Divisible by 20? That must mean it’s time for another Halloween song.
When it comes to straight up Halloween music, few songs pack as much adolescent cheer and Halloweeniness than this track from spookster Wade Denning and children’s performer Kay Lande.
It’s catchier than all get out and set to the tune of Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, which itself used to be on the Shindig, until I came across this little ditty some years back.
Go ahead, try not humming this song to yourself for the next 72 hours.
H-A-DOUBLE L – O – W – DOUBLE E – N spells Halloween!
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.
In honor of the trailer that’s mysteriously making everyone forget how mediocre and soulless the last 10 plus years in Remakewood have been, I’m bumpin’ up this track from gore-sicians Death.
In a fitting coincidence, this song is titled Evil Dead, rather than The Evil Dead, which could assist in one’s argument that the song isn’t actually about The Evil Dead, but rather just some run-o-the-mill dead of a generically evil nature.
Lyrically, I think it could go either way. While indeed Chuck Schuldiner doesn’t say anything wholly specific to Sam Raimi’s 1981 trailblazing gorefest, there’s enough material here to make an argument that it is referential. Lines like “Spirits within causing terror,”“All will die tonight” or even quite simply “Covered in blood,” certainly evoke images of The Evil Dead.
But if you told me Chuck wasn’t referring to the film at all, that wouldn’t surprise me either.
Cut in with tons of clips from The Evil Dead (as I am now forced to specify), here’s the ultimate experience in grueling metal.
Listen to this….this is the tape i found downstairs….
It’s time for another Devilish Track, however this particular tune tows a fine line.
It’s featured in the trailer of, so is sort of a de facto title track for 1991’s Highway To Hell. However, simply naming your movie after a song and blasting it exclusively in your trailer doesn’t make that song a title track. I may love My Boyfriend’s Back, but you won’t find that song by The Angel’s on the Shindig.
No, Highway To Hell is Shindigging for a few reasons; namely – I like AC/DC, it’s a good party tune, and there was a horror film named after it. Plus, this bogus Devilish category I concocted to justify Number of The Beast (and Raining Blood, and See You In Hell...and…) And well, that’s good enough for me.
If you’re tuning into this strange, Steve Johnson FX’d horror comedy, look for a young Ben Stiller in a small role as the cook at Pluto’s, Lita Ford as a hitchhiker, and Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler! Yeah, it’s a weird movie.
Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Bloodby Don Hinson & The Rigarmorticians
It may sound like Boris Pickett (hell everything did for a while, following the success of The Monster Mash) but this particular novelty installment comes from Vegas DJ Don Hinson and his Rigarmorticians.
I like this novelty track more than most because it’s well written, funny and has an interesting premise. A premise so interesting in fact, I’m fairly sure Charlaine Harris hijacked the whole concept for her Sooki Stackhouse Novels.
An honorable mention goes out to fan-favorites 45 Grave for their cover simply titled “Riboflavin” which does not appear on the Shindig.
When I was 12 my brother bought me Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ Murder Ballads for Christmas, and ever since I’ve been a huge fan.
So it’s always given me great joy to have been able to include them legitimately, without forcing some song or another into one of my categories.
Thanks to Scream, Wes Craven’s self-aware response to 80’s slash, Nick and his Bad Seeds have an undisputed seat at the Shindig Table.
A creepy and atmospheric tune perfectly suited to a horror film, Red Right Hand (a nod itself to Milton’s Paradise Lost) looms over the speakers while Woodsboro closes early for its newly enacted curfew.
In a non-horror related aside, this song can also be heard as Jim Carey stumbles around with a large foam cowboy hat in Dumb and Dumber. And while I love me some Dumb and Dumber, I think the tune is a bit more at home in Scream.
Some bands even name whole albums after horror movies.
And sometimes they go full-bore and just name the whole goddamn band after a horror movie.
Such is the case with British doom-smiths Witchfinder General.
What’s more, they even have a band anthem. That’s a triple threat.
Led in and peppered with samples from the band’s 1968 namesake starring Vincent Price.
If you’ve never heard of the film, perhaps you’re familiar with The Conqueror Worm (which has this bad news poster right here) as it was billed in America. Huhwhaa?
