Song Of The Month: Metallica's 'Whiskey In The Jar'!

Jason Newsted maybe gone, but this song is a classic from his time with the band! 

Another first! My first, 'Song Of The Month' for my new blog... Dare I say it... YAY! 

Now more seriously, the song that I wanted to recommend is Metallica's, 'Whiskey In The Jar' from their 1998 album, 'Garage Inc.'

There are a lot of amazing songs on that album that are different from Metallica's norm that I do really like, but I decided to pick this song, because this song is probably in my opinion both representative of the amazing work that they have always brought to the table, and the brilliant and fun work that they brought to that album... but still plays well almost 20 years later, and happens to be one of those songs that rather you have been  following them for over 20 year (like I have,) or are just checking their music out for the first time, is a song you are going to love! 

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Metal/Rock 'N Roll Songs In The 90s That Helped Push Horror & ScienceFiction Movies Of The Era To Their Limit

Escape From L.A. Is a great example of a movie whose soundtrack was so good that it made the movie even better! 

Each successive generation seems to have it's own type of music that teens just seem to absolutely love, and older people just seem to absolutely hate! Most of the time these types of music generally seem to gravitate toward some form of rock 'n roll music...

There was one form of rock music that seemed to heavily benefit for being apart of soundtracks in the 1990s, that being the, 'Metal' genre!

Now there are many great examples of this, but one of them that I thought that I would mention here is the soundtrack to, The Faculty (1998)!

The Faculty... One of the better teen horror/sci-fi movies of the 90s that was made even better due to the it's soundtrack!

There are some truly awesome metal heads/rockers that helped to form the awesomeness that is, 'The Faculty' soundtrack, including: "The Offspring', 'Creed', 'Soul Asylum' as well as, 'Class Of '99' and so many more! And out of them, there is some great music that came out of this soundtrack that for years after the movie still remained... And in some cases still does remain popular!

A couple of great examples of these are the two, 'Another Brick In The Wall' songs that were done by the one hit wonders, 'Class Of '99'! Another great example of this is the song, 'The Kids Aren't Alright', by: The Offspring!

And speaking of, 'The Kids Aren't Alright', this song, which came off of their album, 'Americana' is still to this day, one of the more popular songs that The Offspring has done from that era!

And another side of, 'The Offspring' that I thought that I would mention here, and which is the subject of the next movie that I thought that I would mention here, is the soundtrack to the movie, Idle Hands (1999).

A great soundtrack that made this movie even better then the awesomeness that it already has!

Now this movie had a lot of classic songs from a lot of amazing bands, but the one that I wanted to mention here, is Rob Zombie's 'Dragula'...

I know what you are thinking, why didn't I mention The Offspring's, 'I Wanna Be Sedated'... (And don't get me wrong, I do think this song has it's place as an influencer in this movie, just not the horror side...)

No, in this case, I thought that I would mention this song, because this song was a great song, and I feel like tonally, helped keep up the beat with the teen comedy side, as well as the horror side as well...

I will say that there are a lot more songs from that era that did their jobs admirably in how they influenced 90s horror, but these songs that I mentioned above, I do feel helped to push horror some of the best horror movies of the 90s to their limit!

The Vampire Armand (1998) - Anne Rice - Book Review

Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

Alright, so fortunately after the dud that was, 'The Tale Of The Body Thief', I imagine you guys probably were thinking that well this is it, right? Well fortunately Anne Rice came back with, 'Memnoch: The Devil' (1995), a book that brought, (in my opinion), the, 'Vampire Chronicles' back to prominence...  Well she didn't stop there!

She went ahead and did it... She actually made a book that even surpassed that one! She went and created: The Vampire Armand (1998)!

The Vampire Armand... A classic tale!

Now for those of you who don't remember the character, or have never heard of the character, Armand was a character that was first introduced in: Interview With The Vampire (1976), as a European Vampire, who is a potential would be new companion to the American Vampires, 'Louis', and, 'Claudia'... Of course like all great tragedies, this doesn't really occur...

Never the less, through the rest of the novels, he pops up from time to time, but other then that, he is not really seen... (I don't think he has a very sizable role in the second Vampire Chronicles movie...)

Either way, Anne Rice ended up doing a fascinating tale of the back story behind, 'Armand', that leads a rich tapestry of Armand's life, starting in Kiev, going through when he would meet, 'Marius' (One of the more powerful Vampires), and on up through out the ages!

