Soundtracks

All posts in the Soundtracks category

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Bobbie Gentry

Published August 16, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

The 1969 opening scene of Final Destination: Bloodlines hopefully introduced younger fans to one of pop & country music’s most distinctive voices. With this bloody revisiting of decades past, the film’s music producers were able to explore a number of interesting tunes to supplement the soundtrack. One of the coolest background fillers was the enigmatic Bobbie Gentry’s take on Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.

Of course, the gorgeous Gentry is probably best known for composing and performing the influential gothic story-song Ode to Billie Joe. Her cool, whiskey-soaked tones embellished a number of other significant compositions, though. These include Fancy, another dark yet deliciously fun tale, Okolona River Bottom and Mornin’ Glory, along with her wistfully essential covers of other artists’ recordings. 

Significantly, she is also one of the most mysterious singers of all time. After her great success in the late ’60s and throughout the ’70s, Gentry disappeared completely from view after an appearance at an awards show in 1982. There has been no public footage or magazine interviews since then and even her current place of residence seems to be up for debate.

What is not in question, though, is her overall influence on the music scene. A respected artist’s artist, Gentry has had a number of previously unreleased LPs resurface in special editions on Record Store Day over recent years and she has been paid loving tribute to by artists as diverse as country queen Reba McEntire and jazz diva Nancy Wilson.

Hopefully someday an inventive writer-director will use her story as the focus of a femme powered mystery or genre film of some sort. Until then, thankfully, we have this….

…and this…

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: The Angels

Published March 12, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

Since I can’t unwrap Tom Conti (circa 1977) as a present on my birthday this year, I’m going to settle for the next best thing – a video of the iconic The Angels singing My Boyfriend’s Back.

A long sought after title, The Haunting of Julia has recently undergone a 4K restoration and will soon be available in a variety of media offerings – all the better to appreciate that Farrow specialty -the woman on the verge in terror filled circumstances – and the youthful Conti’s every man appeal. Oh, yeah…and the soundtrack, including Colin Towns’ Tangerine Dream-like score, is pretty boss, as well.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Meat Loaf

Published August 8, 2021 by biggayhorrorfan

How I have never written about Meat Loaf in the years that I have been doing this column is a mystery to me. Always theatrical, Mr. Aday won the hearts of horror maniacs decades ago with his dementedly magnetic take on The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s motorcycle riding, saxophone stroking Eddie. His subsequent genre offerings also include such popular projects as Masters of Horror and the musical-slasher hybrid Stage Fright.

More than anything, though, this pure example of board striding bravado has taken the hearts of outsiders everywhere by storm simply by the mere fact of his stratospheric existence. The beautifully physical opposite of most centerfold worthy rock gods, his meteoric rise in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s proved that talent and enthusiasm could win out in the often perilous, completely unfair world of main stream (unforward thinking) show business.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

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….KP and I “Meet” Loaf –

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Dave Wakeling

Published June 27, 2021 by biggayhorrorfan

Coming out a bisexual in an interview with Mother Jones in 1985, musician Dave Wakeling has often proven himself to be ahead of the bar, creatively and culturally. Best known for being an integral member of such popular New Wave bands as English Beat and General Public, he has also built a solid career for himself as a solo musician and composer.

The LGBTQIA community may know him best for General Public’s cover of I’ll Take You There, a song that was prominently featured in the queer-centric Threesome. Horror enthusiasts, especially those who love a Rosemary’s Baby inspired possession tale, may remember him for the inclusion of GP’s classic Tenderness in Devil’s Due, a recent found footage kiddo’s-gone-bad offering.

http://www.davewakeling.com/

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Jeri Southern

Published May 2, 2021 by biggayhorrorfan

Late fall and early spring often find me, in some sharp sense of contemplative bliss, immersed in the music of numerous husky voiced jazz dames. This year, as the March days in Chicago alternated between gray & windy and unseasonably warm, I took special comfort in the seemingly casual, throaty stylings of Peggy Lee, Chris Connor and Jeri Southern. Their smoky tempos seemed to perfectly echo the prospect of winter’s slow yet hopeful fade.

Southern, a favorite of Frank Sinatra who retired in her late 30s due to paralyzing stage fright, became my favored discovery. Her albums like Southern Comfort not only feature amusing titular word play, but tend to highlight obscure, inventive material. Her take on Cole Porter’s well-known Dancing on the Ceiling, meanwhile, is near perfection – an expert blending of smart tune and adept stylist. 

