Forget to Breathe: 31 Days of Halloween Music

Continuing my annual tradition - today, marks day 12 of celebrating the fun of horror that comes with Halloween. Today, we - and by "we" - me and the voices in my head, plus the specters that haunt my home grew up watching horror movies at a very young age. In an effort devised by my aunts to scare their infant nephew, they rented several horror films hoping to scar my dreams, turning them into nightmares - it backfired badly; my fandom was born (You can read about that night in detail here). Another love of mine is heavy music, extreme music; as a product of the 80's I heard some of the best pop and glam around. This was the decade that also forever linked horror films with hard rock and heavy metal music on their soundtracks (exemplified in Day 7's post). So, today we call upon the two best things about the 80's horror films and the 80's in general - hard rock and unapologetic cheesiness.

The hair metal band Fastway recorded the entire soundtrack for the 1986 heavy metal horror film "Trick or Treat" (not to be confused with the 2007 horror anthology film "Trick 'r Treat). In this version, lonely high school outcast Eddie is distraught over the death of his hometown hero Sammi Curr who became a successful heavy metal musician. Eddie garners a copy of Sammi's unreleased final album and upon hearing it, a demonic force infects Eddie's soul.

Bad dialogue, lousy acting, traditional special effects, and cameos by hard rock legends Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne - there is so much to love about this movie that many place under the "So Terrible It's Awesome" category. I own a copy, myself and gladly watch it from time to time, especially during this wonderful time of year.

Keeping in line with my added twist, I also offer original songs dressed up by other people, just like our own beings that don costumes for, normally, one night of the year (but we are all far from normal around here). Today, we get a little heavier with the Bay Area groove band Skinlab dressing up as 90's alternative music standouts Smashing Pumpkins, covering one of their biggest hits "Bullets with Butterfly Wings." Vince, if you read this, Skinlab did it better. I'm only saying that in hopes it annoys the Hell out of you; of course the original is better, but Skinlab provided a worthy effort.