TRACK #369:

The Bride of Frankenstein Rap by L7

Our next Shindigger here is from the band L7. No Rach, not that L7.

But wait, you say you’re not this “Rach,” and you’ve never heard of any band named L7? Oh, that’ll make this a bit easier then.

See, there was (evidentially anyway) an American Funk band by the name of L7. I call them Funk because this song is listed as being Funk and since it’s their only release, I guess that makes them a Funk band. I genuinely don’t know enough about the in’s and out’s of Funk to say whether or not this claim holds any water, but they might as well be Funk. Sounds Funky, anyway. They’re definitely not a Country band. And I wouldn’t call it this Metal. It’s certainly something. Funk is something. So, let’s go with them on Funk then.

Now, this precursory Funk iteration of L7 it’s  is best known for…well…this release. In fact, they’re only known for this release, cause it’s, ya know, their only release. And it’s a Funk release, and Frankenstein, which is always a plus around here.

The 12” Maxi-Single, The Bride of Frankenstein, contains 4 tracks, but essentially only 2 songs. There’s Mr. Boogie Bop, which gets the standard and instrumental treatment, and the title tune, The Bride of Frankenstein. That one gets the standard treatment as well, but also an extra-special “Rap” version. And I say extra-special because this single is from 1983, the very year I believe to be the birth of Monster Rap itself.

That year gave us Whodini’s Haunted House of Rock, Edgar Winter’s futuristic Frankenstein 1984 and now, The Bride of Frankenstein Rap. I’d say only one of these tunes is legitimately Rap, however. Can you guess which one?

Yep, it’s the only one not actually claiming to be Rap. Go figure there.

But while this song may not pass a street test, for us ‘Diggers lookin for Halloween tunes, you can’t ask for much better than this. It’s solid gold.

Dudes strapping some reasonable whack-simile of Rap onto an otherwise bizarre “Funk” tune and just running with it? Oh you know we’re all over this.

Apparently a guy in the graveyard (why he’s in this graveyard is anyone’s guess) meets a dancing corpse that claims to be The Bride of Frankenstein. At least she shows him a gravestone to that effect. Now, why The Bride of Frankenstein would have “Bride of Frankenstein” carved into her tombstone is also anyone’s guess, but here we are.

Then, all of sudden it’s Halloween and the Rap shows up. Nice! Now the guy is looking for the Bride of Frankenstein and he winds up at the Monster Club. Which isn’t a bad place to look for her really, so I get it. Does the actual song shed any light on these events?

No, not really.

I’ll say this, they are 2 separate songs. They’re pretty much the same song musically, but the lyrics are all different. This isn’t just L7’s The Bride of Frankenstein single with a Rap verse tacked on, and I can appreciate that.

In the original tune (which was perhaps a more fitting tune for the playlist, but oh well) our narrator is at a monster party where he meets a girl that he takes a liking to. However, he is warned, as he learns that she is the Bride of Frankenstein. Bummer for him I guess.

So, it’s kinda more dance-able, makes a bit more sense (albeit a very small bit) and is generally just a more regular tune. It definitely has less weird “mommmy mommy mommy” sounds, whatever the hell those are suppose to be, and that counts for something.

But that version of the song has no Rap (or whatever this is that is calling itself Rap) and it definitely doesn’t have any Halloween. So, when it comes to the playlist, we’re goin The Bride of Frankenstein Rap all day long on this one.

She can rock your mind.