Of course, I was soon researching her life and happily discovered that her filmography included vocalizing on A Taste of Ivory, the theme song from the twisted 1978 psychological horror show Die Sister, Die. While that performance is difficult to track down, her simple, haunting version of Every Time We Say Goodbye is sure to delight both lovers of the finely romantic and the lushly gothic, as well.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Hopelessly Devoted to: Patti LaBelle

Published January 1, 2021 by biggayhorrorfan

I have been binging the CW’s Supergirl lately. Now beginning Season Four, I think I am proficient enough in the world of otherworldly heroine-based antics to propose that if there truly were a magnificent extraterrestrial creature living among us in real time – it would most definitely be the divine Patti LaBelle.

From her electric ‘70s space age costuming to her otherworldly soprano accented vocalizing, she can even take such iconic performer identified songs like Somewhere Over the Rainbow and make them totally her own.

It’s also been rumored that countless hardcore rock ‘n roll mommas have bowed down and backed ass first out of grungy nightclubs upon hearing Labelle’s raucous Love Symphony piped over the jukebox.

Indeed, I’d place my money on Patti being the only diva that could cancel out the shitstorm of 2020 with one energetic, elastic note, ringing in 2021 with resounding, enthusiastic might.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Peter Lorre

Published December 13, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

I have mad love for all those quirky character actors from the ‘30s and ‘40s. Often cast as ne’er do wells and sophisticated villains, their talents were often broader than they were given credit for.

For example, even though he was best known for his sinister turns in M, The Stranger on the Third Floor, The Beast with Five Fingers and The Raven, the unforgettable Peter Lorre truly shone as a comic impresario. In particular, he excelled in the glorious MGM musical Silk Stockings, a reworking of Greta Garbo’s famed comedy Ninotchka.

Here, Lorre gamely attacked clever lyrics by Cole Porter…

…and even engaged in a dance specialty or two!

Now, one has to wonder what Boris Karloff and Vincent Price might have added to the mix here.

Ponder that…and until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Connie Francis

Published November 29, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

In Great Pretenders – My Strange Love Affair with ‘50s Pop Music, her emotionally engaging memoir about her surprise life resurrection via the oft criticized radio hits of simpler times, critic and poet Karen Schoemer talks of the romantic, operatic essence of many Connie Francis love ballads, particularly Where The Boys Are.

But Schoemer also smartly makes note of the wild range of Francis’ material. Indeed, Francis knew how to add a little stomp and growl to a recording, making her a true, often unheralded rock ‘n roll momma.

This eclectic singer was even honored in one of the most memorable scenes in 1996’s The Craft. There, Helen Shaver’s recently economically liberated Grace buys a jukebox that plays nothing but Connie Francis singles!

But considering Francis’ otherworldly talent (and Asimov-ian choices in romantic partners), that celluloid sequence really comes as no surprise…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGIh0qAN-38

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Chris Connor

Published November 22, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

With her dusky warble and effortless sense of restraint, jazz icon Chris Connors is the height of nighttime cool. Of course, as chill evening turns to desolate midnight, danger often lurks. Sometimes, that hazard even comes from within.

Connors’ take on Margo Guryan’s somber Lonely Woman truly embodies that notion. With a foreboding shriek, this number perfectly highlights the haunted reality of an all too solitary type with too many vanquished dreams.

Sharply atmospheric, this meeting between two femme wunderkinds* would fit perfectly in the background of a number of women-on-the-verge horror pieces – whether it be a modern take on Rosemary’s Baby or simply played on repeat while watching Let’s Scare Jessica to Death with that film’s sound pulled down to zero.

*Guryan is a highly regarded cult figure who wrote a number of successful ‘60s singles. Her oft reissued recording Take a Picture is loftily regarded by many music connoisseurs, as well.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Vanessa Williams

Published November 1, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Initially gaining fame as a model and television actress, the uber talented Vanessa Williams eventually branched out into the worlds of pop music…and Broadway stardom! Grimm’s Brothers aficionados were probably awestruck by her witch in the revival of Into the Woods, while the rest of the world may have still been reeling from her sexy attack on the pop laced numbers from her debut album.

Nicely, this number even made it into a Perry Mason television film. (Talk about a flashy take on recycling!)

Most recently, this modern day diva brought her years of performing experience to a gloriously demented fruition in Bad Hair, a delightfully twisted original Hulu horror extravaganza.

https://www.vanessawilliams.com/

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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