This is sorta what the Ed Wood Zone looked like back in the summer of 2000-- these are my blurbs for these songs. I generally tried to keep the number of songs down to 15 or so in any given week, but here I've included way more than that. As even a cursory reading will reveal, if I found a song I liked on MP3.com, I could usually find a reason why it belonged in the Ed Wood Zone (see "Hophead," "Coming Back Down to Earth," and especially "All My Golden Dreams That Die.") I'm sorry I can't provide you with links to the original mp3's, but some of them can be found at the 365-Day Project.
(5 Aug 2000- 19 Aug 2000)
Ever sit around the apartment on a Saturday afternoon with nothing to do, and you think to yourself, Geez, I sure wish I could listen to 10 or 12 songs about EDWARD D. WOOD JR., the director of "Glen or Glenda" and "Plan Nine from Outer Space," right about now."? Guess what? YOUR SHIP HAS COME IN!
THE ED WOOD ZONE--
The Internet's PREMIER PROVIDER for ALL YOUR ED WOOD MUSICAL NEEDS since AUGUST 2000
THE ED WOOD ZONE Radio
Plum Theme
by Ego Plum
Rock
To get us into an Ed Wood-type mood, here's an Ed Wood-type theme song... from Mr. Plum, who describes himself as "a 6-fingered mulatto" and his music as "violent cartoon music for Anglo-Saxons, Negroids and sexy non-nude Mulatto Women." I'm not sure whether the '6-fingered' means there's an extra digit on each hand, or if he's only got six TOTAL, like Mickey Mouse. Either way, there's not much doubt that this guy (who lists Our Ed among his musical influences) and his Elfmanesque opus belong on this page... EXTRA! The following email was received this week: "I think you would be very happy to know that Ego Plum is part actually part of the Ed Wood legacy/family tree because of his involvement in an obscure little film back in 1996. Ego Plum wrote a strangely beautiful musical score for the film "Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf," which was directed by and starred Conrad Brooks (of Plan 9 fame: "Jaimie the Cop") Portions of the film were actually shot at the same old soundstage where Ed Wood filmed Plan 9 from Outer Space so long ago." The email was unsigned, so it's hard to say whether it's from Mr. Plum or Mr. Brooks or someone else entirely-- but it's nice to know that when we said Mr. P belongs here, we weren't kidding, even if we thought maybe we were.
Me and Bela Lugosi
by The Immigrants
Folk Punk
The mp3.com site is loaded with songs about Bela Lugosi, but this one has a verse devoted to his battle with the mechanical giant octopus (without a motor) in "Bride of the Monster." (And the "Me" in the titles is ED WOOD himself, by the way!)These guys also have a song about feta cheese you might want to check out. Those of you who like feta cheese, anyway.
Killer Transvestite
by Feo Y Loco
Satire
While not SPECIFICALLY inspired by the work of Ed Wood-- the group says it was inspired by a newspaper article-- Ed's oeuvre is chok full of killer transvestites (see his novel KILLER IN DRAG, for instance). And you can dance to this, while the novels lack a backbeat.
Tor Johnson
by Planet Log
Power Pop
Incredibly, this is the ONLY SONG about Tor Johnson on mp3.com! But it's a good one, even though the lyric makes the claim that Tor never spoke a word in any of his films, when in fact his remarkable line readings in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE are one of its highlights. This track is produced by the legendary Kramer; the group mutated into PLANET LOG 3000 shortly after recording this, but we sure hope this is still part of their repertoire...
Orgy of the Dead
by Cult of the Psychic Fetus
Rockabilly
The first of two "Orgy of the Dead"s-- Neither of which actually has a whale of a lot to do with Ed's quasi-pornographic flick of the same name, but both of which are pretty great. This is the rockabilly one, and believe me, it's a keeper.
Angora space dream
by Semtex
Intelligent Techno
Would an Ed Wood Zone be complete without a song about angora? I wanted to find a song called "Angora Fetish" but unfortunately nobody seems to have written one yet. Hey, get with it, you guys. However, THIS number not only mentions angora in the title, it uses a SAMPLE from "Plan Nine." YEAH!
