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seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
It's the Third Sunday Throwback edition of my annual Octoberween series devoted to cover songs appropriate for the Halloween season... so let's get 20th century spooky!
The idea may be foreign to a generation that almost entirely consumes their music digitally, but once upon a time, DJs and music collectors would search endlessly through stacks of cobweb-coated vinyl records in dusty "hole-in-the-wall" stores just to find some obscure gem to add to their library. Such was the music business that if an artist only ever released one single that wasn't a huge success, it, and they, could easily be lost to the annals of time, dependent largely on the rarity of the physical recordings. Looking into the history of this surfrock-turned-gothabilly track, what I discovered was less about it and more about how many may have found it in the manner just described:
The Cramps - The Goo Goo Muck (Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads)
Surf/garage rockers Ronnie Cook and The Gaylads appear to have teamed up for this single recording of The Goo Goo Muck in 1962 (some sources claim 1965.) The song was written by Ed James, then a member of The Tikis, who went on to join the far more successful Harpers Bizarre. Both Cook and the members of The Gaylads however went on to other obscure work, never really achieving much in the music industry. The song did eventually find its way to the playlists of some underground radio DJs with a penchant for ghoulish party tracks. One DJ in particular from out of Pittsburgh, "Mad Mike" Metrovich, was practically legendary for his famous annual Halloween radio presentation of "Moldies" (such as The Goo Goo Muck) which aired steadily from the 60's for many years, with one final show on Halloween 2000. Metrovich actually died shortly after that very broadcast. The track is included on a number of compilations devoted to his radio show.
The Cramps are also known for their eclectic record collections, but it is not commonly known if they had a copy of Cook's single before recording their 1981 album Psychedelic Jungle or if they might have actually heard it first from one of Mad Mike's programs before seeking it out for themselves. (Band members Lux and Ivy had lived within 300 miles of Cook in California, and even closer to Mad Mike's radio show during their time in New York, so either possibility could be likely.) Whatever the case may be, Goo Goo Muck was one seven cover songs which make up half that album. They released it as the album's first single, and it was not only more successful than the original, it also seems to have inspired new interest in the original. In the years that followed, the original version popped up on a significant number of compilations, one of which collects many of the songs that the Cramps has covered, titled appropriately, Songs The Cramps Taught Us. Most other compilations featuring either the original or the Cramps version are geared toward Halloween holiday music.
But why Halloween and what exactly is a "Goo Goo Muck?" Again, documentation of the meaning is largely lost to the ages if there ever was any formal explanation. Some theories say it's a vampire. Others say it's definitively not. (Some theories claim it has a far more illicit and provocative meaning.) Whatever this mysterious beast is, it's young, nocturnal, ferocious, and out for blood... so that seems to suit Halloween just right.:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Two more Sundays of Octoberween andthe next monstrous cover might also need its appetite fed! [EDIT] Ok, remember earlier in Octoberween when I mentioned having to scrap my original plan for the month? Well, as of this post, I'm feeling a bit like my backup plan has gotten just a little too "schlocky" and a few of my alternate choices on deck just aren't measuring up in quality as anything other than b-rate material. So I'm shifting gears hard here. Next week we'll revisit another Stephen King inspired classic (that isn't IT) with a fresh-from-the-grave cover released earlier this year! And then on the fifth and final week of Octoberween, instead of a "4x4" (a feature I begin in July,) we'll wrap things up with a 5x5![/EDIT]
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
The first of my two Octoberween gigs is this Friday! You can find details for it on my schedule if you're in the area and care to attend! ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Oct 08 - Perturbator - Come To Me (Brad Fiedel)
Oct 01 - Kebabträume - More Than A Party (Depeche Mode)
Sep 24 - Steril - Misery (Psyche)
Sep 17 - The Cure - Foxy Lady (the Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Sep 10 - The Echoing Green - Voices Carry ('til tuesday)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
It's the Third Sunday Throwback edition of my annual Octoberween series devoted to cover songs appropriate for the Halloween season... so let's get 20th century spooky!
The idea may be foreign to a generation that almost entirely consumes their music digitally, but once upon a time, DJs and music collectors would search endlessly through stacks of cobweb-coated vinyl records in dusty "hole-in-the-wall" stores just to find some obscure gem to add to their library. Such was the music business that if an artist only ever released one single that wasn't a huge success, it, and they, could easily be lost to the annals of time, dependent largely on the rarity of the physical recordings. Looking into the history of this surfrock-turned-gothabilly track, what I discovered was less about it and more about how many may have found it in the manner just described:
The Cramps - The Goo Goo Muck (Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads)
Surf/garage rockers Ronnie Cook and The Gaylads appear to have teamed up for this single recording of The Goo Goo Muck in 1962 (some sources claim 1965.) The song was written by Ed James, then a member of The Tikis, who went on to join the far more successful Harpers Bizarre. Both Cook and the members of The Gaylads however went on to other obscure work, never really achieving much in the music industry. The song did eventually find its way to the playlists of some underground radio DJs with a penchant for ghoulish party tracks. One DJ in particular from out of Pittsburgh, "Mad Mike" Metrovich, was practically legendary for his famous annual Halloween radio presentation of "Moldies" (such as The Goo Goo Muck) which aired steadily from the 60's for many years, with one final show on Halloween 2000. Metrovich actually died shortly after that very broadcast. The track is included on a number of compilations devoted to his radio show.
The Cramps are also known for their eclectic record collections, but it is not commonly known if they had a copy of Cook's single before recording their 1981 album Psychedelic Jungle or if they might have actually heard it first from one of Mad Mike's programs before seeking it out for themselves. (Band members Lux and Ivy had lived within 300 miles of Cook in California, and even closer to Mad Mike's radio show during their time in New York, so either possibility could be likely.) Whatever the case may be, Goo Goo Muck was one seven cover songs which make up half that album. They released it as the album's first single, and it was not only more successful than the original, it also seems to have inspired new interest in the original. In the years that followed, the original version popped up on a significant number of compilations, one of which collects many of the songs that the Cramps has covered, titled appropriately, Songs The Cramps Taught Us. Most other compilations featuring either the original or the Cramps version are geared toward Halloween holiday music.
But why Halloween and what exactly is a "Goo Goo Muck?" Again, documentation of the meaning is largely lost to the ages if there ever was any formal explanation. Some theories say it's a vampire. Others say it's definitively not. (Some theories claim it has a far more illicit and provocative meaning.) Whatever this mysterious beast is, it's young, nocturnal, ferocious, and out for blood... so that seems to suit Halloween just right.:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Two more Sundays of Octoberween and
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
The first of my two Octoberween gigs is this Friday! You can find details for it on my schedule if you're in the area and care to attend! ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Oct 08 - Perturbator - Come To Me (Brad Fiedel)
Oct 01 - Kebabträume - More Than A Party (Depeche Mode)
Sep 24 - Steril - Misery (Psyche)
Sep 17 - The Cure - Foxy Lady (the Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Sep 10 - The Echoing Green - Voices Carry ('til tuesday)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies