TRACK #372:

Doin’ It In A Haunted House by Yvonne Gage

Sometimes you just wish you knew a song existed sooner.

This would have paired perfectly with the 2022 addition, Stay the Night, which sounded suspiciously similar to Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name.

But even earlier than that, this song would have fit in nicely with all the other Haunted House hits in 2017.

Or perhaps, if I had know about this tune even earlier, I could have thrown it where it probably belongs, directly after Thriller, because damnit if this isn’t the most shameless Thriller knock-off I’ve ever heard.

Ok, maybe Golimar, but that thing was tucked away inside some obscure Telugu musical that no one saw for 25 years. Additionally, it doesn’t sound anywhere near as similar to Thriller as Doin’ It In a Haunted House does, which released to the American pop charts within a year of Thriller’s debut.

So shameless is this tune, in fact, that it sample’s directly from John Landis’ Thriller video in the opening minutes of the song. That’s either some kinda balls, or just plain wearing it on your sleeve. Cause if they didn’t think people would go “Hey! That sounds just like Thriller!” then someone is outta their goddamn mind.

And apparently they did, with Yvonne Gage herself stating (at least in retrospect) that she expressed concerns over its similarity to Thriller. These concerns were brushed away by the production team and they moved forward with the tune.

And boy am I glad they did, because Yvonne Cage’s Doin’ It In a Haunted House is a glorious thing. Not only is a fairly groovin’ tune, because well, it’s basically Thriller, but it’s called fuckin’ Doin’ It in a Haunted House. That’s just fantastic. And it’s not played for laughs either, at least as far as I can tell. This doesn’t strike me a jokey tune. This is just a straight faced Thriller knock-off with a ridiculous goddamn title and it’s beautiful.

It’s not terribly often that a song just gets an instant spot on the Plyalist based on its title alone. Most of them, I need to at least hear first. But this one? I was basically of the opinion that if it was even remotely listenable, it was goin on there, no question.

Then, I fire it up and it’s some ridiculous Thriller knock-off on top of that? Where has this song been all my life?! There’s still gems to be uncovered, even after years into this juggernaut.

But let’s talk about this song, shall we?

Let’s start with Yvonne, who began singing (as many girls do) at her local church from a very young age. Soon, she joined a band called the Soulettes and they even released an album under the band name Love, but Yvonne had already moved on by then, singing back up for a guy named Captain Sky. From there she met producer Don Burnside.

In addition to introducing her to Ministry (of all bands, with whom she recorded in their ) Don also produced her first 2 albums.

Originally, Doin’ It in a Haunted House was envisioned as a “response” record in the vein of Lydia Murdocks Superstar. If you’ve never heard that tune, I recommend giving it a listen, as it’s pretty wild if you’ve never come across it before.

Sung from the perspective of Billie Jean, Lydia posits Michael Jackson’s No. 1 tales omits some pretty big details and she means to set the record straight.

That record also sounds suspiciously like Billie Jean, aping the bassline and basic rhythm.

That sort of thing isn’t unheard of either, though not typically so overt. In fact, Response Songs (or Answers Songs) are as old as recorded music itself. Take a look at that list to see just how many songs are in fact (a good many of which I was totally unaware were) response songs.

What you might notice missing from that list, however, is Yvonne Gage’s Doin’ It in a Haunted House.

And probably not unjustly.

Despite being sold as the “Female Answer to Thriller,” the lyrics do little to suggest this is anything other than a similiar-ish concept wrapped up in a package sounding entirely too much like Thriller.

At least Rod Temperton thought so, anyway. See, he was the co-writer of Thriller and he proceeded to sue Gage for copyright infringement. Nothing really came from the suit, with Yvonne herself stating that Rod didn’t so much want money as he wanted to simply kill her record. Which, in effect, it kind of did, with deals and appearances evaporating from Yvonne upon the lawsuits release.

Mission accomplished pal, cause I haven’t heard of this thing in 40 years of its existence and I’m looking for shit like this. I guess I’m just not looking hard enough. Or maybe just not in the right places.

But like we always say, these kinds of things can’t hide from The Shindig forever, even if they should have been on there since day 1.

If you’ve never heard this one before, enjoy! If you’ve long been a fan, what the fuck? Drop The Shindig a line, will ya? This is too good an addition for ya’ll to have been sittin’ on.