Monster Mash-Up of Halloween Hits

The Twilight Zone TV theme leads off our Monster Mash-Up Halloween mix because it's long been my favorite spooky television series; I was imitating Rod Serling's deadpan delivery of "there's a signpost up ahead, the next stop...The Twilight Zone" since I was a kid.

Monster Mash is the all-time favorite by Bobby "Boris" Pickett, who's been twisting to this record since the sixties.

People Are Strange - The Doors sound is perfect for a Halloween soundtrack. Jim Morrison always sounded so haunted anyway, but it's the chemistry of John Densmore's rhythmic drumming, the organ and bass lines of Ray Manzarek, and Robby Krieger's innovative guitar style, that really created such a mysterious atmosphere in all of their songs.

Cream whips up a Strange Brew, with those big bad Bruce bass lines stretched out over Baker's huge drum sound and Clapton's stinging guitar.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida...the 17 minute opus, is my personal classic rock favorite because of the extended drum solo. I used the radio edit in my mix CD since the long version would have taken up too much space and eliminated other worthy songs from this compilation. In any case, Iron Butterfly set the standard for heavy metal bands in the late sixties, IMHO.

Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll - Blue Oyster Cult generates that awesome full power sound of a Gibson Les Paul thru a stack of Marshalls, and that Hammond B3 organ piped through a leslie speaker that gave this band a certain mystique. These guys are a perfect pick for this Monster Mash-Up mix, our first Halloween celebration on CybersMusic.

Life During Wartime - I heard this tune on the radio recently and I've always been a fan of the Talking Heads anyway. David Byrne's eerie vocals and the driving rhythm of Chris Frantz on drums and Tina Weymouth on bass make this song a favorite of mine.

Frankenstein is one of Edgar Winter's coolest tunes, itself a construction project more than a song, because of several parts that are strung together by the overdubbed drum solo. Taken as a whole, the song works beautifully.

Strange Days - The Doors outdo themselves by casting their musical spell of strangeness to produce a hypnotic theme in this song.

Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon was a masterful storyteller, weaving the tale of werewolves running amok in the heart of London. Zevon's songwriting leaves quite a legacy behind; as the music world suffered his loss in 2003. A new tribute album was just released called Enjoy Every Sandwich, featuring some of his closest friends...Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, David Lindley & Ry Cooder.

The Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show is a natural for Halloween; I recall masked strangers throwing toast at the screen during my first midnight movie experience of this classic film. This was the soundtrack that made Meatloaf famous.

In fact, Bat Out Of Hell III is being released today. Featuring guest artists Brian May and Steve Vai, Meatloaf unleashes the final album in his Bat Out Of Hell trilogy. Produced by Desmond Child, with additional vocal arrangements by Todd Rundgren, who produced the first BOOH album.

Meatloaf performs his first duet with Marion Raven on the video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." QuickTime : WinMedia

Alice Cooper follows with Feed My Frankenstein. I remember seeing the Alice Cooper band on their Welcome To My Nightmare tour at San Antonio's Municipal Auditorium...he instantly became a favorite; his stage show was as much theatrical as musical, being a pioneer in the shock rock stage arena at that time.

Season of the Witch is another natural, not only by the title, but by the way Vanilla Fudge paint such a picture in sound as they tell this timeless story. I like the other verson by Donovan too, but I only had this copy by the Fudge, one of my favorite early heavy metal bands of the late sixties.

The Addams Family TV theme is a classic everyone remembers, this series was one of my favorite afternoon television shows as a kid, and still is. I just love the characters. A close second was The Munsters with Fred Gynne. Both of these TV classics are available on DVD now too.

Stevie Ray Vaughan presents the Slight Return of Voodoo Chile...I always thought SRV was channeling Hendrix anyway, so this song is proof positive that he was plugged into a different cosmic wavelength that the rest of us were.

Santana calls out to Singing Winds, Crying Beasts, which segues nicely into Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen. Carlos and his fierce guitar rips open their Abraxas album with this concept trio of tunes. The high impact percussion of Santana's early hits just blew me away.

Jimi Hendrix provides the sonic fireworks to a big finish with Fire, on this year's Monster Mash-Ups. The song has a killer bass line coupled with a staccoto snare and back beat that ranks it as one of my favorite Hendrix tracks.

And that concludes our first Monster Mash-Up mix of our favorite Halloween Hits. Please...Don't let friends drive drunk...elect a desecrated driver for the evening, and have yourself a happy and safe Halloween!

Related Tags: Music, Rock and Roll, Classic Rock, Halloween, CybersMusic

Posted by Mike