Musical Interlude

Presenting the famous club scene from Fright Night (1985), in which Jerry Dandridge seduces Amy right from under Charley's nose.

Never underestimate the power of cheesy 1980s choreography! And yes, that's Marcy D'Arcy pre-Married... with Children. Still, I get a kick out of those tunes in the background. They're Ian Hunter's "Good Man in a Bad Time" and Evelyn ''Champagne'' King's "Give It Up", respectively. I wonder if they'll be incorporated into the pointless remake. Meh.

Anyway, both those songs are available on the film's soundtrack. To see which others made the cut, click here. Some pretty good tunes there.

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Oh, and William Patrick Day's Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture: What Becomes a Legend Most (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002) finally arrived on Monday. Unfortunately, many of its pages were accompanied by underlines in red pen. Grrrr. I've contacted Amazon about that. Outcome pending.

Cracking the Hundredth Mark

While I was watching Neighbours today (ahem), one of the ad breaks screened a compilation album called Forbidden: Songs of Love, Lust & Blood.

What does this have to do with vampires, praytell?

It was the angle being used to promote it. That's right, they were pitching a vampire connection!

The ad was too brief - and surprising - for me to have jotted down any notes (not that I sit in front of the telly with a notepad and pen in hand, mind you), so I'll hand you over to CD Online's spiel:

2 CDs for the lovers of all things vampire. The world has been swept up in the craze of Vampires, whether it be the romantic movies, tv series, books, actors etc, we can't get enough of this fantasy world. Disc 1 features Rock/Emo sounds with Vampire themes and Disc 2 features Acoustic/Indie focusing on love, lust & passion.

Some of the inclusions are certainly a bit...unusual. I mean, blink-182's "First Date"? 3 Doors Down's "Kryptonite"? Really?

Despite the (mostly American) acts present on the album, it's certainly an Aussie compilation in that it features a pretty decent amount of Australian acts, namely, The Living End, Short Stack, Kisschasy, Sia, Missy Higgins, Butterfly Boucher, Josh Pyke, The Audreys and Little Birdy.

It's quite obviously a cash-in on the recent release (November 19) of New Moon, but boy that cover looks pretty!

It's also interesting to see the romance (for want of a better word) angle being so prominently featured. Tragic love. That, I believe, is the drive behind the success of Meyer's books. Not vampires, per se, but the themes she explores in her series. The vampires, I think, are practically peripheral.

Now, as you may have noticed from the title of this entry, this is my hundredth post for this blog! So, after that previous ramble, I'll share some goodies with you to mark the occasion:

• "Meet the Twlight Mums". Read this heartwarming (or, disturbing, if you prefer) story of a bunch of mums who got together to share their love over Meyer's books.
• Martin V. Riccardo's "The Vampire as a Psychic Archetype", TAT Journal: The Forum for Awareness 2.3 (1979).
• I was recently looking for a copy of Matthew Kratter's "Twilight of the Vampires: History and Myth of the Undead", Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 5 (1998). I wound up contacting the journal's publisher, Michigan State University Press, only to be informed by its Order Fulfillment Manager that the article was...available for free as a download! Woohoo! You can access download it via this page. But, a word of warning: you'll need Adobe Acrobat (it's a pdf file) and you'll have to download the entire issue (c. 25mb) to have your own copy of the article.
• Remember my entry on the (rather dubious) connection between porphyria and vampires a while back? Well, I've got something a bit more scientific for you: Ann M. Cox's "Porphyria and Vampirism: Another Myth in the Making", Postgraduate Medical Journal 71.841 (1995). You can download it through here, and yes, it'll be another pdf file.
• Lastly, here's a stack of articles from Innana Arthen's "Rare Article Archive" from her webiste, By Light Unseen.
  

Well, that about wraps it up for now. Have fun kids!

I'd like to take the time to thank my readers, commentators, followers and even casual browsers of this blog. Wouldn't be much point without you!

I'd also like to give particular thanks to Niels K. Petersen and Andrew M. Boylan for some wonderful correspondence.

Thanks guys and keep up the good work!

For Twilight Fans with a Sense of Humour

Ben Relles of BarelyPolitical.com sent me a link to a music video featured in one of his site's segments, "Key of Awesome":

It's called "Emo Vampire" and features a Draculaesque vampire lamenting the state vampires haven fallen into ("I've got nothing in common with the vampires of today / They gaze at girls and pout and brood and then just run away") since the Twilight boom.

Can't say I blame him!

President Bites

In early 2008, Barack Obama was the subject of a short called Barackula: The Musical.

The musical's website describes the plot thusly:

Barackula is a short political horror rock musical about young Barack Obama having to stave off a secret society of vampires at Harvard when he was inducted into presidency at the Harvard Law Review in 1990. Obama (Justin Sherman) finds that he must convince the vampire society that opposing political philosophies can coexist or else the society may transform Obama to the dark side. Reminiscent to Michael Jackson's Thriller and a slight infusion of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Now that he's actually President, it seems he has gone over to the darkside.

