It Came From Halloween – Scary Rock and Roll!

Alice Cooper and friend

Face it – rock and roll isn’t that scary.  Unless you’re an uptight parent, or some kind of preacher.  Rock music about Halloween, and the stuff that comes with Halloween, is goofy and funny, but it isn’t frightening.  Although I must admit, I got a bit of a fright the first time I saw Adam Lambert perform … but thankfully that’s not rock and roll.  Or is it?  Bwahahahaha!

Back in the day, there was Alice Cooper.  He had an act that involved boa constrictors, decapitating baby dolls with a guillotine (or something) and an electric chair.  Alice also had Top 40 hits – “I’m Eighteen,” “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” among them.  Successful, certainly; entertaining, probably.  But scary?  No.

Before Alice, back in the 1950s, there was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.  He jumped in and out of a coffin during his stage act, performed fake voodoo rituals and had some pretty crazy music.  But his snake wasn’t even real.  After Alice, you can take your pick among the punk rockers of the late 1970s: they were kind of disturbing, but honestly not scary.  And from the 1990s, you had Marilyn Manson – the less said about him the better.

So by default, I guess Alice Cooper is the scariest guy in rock and roll.  Unless you count Adam Lambert …

MP3: “Black Juju” by Alice Cooper

MP3: “Feast of the Mau Mau” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

MP3: “Excitable Boy” (live) by Warren Zevon

MP3: “Frankenstein” (live) by Edgar Winter

MP3: “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult

MP3: “Skeletons In The Closet” by Alice Cooper

MP3: “Skull Ring” by Iggy Pop w/the Stooges

MP3: “Screamin’ Ball (At Dracula Hall)” by the Duponts

MP3: “Haunted House” by Jumpin’ Gene Simmons

MP3: “The Blob” by the Five Blobs

MP3: “This Is Halloween” by Danny Elfman

MP3: “Bo Meets The Monster” by Bo Diddley

MP3: “Witch Queen of New Orleans” by Redbone

MP3: “Hallowed Be My Name” by Alice Cooper

MP3: “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath

MP3: “Monster Motion” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett

MP3: “Out Of Limits” by the Challengers

MP3: “Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley

MP3: “Here Comes The Bride (The Bride of Frankenstein)” by Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark

MP3: “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

Labor Day Disaster Special

Man, it’s been a rough summer. I don’t have to tell you, but: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, drought, heat, wildfires and so on. I’m waiting for that plague of locusts next, you know?

But it’s not like us to bitch (much) so we thought we’d compile some disaster – natural and otherwise – songs for your Labor Day playlist. There are plenty more elsewhere on this blog, so scroll down and pick ’em up!

MP3: “Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll” by Blue Öyster Cult

MP3: “Black Rain” by Ozzy Osbourne

MP3: “I Feel The Earth Move” by Carole King

MP3: “Fire and Rain” by the Isley Brothers

MP3: “Hotter Than Hell” (live) by KISS

MP3: “Hot Thing” by Big Star

MP3: “Burnin’ For You” by Blue Öyster Cult

MP3: “Behold the Hurricane” by the Horrible Crowes

MP3: “Walking In A Hurricane” by John Fogerty

MP3: “When The Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin

MP3: “This Wheel’s On Fire” by the Byrds

MP3: “My City Of Ruins” by Bruce Springsteen

MP3: “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones

More Disaster Playlists:

End of the World, Part 1

End of the World, Part 2

Welcome to Hell … or Houston, it’s all the same

Ridin’ Out The Storm

By the way …

Hurricane Warning!

Fire, Flooding, Greed and Vengeance

Hurricane Warning: Shelter from the Storm

 

Homework assignment:

News story from the Associated Press: “An Extreme and Exhausting Year”

More Cowbell! Less Cowbell!

"Don't blow this for us, Gene!"

It started for the youngsters in 2000, when “Saturday Night Live” first telecast the sketch pictured above.  It was called “Behind the Music: Blue Öyster Cult,” but later became (in) famous simply as the “Cowbell Sketch.”  Yeah, the Cult had a cowbell in its song “Don’t Fear The Reaper,” but you know that was about the only true-to-life thing in this short, delightful bit of fantasy.

We saw Blue Öyster Cult play live last summer, and during the intro to “Reaper,” singer Eric Bloom (who Will Ferrell’s character seems patterned upon) did a sort of “air cowbell” but even though his hands were empty, we heard a cowbell!  Turns out some clown in the audience had one.  Of course.

