Werewolves!

For Episode 60, we’re celebrating every garage rock fan’s favourite high holiday: All Hallow’s Eve! So we’ve assembled a pentagram of terrifying tunes - and ALL FIVE are about werewolves! The first bite comes from The Frantics (5:15). Their 1960 instro “Werewolf” evokes the chill of nighttime and the horror of human transformation with some Vincent Price-esque narration and many atmospheric effects. Our second stab at the topic comes from Morgus and the Daringers, released that same year (30:16). Their take (also titled “Werewolf”) might seem lighthearted, but that’s only if you think lupine attacks on beatniks are something to be celebrated! The third in this unholy list of lycanthropy comes in the guise of those pesky Kingsmen (1:09:23) . The Joey Levine-penned “Wolf of Manhattan” shows what happens when the turn-skin escapes the forest for the bright lights of the city – he’ll take a bite out of the Big Apple! The fiendish fourth is “Werewolf and Witchbreath” by The Troll (1:28:12). The lyrics to this one are a gurgling incantation to unseen spirits, and the song is a heavy hymn to hellish hallucinations (translation: it’s psychedelic). We’re back in the forest for the final howl, which comes from Michael Hurley, whose spooky, folky 1971 tune “The Werewolf” is an empathetic look at the monster we try to run away from (1:53:37). Was it … inside us the whole time?!?!?!