Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!
Intro
| FMF# | Track | Artist | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Driveway To The Cemetary (Main Title)” | Morricone Youth | Night Of The Living Dead | 2016 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s zombie episode! Today we are going to dig up from the dirt and claw our way out of our graves. Today is all about zombies! The Wikipedia definition of a what makes a zombie is a fictional undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. So, walking dead.
01:10 Zombies have become apart of normal culture now, with more and more movies and artistic works putting their own new twist on the old idea of reanimation. These days, you might find zombies spawning in other ways such as carriers, radiation, mental diseases, vectors, pathogens, parasites, scientific accidents, etc.
01:40 Zombies go well with rock and roll. They’ve been written about musically since the 60s and have always had that dark side vibe to them. Really though, they’re just shuffling bags of rotten meat meandering through the night looking for brains. The horror punk genre will be represented well today.
02:10 The Creepshow have cycled through three singers over their years, starting with Jen “Hellcat” Blackwood. Jen contribtued to the band’s debut album and recorded a music video for “Zombies Ate Her Brain”, but would ultimately leave the group after getting pregnant and starting a family. Those pesky kiddos. The group then brought on Sarah “Sin” Blackwood for a few albums before shifting to Kenda Legaspi. Here’s Jen singing that first single.
Set 1: Have We All Turned Into Zombies?
| 2 | “Zombies Ate Her Brain” | The Creepshow | Sell Your Soul | 2006 | |
| 3 | “Zombie Nation” | The Brains | Zombie Nation | 2010 | |
| 4 | ”Zombie Nay-shun” | Sick Vicars | Two Nintey Nine | 1984 | |
| 5 | “Zombie Girl” | The Quintessentials | Legends From The Grave | 2005 | |
| 6 | “Zombies” | The Lillingtons | The Too Late Show | 2006 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 I’d like to think of that one as theme song to today’s themed episode. Well, that’s the song I quoted in the playlist artwork. The Lillingtons ask if we’ve “all turned into zombies” in their 2006 tune “Zombie”. The band has been churning out tight, three chord punk rock since the mid 90s, with lead singer Kody Templeton fueling the fight. Kody also sings and plays for Teenage Bottlerocket; Wyoming’s other punk band. Just kidding, I’m sure there are dozens of them…
00:40 Uttering the words Hawaii and punk will likely spark a conversation about The Quintessentials, Hawaii’s most famous horror punk group. Of course, “most famous” is relative and opinion-based, but you get the point. Led by Les Hernandez, the group churned out five albums since their inception. “Zombie Girl” comes from their 3rd LP, 2005’s Legends From The Grave.
01:10 Riot Squad were a punk band out of Mansfield, UK that formed in the early 80s. After forming, a few of the members started Rot Records to release their music along with other local punk acts. In 1984, they put out the compilation Two Ninety Nine, a collection of UK bands. Sick Vicars landed two songs on the comp and we heard “Zombie Nay-shun” from them.
01:40 The Brains are a Canadian psychobilly band led by Rene De La Muerte Garcia. After 18 years and a solid seven albums leading The Brains, Rene was tapped by scene legend Nekromantix frontman Kim Nekroman to play drums for them. Kim is famous for playing a standup bass shaped like a coffin. We heard “Zombie Nation”, the title track from The Brains’ 2010 LP.
02:10 Coming up next is a zombie jamboree dance fest! Mark Sultan and King Khan put out What’s For Dinner? in 2006 as The King Khan & BBQ Show. The duo channels retro sounds in all walks of their music, be it funk, soul, garage, or punk, and mixes in their own new flavors. With “Zombies”, you get that punk attitude chugging along in a very militant way accompanied by a lamenting for being alone. Here’s “Zombies”.
