo released 9 different #1 hits. Their 1978 hit Chameleon Army stayed at #1 for an unprecedented 63 weeks, a feat which went unmatched for another 37 years.
They were absolutely massive. They hosted nine different television programs and were even turned into an anime. They were the spokespeople for everything from Shampoo to Oolong Tea. Just the mere mention of a product by the 2 Pink Ladies would almost guarantee an increase in that products sales, such was their influence.
They were so popular in fact, that they even enjoyed fame here in the United States, becoming one of only 2 Japanese artists to enter the Billboard Top 40 with their 1979 English language record Kiss in the Dark. They road this success to their own damn variety show produced by Sid and Marty Croft. The ill-fate Pink Lady and Jeff (or just Pink Lady) with comedian Jeff Altman, lasted only 5 episodes and was a total disaster.
It appears the Japanese duo couldn’t speak a lick of English, an apparent and egregious oversight by the shows producers. Naturally, this misunderstanding led to a whole lot of confusion and caused difficulties recording the program. See, the network execs demanded the girls only speak and sing in English while only performing English language songs. As you might imagine, that didn’t go well.
The network tried to throw money and star power at the catastrophe, enlisting the likes of Blondie, Cheap Trick, Hugh Hefner, Sherman Hemsley, Florence Henderson, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Larry Hagman and even Alice Cooper, but the resulting fiasco was canceled after just 6 weeks.
It is considered by many to be one of the worst shows in television history and is cited as almost single-handedly killing the entire variety show format in America. Snap. That’s wild.
The duo was allowed to sing 2 of their Japanese songs on the final episode however, they’re massive hit UFO and…you guessed it, Monsutā
So all this to say, yeah we don’t even have that song on the playlist. Weird right? Yeah, I get it. But I like this weird Disco Version better.
Here translated (however accurately) by Google translate, are the lyrics to Monsutā:
I can get you tomato juice
I can get you an emery board
Night is young
Spread your wings
And enjoy the night
Take a walk
They are not necessarily scary people
They are not necessarily bad people
In this world now people who are not accepted are crawling around everywhere and this is pitch black
There is nothing to be scared of, just scream and run away
I’m worried about your wimpy heart
You are too kind, your heart might be hardened
Monster, this is my cute person.
Monsters wake up your eyes.
Monster, it’s your turn.
Monster, it’s a full moon. Wow…
If you’re thirsty and in trouble, I’ll buy you tomato juice.
If your fangs are itchy, I’ll buy you an iron file.
There’s still a while until dawn.
Let’s enjoy it. Take a walk at night.
Even if there are seams on the face, it’s not necessarily scary.
Even if your nails are sharp, it’s not necessarily a bad person.
I can’t get it in this world
I wonder if it’s dark with all the people.
I’m going to indulge in sex on summer nights.
Everyone dodges a hot kiss and I can’t stand it.
Get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Monster, come on, be brave.
Monsters are big.
Monsters shouldn’t be shaking.
Monster, raise your hand.
The monster is here. The monster is here. The monster…
I’ll follow you, so there’s nothing scary.
If something happens, scream and run away.
I’m worried about weakness.
That heart that is too gentle may be hurt.
I’m going to indulge in sex on summer nights.
Everyone dodges a hot kiss and I can’t stand it.
Get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Monster, you’re too kind.
Monsters are tattered.
Monster, this is my cute person.
Monster, good night.
Monsters are here. Monsters are here.
Outstanding.
Now how much of that is accurate, I couldn’t say. Matt’s wife insisted the translation wasn’t too bad. Without speaking Japanese myself, I can certainly spots instances where, if not inaccurate, a one to one translation is probably not in order. This is why context is important, and having a command of both languages is probably preferable for translation.
But I’d rather see crazy ass lines like:
I’m going to indulge in sex on summer nights. Everyone dodges a hot kiss and I can’t stand it.
Than anything close to an accurate translation.
Seems to me like, I dunno, they’re hot for the monster? He’s into but he’s kind of a ween? Or maybe that’s what makes him a ween? I can’t really tell. Doesn’t really matter, honestly. Firstly cause the lyrics are in Japanese, and secondly cause it’s disco and really, that ain’t what anyone is here for really.
So, lets turn on the lights to the dance floor, toss on an old Don Post mask and boogie the fuck down with The Saturday Night Disco Bandand their cover of Pink Lady’s Monsutā known simply as Disco Monster.
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.
If you’re like “Man, I really dig all this Monster Rap and Halloween Heavy Metal, but I really just wish The Bee Gees had written a damn Monster Song or something.”
Well, allow me to present Ghost Dancerfrom The Addrisi Brothers.
