10. Halloween Rock Special

Justin and Noah bring you the music to rock out all October long, plus Justin's Hot Flash explores the classic New Orleans TV show Morgus Presents.





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Bobby "Borris" Pickett The Monster Rap- Song Review

    Now we get into the cheese. Today we’re looking at Bobby “Borris” Pickett (The Monster Mash guy) and one of his various attempts to score a second hit. After the huge success of the Monster Mash, Pickett did various other parodies and spoofs throughout the years including the Transylvania Twist, Monsters Holiday, a Star Drek and even a King Kong parody. The biggest follow up hit he ever had was The Monster Rap, a cheesy 80’s rap song that served as a sequel of sorts to that graveyard smash.

    The track effectively mixes 80’s synths with the typical horror movie/sci-fi sounds you’d expect and a funky bass line. Funnily enough, as goofy and cheesy as this song is the rap verses by the monster aren’t that much worse than typical 80’s rap songs. The basic idea of the song is the story of Frankenstein’s monster told as a rap song, intercut with lines by Igor, samples of the monster roaring and complete rap verses by the monster.

    The sad part is I actually kind of prefer this one to the monster mash as a song; they’re both cheesy songs that no one should ever listen to outside the month of October, but this one actually some cool things going on with the music. The 80’s hip hop beat mixed with sci-fi noises and monster samples actually sounds pretty cool and that funky bass line is completely danceable. Like I said, I wouldn’t recommend this outside the month of October, but leading up to Halloween, why not throw this on and get into the graveyard smash made for everyone out there looking to bust a rhyme.

I'm Only Joking KONGOS: Song Review

    Kicking off a week of haunting, spooky and otherwise dark reviews leading up to our Halloween special this weekend is the KONGOS track I’m Only Joking. KONGOS are an Alt Rock band from South Africa made up of 4 brothers who use a mix of African tribal drumming, epic slide guitar and mastery of bouncy accordion riffing to create their sound. They had a huge hit with the single Come With Me Now off of their Lunatic album and a minor hit with the track I Wanna Know from the same album. While these tracks had a mainstream Alt Rock sound to them, my personal favorite track was a darker and more mysterious song entitled I’m Only Joking.

    I’m Only Joking uses those tribal drum patterns I mentioned earlier to conjure up the feeling and imagery of a Voodoo ceremony while the Accordion brings to mind an insane carnival. The dark and mysterious vibe of this song is helped out by the eerie vocal performance of the verses and the conspiracy theory and mystic ramblings of the lyrics. The whiplash from the very dark and serious imagery of the verses to the singer insisting that he’s only joking as a way to mess with the listener only adds to the carnival theme, portraying the singer as a carny telling ghost stories to scare patrons.

    As the song stretches on, it builds to a crescendo of insanity on the noise filled bridge of the song. This track overall works well as a sequel to Come With Me Now’s quest for freedom and losing one’s mind in debauchery and fun. Even the bit of the chorus where the singer states he’s just saying a “...crazy little thing he read.” fits in with Come With Me Now, where he made the comment that “I open my mouth and it’s something I’ve read.” Thus in many ways the insanity of this song can be seen as the follow up to the letting go and loss of control in Come With Me Now.

    Regardless of the way that this track fits into KONGOS’ discography it is an awesome and eerie song. The madness on this track is so much fun and always makes me feel like a horror movie villain when I listen to it. The energy is infectious and powerful and the various changes throughout the track make it one of my favorites.