The unnecessary title change was in an effort to sell the movie as another in the line of Corman/Price/Poe hits, which it most certainly was not.
It is however an interesting (albeit a little slow) abuse of power tale with a pretty creepy and understated performance from Price and lots of great shots of the English countryside.
If you’re down with movies like Mark of the Devil, The Blood on Satan’s Claw (considered by Tigon Productions to be Witchfinder’s successor) or even The Devils, then Witchfinder General might just have exactly what you’re looking for.
If Peter Steele blasted a couple rails, and the rest of Type-O inverted the gloom to tempo ratio, the resulting sound might be akin to Finnish Goth-N-Rollers The 69 Eyes.
From their Angels album comes this patented Shindigger, which makes its home on the playlist because I’m just a huge fan of Frankenhooker.
Though referentially speaking, I felt the song was somewhat lacking, so I kicked up the Frankenhookerness quotient with tons of samples. Enjoy!
You knew it was coming. Perhaps you groaned, but you can’t tell me this track wasn’t telegraphed.
As silly as it is (and believe me, it’s pretty fucking silly,) The Addams Grooveactually has a pretty positive message hidden underneath it’s thin, ridiculous shell. As Hammer states:
Now is the time to get in your mind It’s ok to be yourself Take foolish pride and put it aside Like the Addamses, yo! They def.
Proper.
So, bust out your old hammer pants, do what you wanna do, say what you wanna say. Hell, maybe even kick and then slap a friend…there the Addams Family.
Yeah, that was my reaction too, and whenever I have such a response, onto the Shindig it goes.
What’s more? This song and it’s accompanying dance were both introduced to the world the day before Halloween in 1965, on ABC’s popular variety show entitled Shindig! Hows that for synchronicity?
This episode also had a guest host, none other than horror icon Boris Karloff himself, who indulges in a strange speak along to The Peppermint Twist.
We’ll also hear him close out the track with Lurch himself from that very program, wishing all you Shindiggers a fond farewell.
Until then, lurch along with Ted Cassidy, who probably says more here in 3 minutes than an entire season’s worth of The Addams Family.
No matter what era or medium they seem to find themselves, be it a comic strip in the late 1930’s, a sitcom in the 60’s, cartoons in the 70’s, movies in the 90’s, or a modern Broadway musical, The Addams Family always seems perfectly suited to their surroundings and never disappoint.
In honor of America’s first family of the macabre, let’s all gather with a shawl on, a broomstick we can crawl on and lets make a few calls on – The Ad-dams Fam-i-ly.
Sometimes in my attempt to mix things up and keep an even distribution of styles and bands, the Shindig kinda seems a bit musically schizophrenic.
So, in the spirit of cohesion, here’s the Beware Of The Blob, which I think doubles up pretty nicely with The Purple People Eater, and is even from the same year.
Much like The Dudes of Wrath (though the ridiculousness of comparing these two groups is not lost on me) The Five Blobs were assembled for the singular purpose of singing this tune, penned by the late Burt Bacharach.
Easily one of the oldestTitle Tracks on the Shindig (if not the oldest) The Blob is also one of the more curious tunes on the playlist as well.
Such a fun and upbeat song for something as horrendous as The Blob is kind of alarming, and as such, a bit creepy. There’s no immediacy to their tone, almost as if you really needn’t worry about this whole indestructible and unstoppable goo-monster. Seriously gang? Its eating fucking everything, maybe a little urgency, or god forbid, terror?
Naw, they’ll just keep it light and breezy over here. Shit, it’s only The Blob.
A classic novelty song featured on countless Halloween lists and albums since it’s release in 1958, The Purple People Eater gets it day on the Shindig, but mostly just for that reason.
I like The Purple People Eater, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t find it terribly Halloweeny, aside from the fact that Halloween is probably the only time your liable to here it on the radio.
Interesting side note, do a quick image search for the Purple People Eater and you’ll find an array of 1 eyed, 1 horned winged purple things, mostly (but not limited to) “Purp” from the 1988 film Purple People Eater.
So what? Why wouldn’t you? Who gives a fuck?
