How to Appreciate Horror Rock and Roll

One of the fastest growing genres in music is horror rock. If you are not familiar with it, just imagine a horror movie put to rock and roll music. The lyrics are often smart, witty and catchy and the music runs the gamut of 50s influences to heavy metal. Horror rock bands can be found in virtually every country on the planet. From New Zealand to Australia to the United States, bands are exploring creative avenues where things that go bump in the night are a song waiting to happen.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• An open mind
• A love of good music
• An appreciation for artistic expression

1. Appreciate horror rock history. When most people first hear horror rock, they can often dismiss it as a fad, but in truth, horror rock has been around for over 50 years! Classic rock acts like Alice Cooper and Kiss touched on the darker side of life in many of their songs, some of which are actually revered as some of rock's greatest songs. But it was not until a band out of Lodi, New Jersey was formed that horror rock began its rise to prominence. That band was named the Misfits.

2. If you listed the number of bands who have been influenced by the Misfits on a sheet of paper, you will discover that you could easily fill an entire notebook. Best-selling bands like Metallica, My Chemical Romance and many others all claim the Misfits as major influences. Many newer bands have even adopted the trademark sound and look of the godfathers of horror rock.

3. Listen to the melodies and rhythms that hearken back to the 50s. Doo-wop style choruses, richly layered songs and drive-in movie lyrics are combined to form the foundation of horror rock and roll. Newer bands like Calabrese and Zombeast, both out of Arizona, create intense, guitar-driven hard rock while instilling their music with catchy choruses and melodies.

4. Listening to horror rock is like "watching" a three-minute horror movie. Many of the songs are written in story-form, so you actually get a beginning, middle and end. In addition, many horror rock songs are very ironic, unpredictable and some are even quite funny.

5. Find bands that play under the horror rock genre label. While many bands fall under the "horror rock" label, there are in fact a wide range of musical styles represented. For instance, England's Zombina and the Skeletones offer up bubble gum pop with a nice dash of punk. Creature Feature, a musically diverse duo, instill their keyboard-rich songs with a tongue-in-cheek groove similar to Danny Elfman's compositions. Meanwhile, other bands like Australia's Zombie Ghost Train and America's The Brides bring a very wide range of musical styles to the genre.

6. Simply put, if you enjoy good old-fashioned rock and roll, and can overlook lyrics about the dead rising from the grave, or a vampire lurking in the shadows, or a creature from the swamp surfacing to terrorize, then there is no reason why you wouldn't absolutely love horror rock!