"I wish mercy for any man."

- Marius, Quote from: The Vampire Armand.

In the end, I have found that when Anne Rice does these back story books of the various major players, they are very engrossing... So much so, that most of the time they are hard to put down... And this one is no different! If you are starting off the series with this book, then this one might not make a whole lot of sense... But if you have been following the series and are up to this one... Well I think you might find this one to be most fascinating!

Punk... A Genre That Made Popular Again In The 1990s Thanks To TheOffSpring

The OffSpring helped bring, 'Punk' in to the 1990s!

I would say that between the early to mid 1990s what was popular was, 'Grundge', and as the middle turned in the final years of the 1990s, as well the final days of the new millennium, that it finally turned over to Goth for some, and R&B for others...

But I would say (and this was true for a couple of different genre's that found this to be true... There is just one that I was thinking of that really was unfairly underrated that really did a nice job of keeping us kids entertained... That being Punk!

Punk... Now in the past Punk was a super star, in the 70s and 80s with bands like, 'Pink Floyd', you could say Punk really carved out a nice niche for it's.
Well by the 90s, they were still doing good, but not the same as it was when, 'Dead Kennedy's' were producing such amazing albums as, 'Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables' (1978)...

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables was an amazing album that came out during the heyday of the Punk genre in the 70s! 

The fortunes of the world of punk in the 1990s began to change though with bands such as, 'The Offspring'... I mean these guys began producing some truly amazing music that would make it's way in to the hearts and minds of not just the music world, but also in the world of movies and TV...

A couple of classic examples of this of course being there appearance in 1997's classic Horror/Comedy, Idle Hands (1997), when in the dance scene, you can see The Offsrping clearly as the band that is playing at the concert hall... Also another great example of this is when they did a song for the classic 1998 soundtrack for the movie, 'The Faculty'!

There are a lot of great examples of punk out there, but to there credit, I do believe that The Offspring helped bring the world of Punk to the final years before the new millennium!

Five Great Songs That Were Joined WIth Five Great Science Fiction Or Horror Movies

Being a huge movie fan, as well as a huge fan of music, I have always enjoyed soundtracks, or even the albums which have had songs taken from them for the soundtracks to movies!

And so I thought that I would do a blog for, 'Five Great Songs That Were Joined With Five Great Science Fiction Or Horror Movies'!

At number 5: Will Smith - 'Men In Black' (1997), from the soundtrack  for: Men In Black (1997):

http://youtu.be/KSRF3slguhI

And next up at number 4: Dokken - 'Dream Warriors' (1987), from the soundtrack for: A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987):

http://youtu.be/YPDRl1Wwl2o

At mid way with number 3: Class Of '99 - 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)' (1999), from the soundtrack for: The Faculty (1998):

http://youtu.be/oRpQxilL54I

Next up on the block at number 2: Tom Mac - 'Cry Little Sister' (1987), from the soundtrack for: The Lost Boys (1987):

http://youtu.be/TuxdjVI-5r0

And finally, at number 1: The Flys - 'Got You Where I Want You' (1998), from the soundtrack for: Disturbing Behavior (1998):

http://youtu.be/mKtVZ818MKI

Parasite Eve (1998) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="353"] Official Score = 2 Devils[/caption]

The interesting thing that Playstation seemed to do real well is when they made, 'Resident Evil' (1996), they really broke the mold on that one, and revolutionized a genre of video games, that for the most part had been mostly ignored, (or in some cases had some crappy releases...)

Well to follow up on the success of the Resident Evil franchise, Square USA Inc. decided to develop their own brand of horror video game series when they released the game, 'Parasite Eve' (1998)!

[caption id="attachment_2608" align="aligncenter" width="477"] The rookie in action...[/caption]

Unfortunately this series has not really expanded beyond it's grand beginnings... Never the less, this first game was a total blast and told the story of, a New York City Police Rookie who will become the savior of mankind when it is determined that she is the only one who can reach essentially, 'The Ultimate Evil' in the form of a monster that calls herself, 'Eve'!

