Da Da is a highly overlooked Cooper album from 1983. The album revolves around an insane, unnamed character(Who some think may be Steven again). The character is a cannibal, as revealed in the song, "Fresh Blood." The title track is an instrumental introduction to the album in which we here fragments of a conversation between a psychologist and his patient. Soon it becomes clear that the patient has a history of violence, cannibalism, and is confused whether he has a son or a daughter. The same confusion reigns as whether this is a "Steven" album or not. [...]
Voltaire, is a Cuban-American musician popular in the goth scene, although I would have to say it's closer to new wave than anything else. He's also an experienced animation and comic artist, and is a professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Even though Voltaire was born in Cuba, his music has strong roots and connections to European folk as well as other influences such as the goth scene. However, many listeners (including myself) find his music hard to classify. Although it has a sound reminiscent of European folk music, many people claim it to be darkwave [...]
Army Of Darkness is a 1993 comedy horror/adventure film and the third installment in the Evil Dead series. The original title was supposed to be Bruce Campbell vs the Army of Darkness. The Evil Dead series are just all around awesome and fun horror movies to watch. They are so over the top, especially the third one. I watched this yet again the other night and Bruce has many memorable one liners. Army of Darkness is not as violent or gory as the prior Evil Dead films, relying more on slapstick. It does have it's moments though. Danny Elfman [...]
Today I'm going to talk some more about Alice Cooper's fictional homicidal maniac character known as Steven. Steven made his official first appearance on the Welcome to My nightmare album but his roots can be traced back to the Love it to Death album on the song "Ballad of Dwight Fry" which is a predecessor to the character. In fact Alice has said that this song was the one that gave him the idea to invent the character of Steven. On the follow up to the Nightmare album, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, the album has [...]
Most people know Fred Scneider as frontman for the best party band of the late 70's new wave era, the B-52's. What some people don't know is that he released a couple solo albums also. Well the first one was called Fred Schneider and the Shake Society. It was released in 1984 before the B-52's released Bouncing off the Satellites. Satellites is not one of the B-52's better efforts. Too bad they couldn't have combined the two albums and came out with one great album. So I'm going to feature Monster which is a perennial favorite Halloween [...]
Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files was the first album released in association with the popular television series The X-Files released in 1996. It contained both music that had been featured in the show, as well as music whose themes were in line with the concepts of the show. The album peaked at #47 on Billbord's Top 200 chart. Producers used the Compact Disc's pregap, so a listener would have to actually manually rewind the first track a full nine minutes to hear the 2 hidden tracks by Nick Cave. This is [...]
This is another repost from last year. The movie and the music have a solid cult following around the world. Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 horror-thriller musical film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The story is a loosely adapted mixture of Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Faust. The film was marketed with the tagline "He sold his soul for rock n'roll", and then with "He's been maimed and framed, beaten, robbed and mutilated. But they [...]
Agents of Fortune is the fourth studio album by Blue Oyster Cult released in 1976. The platinum selling album peaked at #29 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, while the single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" peaked at #12 on the Pop Singles chart, making it Blue Öyster Cult's biggest hit. The album was also the band's greatest critical success. Of course, upon the success of the single, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", Blue Öyster Cult became the center of a controversy surrounding the supposed pro-suicide lyrics of the song. Some stupid idiots never actually listened to the song which is a [...]
Shaun of the Dead is a brilliant zombie movie and one of the best to come out in the last 20 years or so. We just watched it again last night and it just rocks. Prominent are many references to George A. Romero's earlier Dead films (Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead, with Dawn in particular being referenced). In particular, the plot of Shaun relates directly to the plots of Romero's zombie films — all of which involve several people trapped in a building, with flesh-eating zombies attempting to break in to devour them, without [...]
A quick little weekend post. I won't have to go into much discussion here as I covered Zombina and the Skeletones a couple of posts ago. Today a couple of songs from one of their Halloween themed EP's. The EP is called Halloween Party Classics and it included just four covers of some classic Halloween tunes that are perfect for any rockin' Halloween parties. I believe it was released in 2007 and I'm not sure where one would go to buy the EP now as I'm pretty sure it's a fairly rare commodity now. [...]
Welcome to My Nightmare is a concept album by Alice Cooper, released in 1975. This was Alice Cooper's first solo album (all previous Alice Cooper releases were band efforts). The songs, heard in sequence, form a journey through the nightmares of a child named Steven. This is the first appearance of Steven on an album. He goes on to appear officially on 3 more albums and may unofficially be referenced on others. Referencing other sites throughout the net and my own observations, we will take a walk through the Nightmare today because Alice Cooper certainly conjures up images of [...]
