Death by Stereo: Ten Songs of the Summer

So, every May/June, I visit my parents in Ocean City, MD to help them prepare a show that they will perform throughout the summer. It’s great that I’m able to make the trip and I always enjoy the work, but sometimes, it is just exhausting. My “workshop,” so to speak, is an out-door space and I’m generally working there from early morning until it starts getting dark each day. It’s a lot, especially when it’s a really hot day. But thank the gods for headphones and podcasts and playlists. And the other day, when it was particularly hot and sunny, and I was really low on juice, I put on a playlist I keep in my phone for just such occasions – my list of groovy tunes written for horror movies. It never fails to pick me up when I’m down or put a smile on my face. And honestly, I don’t exactly know why. Sure, some of the films these are from are comfort food favorites (see comfort food part I and part II) and it’s nice to have a song take you there, but not all are. But there is something about this confluence of an 80s synthesized sound (in most, but not all cases) and music made to accompany movies that were supposed to scare, while still being, you know, fun – it just hits a particularly sweet spot for me.

And I thought, “Hey, that’s something worth sharing!” So, today I’m going to run down ten songs on my list. I noticed that most were already from the eighties, so I restricted the set to that decade. I’m excising from the list any cuts from scores (I’m sure that could be a whole other post) or songs not written for the film in question, but just used on the soundtrack. I’m also not taking more than one song from a given source, with apologies to the soundtracks to The Lost Boys, Fright Night, and The Return of the Living Dead (all of which offer their own complete iteration of this list), so sometimes, hard decisions have had to be made about what to leave out. 

Every year, I hear people talk about what the ‘song of the summer’ is. Well, something about all of these just feels like summer somehow. I suppose some are from real popcorn horror movies, while some just feel hot, I guess. But beyond that, in the summer, when it’s hot and sunny outside, I just love to hide in a dark, air conditioned room and watch something that will give me chills. So maybe all horror music feels like the summer to me.

That said, let’s get into it and run down this list of “Ten Songs Written for Eighties Horror Movies, Not Including Score Orchestration!” (catchy title, huh?) These come in no particular order, really just the sequence I hear them in my playlist.

Dream Warriors – Dokken (1987): Nightmare on Elm Street 3

I’ve already written about my appreciation for this series entry – I think it’s probably the best example of what Nightmare on Elm Street movies have to offer. And this song is a part of that. I mean, the whole film is just such a good time and having a song to rock out to where you find yourself screaming out the name of the film is just such cheesy, glorious fun. I think for horror to work, you have to be open to it. You can’t be too cool to get scared or it won’t work. Maybe that’s why so many of the songs on this list, this one certainly included, are so unabashedly sincere, and rocking.

The Ballad of Harry Warden – Paul Zaza (1981): My Bloody Valentine

I just love a folksy ballad about murder and/or a disaster. Old broadsheet ballads, Nick Cave, The Willow Garden, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald; that kind of thing is rather my jam. And this tune, which plays over the credits of My Bloody Valentine, one of the better entries (I think) of the first slasher cycle, really delivers the atmosphere, the nostalgic regret, and the beauty that the film deserves. It’s just so very pretty, but it’s got this pinch of pain, of threat. It’s a great song for a singalong around a campfire, if only I weren’t so shy about playing my guitar in front of other people…

Angela’s Theme (You’re Just What I’ve Been Looking For) – Franki Vinci (1983): Sleepaway Camp

Sleepaway Camp is an easy movie to love (so intentionally sleazy and accidentally sweet, all while (I suspect) totally inadvertently making a case for trans rights, all in a dirty little slasher that seems to, more accurately than most, show kids at summer camp in a way that is oddly, rather believable (though I imagine there’s often less murder), and this ode to Felicia Rose’s Angela is one really groovy, synth-tastic gem. It plays over the credits, following a key moment which shouldn’t be spoiled if possible, and is in a kind of dialogue with that moment, allowing it to linger as the credits roll. It’s just the perfect cap to a really enjoyable flick.    

