Echo & The Bunnymen - People are strange

Going back a bit to my previous post, my decision to reactivate my blog is something that I'd been considering for a good long while. I had no idea, though, what I'd write about here; in the past my previous and long defunct blogs were a bit all over the place in terms of content, and if memory serves me right, the last time I actually wrote about music on a blog of mine was almost a decade ago when I was between Switzerland and Portugal. But I guess you'd have to thank this pandemic to actually get me off of my lazy ass and start writing again, and why not write about what I'm listening to?

So today I posted Echo & The Bunnymen's cover of 'People are strange', originally by The Doors - a band that you'll probably be shocked to find that I truly dislike. I just can't seem to understand what the appeal is, and god knows I tried. My brother was way into them many years ago, and I did listen to all their records, but apart from a song here and there that I didn't dispise, most of it was pretty meh for me. But yeah, this particular version of the song is special to me, it is, after all, part of the soundtrack to one of my favourite horror movies of all time : The Lost Boys.

I'm not now a huge horror fan, I guess I just stopped having patience for it many years ago, but way back in the 80's? Oh yeah, I was all over horror. (Well, american horror, that is to say.)
Halloweens, Fidays, Nightmares? Loved 'em. Evil deads, Fright Nights, Howlings? Devoured 'em. Anything that had Stephen King or John Carpenter on the title was pure gold to me. I couldn't get enough, and to be sure - every visit to my local videostore meant that some movie or the other would be playing later on on the telly. But bear in mind that none of the technical bits in the movies were what endeared them to me, nor did they inspire me to learn any of the crafts therein involved. Yet there was another crucial factor, a magazine I religiously bought and read for years on end called Fangoria. Oh, those halcyon pre-internet days when you weren't spoon-fed everything, and if you wanted to know anything at all you truly had to put in the time and effort.
And Fangoria - along with Starlog, but that's a story for another day - were my gateway into so much that would come to influence me greatly in those coming years of my youth.

And man - just look at that cover right there. Ten year old me was completely engrossed, I wanted to know more about who these lost boys were, I wanted to know who this kickass disfigured vampire was, I wanted to know everything. And because I'm an old man now, whose memory can sometimes be downright sketchy, I can't really remember if I first saw this movie in the 80's or in the very early 90's, I for sure didn't watch at the cinema, my parents would have never allowed it. Watching a horror movie with the family at home, yes? Watching it alone in some dark cinema? No. (I also can't say for sure if it got a release over here or not.) But be that as it may, I certainly recall watching it for the first time and immediately falling for it. What's not to love? Kiefer Sutherland as a badass, menacing vampire? The super awesome Frog Bros, who run a comic-book store of their own? And that soundtrack? Who among us never felt chills when listening to 'Cry little sister'? Hot damn! If all that's not a recipe for success, I don't know what is!

Throughout all these years - like it was only yesterday, but over thirty years ago - I never stopped having a soft spot for this movie in my heart. A few years back I was crate digging in a local record store, and among the thousands of records I handled that day, I brought home a few with me - including the 12'' single that I showcased today. Playing it always brings a smile to my face. Impending threat of global nuclear war nonetheless, the 80's were truly an amazing decade. Don't be surprised if I revisit if often here!