Halloween Havoc! Extra: A Double Dose of Alice!

Posted on October 28, 2018 by gary loggins

What’s Halloween without a little Alice Cooper , eh, bats and ghouls? The veteran shock rocker has been combining horror with rock’n’roll since I was a young monster, and I’ve unearthed a double dose of Alice’s macabre music in anticipation of the upcoming All Hallows Eve. First up is “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask”) from Alice’s 1986 album Constrictor, and used as the theme for the movie FRIDAY THE XIII PART VI: JASON LIVES!:

Oh, how very 80’s! Next we join everybody’s favorite headbangers Wayne and Garth, as they attend an Alice show in 1992’s WAYNE’S WORLD, where the mighty Alice performs “Feed My Frankenstein”:

I saw Alice do this number at a Summer 2017 show, complete with Alice dressed as a ten foot tall Monster onstage! He’s still the Master of Grand Guignol Rock!

What’s that you say, my fiends? You’ve got time for one more…

View original post 53 more words

One Hit Wonders #5: DOA by Bloodrock (Capitol Records 1971)

Posted on July 21, 2017 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Talk about shock rock! Proto-metal rockers Bloodrock reached #36 on the charts in 1971 with DOA, a morbid little ditty about a plane crash, told from the victim’s point of view:

Bloodrock began playing local Ft. Worth, Texas venues in 1965 as The Naturals, quickly changing their name to Crowd +1. A string of unsuccessful singles followed, until they were discovered by Detroit rock impresario Terry Knight, a former DJ who once fronted his own band, Terry Knight & The Pack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo_tSuRFpFQ

Knight changed their name to Bloodrock, taking over management and producing duties for the band. He also at the time handled the immensely popular (yet critically reviled) hard rock group Grand Funk Railroad:

After an acrimonious split with the two groups, and failing at starting his own label (Brown Bag Records), Knight vanished from the music scene. He hung out with stars, raced autos, but mostly did tons of cocaine. After…

View original post 92 more words

Halloween Havoc! Extra: SCREAMING JAY HAWKINS, the Original “Shock Rocker”

Posted on October 16, 2016 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Before Alice Cooper brought his theatrical “shock rock” to audiences, before Black Sabbath sang hymns to Satan, there was Screaming Jay Hawkins! A blues belting maniac from Cleveland, Hawkins incorporated horror into his stage shows, the likes of which had never been seen. Crowds ate it up as Screaming Jay popped out of his coffin, dressed as a voodoo priest complete with cape, top hat, and a smoking skull named ‘Henry’ atop his staff, performing his best known hit, “I Put a Spell On You”:

The story goes Hawkins and his band originally planned “I Put a Spell On You” as a slow blues ballad, but they all got roaring drunk at the session, resulting in Hawkins guttural screaming, and turning the song into a frenzied rock classic. The tune has been covered by dozens of artists, from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Annie Lennox and beyond. Screaming Jay recorded many other horror-themed hits like…

View original post 87 more words