My recent blog entries on vampire-themed tunes reminded me of an attempt I once made at a such a mixtape, myself.Now I should mention that to me, mixtapes are like compilation albums, and I treat 'em as such. Therefore, they get album names. This one was gonna be called Rockin' from the Coffin, but I only managed to get a few songs for it, before abandoning it to the sands of time.Here's the tracks I chose for it, with the album they're from and the year they was released:- Rigor Mortis - "Vampire" (Rigor Mortis, 1990)
- Rasputina - "Transylvanian Concubine" (Thanks for the Ether, 1996)
- Damien Storm - "Vampire Stalks the East Wing" (Horror on St. Lime's Hill, 2000)
- Godsmack - "Vampires" (Awake, 2000)
- Monstamorgue - "Cemetery Nights" (Tales of Terror, 2003)
Every Hallowe'en, at least, for the last few years, I have a stab at making a mixtape/compilation album, too.I posted one such example as a comment on The Vault of Horror's "The Tuesday Top 10: Favorite Horror-Themed Songs".
While I was researching the previous blog entry, I stumbled upon a German site, with a French title, called Bibliothèque des vampires.Its music page is incredibly comprehensive, to the point that it even includes songs like A*Teens' "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" because it appeared on Der kleine Vampir soundtrack.
Still, I'm impressed with the webmaster's work.
"Transylvanian rock band" (ahem), The Fangs, have released a single called, "Vampire Empire" (2009).
It asks a compelling question: "How many bites does it take, does it take, to get to the center of your love?":One can only hazard a guess.
Anyway, while we're on the subject of vampire-themed music, let's take a look at mixtape suggested by Leonard R. N. Ashley's deeply-flawed The Complete Book of Vampires (London: Souvenir Press, 1998), p. 153.Be wary of turning it into a commercial release, however, as he warns he'll "sue in the best pop tradition".Here's his primary tracklist, numbered, by me, for your convenience:- Alice Cooper's "Fresh Blood"
- Autopsy's "Fiend for Blood"
- Bathory's "Woman of Dark Desires"
- Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
- Birthday Party's "Release the Bats"
- Blue Oyster Cult's "Tattoo Vampire"
- Coroner's "Nosferatu"
- Dark Theater's "Undead"
- Dark Throne's "Transylvania Hunger"
- Dupont's "Screamin' Ball at Dracula Hall"
- Entombed's "Blood Song"
- Excruciating Pain's "Nosferatu"
- J. Geil's Band's "Fright Night"
- Grave's "Riboflavin Flavored Non-Carbonated Polyunsaturated Blood"
- Iron Maiden's "Transylvania"
- LA Guns' "Hollywood Vampires"
- Legendary Pink Dots' "Casting the Runes"
- Mazzy Star's "Taste of Blood"
- Mercyful Fake's "Return of the Vampire"
- Motorhead's "Waltz of the Vampire"
- Shroud's "Lovers' Bones"
- Siouxie and The Banshees' "We Hunger"
- Sting's "Moon over Bourbon Street"
- Warfare's "Screams of the Vampire"
- Wire's "Feed Me"
I've been doing a little digging to see which albums they're originally from. In the process, I've also noticed that Ashley listed a few band names incorrectly, made spelling errors, and, in one case, even included a song that doesn't exist.
- Dada (1982)
- Acts of the Unspeakable (1992)
- Under the Sign: The Sign of the Black Mark (1987)
- Bela Lugosi's Dead (EP) (1979)
- The Birthday Party, Junkyard (1982)
- Blue Öyster Cult, Agents of Fortune (1976)
- R.I.P (1987)
- The Dark Theater, Matters of Life and Undeath (1990)
- Darkthrone, "Transilvanian Hunger", Transilvanian Hunger (1994)
- I'm not certain at the moment, but the band was The Duponts, and it appears to have been released as a single in 1958. See also Allmusic article on the band. Song also appears as, "Screamin' Ball (At Dracula Hall).
- Wolverine Blues (1993)
- Thou Shall Choose (1992)
- J. Geils Band, Fright Night: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985)
- 45 Grave, "Riboflavin Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood", Autopsy (1987)
- Iron Maiden (1980)
- L.A. Guns did release a 1991 album of this name, but no songs of this name, as their discography reveals.
- The Legendary Pink Dots, Any Day Now (1987)
- She Hangs Brightly (1990)
- Return of the Vampire: The Rare and Unreleased (1992)
- Dirty Love (1989)
- The Shroud, Drowning Dreams (1992)
- Hyæna (1984)
- The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
- Properly called War Fare, Ashley seems to have combined two of their songs into one. Their 1990 album, Hammer Horror, has two tracks of a similar name: "Scream of the Vampire: Part 1" and "Scream of the Vampire: Part 2".
- The Ideal Copy (1987)
CRwM of And Now the Screaming Starts, has uncovered an article from the January 27, 1890 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle that reports on an obscure religious sect that believed in the curative properties of consuming human blood.Here's an extract from the reproduced article:About a year ago there appeared among the people of that neighborhood a man named Silas Wilcox, who went about the country preaching the doctrine of doing good for the sick. It was not long until he had a sufficient number of converts to his theories to warrant him in founding a sect, which he called the Samaritans. Gradually he widened his teachings to his little band until he openly advocated the drinking of blood for all diseases, giving as authority for such action the fact that the Bible taught that the blood was the life.
This notion was clearly based on a highly distorted reading of Biblical admonitions against consuming blood. Take Deuteronomy 12:23:Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood [is] the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
And Leviticus 17:10-14:And whatsoever man [there be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.
Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
And whatsoever man [there be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
For [it is] the life of all flesh; the blood of it [is] for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh [is] the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
Vampire enthusiasts may recognise "The blood is the life" from its appearance in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). It is uttered by Renfield:
Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right hand and he was sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was easily secured, and to my surprise, went with the attendants quite placidly, simply repeating over and over again, "The blood is the life! The blood is the life!"
F. Marion Crawford also borrowed the title for his 1911 short story, "For the Blood Is the Life" and it also manifests in Leonard G. Heldreth and Mary Pharr's non-fiction anthology, The Blood Is the Life: Vampires in Literature (1999).