Now for my money I will say that this game is truly a blast, and if you get a chance to play it, I do recommend it, it is fun... And well it is old by today's standards, it is still worth a try!

http://youtu.be/09svl5cZAMs

Korn: Freak On A Leash (1998) - Song Review

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignright" width="307"] Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

One thing that I have come to discover over the last decade or so, that one of the side effects of being in the Entertainment Industry is the fact that no matter how truly spectacular you're work may or may not be, that you will at some point have to step aside and let the next generation step in...

The reason that I mention this, is the fact that I realized recently that I not only have not heard anything from, 'Korn' in the last few years, but that I have not heard any news about them in the last few years either, and if they are one of the recent victims of this tragic circumstance of having to bow out for the next generation... Well to say the least, that would suck!

I mean as heavy metal goes, they are definitely one of those groups that have fairly consistently done some truly kick ass work! A great example of this of course is the song. 'Freak On A Leash' in 1998!

[caption id="attachment_2360" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Korn doing, 'Freak On A Leash' live.[/caption]

Being that this particular song was billed as their second single back in 1998, this song may not be their best song ever, but in truth, this song is still pretty damn good!

I mean besides the fact that the lyrics and instrumentals were pretty good, I found the themes in this song to be an awful lot of fun! In truth, this song is pretty awesome, I really can't say anything negative about it... It is just plain fun!

http://youtu.be/jRGrNDV2mKc

Monsters Of Metal: Rob Zombie

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Rob Zombie... A true, 'Monster Of Metal'![/caption]

Most people these days I am sure probably recognize Rob Zombie for his amazing contribution to the horror movie, genre but for me you are going to have to go back to the late 90s, when Rob Zombie (Halloween) was still a member of the classic heavy metal band, 'White Zombie'...

But even before this, this power house Musician/Filmmaker/Writer of essentially the, 'horror genre' and it's equivalents became the man he would become, in some respects almost as a young man we would see the hell hound he would become... You see Rob Zombie (who was born, 'Robert Bartleh Cummings') was born to parents who worked in the Circus when Rob Zombie and his brother, 'Michael'... (Also known as, 'lead singer of Powerman 5000', 'Spider One',) were young Rob Zombie seemed to have developed an interest in the macabre with his favorite movie genre being, 'Horror'... (I would say that with his parent's work in the Circus and his being a fan of Horror movies, I suspect this was the inspiration for, 'Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) from, House Of 1,000 Corpses (2003)!)

After his parents left the Circus and after Zombie graduated from High School, Zombie met ex-girl friend and former bassist/co-founder of, 'White Zombie', 'Sean Yseault' and would eventually move in with her.

During this time in the 1980s, Yseault and Zombie would go on to co-found the band that would later be known as, 'White Zombie'... Well believe it or not success didn't initially come easy to this soon to be legendary, 'Monster Of Metal'... You see during the early days of Zombie's and Yseault's collaboration together, the band would release 3 EP albums which really kind of failed to gain the notoriety during that time...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Sean Yseault (Center) and Rob Zombie (Right) with the rest of their band mates that would eventually comprise, 'White Zombie'.[/caption]

It wasn't until their 4th studio album, 'Gods Of Thunder' when things started to get interesting for the fledgling group... You see Michael Alago (A rep for, 'Geffen Records', the label that would eventually be the label that Zombie and his crew would sign up with,) listened to this album and ended up showing enough interest in the band to ask that they make a demo, (which they did with the help of J.G. Thirlwell, who produced the demo for the group), and would eventually be signed on to Geffen!

And White Zombie would be born!

During their time together, White Zombie would go on to release 4 studio albums, including: Soul-Crusher (in 1987), Make Them Die Slowly (In 1989), La Sexocristo: Devil Music, Vol 1 (In 1992) & Astro-Creep 2000: Songs Of Love, Destruction And Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head (In 1995). They would also produce 1 remix album 6 EPs, 3 compilation albums, several singles and work that the group did on such classic movies as, The Crow (1994) & even, Escape From L.A. (1996) to name a few!

But like all good things, Rob Zombie and Sean Yseaut broke up, and in 1998 the band would disband as well... But that wouldn't stop this true Monster Of Metal!

No you see, Rob Zombie would go on to almost catapult himself further then he could have ever gone working with, 'White Zombie'...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Rob Zombie, live in concert during his solo career![/caption]

What I mean is that Rob Zombie picked up his career not long after the band disbanded and on August 25th, 1998 Rob Zombie would release his first solo album called, 'Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales OF Cadaverous Cavorting Inside The Spookshow International', which ended up being so successful that it had actually outshined previous sales of older, 'White Zombie' work!