Pet Sematary – The Ramones (1989): Pet Sematary

I remember being freaked out by the trailers on TV for Pet Sematary when I was a kid. I would have been 10 or 11 when it was being advertised and we had always had cats, so the image of Church, back from the dead and now evil, was just really disturbing for me – a mix of sad and wrong and scary that got under my skin. Many years later, I finally read the book and was struck with how ultimately mournful it all is, far more than scary. And yet, for the 1989 film, the Ramones contributed this upbeat anthemic rocker with downbeat lyrics (I don’t wanna be buried in a pet sematary – I don’t want to live my life again) for the end credits, and it’s hard not to bop your head when you hear it.

Tonight (We’ll Make Love Until We Die) – SSQ (1985): The Return of the Living Dead

It’s honestly difficult to pick just one song from this soundtrack, but in the end, I think this might be my favorite of them. It’s got a great sound, it is clearly for exactly this film with lyrics about rising from earth beds, smells gone sweetly rancid, and dancing among the dead, and it is the tune that plays during the iconic cemetery striptease that Trash (Linnea Quigley) performs right after voicing her fantasy about being eaten by old men and shortly before becoming zombified herself. How could I choose anything else?

Come to Me – Brad Fiedel (1985):  Fright Night

An instrumental version of this song is used as the vampire seduction theme throughout both Fright Night and its sequel, but on the soundtrack album, words were added to make more of a pop tune out of it. Either way, it is a sultry, cool, evocative piece – utterly appropriate for apple eating, chunky knit sweater wearing vampires to beguile beautiful women to. And it’s a perfect accompaniment to Fright Night’s brand of good old fashioned vampire story meets modernity (ala 1985).  

Cat People (Putting Out Fire With Gasoline) – David Bowie (1982): Cat People

Another song that has a different version on the album and in the film.  On Bowie’s Let’s Dance album, the song is sped up to be, I guess, more danceable (yes, let’s), and it’s fine. But the version made for the film with its slowed down intro is just so rich, with a gorgeous building tension that just explodes when it kicks into gear. Since Cat People (an interesting and enjoyable, and very 80s remake of the classic Val Lewton original), it’s been featured on a few other soundtracks. Notably, Tarantino put it to really good use in Inglourious Basterds, but its steamy quality just pairs so well with the sweaty, New Orleans set, sex obsessed film for which it was named.

I Still Believe – Tim Cappello (1987): The Lost Boys

Ok, I’m breaking my own rule here. This wasn’t actually written for the movie. Apparently, the version in the film is a cover of a song by The Call, but Cappello did record this to be on the soundtrack. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Cappello’s appearance in the film, performing this song, surrounded by fire, oiled up and swinging his sax around, is just perfect: exuberant, cheesy, over the top, totally earnest, and unapologetically passionate and joyful. It sets the tone for Santa Carla night life youth culture—everyone there is really having a fantastically amazing time (so much life) and amidst the hubbub, Michael and Star lock eyes. Their actual romance may feel tacked on (fueling those who claim the stronger connection is between Michael and David), but in this moment, the connection feels magical.

He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) – Alice Cooper (1986): Friday the 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives

Alice Cooper has at least three songs on the soundtrack of Jason Lives, but this is the only one that is really directly about the movie, or at least its titular killer. This is possibly the silliest of the Friday movies, and this celebratory ode to Jason fits in with it just great. Past that, it’s just a love letter to the whole slasher formula: kids fooling around in the woods, or out on lovers’ lake, and running into homicidal trouble in the form of a masked psychopath. It doesn’t feel like a horror movie exactly, but in some way, it can scratch the itch.

Maniac – Dennis Matkosky and Michael Sembello (1983): Flashdance / Maniac

Ok, this is a pretty odd inclusion. But it comes with a story. So apparently Matkosky had heard about some serial killer and it inspired him to start writing. Once begun, he and Sembello came upon William Lustig’s effectively gruesome 1980 horror film Maniac, and it gave them fuel to round out the rest of the lyrics with gems such as:

Somehow it got on the radar of Flashdance’s director, Adrian Lyne who requested they change the lyrics to be more about a girl who’s dancing and less about a serial killer involved in feline carpentry, and it became the MTV hit that everybody knows, but it all started with something pretty dark and playful. So I’ll leave you with that.

And that’s it for now. Maybe some other time, I’ll dig into some scores that I think stand out, but for now, I hope this helps enliven your summer months…