HALLOWEEN PLAYLIST

DRESSED TO THRILL

Getting into character for Halloween

By: MATT ASHARE |
Published: October 31, 2012 http://www2.the-burg.com/entertainment

Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of the Carmps

Maybe I'm just suffering from zombie fatigue. Or, perhaps, I've just been starting to feel that the overload of supernatural slasher films that crowd cable movie channels in the weeks leading up to All Hallows Eve has reached a tipping point — one in which Freddy Krueger's nightmares on Elm Street have become as annoyingly, even cloyingly routine as the pre-Christmas television blitz of Jimmy Stewart's "It's A Wonderful Life," an otherworldly allegory of quite a different sort. Or, it could just be that among the folks I'm connected with on Facebook, there seem to be quite a few more folks dressing up as women in binders than ghoully grrrrls this election year.

       In any case, while I'm happy to concede that there have been plenty of scary monsters and super creeps over the years – from the lipsticked glam dudes of the ‘70s, to arch goths like Bauhaus, to monsters of metal mayhem like the traveling freak show that is GWAR – rock and roll has really always been about playing dress-up in one form or another, going all the way back to Elvis' rockabilly quaff. After all, John Fogerty wasn't really born on the bayou (he was a Berkeley boy, as in Northern California): He just did his best to look and sound like he was. And, when Pearl Jam's manager suggested that they were a band with "no image" in the early days of grunge, he was rightly reminded that no image is indeed an image.

       With all of that in mind, I've done my best to opt out of the usual monster mashes for this year's Halloween. Instead, I went looking for more playfully eclectic playlist of bands and artists who, at various points in their careers, found unique ways to complement their music with the sort of stylized attire that continues to tweak my appreciation for the tricks and treats of rock-and-roll pageantry. As is so often the case, this is just the tip an iceberg that arguably encompasses anyone who's ever taken the stage, as John and Paul surely knew even in their pre-Sgt Pepper incarnation as the suit-and-tied Fab Four. And, ultimately, that's really sort of the point.

1) Rasputina, "Transylvanian Concubine"

       In 1996, this trio of female cellists dolled up in Victorian-era corsets and lace made a minor splash with "Thanks for the Ether," a strangely alluring debut that incorporated spoken-word reveries and classically-tinged songs encompassed everything from Shakespeare ("Dig Ophelia") to Howard Hughes. This track, the disc's de-facto single, set distorted cellos and some poetic versifying that could have come straight outta an Anne Rice novel to an incessant beat. It actually caught the ear of Kurt Cobain, who had them open for Nirvana, and Marilyn Manson, who did a darker remix of the song for the 1997 EP "Transylvanian Regurgitations." Still, I mostly remember Rasputina for the clothes.

Dresden Dolls' Brian Viglione and Amanda Palmer

2) The Dresden Dolls, "Coin-Operated Boy"

       Moving out of the 19th-century and into the early-20th, the Dresden Dolls came on in whiteface and formal, color-coordinated, thrift-shop garb with their remarkable 2003 debut to offer up something singer/pianist Amanda Palmer termed "Brechtian punk cabaret," a cleverly nostalgic twist on the pre-war scene in Weimar Germany. With little more than drummer Brian Viglione bringing some punch to the performative party, Palmer delivers a deeply creepy tale of mechanical romance in this standout track from the self-titled album that launched her unlikely career as something of an international underground sensation.

3) The Cramps, "Strychnine"

       The self-proclaimed "hottest thing from the north to come out of the south," the Cramps pretty much held the patent on punkabilly from 1976 until frontman Lux Interior's death in 2009. This cover of a fairly deviant ode to the pleasures of poison by the ‘60s garage band the Sonics is one of the more straightforwardly sinister rave-ups, replete with plenty of reverb-drenched powerchords courtesy of guitarist Poison Ivy, from their amusingly titled 1980 album "Songs the Lord Taught Us."

The Damned's frontman Dave Vanian

4) The Damned, "Wait For the Blackout"

       Although they do have the distinction of being bona-fide members of the original, class of ‘76 British punks, the Damned never really quite reached the heights of the Clash or the Pistols. They did have their moments early on, particularly with the fast and furious outburst "New Rose," a semi-classic that gets covered from time to time. But it was with 1980's "The Black Album" (pre-dating Spinal Tap by four years) that singer Dave Vanian embraced his inner (and outer) vampire, and adopted a deep croon that lends this apocalyptic mini-epic its ominous overtones.

5) Kiss, "Rock and Roll All Nite"

       Sure, Kiss, in full make-up, are an obvious Halloween pick. But one of my favorite, if brief, periods in Kisstory is "Dressed to Kill," the 1976 album with the wry black-and-white cover shot of the band in full face paint, but wearing natty Fab Four-style suits rather than their full costumes. It's definitely a look, although, sadly, not one they stuck with for very long. And, the disc does end with one of their all-time greats, a peon to partying every day and then switching over to rock and roll once the sun has set.

6) New York Dolls, "Personality Crisis"

       It wouldn't be fair to bring up Kiss without giving these trashy New York City proto-punks their due because Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley got their idea for playing dress-up from the tongue-in-cheek, dime-store drag queen look the Dolls sported when they first emerged in the early ’70s with a twisted take on Rolling Stones androgyny. I'm sticking with "Personality Crisis," the song that best describes what the Dolls once embodied, when they released their self-titled debut in 1973.

7) The Rolling Stones, "Child of the Moon"

       And, now that we've mentioned the Stones, it's not always worth remembering that they took a somewhat misguided trip into Sgt. Peppery psychedelia in 1967, with "Their Satanic Majesties Request." But a few good things did come out of the era that had Mick dressing up like a wizard, pointy black hat and all, including the single "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and it's luminesque b-side, an all too often forgotten tune call "Child of the Moon."

8) Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Dear Prudence"

       As a sideways nod to the Fab Four, who changed costumes more than a few times in their short time together, here's an alluringly eerie rendition of one of their late-career "White Album" cuts by the post-punk queen of goth Siouxsie Sioux and her Banshees. Released in 1983, it became one of their bigger UK hits, and helped popularize her dark diva stylings here in the States.

9) Devo, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

       While we're at the crossroads of post-punk/new-wave covers and Beatles/Stones tunes, it kinda doesn't get much better and/or weirder than Devo, in their matching futuristic spacesuits, doing a number on this Jagger/Richards classic. It’s hard to imagine what anybody made of this when the Akron-bred band came out of nowhere with "Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo!" in 1978. And, it remains a truly strange, yet oddly accessible transmission from the punk-rock era.

David Bowie as Aladdin Sane

10) David Bowie, "Cracked Actor"

       Ziggy Stardust is admittedly one of the benchmarks for rock-and-roll costumery. But the quick wardrobe change the Thin White Duke, as he'd later be known, made directly after his tenure with the Spiders From Mars, into the more elusive and introspective Aladdin Sane (as in, "a lad insane"), is too often underrated. With a multi-colored lightening slash painted across his face, he brought on what he's called an Americanized version of his glam sham with r&b-tinged rockers like "The Jean Genie" and the suitably schizophrenic "Cracked Actor," a somewhat deeper "Aladdin Sane" cut.