During this first decade of his solo career, he would go on to release what some could say are his most famous (or at the very least, 'most recognized') songs of all time! Including such hits as: 'Living Dead Girl', 'Dragula', and, 'Superbeast' to name a few!

Well folks besides the monumental success as a solo artist, he would also make his first attempts in to the movie industry... You see, if you remember, near the beginning of this article, I had mention that as a child Rob Zombie was a huge fan of horror films... Well he would first try to put his love of of films in to use when he was to direct the movie, The Crow 2037...

Well unfortunately despite the fact that he had even written that script, the movie was never released... But this wouldn't stop Rob, who after the failure of his first attempt, would start working on the script that would eventually be for the movie, House Of 1,000 Corpses (2003)... And well after all was said and done, the movie would not see the light of day for about 3 years, until it was release in 2003!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Rob Zombie with Dr. Satan himself, 'Walter Phelan' on the set of, 'House Of 1,000 Corpses' (2003)![/caption]

And thus another chapter in the amazing career of this man would be born!

In 2002 Rob Zombie would go on to marry B Movie Scream Queen, and one of the cast from, House Of 1,000 Corpses (2003), Sheri Moon (Halloween)... Later Sheri Moon Zombie!

Anyway, rather this true master of horror is putting together the latest kick ass album in his truly epic career  as a musician, or the next horror classic, this guy's career is truly legendary and one that would definitely cement him as a true, Monster Of Metal!

http://youtu.be/E0E0ynyIUsg

http://youtu.be/EqQuihD0hoI

http://youtu.be/fTabuTNAZMQ

Megahertz: Rock Me Amadeus (1998) - Song Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

You know you wouldn't think it, but foreign metal bands are freaking awesome.... And I am not just talking about Rammstein... Although they are pretty awesome as well!

No, in this case I headed in to the world of foreign music when I was a kid, even before I listened to Rammstein or any of the German heavy metal bands that are here today, when I was down in Arizona one day and you would never believe it, but as it turned out a Spanish rap song came on! Now I will admit that the song was absolutely one of the most hilarious songs that I ever heard at that time... (I am sorry, but it is true...)

But besides the fact that, that song truly was absolutely hilarious, it was also a lot of fun! I mean I couldn't understand a word that they were saying, but the way the song was put together was done so well that in the end, it was even fun to listen to it even if you didn't know what the hell they were saying!

And you know what? The song that German Industrial Metal band, 'Megahertz' did back in 1998 as a sort of  tribute to the 1980s musician, 'Falco' called, 'Rock Me Amadeus' is no different!

Now to give you a little bit of background on the, 'Falco' version of this song...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="365"] Falco did the song, 'Rock Me Amadeus' in 1985... A song which would later be covered by, 'Megahertz' who did an industrial/Metal version of this![/caption]

In all truth, this song is fairly outdated, (considering the fact that this song is almost 30 years old is not completely surprising...) But it does have that sort of fun campy appeal to it, and this song would catapult, 'Falco' to becoming the first German singer to have a number 1 single in the United States!

Now as for the Megahertz version of this song... They created a sort of hardcore industrial metal version of this song as part of the cover for his 1998 Album, 'Kopfschuss'... An album which would later be re-released in 2005, taking out the handgun that the clown face is supposed to be holding!

http://youtu.be/cahxy0JN_BY

Soldier (1998) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

If you are a fan of movies or the theater, and you grew up loving one or the other, then there was at least one actor or actress… or even group of actors or actresses that you would grow up watching either on TV, on the big screen or on the stage… For me, one of those actors that I grew up watching is Kurt Russell (The Thing)!

Now Kurt Russell is one of my favorite actors, and the reason being is that no matter what form of leading role he played, rather it was playing Snake Plissken in such Sci-Fi/Action movies as the, ‘Escape’ movie series, or as R.J. MacReady in, The Thing (1982), or even in the comedy, Overboard (1987)… This guy brings a certain set of sarcastic humor, that will almost have you rooting for him even if he is a bad guy!