Well, at least going by this mask doing the rounds for Hallowe'en:

Looks like it's more than foreign policy sucking the country dry.

Hallowe'en Mixtape

Ok, so it's not totally vampire-related, but here's my mixtape for today:

1. Michael Jackson - "Thriller"
2. Maniac Spider Trash - "Graveyard Bash"
3. Reverend Horton Heat - "The Halloween Dance"
4. Rob Zombie featuring the Ghastly Ones - "Halloween (She Get So Mean)"
5. Demented are Go - "Stake in the Heart"
6. The Creepniks - "Zombie Stomp"
7. The Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 - "Oogie Boogie Baby Baby"
8. Blitzkid - "Pretty in a Casket"
9. Misfits - "Monster Mash (Studio Version)"
10. Ghoultown - "Fistful of Demons"
11. Nekromantix - "Trick or Treat"
12. Thee Invaders - "I Wanna Eat Your Brain"
13. Zombina and the Skeletones - "Nobody Likes You (When You're Dead)"
14. Kim's Teddy Bears - "Voodoo Doll"
15. Bat Attakk - "Zombie Disco"
16. Send More Paramedics - "Zombie Crew"
17. The 69 Eyes - "Lost Boys"
18. Calabrese - "Backseat of My Hearse"
19. Gein and the Graverobbers - "The Phantom of Route 44"
20. Horror of 59 - "Frankenstein Returns"
21. North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative - "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?"
22. Wednesday 13 - "Till Death Do Us Party"
23. The Horrors - "Jack the Ripper"
24. Serpenteens - "It's Halloween!"

Ev'rybody Knows You're Losht

If you can overlook the lead singer's goofy voice, then this makes for a pretty rockin' vampire-themed tune in time for Halloween:

It's "Lost Boys" by The 69 Eyes, from their 2004 album, Devils.

If you're unsure of the song's inspiration (and, quite frankly, I'd be surprised if you are), then click here.

The clip also has the distinction of being directed by Bam Margera, who first came to fame through MTV's Jackass.

My Aborted Mixtape

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:

1. Rigor Mortis - "Vampire" (Rigor Mortis, 1990)
2. Rasputina - "Transylvanian Concubine" (Thanks for the Ether, 1996)
3. Damien Storm - "Vampire Stalks the East Wing" (Horror on St. Lime's Hill, 2000)
4. Godsmack - "Vampires" (Awake, 2000)
5. 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".

Vampir-Musik für jeder!

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.

A Little Night Music

"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:

1. Alice Cooper's "Fresh Blood"
2. Autopsy's "Fiend for Blood"
3. Bathory's "Woman of Dark Desires"
4. Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
5. Birthday Party's "Release the Bats"
6. Blue Oyster Cult's "Tattoo Vampire"
7. Coroner's "Nosferatu"
8. Dark Theater's "Undead"
9. Dark Throne's "Transylvania Hunger"
10. Dupont's "Screamin' Ball at Dracula Hall"
11. Entombed's "Blood Song"
12. Excruciating Pain's "Nosferatu"
13. J. Geil's Band's "Fright Night"
14. Grave's "Riboflavin Flavored Non-Carbonated Polyunsaturated Blood"
15. Iron Maiden's "Transylvania"
16. LA Guns' "Hollywood Vampires"
17. Legendary Pink Dots' "Casting the Runes"
18. Mazzy Star's "Taste of Blood"
19. Mercyful Fake's "Return of the Vampire"
20. Motorhead's "Waltz of the Vampire"
21. Shroud's "Lovers' Bones"
22. Siouxie and The Banshees' "We Hunger"
23. Sting's "Moon over Bourbon Street"
24. Warfare's "Screams of the Vampire"
25. 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.

1. Dada (1982)
2. Acts of the Unspeakable (1992)
3. Under the Sign: The Sign of the Black Mark (1987)
4. Bela Lugosi's Dead (EP) (1979)
5. The Birthday Party, Junkyard (1982)
6. Blue Öyster Cult, Agents of Fortune (1976)
7. R.I.P (1987)
8. The Dark Theater, Matters of Life and Undeath (1990)
9. Darkthrone, "Transilvanian Hunger", Transilvanian Hunger (1994)
10. 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).
11. Wolverine Blues (1993)
12. Thou Shall Choose (1992)
13. J. Geils Band, Fright Night: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985)
14. 45 Grave, "Riboflavin Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood", Autopsy (1987)
15. Iron Maiden (1980)
16. L.A. Guns did release a 1991 album of this name, but no songs of this name, as their discography reveals.
17. The Legendary Pink Dots, Any Day Now (1987)
18. She Hangs Brightly (1990)
19. Return of the Vampire: The Rare and Unreleased (1992)
20. Dirty Love (1989)
21. The Shroud, Drowning Dreams (1992)
22. Hyæna (1984)
23. The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
24. 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".
25. The Ideal Copy (1987)