Intermission
| 7 | “Watusi Zombie” | Jan Davis | Watusi Zombie / Pooky | 1964 |
Set 2: Dead Can Dance
| 8 | “Zombies” | The King Khan & BBQ Show | What’s For Dinner? | 2006 |
| 9 | “Zombie Dance” | The Cramps | Songs The Lord Taught Us | 1980 |
| 10 | “Do The Zombie” | The Eyeliners | Do The Zombie | 1997 |
| 11 | “Zombie Hop” | Zombina And The Skeletones | Mondo Zombina! | 2005 |
| 12 | “Zombie Zoo” | Tom Petty | Full Moon Fever | 1989 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 Full Moon Fever showcased some of Tom Petty’s influences along with some of his extremely talented friends. Fellow Traveling Wilburys Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison all contributed to this LP, with Jeff producing it. Del Shannon, someone Tom looked up to as a kid and befriended as an adult, contributed the animal noises to the interlude, right after “Runnin’ Down A Dream”; a song that references Del himself.
00:40 Zombina & The Skeletones are a Liverpool band hopelessly devoted to horror punk. Vocalist Zombina also learned the theramin to bring that spooky, UFO sound to their music, too. Paying homage to the Ramones’ 1992 album Mondo Bizarro, the group named one of their EPs Mondo Zombina!. That EP features “Zombie Hop”.
01:10 Timmy V from The Lillingtons was the Eyeliners’ touring drummer for a while, connecting the Wyoming group with the New Mexico sisters. Lisa, Laura, and Gel Baca make up the punk trio. They recorded “Do The Zombie” in 1997 at Poop Alley Studio, the same studio that Beck recorded “Loser” at. Three years later, they would put the song on their Here Comes Trouble album.
01:40 The Cramps, the Godfathers of psychobilly, dropped in with a song the Lord taught them. The Cramps predate the Misfits by only a few months, but both bands put their own spin on spooky songs. The Cramps were more Carl Perkins than Ramones, with the Misfits being the opposite. “Zombie Dance” is a classic and must play for today’s show.
02:10 Misfits fans, rejoice! The time has come for the CEOs of Horror Business to rain blood on our episode. Coming up next is a five song set all from the Misfits, in one way or another. Misfits mastermind Glenn Danzig announced in 2016 he’d be rejoining the group, bringing the main original lineup back together. Right before that, though, Jerry Only and his son had recorded the Friday the 13th EP with drummer Chupacabra featuring the zombie tune “Mad Monster Party”.
Intermission
| 13 | “Hollywood Babylon” | The Crimson Ghosts | Some Kinda Hits | 2005 |
Set 3: Dawn Of The Danzig
| 14 | “Mad Monster Party” | Misfits | Friday The 13th | 2016 |
| 15 | ”London Dungeon” | The Undead | The Morgue…The Merrier | 2016 |
| 16 | ”Astro Zombies” | King Flamingo | Covers, Baby!, Vol. 1 | 2018 |
| 17 | ”Braineaters” | The Unborn | The Last Man On Earth | 2020 |
| 18 | “Night Of The Living Dead” | 88 Fingers Louie | Hopelessly Devoted To You | 1996 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 Zombies speak in groans, and half of the Misfits’ catalog is whoas, ohs, and oohs. 88 Fingers Louie, named after a Dick Tracy character, covered the Misfits’ zombie classic “Night Of The Living Dead” for the 1996 Hopeless Records compilation Hopeless Devoted To You; a take on Grease.
00:40 The Unborn ate brains in Italian with a cover of ‘Braineaters”. The closing track from Misfits’ Walk Among Us was sang by the entire band to give the effect of a mob of zombies chasing their dinner, lunch, breakfast and brunch. The Unborn rewrote the verses with completely different lyrics, instead singing about eating heads and the lack of options in the city as a zombie leaving you to just eat brains. The song comes from their 2020 EP The Last Man On Earth.
01:10 King Flamingo earned my respect solely due to the punny genre they classify themselves as; Goo-Wop. Goo-Wop Records put out King Flamingo’s Covers Baby, Vol. 1 back in 2018 and also most of the group’s other efforts. The lo-fi garage act took a new approach to the often covered “Astro Zombies”.
