Scary Songs

Its that time of year again, my favorite holiday Halloween is just next week. After a zombie playlist and an apocalypse list, it seemed fitting we’d do one about scary songs for the holiday. I want to warn you though, mine is not always what you think. I could have picked a bunch of hardcore bands that screech so bad you can’t understand their lyrics but I went for stuff that scares me personally. I like to think I’ve covered all my bases here and I can’t wait to read my brothers forthcoming list, but here it is, scary playlist from yours truly.

1.”Too Close”  Alex Clare

I am sure some of you clicked on this and thought “How is this scary?” First off, if you have heard it nine million times on the radio as I have, that would probably enlighten you. Second, it’s clearly an attempt to fuse pop music with dubstep music, which I have railed against before. I am sorry, it sounds to me like big alien bugs on liquid L.S.D. making noises into mikes equipped with the kitchen sink of filters and the like. I just don’t understand the appeal of giant bass drops that sound like the aliens are invading. Granted, people often tell me they don’t like prog rock because there is too much going on which I think is one of the reasons I so dislike this music. This is certainly dub-step lite and he is a suave guy for trying to jump on the mixture of the two but it leads directly to my third and greatest fear.

This fear is that sometime in the near future, this is what pop music is going to be. I know we have Mumford &  Sons and  peers like The Lumineers, but on a lot of pop and rap records, this electronic stuff is taking over. Are we going to soon be living in a world where the popular music all includes insect-like ear drum smashing noises in the choruses? You know, I probably would just toss this song off as a silly pop song if it didn’t have the dub-step parts. I also don’t think it should be played on the alternative radio station alongside Tool and Queens of the Stone Age, but that is for another day. If this is song is how popular is going to be soon, I’m moving out of radio range. Lastly, maybe what truly scares me is the fact that me hating this music could be a sign that I am getting old. A truly scary thought!

2. “The Reflecting God” – Marilyn Manson

I am glad I found this live video because many years ago, I saw Marilyn Manson and it was one of the coolest shows ever. The production value was way above any band I have ever seen since or before. I mean, he had this microphone with a camera at the end that projected behind him and he did a lot of cool things with it, some of which involved his dancers and I shouldn’t mention here. Was it tasteful? Surely not, but you don’t go to see Marilyn Manson for tasteful entertainment like any other shock rocker from Screaming Jay Hawkins to GWAR. You go for the spectacle.

In Manson’s case, he really had something to say with this song and the press sure did too when they said it was him and this song that inspired the kids at Columbine to shoot up their school. I can see why someone would think that with the lyrics of the chorus being “Shoot Shoot Shoot Motherfucker”. But it continues with “and the world gets smaller” which to me either means he wants someone to shoot him to see how little difference it would make or that violence in general is stupid.

Things got very hairy for Manson during this period and people pointed a lot of fingers than him, but let’s remember the freedom of speech laid out in our constitution  Manson didn’t want to shoot anyone or have anyone else, it’s just a song that got taken the deadly wrong way. I never have wanted to do heroin because of Lou Reed and Johnny Cash’s cover of “Delia” never inspired me to kill a woman.  That’s why this song is scary, that people would actually blame a song for someone getting murdered.  Lastly, let’s face it too, Manson is a weird looking dude and he works hard to be that way. His videos scared the hell out of me when I was a young dude watching MTV.

3. “Black Sabbath” -Black Sabbath

One of the most ominous and scary songs ever recorded from my boys in Black Sabbath. The biggest musical motif that scares here is the use of the tri tones, the so called “devil’s tune”. I am talking of the first few notes of the song, the build before the vocals kick in. They said in Medieval times that if you played these notes, you could summon the devil himself to appear which is why Tony Iommi used it for the title track of their self-titled debut album. I bought the picture vinyl of this record and I will never forget it falling off my apartment wall when I cranked this up for the first time.  Something similar happened when I learned this on my bass. The Devil or just playing music too loud? I don’t know but it is scary, albeit in a fun and ass-kicking way.

4.”Monster Mash” Boris Pickett

This is a give in for a scary list, although not that scary in the first place. I picked this record up not too long ago at a garage sale, inspired by my good friend Charlie. Charlie is now a bassist in the indie rock band Chamberlin. They are touring on their own now and did a big tour with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals last year and are really coming up. Anyway, Charlie and I went out for one Halloween in college and before we could leave to do down town, he insisted we go back to his house to hear this record. I laughed for a solid half hour and then we heard it multiple times out and about. I have fond memories of college Halloweens and this song always brings them up. Thanks Charlie and think of me when you do the Mash this year.

5.” I ain’t superstitious”- Jeff Beck Group

This song is mostly scary because it’s so good. The very first time I heard this song was during a scene in Casino and the slide licks just captivated me. He’s running his guitar through a wah wah and using a slide, so it sounds sort of like it’s being played underwater. This is an old Howling Wolf song that was written by Willie Dixon of course. Beck just does it through all these cool effects and infuses it with a new electric power. If you think Rod Stewart is cheesy too, check out anything he did with the Faces or with Jeff Beck because there was a time when he rocked. Lastly, Beck played guitar with Stevie Wonder on his version of the song and everyone loves that funky little number.

6. “Feed my Frankenstein”- Alice Cooper

When I saw this song performed by the artist on the movie Wayne’s World, he legit scare me. This was before I saw Manson or even his videos and long before I had seen the wide swath of horror movies with untold images of death and gore. Compared to many modern scare bands, Alice Cooper is actually pretty tame and now an avid golfer/born again Christian. That last pair sort of takes down his scare factor a few pegs, but in his day he was definitely the scariest guy out there. He was also a terrible lush which is where the golfing and Jesus come in. Hey, these two things are better than being a full-blown alcoholic.

Now I know most of these songs aren’t that scary in the traditional sense. Clearly, Alex Clare’s song scares me the most because of what it could bring for the future of music and Manson’s is scary in multiple senses. What is scary to the individual varies widely as you can see in my own list. What scares us comes from what we don’t understand or is different. What scares you Elder J and what about you the reader?