My Top Five '95 Misfits Songs

This will a bit of a sister post to my In Defense of the '95 Misfits post.  Hopefully if you haven't checked this era of the band out before this will give ya a good taste of what the band was about.  I won't list Dig Up Her Bones or Saturday Night because even though they are unquestionably two of my favorites, they are probably the most well known songs of this era and I'd rather give a little love to some of the ones you don't hear as much about.  Also, this won't be in any particular order, just the five songs I am always game to listen to.  Click through to check 'em out.




1.  Shining-American Psycho

I love the chorus to this one.  Obviously it's about Poltergeist, what with lyrics about Carol Anne and what not, but it's always perplexed me as to why the song is called Shining.  Obviously it could be a reference to the fact that the abilities that Carol Anne have are similar to the ones Danny has in The Shining, but they had to have known that would be confusing for people.

2. Lost in Space- Famous Monsters

From what I've heard this song was written with the intentions of getting on the soundtrack of the 1998 remake of the old television series.  Just like the other attempts, it failed but that's fine with me.  That movie looked absolutely awful and this song jams.  One thing that I thought was funny about their attempts to write songs about movies that were coming out at that time is that the lyrics in most cases don't have anything to do with the actual plot of the movie they are supposedly singing about.

3. Them- Famous Monsters

Not surprisingly another ode to an old horror movie, this time the 1954 monster movie Them!.  I've never seen that film but it's about giant irradiated ants so the song seems at least stay slightly faithful to the source material in that regard.  The "In the desert sands..." part of the song is possibly one of my favorite choruses of all time.

4.  1,000,000 years B.C.- Cuts from the Crypt

I would be remiss to not mention anything from Cuts from the Crypt.  Though it's not a full-length record, this collection of demos and B-sides is definitely worth checking out.  While there are a few songs I don't really care about on there (basically just the covers that aren't Monster Mash) the rest is full-length quality material.  This song in particular which originated during the Famous Monsters sessions is a particular favorite of mine.  It's quick, catchy as hell, and to the point.  That's pretty much what I look for from this type of music.

5.  Don't Open till Doomsday- American Psycho

As far as I can tell, this one is influenced in name only by an old Outer Limits episode, but the lyrics have nothing to do with it as far I can tell.  A lot of times lyrics are interesting to me and make me like a song even more than just based on the music (I'm sure this probably the way it is for most people but most of the time I don't even pay attention to lyrics) and the lyrical content of this song always struck me as a cool concept.

Here's the lyrics to the two verses:
Buried beneath the statue the answer hides
Enduring throughout the ages
The transmitter lies
Once the chambers open the signal will be sent
To another world... Far beyond the stars

 We were warned of this coming so long ago
Immortal secrets... man shouldn't know
Entering a realm where we just don't belong
We called them and they're coming

Pretty cool stuff in my book.  The idea of an ancient device that would call aliens to our planet to destroy us and someone accidentally activating it is classic science fiction stuff.  The album version of this song also includes the hidden track Hell Night after a good bit of silence which was the rage at the time, it also rules.

Anyways, there are far more '95 Misfits songs that I dig, but these are just the ones that usually rise to the top.  Check 'em out if you've never heard 'em and if you think they rule, I agree, and if not, forgetaboutit.