And you know what? A great example of this is, Soldier (1998), and that is really saying something… What I mean by that is that this movie which was written by: David Webb Peoples (Twelve Monkeys), and Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil), and which also starred, Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Jason Isaacs (Event Horizon), Connie Nielsen (The Devil’s Advocate), Sean Pertwee (Equilibrium), Michael Chiklis (Fantastic Four), and Gary Busey (Predator 2), told an interesting tale of how, ‘if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it’ and how, ‘arrogance destroys all…’

What do I mean by this? Well simply put, in the future the American Government creates a band of super soldiers that are able to pretty much easily and exclusively win every war that they fight in…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] The super soldier program[/caption]

Now with the success of these Soldiers, the government goes ahead builds the next generation of super soldier and arrogantly believes that these soldiers are above and beyond better than their predecessors! So much so that Colonel Mekum (Isaacs) brings his new soldiers over to the barracks that houses the old soldiers…

After they arrive, the Colonel pits one of his soldiers against 3 of his predecessors, and it looks like he may have killed all 3 of them… Or so he thinks…

You see it turns out that Todd 3465 (Russell) was still alive and gets dropped on to a dumpster planet along with some waste refuse… While there he comes across a group of people that had crash landed on the planet and made it their home.

During his time recuperating with the villagers, this super soldier finds more than he ever expected when he discovers his emotions, and that for the first time in his entire life that he actually cares about these people!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="699"] This old Super Soldier finds friendship when he is dumped on a Garbage planet![/caption]

With that in mind though, his old crew comes to the planet for an annual security sweep and to eradicate those that remain on the planet… And it will be up to this antiquated super soldier to go up against the next generation of his brethren, before they destroy the village that he has grown to love!

Another thing that I found that I really like about this movie is that it does show the horrors of war, but besides that, it also shows the power of the human spirit, and that despite the horrors that some people can do to other people, that it only takes the acceptance and love of the right person or people to destroy all of that evil programming!

In the end though, this is an action packed, special effects extravaganza that was definitely worth the experience!

http://youtu.be/AGuwzYN4qAc

Messages In Alex Proyas Films

In the mid 1990s I came to discover the amazing work of a truly amazing yet, unless your a horror/sci-fi fan, then, 'underappreciated' filmmaker by the name of, Alex Proyas (Dark City).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Alex Proyas - Filmmaker[/caption]

I personally came to discover this guy when I first saw the movie, The Crow (1994) with Brandon Lee (Rapid Fire).

Now, The Crow (1994) is a movie which was based on the Graphic Comic book series and strip by James O'Barr (Frame 137), which is a dark and dismal look at what would happen if society allowed itself to decay to the point where criminals can begin to slowly take over, and how the power of love can conquer all!

What I mean by this is that, in Detriot on what a particular criminal syndicate has dubbed, 'Devil's Night', this syndicate boss has sent his crew over to a small rundown apartment building to kill off the remaining tenants of the building!

The only problem is that after this group of Sociopaths kill off a musician and his fiancé (the night before their wedding,) with the help of a crow, this musician comes back to life to exact a bloody vengeance against the crew that killed him and his fiancé, so that both of them can rest in peace together for eternity!

Now that is just one of the amazing films that Mr. Proyas has done. The truth is, is that this guy can create something dark and dismal, and yet make it completely entertaining, with a great story line,

make it completely entertaining, with a great story line, amazing special effects, great acting and an amazing message that can really make you think!

Another example of this that I thought that I would mention is, Dark City (1998):

Dark City tells the story of a city that has been created around a large group of humans in space in an effort for a dying race of Aliens to study the human, 'soul' in an effort to save their own race, and the human being that has evolved passed the Alien's ability to control him, with the desire for this human and his small group to break free of the influence of the Aliens by finding a beach community that doesn't really exist!

Of course like the rest of these movies that I have seen of his, this movie has some amazing special effects, and some great acting... All that stuff was pretty spectacular, but the truth is, the best part of this movie, is the underlining message that makes up this movie!

The underlining message I do believe in this movie is that, 'there is light at the end of the tunnel', 'that sometimes in life you might feel like you are going in circles and that you might feel like you can't break free of whatever dark and dismal problem you are facing.... But don't give up because in the end you still could break free!'

The above are just two examples of the awesome way that I do believe that Mr. Proyas is able to create some great very positive messages rather they be of, 'Love' or of, 'Hope', in an entertaining, yet dark and dismal film!

http://youtu.be/6UCqYrHFzdI

http://youtu.be/QrGSLMl1XFs