Shuddersome Soundscape #3 - Undead Melody

For the past two Shuddersome Soundscape installments, I've let witches take center stage. This week, however, I'd like to showcase another star of the Halloween screen: the zombie. And here to present this popular monster is the horror punk band the Misfits with their song " Night of the Living Dead."

The song, of course based on George Romero's film Night of the Living Dead, was released on their third EP (of the same name) in 1979. Its lo-fi quality typical of many punk bands stood alongside horror-based lyrics, strong backing vocals, and Danzig's lead voice to create the signature Misfits sound that would carry on through their next albums. Along with this sound came their quintessential look, which came into its full, iconic fruition around this time.

"Night of the Living Dead" later returned for the band's first full length album Walk Among Us in 1982 (they had recorded two other LPs before this, but Walk Among Us was the first to be released). This album became known as a legendary and definitive work for the Misfits and paved the way for horror punk bands to come.

Similarly, the movie on which the song was based cemented another staple, horror-filled vision. Romero's 1968 independent film birthed the image of the modern zombie as the shambling, half-rotten, flesh-eating monster we know today.

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