A weird, supernatural romantic ballad set to a disco rhythm? Ok, I guess that’s where disco was at it 1979 and we’re here for it. We may even be the only ones that are here for it anymore. I mean, now anyway. Some people were there for it in 1979, at least I imagine they were. Like literally they were obviously there for it, but like into it too…in 1979. Right? Someone had to be feeling this bizarro, supernatural disco jammer. Like, I don’t know how well this did commercially or anything, but this thing shreds. You tellin’ me people on the dance floor weren’t feelin’ this shit Halloween ’79? No way they weren’t. We’re feelin’ it now, I’ll tell you that much, and we hope you’re feelin’ it too.
Now, I’ll admit, this is way more Ghostthan it is Ghost Fever, but it’s still about a ghostly apparition and a Haunted Disco, which will be a running theme for this particular disco block, as you’ll come to see.
Basically, a guy and a girl really liked dancing, then she died suddenly, but she swore they would dance forever, so now he rolls on the discotheque solo and this chick reappears and dances with him once again in ghost form. Nice.
Now, The Addrisi Brothers, Don and Dick, were actual real life brothers from Winthrop, Massachusetts. Hey, alright. They had a pretty big hit initially penning The Associations Never My Love in 1967.
I will say though that now, as looked them up today to verify their names, and it seems as though Dick just died, like yesterday, October 14th, 2025. It’s sad when someone passes, but it feels somewhat eerie to find out that someone has literally just passed away right as you decided to look them up randomly. Like, this song has been in the bullpen for years now. The first draft of this post was penned 2 years ago. I could have ended up placing this song anywhere in the month. I could have looked up Don and Dick Addrisi names whenever, but it was the day after he died. I dunno, maybe that’s not that weird, but it feels kinda weird.
Either way, it made me feel sad. It’s the season for it, I suppose, and there is some comfort in that. Dick Addrisi gave us song about a girl living on in ghost form through the music. Perhaps The Addrisi Brothers (Don passed in 1984 from pancreatic cancer) will do what so many singers and musicians have done for so long now, and live on through their music. They will live on here, with the hallowed halls of Halloween Shindig for as long as we can keep the lights on.
I came across this randomly, on eBay as it happens, and was instantly intrigued. I had yet to come across this yet. What was this curious title? It was a cassette and it was expensive. Apparently this thing is pretty rare, so I immediately investigated.
While the actual copies may be in short supply and command a hefty price, the music itself is fairly available. But hey, who wants to just listen to things on YouTube? And how annoying is it if I simply direct you to YouTube when we have all these playlists here?
Time was it was on Spotify. Dunno about Apple Music, cause fuck apple music (I mean, fuck Spotify too, honestly, but definitely Apple Music as well) Either way, it’s not on Spotify anymore, so I figured I might as well toss it up here.
Cause this shit is the straight trunk-rattler I wish I had back in the fall of ’97, bombin’ around Brockton Massachusetts in my buddy’s busted-ass Nissan Sentra with a bass box he had no business having. This boom-stick of a Horror soundtrack would have shaking windows all up and down our block ’til Hallow-goddamn-Ween.
So bump this shit and get rattled, cause it rules.
To be completely honest, I have no idea how long I’ll keep doing this or how long the playlist will end up being when it’s all said and done.
Early on, some of my more inclusive lists had the total topping out at around 250 tracks. As such, in 2015 I claimed Track #120 (This is Halloween) was the center of the playlist. Yeah, that was 10 years ago and we’ve added almost 3 times that many songs to the playlist since. For those playing at home, we actually hit that end point 4 years later with Halloween by 220 Volt in 2019. Now, it’s 6 years from even then and we’ve put another 160 songs on top of that.
What can I say? I kept finding cool songs I thought needed adding.
That very same year (about a week prior, it seems, in the The Monster Mash post) I said I’d love to get the playlist’s total runtime to 24 hours, then your Halloween couldn’t possibly hold anymore music. I’m proud to say that, without really thinking about that goal much since writing it, we hit that marker just last year. About a minute into Track #368, Igor At Midnightby Cagé, The Shindig officially broke the 24 hour mark.
And yet here we are, 400 songs in the rear-view and we’ve got a playlist that’s entirely too long for any party and literally can not be listened to in a single instance of Halloween. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but it’s certainly a thing.
Should I keep going? Should I keep adding music to this playlist, because hell, isn’t October really just a perfectly structured 31 day countdown to Halloween anyway and now there’s a shuffle button and we got all the Mini-Playlists and people can cherry pick what they want and leave the rest and walk out knowing that regardless of what they came away with they were presented with a serious list of classic and obscure tunes appropriately suggested for their holiday festivities? Yeah, we’ll keep diggin’ up tunes a little while longer I suspect.