Dead Boy Boogie
by Plan Nine (Sweden)
Glam
If you name your band after an Ed Wood movie, you end up here sooner or later. There's another Plan Nine or two coming up later, but this is the one from Sweden, as those of you who read the stuff inside the parenthesis have already figured out. These Swedish Glam-rockers call this "an intense two minutes," and we have to agree.
Grave Robbers From Outer Space
by Beat Conspiracy
Intelligent Techno
An extensive clip of CRISWELL babbling away, set to a throbbing techno beat. What's not to like? There's another "Grave Robbers" coming your way in a few minutes. Compare and contrast.
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
by Polylite Plus
Alternative General
The 'about the song' paragraph on their page gives no clue that this toe-tapper shares a title with one of Ed's most demented screenplays, so maybe it's a coincidence. Listen and decide.
Orgy Of The Dead
by Fangboy and the Ghouls
Doom/Stoner Metal
Given the name of this band, I probably would have wanted them in the ED WOOD ZONE even if they didn't have a song called "Orgy of the Dead," but they do. Why am I not surprised? Quite different from the Cult of the Psychic Fetus song of the same name, but still righteous. Their song "Cathead" sounds pretty promising, too.
Alecia
by R. Stevie Moore
Pop
"Alecia," of course, is the name of the transvestite played by Ed in "Take It Out in Trade." This Alecia is apparently not THAT Alecia, but we think you'll like her anyway. A rollicking countryish tune that might remind you of Ed's "Shotgun Wedding" (AKA "Child Bride of the Ozarks"), released in 1963 in (says here)'flaming hillbilly color.' This song doesn't sound like any of the other songs on Mr. Moore's page, but then none of them sound like any of the others, which is pretty much the way his darn-near 300 (!) albums sound, too. Yow!
Graverobbers from Outer Space
by Impaler
Alternative Metal
ANOTHER "Graverobbers from Outer Space"? Frankly, I wish there were 60 of 'em out there. RED ALERT! RED ALERT! INVASION OF! THE PLANET EARTH!
Pinned/Take It Out In Trade/Class Dismissed
by High School Sweethearts
Alternative General
NEW THIS WEEK! "Take It Out in Trade" (1970) was Ed's return to the director's chair after 10 years in the wilderness. It's also the name of the middle song in this spirited medley, from what amounts to a New Jersey supergroup, loaded with musicians from a number of NJ bands including Electric Frankenstein and the legendary Feelies. The subject matter has nothing to do with Ed's "Take It Out in Trade," but is not far removed from his "The Violent Years," AKA "Teenage Girl Gang" and "Girl Gang Terrorists." Ed would dig it.
Greenroom
by Plan 9 from outer space
Surf Rock
Surf rock from Berlin, Germany. Which sounds like it might be the answer to "What's Plan TEN from Outer Space?"
No Reason Why
by Plan 10
Ska
Having just written the above comment about "Plan 9," we typed "Plan 10" into the search engine and these guys popped out. This is a catchy little ska number, though we almost went with their set closer, "Breakthrough." We are afraid to type "Plan 11" into the search engine.
HOPHEAD
by Mike Hopper
Pop
"Bela Lugosi-- cleaned up, dropped dead." --Lenny Bruce. But BEFORE Bela cleaned up and dropped dead, he maybe inspired this incredibly catchy number, composed by Moondog (who used to play duets with foghorns and stuff like that) and sung here by Mike Hopper, who has a great song of his own about his Hawaiian shirt and how wearing it makes him invincible. Is that really how you spell 'Hawaiian'?
BROWN PAPER
by THE ROUSERS
Alternative Country
The plot of this song is strikingly similar to Ed's short story "Down the Drain," in which the main character tries to dispose of his ex-girlfriend's corpse by stuffing it down the garbage disposal, only to be foiled when the disposal gets clogged by the paper wrapper from a can of tuna fish. The story is also notable because about halfway through, Ed forgot his protagonist's name was Ted and began calling him Don, an error fortunately not caught by the crack proofreading staff of Hot Fun Magazine. The song is from the Rousers' early eighties period, featuring composer Bill Dickson on lead vocals and the spectacular Tom Milmore on lead guitar.
