FOUR SONGS THAT REFERENCE FRANKENSTEIN!

 

Over the years there have been countless references to Frankenstein in popular music, so here are just four that I find either good and/or interesting.

Let's start off in 1961 and a song called "You Can Get Him - Frankenstein" that was written by none other than the scary Phil Spector along with Ahmet Ertegun, and Ed Adlum who was a member of the band The Castle Kings who recorded the song. 

 

Great song, but I actually prefer this 2014 version.

EMMY LOU AND THE RHYTHM BOYS - "You Can Get Him Frankenstein"

 

In 1962 The Crystals put out an album called "Twist Uptown" that oddly enough was produced by who else but Phil Spector?

THE CRYSTALS - "Frankenstein Twist"

In 1964 Elvis Presley was in the film "Viva Las Vegas" with Ann Margaret

The Japanese poster for the movie is pretty crazy. 

 

Oddly enough, they chose to only release this four song EP instead of a full soundtrack for the movie.

Maybe they didn't want Ann Margaret to outshine The King, but here's an awesome excerpt from the film featuring both of them, and the lyrics first with Elvis singing "How's about having dinner at eight?" and Ann's reply of "I'd rather dine with Frankenstein."

ELVIS PRESLEY & ANN MARGARET - "The Lady Loves Me"

 

Now here's a weird one you probably were not expecting.

In 1974, Buck Owens And The Buckeroos released an LP titled "(It's A) Monsters' Holiday"

Even weirder, looking at the song titles, this is the only 'monster' song on the record with lyrics like,

"Frankenstein was the first in line, And the Wolfman came up next" 

BUCK OWENS AND THE BUCKEROOS - "(It's A) Monsters' Holiday"

AFTER HOURS with Moe Tucker (1969) and Lord Litter (2011)

 

"After Hours" is the only Velvet Underground song sung only by Maureen "Moe" Tucker, and I also think that it's the sweetest song they ever recorded.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - "After Hours"

 

My good friend Jörg Dittmar, aka the late Lord Litter, felt the same way as I do about this song, and recorded his own sweet version in 2011.

LORD LITTER - "After Hours"

GANG OF FOUR - "Entertainment" (1979)

 

Now here's a song from 1979 by Gang Of Four from their album titled "Entertainment" that anybody and everybody should be able to identify with, because who in the Hell wants to get the disease Anthrax?

That's definitely something I don't want to catch, right up there with the plague!

 So why wasn't this a world wide hit? Beats the heck out of me!

GANG OF FOUR - "Love Like Anthrax" 

FRED ARMISEN - "What A Crackup" (1989-2026)

 

I'm going to go see a Fred Armisen show tonight, and boy, am I excited about it. This guy is so incredibly talented, I have no idea what he's going to come up with for the evening, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be amazing!

 

 

Fred's done so much, there's just no way I can get into all of it, but here's a few highlights of his wild and funny career.

In the late 80's and early 90's, Fred was the drummer in the band Trenchmouth who made music like this!

TRENCHMOUTH - "Doing The Flammability" 

 

As a regular Saturday Night Live cast member, Fred performed in fake bands such as Crisis of Conformity and this Clash-like punk band called Ian Rubbish & The Bizzaros in 2013. Bill Hader had the role of  bassist Derek Gash.

IAN RUBBISH & THE BIZZAROS - "Maggie Thatcher"

 

Since Fred is also fluent in multiple languages, he can pull of things like this 2014 release by Joshua Rainhorn with additional vocals by the daughter of the phenomenal singer Minnie Ripperton, actress Maya Rudolph.

JOSHUA RAINHORN - "Voce Tem"
 

In 2015, Fred was in this very fake easy listening pop/rock band called Blue Jean Committee, again with the help of Bill Hader 

Is there any style of music he can't do? I don't think so! 

BLUE JEAN COMMITTEE - "Catalina Breeze"
 

In 2019 it was a mock up of The Talking Heads, a band called Test Pattern, with Bill Hader on bass.

This video from the "Late Night" TV show is very relatable and hilarious!

TEST PATTERN - "Art + Student = Poor"

So who knows which sides of Fred will show up tonight, but whoever they are, I'm sure this is going to be one helluva night to remember.

LES CLAYPOOL AND THE HOLY MACKEREL - "Highball With The Devil" (1996)

 

What better to follow up Larry Norman with than Les Claypool And The Holy Mackerel, and "Highball With The Devil" from 1996?

Nothing I think, because it just doesn't get much better than this. 

Turn it all the way up!! 

LES CLAYPOOL AND THE HOLY MACKEREL - "Holy Mackerel" 

I Am the Six O'clock News - Larry Norman (1972)

 

Rich here. In the early days of the Jesus Rock scene (later referred to as "Contemporary Christian Music"), there really were only a handful of good bands (egs.,Love Song, Phil Keaggy, Overland Stage, Randy Stonehill). Beyond those bands and a few others, the majority just really didn't write good songs, many weren't very good musicians in the first place, and/or their messages were fairly limited to a theologically shallow advertisement that "You should be pals with Jesus."

 

But one Christian rocker stood heads & shoulders above all but a few -- Larry Norman, who was the first true Christian Rock Star. In the late '60s, before turning his attentions to being a spokesman for the nascent Jesus Movement, he'd already experienced  mainstream chart success with his Bay Area band People!, who'd recorded a fabulous cover version of "I Love You" by The Zombies.

 

However, even more than his previous history in a chart-hitting band, what made Larry Norman stand out from the majority of other Jesus Rockers of the early '70s was that he was articulate and intelligent and charismatic and wrote songs that transcended the thematic limitations of most Jesus Rock. Instead, Norman's songs employed the kind of poetic language used by Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. His songs were full of metaphor and complex rhymes and including references to literature and cinema and history and the news to express the feelings of someone who felt he was a foreigner in this world.

 

In fact, the title of Norman's major label debut album was "Only Visiting This Planet" (Verve, 1973). 

 

And before Larry Norman unfortunately turned into a Moral Majority-type Christian right-winger in the '80s, he wrote some of the most poignant songs of the early Jesus Movement, including describing Jesus as an outlaw, critiquing U.S. foreign policy that bombed villages in other lands while American children went hungry, and expressing feelings of alienation from a woman who'd seduced him. And, also, this powerful song told from the cynical viewpoint of a photographer who takes pictures of death and destruction for the Six O'Clock News. Powerful stuff.

LARRY NORMAN - "Six O'Clock News"

URBAN VERBS - "Subways" (1980)

 

The Urban Verbs were from Washington D.C. and this self-titled LP came out also in 1980.

If Urban Verbs sound remotely like Talking Heads to you, the reason is probably that the frontman of the band, Roddy Frantz, was the brother of Talking Heads drummer Christ Frantz.

Damn, unfortunately, while writing this, I just found out that Roddy passed away a couple of weeks ago on October 01 at the age of 71. 

URBAN VERBS - "Subways" 

 

I give Warner Brothers Records a lot of credit for coming out with records like this one titled "Troublemakers" in the 1980's. It introduced me to a lot of new music.

This album was the first time I heard bands like Urban Verbs, Wire, Buggles, & Robin Lane and the Chartbusters, who were bands that weren't getting played on the radio where I lived.