Well, at the very least there’s the rest of this year’s tracks, and whatever else I have sitting in the bullpen that can scratch its way out onto the field. Is that another 100 songs? Roughly 3 seasons worth of tunes?
I couldn’t say, but after 400 tracks, we need a little reset. We need something epic to recenter things and usher in a new phase of the playlist. We need something…supernatural.
And what better tune to fit the bill than the dystopian dance floor disco ‘digger, Supernature?
From French drummer Marc Cerrone’s 1977 album of the same name, comes a song about how scientists in the future basically use GMOs to battle starvation but unwittingly transformed creatures below the surface into hideous monsters that rise up and terrorized mankind back into the Stone Age. Ok, disco, let’s get fuckin’ serious, I guess.
Apparently this song enjoyed some popularity last summer when it was used by France during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics. I was unaware. I’m not tapped into the Olympics like that. Or at all. Like not even slightly. I kind of hate the Olympics, if I’m being honest.
My apologies if you’re an Olympic fan, an Olympic hopeful or even a former Olympian yourself (as my visitor data fully leads me imagine you probably might be) but the whole business has never sat right with me.
I have conceptual interest in the strongest and most accomplished humans from all over the globe competing in good natured feats of skill and strength. That sounds nice. Sounds nice. In practice though, it doesn’t really seem to be that and it mostly causes people to just be irritating.
And maybe this is me just living in the United States. Maybe it’s different in other parts of the world, but when my fellow countrymen, who couldn’t be arsed for the proceeding 4 years, suddenly won’t shut up about curling, are suddenly all experts in the pentathlon, or become inconceivably invested in the various athletic performances of underage girls or – its annoying.
I don’t care. You can’t make me care. I have no appetite for some nebulous surge in pride I’m supposed to feel cause “our” guy swam .2 seconds faster than that “their” guy. Yeah, you can miss me with this nationalistic horseshit.
And that is to say nothing of the legitimate economic, political or human right issues associated with the either the games themselves or the IOC. But realistically, it’s not going anywhere. I’m not even saying it should, or needs to, go anywhere. I obviously don’t patronize it and I will continue to do just that. I’m just saying, this is why I had no idea this song was making the rounds last year.
Which is probably good. This should make the rounds, cause this song is awesome. And it’s dance-able as all get out. So c’mon!
You’re not getting tired already, are you? It’s only been 400 songs! The night is still young!
Despite enjoying a fair amount of success, by 1987 our dynamic and heinous duo of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde had called it quits.
It was at this point that Andre Harrell went out and formed Uptown Records. Mr. Hyde, known to the government as Alonzo Brown, ultimately went on to become a screenwriter and an Emmy winning producer of The Judge Mathis show.
Before he did that however, Mr. Hyde drop one final single for Profile Records called The Witch.
Now that song has been in and out of the bullpen over the years, because it’s a bop and it’s called The Witch. Problem is, it’s not really about a witch, it’s just about a girl that kinda pissed Mr. Hyde off, which is a bummer, cause it really is a cool song.
In fairness though, most songs about witches are just men complaining about some woman that spurned them or made them feel uncomfortable by being assertive or weird. This trend gets pretty annoying when you’re just looking for spooky songs for your Halloween playlist and you keep getting served up scorned men warning you about the last female they encountered. Men, please stop this. Resist the temptation. It’s cliched and tired to use a witch metaphor in your song about a woman that wasn’t interested in you. Stop sullying up cool evil witches with all your insecure sexism.
But all of that’s not really a problem, because I’m an idiot. See, the B side of The Witch is a song called Hyde’s Beat. Now, if I wasn’t an idiot, I’d have just listened to that B side straight away instead of just assuming that it was the instrumental to The Witch. If Alonzo Brown went by any other name, I may not have jumped to such a quick conclusion, but again, I just assumed it was the dub version, cause I’m an idiot.
Once I finally listened to it, and realized this Mr. Hyde was the Mr. Hyde of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, everything feel into place. Because Hyde’s Beat appears to be the spiritual successor (if not just the direct sequel) to Transformation. It picks up immediately after “Mr. Hyde” has killed “Dr. Jekyll,” and we find Hyde in a state of disarray – confused and scared at the prospect of the dead man on the floor, a dead man he’ll surely be blamed for killing.
Toward the end of the Robert Louis Stevenson’s original story, Jekyll begins involuntarily transforming into Hyde, such that he needs the serum to turn back into Jekyll rather than the other way around. Eventually, he runs out serum though and is doomed to transform completely into Hyde once and for all and remain that way forever.