01:40 Glenn Danzig wrote “London Dungeon” with Misfits’ then-guitarist Bobby Steele while the two were in a London jail cell after a battle with some local skinheads. When the Misfits returned to the US from that 1979 European tour, Bobby quit and went on to form The Undead the following year. The Undead would then go on to cover the song on their 2016 LP The Morgue…The Merrier.
02:10 Moving from the “Night of the Living Dead” now, to a set of living dead songs. The Plasmatics were a metal punk band led by the notoriously wild Wendy O. Williams. Wendy was a porn star-turned-rock star famous for her onstage antics, including chainsaws, toplessness, and other extremities. Her voice, was not that of singing birds, either. She’s almost like the opposite sex version of G.G. Allin, if such a person could exist. I stress almost. Here’s Wendy and the group doing “Living Dead” from Beyond The Valley of 1984.
Intermission
| 19 | ”Zombie (Bolero)” | Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra | Cugi’s Cocktails | 1963 |
Set 4: Blight Of The Living Dead
| 20 | ”Living Dead” | The Plasmatics | Beyond The Valley Of 1984 | 1981 | |
| 21 | ”Living Dead” | UK Subs | Endangered Species | 1982 | |
| 22 | ”Talk About The Living Dead” | The Spookshow | Psychosexual Chapter 2 | 2006 | |
| 23 | ”Living Dead” | Strange Hands | Dead Frozen Deer | 2010 | |
| 24 | ”The Living Dead” | Jim Burgett With Don Ralke And His Orchestra | Let’s Investigate / The Living Dead | 1961 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 Jim Burgett was a little-known rockabilly singer out of Ceres, California who was active in the late 50s Lake Tahoe scene. Jim stuck with it for a while but his songs would never gain the national notoriety. He recorded his most well-known hit, “The Living Dead” in 1961 and would lay down a few more tracks throughout the 60s before calling it quits.
00:40 Strange Hands hail from Bordeaux, France and classify themselves as Hippie Punk. The band put out the Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things EP, which was put out on cassette by Burger Records. “Living Dead” comes from their 2010 EP Dead Frozen Deer.
01:10 The Spookshow are a Swedish horror punk group right in the vein of The Creepshow or The Horrorpops. The makeup of a horror punk group does offer a stereotypical cliche; pinup girl-esque singer, stand-up bass (sometimes shaped like a coffin), and sideburns. Lots of sideburns. The formula works, though. As many of these bands have proven. The Spookshow played “Talk About The Living Dead”, led by Laura Weed.
01:40 UK Subs became the first Western band to play Poland in 1982 after martial law had been imposed. They were touring for their recently released album Endangered Species and after the addition of Steve Roberts on drums and Alvin Gibbs on bass had taken the punk band in a more metal direction. “Living Dead” fit in nicely behind the Plasmatics.
02:10 The Horrorpops were one of the original purveyors of that special horror punk formula. That stand-up coffin bass? Signature bass of Kim Nekroman, lead singer and founder of Nekromantix; one of the first psychobilly bands. Kim is married to Patricia Day, singer of the Horrorpops, and helped launch her career after the two met in the mid 90s. Here’s Patricia singing “Walk Like A Zombie” from their sophomore LP Bring It On!.
Intermission
| 25 | ”Zombie Compromise” | Shadowy Men On A Shadow Planet | Wow Hiss Flutter ’86 | 1986 |
Set 5: Dead Man Walking
| 26 | “Walk Like A Zombie” | The Horrorpops | Bring It On! | 2005 |
| 27 | “Zombie Walk” | The Cynics | Spinning Wheel Motel | 2011 |
| 28 | “I Walked With A Zombie” | Roky Erickson And The Aliens | Roky Erickson And The Aliens | 1980 |
| 29 | “Walking Dead” | The Vicious | Alienated | 2006 |
| 30 | “Walking Dead” | Barb Wire Dolls | Slit | 2012 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 Barb Wire Dolls are a Greek punk band that made their name in front of the legendary Lemmy Kilmister at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. After seeing them play, Lemmy signed them to his Warner Bros. backed subsidiary label Motorhead Music. Their sophomore album, Slit, was produced by Steve Albini and the intensity of its sound proves so. I played “Walking Dead” from that LP.
