By Rob Bricken in
Daily Lists, Movies
Thursday, Oct. 22 2009 @ 8:03AM
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Who can forget John Carpenter's haunting score to Halloween? Harry Manfredini's "ki ki ki, ma ma ma" creeping around Jason's kills? Or John Williams' music-in-the-place-of-shark theme that made Jaws so terrifying? Well, not every horror movie budget allows for such things as scores. Sometimes, though, the filmmakers require a different sort of musical interlude. Sometimes, you need that perfect rock, folk or hip hop song written specifically for your movie (sometimes spoiling large segments of it) that will inevitably play over the closing credits, but by God, it must be there! These are the 12 strangest songs composed specifically for horror movies in the history of the genre.
12) "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2" by The Class of '99 from The Faculty
What better way to get teenagers interested in your horror movie than by getting guys from Alice In Chains, Rage Against The Machine, Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros to cover one of the classic school rebellion songs of all time? While classic rock fans heartily object to the inclusion of this song in The Faculty, Robert Rodriguez's flick about aliens taking over a small high school (starring Jon Stewart), it's still kind of rad that the greatest supergroup of the '90s was put together solely to cover two Pink Floyd songs.
11) "The Blob Theme" by Burt Bacharach & The Five Blobs
This swinging little number was composed by none other than renowned songwriter and future guy-who-would-be-in-Austin Powers Burt Bacharach, and performed by a fake group called The Five Blobs. It really sums up a movie about a mysterious blob from space killing hundreds of people in a catchy fashion. Fun!
10) "Happy Birthday to Me" by Molly-Ann Leikin
[Start the video at 0:45 if you want to skip the film's twist ending.] Sometimes you want a hard rocking song to close out your movie, but sometimes you want some weird folksy version of a classic tune like "Happy Birthday" to depress you even more after the twist ending of Happy Birthday to Me.
9) "Pet Sematary" by The Ramones
Hearing punk rock progenitors The Ramones sing a song for an odd little Stephen King story adaptation starring Herman Munster and the kid from Kindergarten Cop might sound a bit strange, but then again, so does pretty much every song they were putting out around 1989. It's no better or worse than the equally slow and depressing "I Believe In Miracles."
8) "Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told" by Lon Chaney from Spider Baby
Sung by star Lon Chaney, this incredibly weird song seemingly fits in well with this incredibly weird movie until you realize that it's got absolutely nothing to do with the film itself. It talks about vampires and monsters and all kinds of classic horror concepts, but the movie stars creepy kids and Sid Haig as a retarded pinhead alleged rapist. Thanks a lot for getting our hopes up, Chaney.
7) "The Ballad of Harry Warden" by John McDermott from My Bloody Valentine
We're guessing that in a real world situation where a crazy miner comes back from the dead to kill again on a major holiday (or does he?), this Paul Zaza-penned tune (he's the guy that did Porky's) would be the kind of thing music you'd get on the documentary of the real life murders, as opposed to some hard-rocking hair metal and corporate hip hop. Singer John McDermott presents a smoky account of Harry Warden's crimes or lack thereof and leaves it up to the audience to decide. Or something. We got bored and listed to Lady Gaga's "Disco Stick" again in the time it took for the song to play. We're at least 60% sure that song's about sex. This one's about a miner.
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50 comments
Comments
Anonymous said:
You forgot "It's a B-Movie" and "Worthless" from The Brave Little Toaster.
joe said:
What about
Linni meister - My Ass from Dead Snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a153lmElOqc
this should be #1
Suleman said:
Wrong video for the Alice Cooper one
Sgt. Phantom said:
Man, Pet Sematary was awesome. Sure, Brain Drain was a rough patch for the Ramones, but it was better than Subterranean Jungle.
Also, Move Your Dead Bones by Dr. Reanimator from Beyond Reanimator deserves a shout. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnOUOkcr9c
Batzarro said:
"You forgot "It's a B-Movie" and "Worthless" from The Brave Little Toaster."
I don't think that counts as horror.
Gasstank said:
I vote for The Dickies - Killer Clowns From Outer Space.
Rob said:
Alice Cooper video fixed.