Anyway, we come back from a long and distracting work week with his lame bit of nonsense, featuring some of the greatest cowbell rock songs of all time.  Please excuse any rust, I haven’t written a blog post in a while.  So – I’m sure you can check the internets for a comprehensive list of rock songs featuring the cowbell, and I invite you do to so if that’s what blows yer skirt up.  I just want to talk a little bit about the cowbell its own bad self, and explore the reasons why it may have found its way into rock songs.  Well, it’s cheaper than a drummer and doesn’t require much coordination (or rhythm, if that guy in the Blue Öyster Cult crowd is any indication).

Well, that was a shallow well … what about cowbells as noisemakers during sporting events?  The only place where they could have some effect would be in the confines of a gymnasium, during a basketball game.  I do know at the University of Texas (and many other schools in the NCAA) bans noisemakers like cowbells, whistles and air horns.  And maybe thunder sticks too, if that’s what also blows up yer skirt.  Certainly vuvuzelas, those are annoying in any context.  Oh man, I’m dyin’ here.

Let’s just listen to some music with cowbells (not the usual suspects, except for maybe one or two) and I’ll tack on the date the song first appeared.  Perhaps one day we can talk about sleigh bells in rock music – maybe Brian Wilson can guest on “SNL” and they can create a whole new skit!

MP3: “Grazing In The Grass” by Hugh Masekela (1968)

MP3: “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers (1966) (Long version, with more and “psychedelicized” cowbell!)

MP3: “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey” by the Beatles (1968)

MP3: “Low Rider” by War (1975)

MP3: “Evil Ways” by Santana (1969, live at Woodstock)

MP3: “Stone Free” by Jimi Hendrix (1966, mono version)

MP3: “Killing In The Name Of” by Rage Against The Machine (1992)

MP3: “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns n’ Roses (1987)

And the all-time greatest rock song featuring cowbell: “Honky Tonk Women,” by the Rolling Stones.  This video is from the Stones’ Voodoo Lounge tour from 1994 or so … and how awesome is Keith Richards playing that famous riff one-handed?  It’s that open-G tuning he keeps his guitar in; read his book.

Review: Wily Veterans & Classic Rock?

Summer’s here and the time is right for some classic rock.  Or more accurately, new music from artists that at one time made classic rock and pop music.  Cynics might look at these people as once-vital artists who now have to cash in on past glory in order to keep the utilities on.  But I prefer to keep a warm spot on my heart for these folks, who are all too happy to remind us why we loved them in the first place.

Al Jardine is the only member of the original Beach Boys who wasn’t a blood relative of Brian Wilson.  Even so, Jardine’s new A Postcard from California manages to evoke the spirit of the Beach Boys more successfully than the recent work of even the Sandbox Genius (that would be Brian, who’s about to release an album of George Gershwin covers).  And by evoking the spirit of the Boys, I mean not only that sublime surf-and-hot-rods sound but also the goofy social commentary and cracked sense of humor that characterized a lot of the Beach Boys’ later work.  At 68 years old, Jardine’s voice is just as perfect as it was when he sang “Help Me Rhonda” in 1965.

Now Jardine isn’t the most prolific songwriter so he covers a handful of old Beach Boys tunes that won’t make you forget the originals – despite the presence of guest performers like Neil Young, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell of America, Steve Miller and Norton Buffalo, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Brian Wilson his own self.  One of those oldies is “Don’t Fight the Sea,” which is actually an unreleased Beach Boys track that features harmonies by the late Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson and Mike Love (Carl and Bruce cut their parts in the 1980s, Brian and Mike recorded their parts more recently).  This environmentally conscious song, like the others on this album, take on a new urgency with the current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brian Wilson turns up again on “Drivin’,” a duet that features self-serving vocal backgrounds from America … some of that weird humor here.  Another highlight is Jardine’s revisiting of his “California Saga” epic, this time with harmony help from Crosby, Stills and Young and with a spoken-word piece from Alec Baldwin (!).

Listening to A Postcard From California over the Fourth of July weekend, the album managed to grow on me.  You have to be in a certain place to enjoy this kind of Grandpa Rock – being an AARP member and qualifying for senior discounts doesn’t hurt – but if Al Jardine can take me back to another time and another place even for a fleeting moment,  I’d sign on for that trip any time.

Track samples from A Postcard From California at Al Jardine’s website

YouTube: “Help Me Rhonda” (with Steve Miller, Norton Buffalo and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers)