One Final Halloween Snapshots Spillover

As it's Halloween, here's a final batch of horror film-inspired songs, starting with the Scream Queen herself. No, not Jamie Lee Curtis...

Kate Bush - The Fog

Next up, a track from the new Nick Lowe album, his first in eleven years. Apparently, he's spent the time catching up on movies like this...

Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets - A Quiet Place

I couldn't let this series close without mentioning "the most amazing motion picture of our time", starring Michael Landon, presumably before he found God in Highway To Heaven...

The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf

Up into the hills next, for an encounter with some inbred yokels... have you ever been to Holmfirth?

The Meteors - The Hills Have Eyes

Irena Dubrovna discovered she was descended from an ancient tribe of Cat People who metamorphose into black panthers when aroused. Just like Manimal!

The original version of Cat People was released in 1942. Forty years later, a saucy remake roped this guy in to contribute to the soundtrack... 

David Bowie - Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)

Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was banned during the video nasties scare of the 80s, so it became something of a holy grail to teenage horror fans like myself, desperate to see it. When it was finally re-released in 1998, I rushed out to see it. The film does contain one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever seen... yet it's nothing to do with the infamous chainsaw, or even Leatherface himself. Instead, the bit that got me was the dinner party scene when they fetch Grandpa down from the attic...

The Tyla Gang formed in 1975 following the dissolution of Sean Tyla's previous band, Ducks Deluxe. I suspect there's more than a whiff of bandwagonary going on here... 

Tyla Gang - Texas Chainsaw Massacre Boogie

The other classic horror film banned throughout my adolescent video shop days was Mark Kermode's favourite: The Exorcist. Hard to believe it's 25 years since the censors finally allowed me to watch that...

Curtis Mayfield - Sweet Exorcist

Redd Kross - Linda Blair

The less said about the 2005 remake of House of Wax, starring Paris Hilton, the better. The 1953 original though, with Vincent Price, was one of the first mainstream Hollywood movies to be filmed in 3D. I generally hate 3D movies, but I reckon it'd be worth seeing this one again with the glasses on.

I found a whole bunch of songs named after this flick. Here's a smattering of wax on wax...

Miss Destiny - House of Wax

The Alderman - House of Wax

Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club - House of Wax

Paul McCartney - House of Wax

Nothing beats a good haunted house story for me though. And that one to beat in that genre is the 1963 version of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, known simply as The Haunting.

Whatever you do, do NOT watch the 1999 version with Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta Jones. It's one of the worst films I've ever seen. 

Here are some post-Shane Pogues... so no way as scary as they used to be.

The Pogues - Haunting

And here's some Shane, in case you're missing him, along with Sinéad. I'm missing them both.

Shane MacGowan with Sinéad O'Connor - Haunted

Sadly, I couldn't find any songs named after the best haunted house movies of the 21st Century, the Paranormal Activity flicks, but I'm closing today with the film that got me hooked on horror movies back when I was a kid. I was obsessed with the Amityville Horror, reading all the books, watching all the films, and even looking favourably upon Lovebug Starski... 

Happy Halloween to you all. Hoohahahahahaaaa!

Snapshots Spillover: Even More Halloween Horror Film Songs

When I was a kid, I vividly remember the thrill of watching the old Universal horror movies late Saturday night on BBC2. You'd never see these classics on TV these days, and they're in danger of being airbrushed out of history for anyone other than ardent cinephiles... but we remember them today, starting with Victor (or Henry, as he was known in James Whales' film) Frankenstein and his monster, played by Boris Karloff...

The Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein

That was the obvious tune, although curiously it only made it to Number 5 in My Top Ten Frankenstein Songs back in 2015...

Before you knew it, the Monster demanded a mate... in the form of Elsa Lanchester.

I couldn't immediately think of a song named after The Bride, but then I discovered New Zealand's Toy Love, who were on Flying Nun, so they had to be worth a listen. Here they are in 1980...

