Classic Rock Bottom

It's that time of year again, and I think its appropriate to put together a couple of Halloween themed playlists. I also think its appropriate to kick this off each year with the first tune I've included here. An annual acknowledgement, if you will, that Halloween is around the corner.  Much like the song September (By Earth Wind and Fire) must be played on 9/21, so must Spooky by ARS.


Let's first start with some creepin' tunes. Picking tunes that are creepy, scary, and plain evil is easy pickin's when it come to Rock and Roll, but finding hidden treasures? Well, OK, thats also easy pickin's. What creepy songs are you listening to this Halloween season?


PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/a1n8w99n

Atlanta Rhythm Section
Underdog
1979

1 - Spooky

OK, so theres nothing overtly spooky about this song, but its a great opener from a great band and it has some of classic rocks best geetar©™ work showcased.

"Spooky" was originally an instrumental song performed by saxophonist Mike Sharpe (Shapiro), written by Shapiro and Harry Middlebrooks, Jr., which first charted in 1967 hitting #57 on the US pop charts. Its best-known version was created by The Classics IV when guitarist James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie added lyrics centering on a "spooky little girl". In 1968, the vocal version of the song reached #3 in the U.S. (Billboard Hot 100) and #46 in the UK.

Deep Purple
Slaves and Masters
1990

2 - Fortune Teller

Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune-telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.

Historically, fortune-telling grows out of folkloristic reception of Renaissance magic, specifically associated with Romani people. During the 19th and 20th century, methods of divination from non-Western cultures, such as the I Ching, were also adopted as methods of fortune-telling in western popular culture.

Pretty Maids
Motherland
2013

3 - I See Ghosts

While there is nothing (that I can find) written about how this song came about or what is at its core, there is loads of information about ghosts...

While deceased ancestors are universally regarded as venerable, and often imagined as having a continued presence in some sort of afterlife, the spirit of a deceased person which remains present in the material world (viz. a ghost) is regarded as an unnatural or undesirable state of affairs and the idea of ghosts or revenants is associated with a reaction of fear. This is universally the case in pre-modern folk cultures, but fear of ghosts also remains an integral aspect of the modern ghost story, Gothic horror, and other horror fiction dealing with the supernatural.

The Alan Parson Project
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
1976

4 - The Raven

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references.

Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay "The Philosophy of Composition". The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens. Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout.

AC/DC
Highway To Hell
1979

5 - Night Prowler

In June 1985, a highly publicized murder case began revolving around Richard Ramírez, who was responsible for more than 15 brutal murders as well as attempted murders and rapes in Los Angeles. Nicknamed the "Night Stalker," Ramírez was a fan of AC/DC, particularly the song "Night Prowler". Police also claimed that Ramírez was wearing an AC/DC shirt and left an AC/DC hat at one of his crime scenes. During the trial, Ramírez shouted "Hail Satan!" and showed off the pentagram carved into his palm. The incident brought extremely bad publicity to the band, whose concerts and albums were suddenly campaigned against by parents in Los Angeles County. On VH1's Behind the Music on AC/DC, the band claimed that while the song had taken on a murderous connotation by Ramírez, it is actually about a boy sneaking into his girlfriend's bedroom at night. The song, however, does contain lines such as "You don't feel the steel/Till it's hanging out your back... as you lie there naked, like a body in a tomb".

On the lighter side... Bon Scott was a fan of Robin Williams, and he ended the song with one of Williams' famous catchphrases: "Shazbot, Nanu Nanu!" From the character 'Mork'.

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My favorite movies to watch around Halloween is this one, with a perfect spooky theme by Carpenter himself, and another Carpenter-movie "The Thing" and Stephen King's IT.

 

I remember when The Thing first came out, it was unbelievably scary....  Watched it a couple years back and couldn't believe how dated it was...  Still a classic though

Creepy?

The absolute scarriest movie I ever saw.

I was 15, when I saw it "alone" in a cinema (since my friend had chickend out minutes before).

It took me years to get over it. ONLY movie ever, that scared the shit out of me. All my Horror-comic books were not as funny to read, after that fright.

It's also dated now, but still a true classic. So many movies have been more than influenced by it. The "Black Sabbath" of Horror-movies.

I was a fan of Carpenter's Halloween, which I saw the year before (1979) and Horror-movies/comicbooks. After the Excorsist, I don't think, I saw a "Horror-movie" until "Poltergeist" and later "The Thing" in '82/'83, and even that took some persuation.

Later, I've found out, that I was far from the only one, who got SUCH a fright about that movie.

Seeing it at that age, had a lot to do with it, I think, because the other ones, I've heard got the same scare was also 14-15 years old, when they saw it, and it was also "back then" in the late 70's/start '80s.

Now, they will probably sent it on disney-Channel.

I dunno.......I don't think these were really EVIL, ya know? Maybe some scarey undertones, but not really EVIL. Nothing really made me hide under the sheets or look behind me.

These are fine songs, don't get me wrong. But when I expect EVIL, I want EVIL. Such a buildup and then a complete letdown. Kinda like "The Exorcist II: The Heretic". Not remotely scarey, not really remotely anything. I guess the scene on the rooftop is a bit scarey only in the way that you wonder why someone would set up a roof that way. Just one gust of wind and....well, you need to see it to see what I'm talking about. Thankfully, there's "Exorcist III" which is a damn fine movie.

I really like that Pretty Maids song, it's been played on here before. But still, I like it.

I've been trying to figure out my Halloween-themed album for this weekend and I can't find one. Already used Iced Earth, so that one's out. And no, there's no collusion. 

4/5 albums. Maybe 3/5. Again, too lazy to look. 

Well. ... the name of the Playlist was Creepy, not evil so. .... any way nice feedback for my diet coke of evil Playlist. Maybe next week we'll go a little more sinister. ...

ARS - This is a cool song.  Definitely not scary, but a good song to start out the Trick or Treat thing with, you know, just as it's starting to get dark and the kids are hitting the street.  Cool guitar and keyboard work at the end.

Purple - Believe it or not, I agree with Jon on this one.  No fear inspired.  Doesn't really work in a Halloween way for me.  But that doesn't mean it isn't a cool song.  I've never heard it before, but glad now that I have.

Maids - I like the start of this.  It does sound familiar.  I wouldn't call it scary, but it definitely works for this theme.  I can hear this blaring from the garage as the kiddos stream past.

APP - Again, not really scary.  But it is kind of creepy.  So maybe it fits for adults, but I don't think the kiddies would be impressed.

AC/DC - This one doesn't really strike me as Halloween material either, at first.  But the lyrics to evolve in places that evoke scary images.  So this does make the grade.  

I would have to include something from the first Black Sabbath album.  That stuff would have definitely scared me if I would have heard it back then.  Also, I always think of Dream Warriors at Halloween.  Don't know why.  And of course, Alice Cooper would have just been too easy.  So good job Scott.

Oh yeah, from most Halloweeny to least Halloweeny:

1. Pretty Maids

2. ARS

3. AC/DC

4. APP

5. DP

Oops, just noticed the "creepy" not "scary" thingy.

Most creepiest to least creepiest:

1. APP

2. AC/DC

3. DP

4. ARS

5. PM

Stay Tuned, we're going straight down next week!!

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