Halloween High Notes: Music for the Monstrous Masses



As holidays go, Halloween has a lot of things going for it: distinct and easily identifiable iconography, fun and colorful traditions, and plenty of opportunities to spend time with family and friends. What it does lack, particularly in comparison to Christmas, is some kind of musical tradition. Sure, Halloween has become the de facto season for theatrical showings and fan-casted floor shows of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Evil Dead: The Musical shows signs of following a similar pattern of live performance, but a list of traditional tunes doesn't really exist for this holiday season. Topless Robot recently posted a best/worst list of spooky songs that are fit for the Halloween season; here's my brief list of creepy music that you can listen to (or watch in the case of music videos) as part of your Halloween festivities. (Also, please feel free to include as part of this list a particular Aliens vs. Predator music video from Russia, a video that I wrote about a few months ago.) Read on…


Marylin Manson, "This is Halloween": Yes, this is Marylin Manson's cover of one of the songs from the stop-motion animated classic A Nightmare Before Christmas. Yet Manson adds enough of his own distinct sound and style to this song that it takes on a new sort of life outside of its cinematic origin. Be sure to see videos on You Tube that sync Manson's cover to footage from the original movie.


Rob Zombie, "Living Dead Girl": This song may not be Zombie's best or creepiest work, but the video that was made for it is a must-see for all horror fans. It's an impressive homage to the silent film classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, complete with intertitles and German Expressionist set designs.


David Bowie, "Cactus": Bowie isn't considered to be a "shock rocker" like Manson and Zombie, but he's certainly no stranger to the world of horror. He's had roles in creepy, strange films such as The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Hunger, and he's contributed his music to the soundtracks of films such as Memento, Se7en, and the 1982 remake of Cat People. There's also his 1995 concept album Outside, where the songs tell a futuristic, cyberpunk-ish story about a series of murders and mutilated bodies that are considered "Art Crimes". One of Bowie's most unnerving songs is "Cactus", from his Heathen album. In short, "Cactus" is about a man's romantic obsession that’s gone way, way off the deep end. I don't think that a video was ever produced for this song, but you can listen to it here.


Air, "Run": I'm not too familiar with the work of the music duo Air, but I first heard this song on a particularly grim episode of Veronica Mars ("Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner", the seventh episode of season two, to be exact) and this song has been giving me shivers ever since. You can listen to it here. Between its distorted, fragmented lyrics and creeping sound, it's one of the few pop songs that I consider to be genuinely eerie.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with
Read more

FOUND: Mechanical Shark from Universal Jaws Theme Park Ride

Image
When the Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida shut down its Jaws ride back in January 2012, Jaws fans everywhere were devastated. Yet even though this part of the Jaws franchise is no longer operational, some of its sharks are swimming around out there … including places such as Frederick, Maryland. A few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow Jaws fan named John Ryan, asking me if I knew anything specific regarding the sharks from the Universal Jaws ride. He was asking because he thought he found one and is trying to verify its authenticity. We spoke on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and here’s what he told me about his find: “I've been collecting Jaws memorabilia for decades and when I found this incredibly rare gem sitting in a backyard in Frederick, Maryland, I wondered about its connection to the state. The current homeowners said the shark was already there when they purchased the property. They also told me it had been the subject of neighborhood rumor for y
Read more

Machine Robo's Magnificent Robot Combiners

Image
I don't collect Transformers merchandise, but I see articles and advertisements about it when I browse through Japanese robot toy sites. From what I can gather, one of the latest product lines for Transformers is called "Combiner Wars" , a line that consists of five or six transforming robot toys that combine into one bigger robot. Combiner robot toys have been around for a long time, and Transformers had quite a few of them even back in the '80s. Yet of the many combiner robot toys I've seen over the years, the ones that have consistently impressed me were the ones released by Bandai under the Machine Robo line. Whereas other robot toy lines are stuck in the novelty of combining smaller toys into a bigger toy, Machine Robo has used the concept of combination to promote creative play. Read on for a review of how Machine Robo has built upon its combiner toys throughout the years.
Read more