Toy Love - Bride of Frankenstein 

Todd Browning's Dracula was the first of many Universal films featuring the Lord of the Undead (and his family), although it's the only one to feature Bela Lugosi in the title role (unless you count his guest appearance in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). Despite that, Lugosi is the actor most often associated with the Count, even long after his death...

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Dracula can be found in quite a few songs in my hard drive, but only one is named solely after him, from this Aberdonian indie band...

The Little Kicks - Dracula

The direct sequel to Lugosi's Dracula featured Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska, aka Dracula's Daughter. Which leads us nicely to Colin Meloy and co....

The Decemberists - Dracula's Daughter

Soon after that, Boris Karloff returned, not with bolts through his neck this time, but wrapped in bandages...

Benji Hughes - The Mummy

More bandages were wrapped around Claude Rains in 1933... although when he took them off, he disappeared completely. There's loads of Invisible Man songs to choose from (see here), but this was the obvious choice, still one of Declan's finest album tracks...

Elvis Costello - The Invisible Man

And now for a few more Universal Monster movies turned into songs...

The Frantic Elevators - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

(featuring the immortal line, "I'm an ugly sod, but it's not my fault")

The Who - Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Dave Edmunds - The Creature From The Black Lagoon

Sarah Brightman & Steve Harley - The Phantom Of The Opera

(Yes, I went there.)

Round Robin - I'm The Wolfman

Ah yes, The Wolfman. I used to be a Wolfman, but I'm alright nooooooooooooooooowwwwww. Etc. 

But did you know that the first Werewolf-based horror movie to be produced by Universal was not 1941's The Wolfman? 

Oh no. 

Six years prior to that, they released this beauty, starring Henry Hull as the... erm... hairy handed gent who ran amok in Kent...

How else could we close this post?

Namesakes #109: The Vampires

Time for my traditional shoe-horning of a Halloween-themed bunch of Namesakes. I wasn't surprised to learn that there was more than one band to have used the name Vampires... but I didn't quite expect this many!

THE VAMPIRES #1

Groovy British instrumental band who released a song about Swinging Ghosts, daddy-o, in 1959...

The Vampires - Swinging Ghosts

THE VAMPIRES #2

Memphis-based lords of the undead from 1962. They'd later change their name to The Bentleys, presumably after the car as none of them were called Bentley.

The Vampires - Why Didn't I Listen To Mother?

THE VAMPIRES #3

Norwegian sax-heavy instrumental cover of the Little Eva / Kylie Minogue classic... from 1962.

The Vampires - Loco-Motion

(BARON DAEMON &) THE VAMPIRES #4

More Halloween-appropriate nonsense from 1963 when, of course, all self-respecting blood suckers did the twist.

Baron Daemon & The Vampires – The Transylvania Twist 

THE VAMPIRES #5

One year later, these Vampires supported Milton Delugg, star of late night New York TV show Broadway Open House... it's all a bit Bobby Boris Pickett.

Milton Delugg & the Vampires - Don't Just Stand There

THE VAMPIRES #6

Det Ferring, Micky Kluge, Paul Waldhecker and Wolfgang Jünger were German Vampires back in the mid 60s. Apparently, after they lost the Hamburg Battle of the Bands contest two years running, they upped stakes to Spain in '65, releasing a bunch of garlic singles over the next couple of years. 

The Vampires - New Love

LES VAMPIRES #7

I think the photo says it all really. 60s. Canada. I'm sure those costumes seemed like a good idea at the time.

Les Vampires - Viens à moi

THE VAMPIRES #8

New York vampires caught on tape... some time in the 60s, I'm guessing, though it may not have been released till much later. It's a Jimi Hendrix cover, but you'd have worked that out for yourself.

The Vampires - Fire

THE VAMPIRES #9

Mick Roche (of earlier Namesakes The Arrows) fronts a band of Vampires in '68 with a pretty standard version of the oft-covered Bobby Freeman song...

The Vampires - Do You Wanna Dance?

THE VAMPIRES #10

Singapore girl band, also from 1968... with a title that translates as Cold Rain Song, according to google.

The Vampires - 寒雨曲

THE VAMPIRES #11

Psychedelic funk (with added flute!) from 1971... South African and / or Indian of origin, apparently.

The Vampires - Memphis Underground

THE VAMPIRES #12

More German neck-biters, this time of the heavy metal persuasion in 1978. Sadly, I can only find their full album on the tube of you. Still, it's only 45 minutes... I'm sure George will manage it.

The Vampires - We're On The Road Again

THE VAMPIRES #13

The highlight for me this week - not that I'm supposed to pick favourites - comes from 1981. A classy slab of new wave power pop by a gang of vampires led by one Fletcher Christian, who had presumably finished his mutiny by this point. Fletch would go on to front the band Absolute Shower, which surely earns him extra points.

The Vampires - Harry's House

LES VAMPIRES #14

Parisian punks, drinking blood between '83 and '88, founded by Thierry Wolf, aka Comte Wolf, aka Titi Wolf. Lots of different names to keep Van Helsing from tracking him down.

Les Vampires - Maman Sexe

THE VAMPIRES #15

Surf rock vampires (also from Deutschland) from 2001... (!?)

The Vampires - Vampexico

THE VAMPIRES #16

Italian Oi! punk from the dawn of the new millennium...

Vampires - Fight For The Flag Of My Bloody Nation

THE VAMPIRES #17

Aussie Vampires, active since 2005. I prefer to let them describe themselves... 

"The Vampires have forged their sound from their travels and musical lives in jazz, improvisation free- diving and the vibrant cultural bleed. The compositions have always been postcards to other Vampires from wherever they were, but have gradually shifted from the early jazz soloing into longer stretches building texture and tone, buoyed on irresistible riffs."

The Vampires - Action Reaction

THE VAMPIRES #18

Here are some hard-rocking Canadian vampires who appear to prefer an empty toilet roll to a microphone. In 2014, Stylus Magazine said, "Catchy shoegaze elements and full on noise... captivating lyrics... at no point is the listener left idle."

The Vampires - There's No Kissing Anymore

THE VAMPYRES #19

Finally, try your ears on some "heavy psychedelic Kraut/Gothic Rock" from Linz, Upper Austria. This is from just last year...

The Vampyres - In The Night

Which Vampires would you invite into your home? And which ones would be left outside, knocking on the window, like this guy...?

Snapshots Spillover: More Halloween Horror Films

Suede - The Living Dead

I do like a good horror film. 

I also like a bad horror film.

Black Francis - The Conjuring

Generally, I just like horror films. 

While my tolerance for many other movie genres has waned over the years, I've never grown out of the thrill of watching horror films. And I hope I never do.

For Halloween week, I figured I'd share as many songs connected to horror films as I could find...

Barbarian is the best horror film I've seen in the last few years. It's one of those flicks where you think you know where it's going, and then... woah, wait a minute, WHAT just happened?

INXS - Barbarian

Another strong contender for best horror movie of the past decade is the Aussie movie Talk To Me. Terrific supporting role for Miranda Otto in this too...

60ft Dolls - Talk To Me

I also thought Smile was pretty good, though a lot of true horror fans seemed to think it wasn't quite enough...

There are lots of songs called Smile. Here's the most obscure one I could find in my hard-drive...

Colenso Parade - Smile

One of the best British horror films of the last 20 years (actually, it's almost 20 years old... which just seems wrong) was The Descent. Great ending, though that was slightly undone by the unnecessary sequel...

Bob Mould - The Descent

I like films where the baddies wear creepy masks and you can't see their faces. The original Strangers movie was a pretty scary movie back in 2008, but like a lot of horror films, its impact has been diluted by too many unnecessary sequels...

The Kinks - Strangers

I'll have more of these later in the week, but we'll close today with a movie that already featured in this week's Snapshots, when I included a song by The Mock Turtles... largely because they were harder to identify than Jarvis & Pulp would have been. 

And while I think the original version of The Wicker Man is untouchable, I also have a soft spot for the gonzo 2006 remake starring Nicolas Cage. NOT THE BEES!

I refer you back to my opening comment: I also like a bad horror film.

Pulp's Wickerman is from their final, unjustly overlooked, album, We Love Life. Produced by Scott Walker, it's Jarvis at his best...

Snapshots #367: A Top Twenty Songs Named After Horror Movies

Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize y’all’s neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the Hounds of Hell

And rot inside a corpse’s shell

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grizzly ghouls from every tomb

Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive

Your body starts to shiver

For no mere mortal can resist

The evil of the SNAPSHOTS!

AH HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA

Thank you, Vincent. This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

It's Halloween this week, and when I started looking for songs that share their names with horror movies, I hit a bumper bundle. But did you guess them all?

20. Bad jingles get me in such a tizzy. 

"Bad jingles" was an anagram...

J. Geils Band - Fright Night

19. Lost inside Outwood Golf Course.

In case you're wondering, Outwood is just down the road from where I work in Leeds. Fortunately, I've never spotted u-two while driving through there...

U2 - The Fly

18. Ttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssss iiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssss ttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeee ccccccccccccccllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee.

Slow Readers Club - Lost Boys

17. The Haiti dollar hides a silly secret. 

The Haiti dollar, Silly Billy.

Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face

16. Boopadoop.

Named after Chic Young's Blondie comic strip: her surname was Boopadoop.

Blondie - Island Of Lost Souls

15. Noughties boy band, aphrodisiac, Ian Astbury.

Noughties boy band = Blue.

Aphrodisiac = Oyster.

Ian Astbury = The Cult.

Blue Öyster Cult - Nosferatu

14. Frippette?

She's married to Robert Fripp...

Toyah - Alien

13. They're ghosting you.

The Phantom Band - The Howling

12. Can you hear them?

The Sonics - Psycho

11. ...is a V. smarmy DJ mix.

..."is a V. smarmy DJ" was an anagram...

Sammy Davis Jr. - The Candyman

10. A wing and a guitar.

A Fender is what we Brits would call the wing on a car... and it's also a type of guitar.

Sam Fender - Poltergeist(s)

9. Just desserts.

The Sweet - Hellraiser

8. Read one section of your home. 

Chapterhouse - Don't Look Now

7. This guy, and another four droplets.

A tough one this, and probably not one you could guess from the clue alone... but once you worked out the theme... maybe?

Anyway, the photo above is Bernie Nee, the singer on the track below. The rest of the Blobs were session musicians, so no photo exists of the "band" itself...

The Five Blobs - The Blob

6. Bitten by a green bird that wishes it could fly.

Orville might have wished he could fly, but he could at least peck.

Orville Peck - Dead Of Night

5. Used to make soup for Alice and the Queen.

Then the Queen said to Alice, "Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?"

"No," said Alice. "I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is."

"It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from", said the Queen.

(From Alice In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.)

The Mock Turtles - Wicker Man

4. A carpenter and a great hangman. 

The Great Hangman is a cliff. Richard was a Carpenter.

Cliff Richard - Carrie

3. Chest, pea, dough.

Chestnut, peanut, doughnut...

Nut - Scream

2. What do Jennifer Anniston, Julie Andrews and Jane Austen cook their eggs in?

In the J.A.pan, of course!

Japan - Halloween

1. Lad-ra-doodle.

It's not often you see Damon Gough without his hat on...

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining

Not Number One because it's my favourite song... but it is my favourite horror film.

Such a bounty of horror-film-related songs did I find, that there will be more to share later in the week... and a much less scary Snapshots will be back next Saturday.