00:40 The Vicious were a Swedish garage punk band in the late 2000s that put out one EP and one album before splitting up and forming a different group. 3/4 of The Vicious went on to form Masshysteri, a similar band but with lyrics in Swedish. The Vicious’ lone EP had a song on it titled “Masshysteri”, the Swedish word for mass hysteria. “Walking Dead” came from their 2008 LP Alienated.
01:10 Speaking of aliens…Roky Erickson formed the Aliens (as blieb alien) after doing a stint at the Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas. He was transferred there from the Austin State Hospital where he was being held due to his conviction of the possession of a single joint. Facing ten years, he plead insanity and was henceforth given a bunch of electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments. “I Walked With A Zombie” comes from the first two overlapping LPs recorded with the Aliens in 1980/1981.
01:40 The Cynics were formed in the early 1980s at the direction of Gregg Kostelich. Gregg would form Get Hip Records to put out the band’s material and also sign other garage rock artists that continue to carry the lo-fi fuzz torch. Get Hip has put out albums by Thee Headcoatees, The Black Hollies, The Fleshtones, The Gories, and more. From their final LP, Spinning Wheel Motel, the band contributed “Zombie Walk”.
02:10 On Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever album, he name drops Del Shannon’s “Runaway” during “Runnin’ Down A Dream”. For Screeching Weasel’s 1988 sophomore LP, the Chicago band threw down a cover of “Runaway”, albeit only thirty-some seconds long. What more do you need? Coming up, from 1988’s Boogadaboogadaboogada, this is “Zombie”.
Intermission
| 31 | ”Zombie Catchers” | The Eyeberries | The Eyeberries | 2017 |
Set 6: Infidel Mars
| 32 | ”Zombie” | Screeching Weasel | Boogadaboogadaboogada | 1988 |
| 33 | “Del Mar Zombies” | The Frights | Fur Sure | 2013 |
| 34 | ”Zombie Features” | Fake Tides | Fake Tides | 2010 |
| 35 | ”Rockin’ Zombie” | The Crewnecks | Rockin’ Zombie / When I First Fall In Love | 1959 |
| 36 | ”Infidel Zombie’” | The Dickies | Dawn Of The Dickies | 1979 |
00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)
00:15 The Crewnecks were a group of college kids that played the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area for a four years before splitting up. They recorded only a few singles, including “Rockin’ Zombie”, which was covered by garage rock band Messer Chups. The group would split in 1961, though, due to military commitments.
00:40 The Dickies released their sophomore LP Dawn Of The Dickies just six months after George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead hit theaters in the US in 1979. In a clear homage to George’s film, the album cover shows the band being attacked by blue painted zombies with the lettering accompanied by blood spatter. “Infidel Zombie” tells the story of a girl on a murderous mission.
01:10 Let’s think about what makes a zombie a zombie. Undead? Check. Eating brains? Check. Shuffling along looking for their next victim? Check. These are some common zombie features. Fake Tides exemplify the sounds of their habitat perfectly. They hail from SoCal; San Diego, California. Imperial Beach exactly. That surf/punk/garage sound wafts through the air waves of herb smoke and vape emissions. Fake Tides did “Zombie Features” from their self-titled debut.
01:40 Just a few blocks away, perhaps, resides another SoCal San Diego group; The Frights. The group enlisted FIDLAR frontman Zac Carper to produce their third album Hypochondriac. For their followup, though, they enlisted bass player Richard Dotson to produce in a cabin in Idyllwild, California. From their 2nd EP, Fur Sure, that was “Del Mar Zombies”.
02:10 Alright deadites, that’s the end of it. Grab your chainsaws, your shotguns, your machetes, your flamethrowers, and any other zombie deterring weapons you have just lying around. Its time to liquify the dead! I hope you enjoyed the show and stay safe out there!
02:15 (music plays and fades out)
Outro
| 37 | ”Citadel Zombies” | The Damned | Strawberries | 1982 |
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