No one, probably, however it is my assertion that The Purple People Eater is not himself purple, as indicated by the below lyric:
I said “Mr. Purple People Eater, what’s your line?”
He said “eating purple people, and it sure is fine”
So he eats purple people. Well, what the hell are purple people? This doesn’t make any sense.
Maybe on his planet there were purple people, because right after this he goes on to explain how that’s not the reason he came here. Well, of course, there are no purple people here.
So on his planet, they have people, they’re just purple? Still don’t make no goddamn sense.
Well, maybe not, but I’m just saying, ole Sheb here was pretty explicit in his songwriting, and that thing ain’t purple.
First up from Krueger and Co. comes the not-quite-Title Track from A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master.
Nightmare is interesting as it is performed by actress Tuesday Knight, who plays Kristen Parker in the film, the role originally held by Patricia Arquette in Dream Warriors.
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?”
legendary evil being that robs graves and feeds on corpses
one suggestive of a ghoul; especially : one who shows morbid interest in things considered shocking or repulsive
So basically, we’re all ghouls. And if there was ever a night for ghouls, it was Halloween.
So, take it away boys.
(Cut in with Stephen Weber from Tales from the Crypt’s S3 Episode Mournin’ Mess, and well, that’s Bill the Butcher at the end there from Gangs of New York.)
In the early 90’s both hip hop and Tales from the Crypt were riding high on the pop culture wave, so it seemed only natural to some sleazy executive to combined these two concepts.
The result is The Crypt Jam, a rather curious musical number that finds our pal the Cryptkeeper inviting us to a “monster bash, if you will.”
The next 3 minutes or so is The Cryptkeeper (voiced by the great John Kassir) rhyming and punning his way through a generic 90’s hip-hop beat.
Even better is the video, featuring our pal dressed up in typical gansta threads of the era, dancing with a dozen or so fly-girls and a coupla pop-lockin’ zombies.
Was it a good idea? Well, The Shindig certainly thinks so, as this type of thing is right up our alley over here. However, that may not be everyone’s conclusion regarding this particular Monster Rap. Either way, the Cryptkeeper’s in the house, and we couldn’t be happier about that.
With so much representation on the Shindig, in one form or another, it’s strange to see we’ve gotten this far without including Danny Elfman.
Easily my favorite anthology-form horror offering, HBO’s Tales From the Crypt positively scared the shit out of me in my youth, largely thanks to its creepy intro with that incredible model, the Cryptkeeper bounding from his coffin like a ghoulish jack in the box, and Elfman’s eerie theme here.
Perhaps my favorite theme of all time, and certainly my favorite of Elfman’s (maybe with The Simpson’s catching a close 2nd), creeping us a little further into the Shindig, here’s Tales from The Crypt.
Before Full Moon became synonymous with “shitty movie”, Charlie Band had Empire Pictures, which produced a fair amount of good genre offerings like Re-Animator, Ghoulies, From Beyond and Prison, just to name a few.
Among them was TerrorVision, a 1986 film you can easily catch on Netflix these days and won’t be disappointed with,…supposin’ you like that sort of thing.
And that sort of thing is ridiculous (not ridiculously bad, however) horror. With Charlie Band’s name attached, we could be walking into that territory, but TerrorVision manages to be 80’s enough and fun enough to avoid such trappings and deliver a flick that doesn’t take itself at all seriously and has a good time with some silly creature and gore effects.
Plus it’s got The Phantom of Paradise’s Beef, Garret Graham as the Dad and Jon Gries as his daughter’s punked-out boyfriend named O.D., and that’s gotta be worth a viewing.
From TerrorVision comes TerrorVision, the Title Track performed by the Fibonaccis.
I don’t know bout y’all, but when I was a kid, only one thing meant Halloween and that was Garfield’s Halloween special.
6 years before The Simpsons would forever lace itself in my brain to this Eve of the Dead, Garfield was digging through costumes in John’s attic, trick or treating with Odie, and getting lost in a row boat.
The most memorable aspect of Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, other than those goddamn ghost pirates scaring the living shit out of me, was the music.
The first cut from this classic holiday cartoon is the opening number by Lou Rawls, lead in by our old pal Binky The Clown. Enjoy.