Zombina and The Skeletones are a horror rock band from Liverpool, England, formed in 1998 around the nucleus of vocalist Zombina and songwriter Doc Horror. The majority of their tongue in cheek lyrical content deals with themes of horror and science fiction, yet their musical style is upbeat and pop oriented, with elements of garage punk, doo wop and hard rock. Some critics have said they are the best unsigned band on the planet, and no-one even realizes they're unsigned. Fiercely self-sufficient since their inception in 1998 while still at school, the band have combined brain-controlling hooks, exceptional pop, electrifying [...]
Midnight Syndicate is an American musical group that has been working mainly in the genre of gothic music since 1998. The band is based out of Chardon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Their music is commonly used to provide atmosphere during the Halloween season, in haunted attractions and in the role-playing game industry. Over time Midnight Syndicate has become the standard with the Halloween and haunted attraction industries. In addition to haunted attractions, amusement parks worldwide license their music during the Halloween season. Born of the Night was the second album of the band Midnight Syndicate, released in [...]
For the rest of the month of October, homercat is going to try to focus on the darker creepier side of music as each day gets us closer to my favorite holiday, Halloween. I've had the house decorated since the first. Nothing better than a good creepy song or album to get the mood set for October. For the most part the rest of this month will have some kind relationship to the dark side of music. I may put up a couple of normal posts in between hauntings. It's inevitable that when Halloween rolls around every year, there are [...]
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Throwing Muses' Tanya Donelly. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal (lead vocals and guitar), her twin sister Kelley Deal (guitar and backing vocals), Jose Medeles (drums and percussion), Mando Lopez (bass guitar) and Cheryl Lyndsey (guitar); Kim Deal has been the band's sole continual member. Last Splash is their second album which came out in 1993. Last Splash peaked at #33 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart. [...]
Malice In Wonderland is the eleventh studio album by the Scottish rock band Nazareth, released in 1980. On this album Nazareth decided to return to the AOR experimentation they had toyed with during the 1970s on albums like Close Enough for Rock & Roll and Play 'N the Game. In doing so they also managed to retain their identity as a hard rocking group this time out by tempering their pop experimentation with a tougher sound that took advantage of their new dual-guitar lineup. All in all, while Malice in Wonderland not their best album, it is one of [...]
Malice In Wonderland is the eleventh studio album by the Scottish rock band Nazareth, released in 1980. On this album Nazareth decided to return to the AOR experimentation they had toyed with during the 1970s on albums like Close Enough for Rock & Roll and Play 'N the Game. In doing so they also managed to retain their identity as a hard rocking group this time out by tempering their pop experimentation with a tougher sound that took advantage of their new dual-guitar lineup. All in all, while Malice in Wonderland not their best album, it is one of [...]
Back in 2006 Willie Nile released what I considered the best (albeit unknown) record of the year and quite possibly may be the best album to be released in the last five years. The album was called Streets of New York and it was fantastic. Right from the opening intro, this record, for lack of a better expression, kicks ass! The day I got this I listened to it ten times in a row, then it was bedtime. I still listen to it all the time. Well Willie has gone and done it again with an [...]
Powerman 5000 is a Boston-based rock band formed in 1991, whose frontman happens to be the younger brother of one Rob Zombie. Tonight the Stars Revolt was their second major label release which came out in 1999 and sold over a million copies. In the loosest sense it might be called a concept album. No specific story is being told yet there is a theme based on campy science fiction reminiscent of the 1950s. Frontman Spider One seems to have a fixation on bygone science fiction much like older brother Rob's obsession with B-movie horror themes. The album [...]
Sinner is the 12th or 14th studio album (depending on whether you count eps and such) by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, released June 13, 2006, by Blackheart Records Group. While most of the contents previously appeared on the Japan-only release Naked (2004), it was her first record of new material released in the United States since "Pure 'n' Simple" in 1994. When you hear how vital and flat-out rocking she sounds on this album, you scratch your head and wonder why it took over a decade for the Queen of Rock to release a new album. Even the [...]
Good Rockin' Tonight
the Weekender ::: New music from Catcall // the National // Summer Camp
KNIFE PARTY – RAGE VALLEY EP
Live: Among Bouquets & Florets. Girls, HMV Forum.