ALL MY SHINY GOLDEN DREAMS THAT DIE
by RADIES MAN
Experimental
Y'know, some folks get in the Ed Wood Zone because they write a song about him, or one of his movies; or they name their band after "Plan Nine from Outer Space"; and then there are those who get here because of our conviction that, had he only known about them, Ed would have made a movie about THEM. After listening to this tune we think you'll agree that, if only this guy had been born 50 years sooner, Vampira might have received a phone call from Ed that went something like "Hello, Vampira? Ed Wood here... listen, me and some of the guys-- Bela, Tor, Criz, and Radie's Man... are going to the premiere of "Bride of the Monster" tonight and we wondered if you'd like to come along...?" Introducing... RADIES MAN!
Big Time Sci-Fi Role
by Work of Saws
Folk Punk
NEW THIS WEEK! "I'm going to shoot/ This phazer gun/ Make it feel real/ For everyone..." A pithy, plaintive little ditty about confusing your life with your science fiction movies. Sound like anybody we know? "It's all an act / to you / I'm serious / stop laughing..."
MY FINGERNAILS
by ALEISTER CROWLEY
poetry
Here in the Ed Wood Zone, we have folks from Sweden, South America, and New Jersey, folks working in techno, jazz, chamber music, and punk--but Mr. Crowley is our first DEAD Ed Wood zoner. Mr. C. (magician, member of The Golden Dawn, self-proclaimed "dope fiend," author of some very bizarre books) shuffled off this mortal coil several decades ago, in fact, but the long, strange shadow he cast across popular culture-- everything from Sommerset Maugham's Edwardian novel "The Magician" to David Bowie's "Quicksand"-- shows no sign of fading out any time soon. But what, you're probably wondering, is this guy doing here? Well, we've always felt that if any filmmaker was equipped to do justice to the Aleister Crowley story, it was Ed Wood. Magick, sex, drugs, cheesy costumes, cheesier dialogue-- it would have been a match made in heaven. We see Wood stalwart KEENE DUNCAN as the ideal Crowley, tho perhaps the mellifluous tones of "Bunny" Breckenridge would be more appropriate. Anyway, here's a sample of Aleister at his madcap best-- and if you play it backwards, it sounds exactly like the guitar solo in "Stairway to Heaven." Honest.
MONKEY VS ROBOT
by JAMES KOCHALKA SUPERSTAR
Alternative General
FOR A LIMITED TIME-- PART ONE OF OUR "TRIBUTE TO ED WOOD'S COLLEAGUE PHIL TUCKER" DOUBLE BILL! Phil, who according to Rudolph Grey, helped Ed with the editing of "Plan 9" (!!!)(Thanks, Phil!) was an, uh, interesting film maker in his own right, of course-- his masterpiece being "Robot Monster." This song sets up the age-old conflict between monkeys and robots which is the SUB TEXT of that amazing film-- Thesis: MONKEY. Antithesis: ROBOT. Synthesis...
ROBOT MONSTER
by MAUTH MANN
Experimental / Post Rock
...ROBOT MONSTER! Which turns out to be a guy in a gorilla suit with a space helmet instead of a gorilla head. This song, as the song info says, is "just like the movie, only with less to look at." FOR A LIMITED TIME-- PART TWO OF OUR "SALUTE TO ED'S COLLEAGUE PHIL TUCKER" DOUBLE BILL!
COMING DOWN TO EARTH
by KRYSTYNA OLSIEWICZ
Pop
Ed's final days. After the glory days of "Plan 9" and "Sinister Urge," an alcohol-numbed Ed ponders what was, what might have been, what remains. A heart breaker. Music by RAYMOND SCOTT ("Powerhouse"), lyrics and guitar by CHRIS BUTLER (The Waitresses, Kilopop), all other instruments by R. Stevie Moore. The perfect song with which to end your visit to the ED WOOD ZONE!
*
If you are aware of any other Ed Wood songs out there-- or if you're inspired to write and record one-- let us know! We want it! HINT: No songs were found with the titles "The Violent Years," "The Sinister Urge," or "Glen or Glenda." HELP!! OTHER HINT: A search of the classical music wing of the site did not turn up any performances of Mossolov's IRON FOUNDRY, which is the music played over the credits (and everything else) in PLAN NINE. So if one of you symphony orchestras would take a whack at it, we'll post it IMMEDIATELY.
Back to