Once that happens, Edward Hyde makes the decision to take his own life. He drink some poison Jekyll has laying around the lab, effectively kill the both of them and thus ending the story.
In our song however, we have Hyde “killing” Dr. Jekyll and completely coming apart at the seams as result. Because we’re people that know Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, we can only assume that this murder is purely metaphoric and represents the point at which Hyde can no longer turn back into Jekyll, right? Yeah, I think we can. Rather than take his own life though, Mr. Hyde just jumps out of a window and into a limo with Igor, as any one of us might do in the same situation.
Naturally, all the cops in the city are now looking for him, cause he just killed Dr. Jekyll, and since Dr. Jekyll is a totally separate person, there’s definitely a body on the ground indicting murder and thus leading to an investigation where law enforcement might be looking for Jekyll curios and off-putting friend, Mr. Hyde, right? Yeah, I think that’s safe to assume.
So, Igor does what a buddy might do, and he brings Hyde to a bar so he can lay low for a while. Unfortunately, everyone at the bar freaks out when they see Hyde and high-tails it outta there. But then, all of sudden its morning and Hyde is waking up next to a woman like he’s Jekyll again but has been dickin’ down all night like Mr. Hyde. Only he’s still Mr. Hyde, and she’s not really feeling that, so he jumps out of another window cause why not. Doors are for pussy. Get with it.
Then basically he just becomes homeless, wandering the city streets alone and shunned, proclaiming to whomever will listen that he didn’t kill Dr. Jekyll, which shouldn’t be a problem, because there’s no body, and everyone’s just like “Hey, where did Dr. Jekyll go,” right? I mean, if they’ve even noticed. Jekyll hasn’t even been dead a whole day yet, is anyone really looking suspecting foul play yet? Is this all just some delusion Hyde is spiraling into as he’s lays dying from the poison he drank in the lab? Is this thing coming at it all from an angle I hadn’t consider yet? Who knows.
Eventually though, Hyde comes to the realization that Jekyll being dead is actually kind of liberating and hopefully our humble narrator finally finds some peace. I sure hope so. He seems pretty distressed through most of this song. Or maybe his cries of “I’m free!” are his last words as he chokes on his own breath, dying on the floor of the laboratory. Who knows?
So yeah, it kinda deviates from the story a little, but there are references to Billy Dee Williams and Thriller and even Rodney Dangerfield, so that kinda re-centers things a bit back toward the original text.
So here’s Mr. Hyde, on his own at last, living his best life and rockin’ a beat that is truly his own.
The Creature from the Black Lagoonby The 3-D Invisibles
Speaking of things the Shindig has inexplicably avoided for 13 years, let’s talk about The 3-D Invisibles. Because it’s crazy to me that we haven’t talked about The 3-D Invisibles this far into this whole Halloween-Monster-Movie-Music-Whatever-The-Hell-Is-Goin-On-Around-Here Playlist thing.
Being a huge surf music goon from an early age, The 3-D Invisibles are a band that’s been on the edges of my radar forever, appearing on numerous surf and rockabilly compilations since the mid 80’s. Back before Spotify existed, Napster didn’t exist either and I certainly didn’t exist near a record store better than a Sam Goody, (Newbury Comics notwithstanding. They probably might have actually carried them, to be honest) so the chances of me having access to a band like The 3-D Invisibles was a pretty unlikely.
Now, that certainly doesn’t account for the nearly 12 year span from 2000 to 2012 before I created this website (where I had increased access to such music) or the 13 years since (where I had absolutely unprecedented access) where they have gone completely unheralded. But, like I said, existing on the edges. I wasn’t really thinking about them. If I was, it wasn’t for long and if I was hearing them, I certainly doesn’t appear as though i was absorbing them properly.
And that’s a shame. These guys could easily have been Shindig All-Stars by now, and probably should be. But all recalculations start somewhere, and for The 3-D Invisibles, and garage punk outfit from Michigan that’s been pealin’ off monster rock from over 40 years, that starts with Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Cause you can’t do a Classic Monster block without good ole Gill-Man, I don’t care how under represented he might be. And make no mistake, of the Big 5, poor Gil is woefully under represented. I think this is like the 3rd track we have that’s exclusively about him, and that’s not for a lack of searching either.
So, let’s finally welcome The 3-D Invisibles aboard and chalk up another one for ole Fishman, Lord knows he could use all the help he can get.
Also, if you are an Invisibles fan, I’m aware this song was released on the 1993 Split LP B-Movie Brain from Neurotic Bop Records, I decided to go with the Love of Mars/Monster Island single just cause it’s got a stereoscopic anaglyph of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and says it says The 3-D Invisibles. C’mon, how could I not?
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.
