Tag: music

Halloween Countdown Sunday Music

Odd film, but I love it. Halloween I & II completed the Michael Myers story. Then III was a totally new thing. The intent was to make an anthology series, but no, dumb people just wanted more of Michael; I think all subsequent "Halloween" films are irrelevant and stupid (OK, I do like the Rob Zombie movies). I was a spooky monster kid, but still wasn't allowed to watch the first two at the time of their release, but somehow H3 at 12 was OK. The soundtrack is one of Carpenter's better mood pieces, not as iconic or repetitive as the first two; people sometimes forget Carpenter's as much a musician as a filmmaker.

Plot & characters of the film remind me strongly of The Stuff, Phantasm (especially II-III), and Killer Klowns From Outer Space; losers struggling to expose some terrible danger to Humanity, mostly failing and running. That's what Lovecraft was on about, and how every Call of Cthulhu game should be, not gangsters throwing dynamite at Shoggoths, but truck drivers and kids running for their lives and coming across as crazy people to the useless pigs.

"And don't forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking, it's almost time! Happy happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!"

Bonus:

Lester Bangs Sunday Music

So the playlist:

So I was thinking about Lester Bangs, who basically taught me how to write with his reviews (which explains a lot, you know? I had higher ambitions but some rambling reviews with moments of clarity and profanity are what I can manage), then remembered Bruce Sterling wrote an alt-history biography "Dori Bangs" about him and Dori Seda hooking up, reread it. Fucking fantastic and a little heartbreaking, highly recommend it.

Tech Noir Saturday Music

Styx famously sang:

"The problem's plain to see
Too much technology
Machines to save our lives
Machines dehumanize"

But of course that wasn't the problem at all. People were the monsters all along. Machines only suck because people program them to suck.

The solution is clear.

McSweeney's Classic Wednesday Music

Black Sabbath: Your greatest joy is painting in unventilated rooms.
David Bowie: There is still, somewhere, a Dig Dug or Zaxxon machine with your high score on it.
Mott the Hoople: You are David Bowie.
Rush: You carry a small flashlight everywhere, and use it at least three times a day.

Steppenwolf: You have three or more cigarette burns in hard-to-reach places.
Golden Earring: You have three or more intentional cigarillo burns.

Derek and the Dominos: You have successfully used cooking spray as tanning oil.
Jim Croce: You have worn only socks and sock garters to a nude beach.

(what the heck, three good McSweeney's in a series? Normally they turn whiny after one or two)

So anyway, that's my playlist today.

Seventies Thursday Music

  • ★ '70s Greatest Hits ★: Very K-Tel, but a great collection from my youts. It's always bizarre to hear some of these without vinyl hiss or radio static.

I especially want to call out "Don't Fear the Reaper", "Dust in the Wind", and (not on this collection, but I heard it earlier tonight) "The Grand Illusion" by ELO, for making pop music from death and mortality, not just bullshit about love.