Brion said:
Anyone else ever seen the Fat Boys movie? My god such utter brilliance.
mushroomjones said:
the Dickies song "Toxic Avenger" for Toxie 2 & 3 is awesome as is the Loose Nuts "Citizen Toxie" from Toxie 4 is a blast as well!
Heimdall said:
Regardless of the quality of the song, it made sense for The Ramones to perform on the soundtrack to Pet Sematary, as they were frequently referred to in the book.
As an aside, the Megadeth cover of No More Mr. Nice Guy for the Shocker soundtrack is awesome.
VerbalGurl said:
Oh, The Faculty. That movie was "rufus"!
Joshie said:
An honorable mention could go to "Maniac" by L5, not for it's inclusion in Flashdance, but for the fact that it was originally written to appear in the slasher flick Maniac. Of course, parts of the song were later reworded for Flashdance when it was decided that the song should be about a maniac for dancing, as opposed to a maniac for chopping girls' heads off.
Mike said:
You forgot Insert Lame Unpopular band Here.
Post said:
awww you left off the song at the end of "Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter"
:(
bort said:
The Dickies also did the theme song to Killer Klowns From Outer Space!
Sebulba said:
Maybe it's not weird enough for the list, but the lack of "Dream Warriors" by Dokken for Elm Street #3 makes me sad.
demoncat said:
seeing this list shows hollywood can think out of the box though surprised vampire hookers was not a little higher and pet semetary was not in the top five. as for ready for freedy hearing robert england rap as freedy is my creepy moment of the day. along with happy birthday. cool list.
Chad said:
I remember when I first saw Ben, I was pretty young but I found the song haunting. There was something totally freaky about the contrast between the horror of the movie and the sweetness of the song that totally un-nerved me.
The Flash III said:
I wonder if Joey was buried in a Pet Sematary and if so, did he come back any different than he was in life?
Strangeman said:
What about the song "Killer Klowns From Outer Space," from "Killer Klowns From Outer Space?"
JOE said:
Friday the 13th part 6 was the best. Jason kills a winnabago.
Although part four did have both Crispin Glover and Corey Fieldman. Hmmmmmm.
Pudge said:
What about "Big Trouble in Little China"'s title track! The song that plays over the credits is so ridiculously over the top and the lyrics have nothing to do with the movie. It's amazing.
Mike D. said:
It's probably too odd/obscure for this list but "Scream Of Love," recorded by Carter Burwell for Psycho III is a song I can't forget, no matter how much I'd like to. All the rock critics giving Burwell high fives for his work with Karen O on Where The Wild Things Are should give THIS track a spin.
They even made a video that seemingly got one spin on MTV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFe7aoXIqQ
Nigel said:
this may be my favorite list you have ever done! good job man!
RobP said:
The scariest thing about this list is the unfortunate number of typos in every entry. Seriously. I try to ignore the typos and such in the blog posts because, you know, blog posts are quick and in-the-moment. Pointing those out is like pointing out typos in a thread comment or an AIM-type conversation. But this is a list that is composed and, supposedly, edited some time before it gets posted. I've held my tongue for too long. TR's lists should reflect the professionalism a "nerd news site" should be trying to maintain, especially when the majority of the fun in FFF is to ridicule the writers' poor grammar, spelling, and general lack of understanding for language, specifically English.
Or, maybe because I'm a paid proofreader/editor this just bugs me more than it should. But it's a trend I've begun to notice all over the internet for, again, supposedly, edited posts. Microsoft Word can do a lot of things, but it can't put little squiggly marks under every variety of mistake. It can't know that "I stead" is a typo that should read "Instead," other than the fact that "I stead" is also poor grammar. I guess what I'm saying is, Rob, if you need someone to proof your lists (or future FAQs) my services are available. Pro bono, no less.
Okay. Sorry. Rant over.
I've always liked Michael Jackson's Ben, and Crispin Glovers' cover in his re-make of Willard is also superb. It's weird and creepy, yeah, but that's the point.
Also, I don't ever remember hearing that Another Brick in the Wall cover, and I actually love me some Faculty, but it's pretty excellent.
Bob said:
Brain Drain is an awesome Ramones album and I Believe in Miracles is a fantastic song- it doesn't have to be super fast to be great!
MikeHell said:
@Bob: You read my mind. Ramones FTW!
