Tuesday, May 30, 2017

DARK SHADOWS meets The Damned

Back in 2001, THE DAMNED released the album "Grave Disorder." From the very beginning the British band had been pulling in a lot of different directions, merging politics, horror, humor, social commentary and romanticism into a bizarre stew that still has people arguing about whether or not they're really "punk." (Judge's ruling: Yes, they are.)

"Grave Disorder" did nothing to mend that image and featured songs about horror movies, absinthe, John Lennon's dubious place in rock history, and the surreal bullshit surrounding Michael Jackson in his later years.

The album also features the gothic ballad "'Til the End of Time," a song that may or may not be about Barnabas Collins. Here's a sample:

I've woken from darkness with passion
You're surely to blame for it
This torture so wicked
You hurt me just for the hell of it

The lyrics certainly suggest the song is about a vampire, but there are two things that makes me think it might have been directly inspired by DARK SHADOWS. First, the TV series had been airing on The Sci-Fi Channel in the U.K. for several years when the album was released. (It would be a stretch to even call that evidence "circumstantial," though.) But, leading into the song is a proverbial smoking gun: "'Til the End of Time,"  kicks off with a sample of Lara Parker's dialogue from the original series.

Making that connection is a trifle difficult, though, thanks to how the album was edited. The tracks were chopped to allow the songs to begin at the start of each track listing, shuffling the seques (such as Parker's monologue from episode 561) to the end of the previous songs. So, if you want to hear the DARK SHADOWS sample, you actually have to listen to the the song "Neverland." Life can be complicated like that.

If you want to hear the sample for yourself, follow this link and skip to the 3:20 mark.

(Note: Yes, I know that magazine clipping below gets Dave Vanian's name wrong.)

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