AzHawk said:
Check out the Italian roots of modern horror soundtracks: Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) with music by The Goblins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJUaCAIxSk4
Stephen said:
Funny, I always thought the song from My Bloody Valentine was Paul Williams. Thanks for clearing that up!
korg20000bc said:
LL Cool J's- Deepest Bluest from Deep Blue Sea was beaut too.
Erik said:
Well, I'm not sure that it counts as a horror movie, and I'm not sure it's a weird song (more embarassing), but the Leprechaun rap at the end of Leprechaun In the Hood has always stuck with me since I saw it back in college.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlufxatPxnA
Also, very nice list. I like the blob tune a lot.
Derek said:
"Shocker" is nowhere near as weird as "Shockdance," which is also found on that soundtrack. And the reason why can be summed up by one simple fact: Mitch Pileggi rapping. Yes, FBI Assistant Director Skinner busting a move about murdering people.
Derek said:
Oh here is a link to "Shockdance" -
innercityrobot said:
How about Kool Moe Dee's "Let's Go" during the end credits of Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. It's a diss song about LL Cool J! That's just weird and random and oh so late 80s.
Monsters and Rockets said:
"The greatest supergroup of the '90s"? Really?
DAMN, music sucked in the '90s.
FireThunder said:
That Alice Cooper video is choice. VH1 Classic plays it once in a while during their Metal Mania block, if you wanna try to catch it without the fuzz in the background...
Ryan K said:
Obviously no one here has seen the film Blood Harvest. Because Tiny Tim's "Marvelous Mervo" was easily the first song to pop in my head when I saw the list topic.
BoredLizzie said:
I believe that song happens during the credits for Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master. After the credits rolled, that song started up and I laughed like a deranged hyena for a long, long, time. Then I ran out of laughter and the song was still playing. Uncomfortable, it was.
Punch Yourself said:
MCHammer - The Addams Family Groove
Frank Baptiste said:
What? No 'Nightmare on My Street' from The Fresh Prince. It wasn't technically a theme song, but still...
Random Person said:
Not a nod to any of the fantastic songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show? C'mon.
Hmmm... said:
I resent the implication that you need a big budget to create a masterful score, and that the alternative is some shitty song. This is nothing but poor taste. I'll guarantee you that John Carpenter and Alan Howarth did NOT have a huge music budget for any of the films they worked on together, ESPECIALLY HALLOWEEN.
sweetestsadist said:
I don't know if it was actually written for the movie but, Baby I Love You by the Yayhoos (it plays at the end of Slither) is the best horror closer I've ever heard.
I'm shocked like many others that Killer Klowns From Outer Space didn't make the cut.
CarKrash said:
@Monsters and Rockets:
Music did not suck in the 90s, I'd put up Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Tool and Soundgarden against any new band or combination of bands putting out "rock" music now.
I also don't think Class of 99's cover of another brick in the wall should be here.. It's not that weird.. KoRn's covered that song as well.. and it was great to get ourselves one more Layne Staley song before his unfortunate passing.
Colin Sleaze said:
definitely should have included "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" by the Dickies.
also, "She's a Maniac" by Hall & Oates. it was originally written for the movie Maniac! and ended up getting the award for best original composition for a movie stripped of it because it wasn't intended for Flashdance.
Black Kristos said:
Yeah, "Maniac" was not Hall & Oats. It was Michael Sembello.
robintastic said:
i just saw a post like this on another blog last week. you seem to have stolen their idea.
King Ghidorah said:
What about the theme from Howling 2: Your sister is a Werewolf aka Stirba Werwolf Bitch? Equal parts catchy and bizarre.
Gabbie18 said:
Great list! Yeah, some of these may seem the wierdest choices of songs for these movies. But some have actually worked out. Btw, the song "Darkest Side Of The Night" by Metropolis for 'Jason Takes Manhattan' is a wierd yet awesome theme song for it. I even heard people say that this song brings them back to the good ole' days of being in the 80s and thinking of New York. :)
This may freak you guys out but I actually have the 'Are You Ready For Freddy?' song by The Fat Boys on my iPod! And I think it's cool ass song! And I have to admit that Freddy's rhyming is hauntingly badass! And what's even more freaky is that my mother, YES my mom, introduce me to this song! She loves it, too!
Love this list! Love it!
Keldon said:
This has got to be my favorite top 10 list so far.
