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Smackdown: Vampires vs. Zombies
It's been a big year for the undead. Vampires are sucking blood on TV shows like True Blood and Vampire Diaries and in the upcoming film New Moon. Zombies are stumbling through movies starring Woody Harrelson (Zombieland) and books by zombie-loving scribe Max Brooks (The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks). In a special Halloween edition of Soundcheck Smackdown, we debate whether vampires or zombies have inspired better music. We're joined by Tom Moon, author of the spookily titled book 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die, and Jason Rekulak of Quirk Books, publisher of the Jane Austen satire Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Tell us: Which has inspired better music -- vampires or zombies? Why do you think vampires and zombies are a big part of pop culture right now?
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die on Amazon
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on Amazon
Blog: John Schaefer on the Undead [WNYC Culture]
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Some has to give some love to the were wolves and Warren Zevon. "Were wolves of London" is a great song, used in several films.
Wouldn't the music industry be arguing that the real vampires are those darn kids and their internet downloading?
Thriller's the best selling album anyway, so dancing zombies have clearly won.
Trueblood just keeps getting more and more stupid, but that song is so so good.
Well, on the side of Zombies, we have Thriller. Which can really, kind of carry the category on it's own, regardless of what other songs you might conjure up.
On the side of Vampires... there's what exactly? The Twilight and True Blood soundtracks?
Come on, this debate is just open and shut.
I like Monster Mash because it celebrates all monsters equally withour prejudice!
without
I love Fela Kuti's "Zombie" but it's a metaphor for Nigeria's military.
I prefer zombies in movies (they're more sociopolitical) but I think the psychosexual element of vampires might lend itself better to music.
I just watched "The Hunger" the other day, and the opening scene was AWESOME: beautiful vampires David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve prowling for victims in New York City nightclubs while Bauhaus performs "Bela Lugosi's Dead."
On the one hand, there's Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus with solid representation for the vampires. But on the other hand, I've got one of my personal favorites They Are Night Zombies by Sufjan Stevens.
I think I'd have to agree that Thriller is the trump card of all music monsterness
There's no Zombie Chic. That's just the way Rachel Zoe comes across because she's starving.
Nellie Mckay's "Zombie"!! go Zombies!!!
Where's the Goth? Once again a highly influential genre is overlooked. One of the best Zombie songs of all time is "Now I'm feeling Zombified" by Alien Sex Fiend.
Poor zombies. Hey, It's not easy being sexy when your limbs are falling off!
I'd go with vampires, especially as represented by Claudia Schmidt's "Vampyre (Forever Young)".
Vampires have more sex but zombies probably have more fun.
Vampires = Goth
Zombies = Punk
Vampires. First- zombies cannot speak, much less carry a tune. Vampires do have the sex aspect, but more than that- they have a certain style which lends itself to the music industry- and many bands will agree that A&R people are closely related to the blood-sucking denizens of the night.
All Goth music/style is implicitly vampiresque. Of course vampires have had much more influence in music and more prolific in spawning subcultures.
I'd vote for Vampires purely because they've got better film and TV scores: Elliott Goldenthal's Interview with the Vampire, Carter Burwell's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Annie Lenox's "Love Song for a Vampire"...
The one that tips it for zombies is The Zombies's classic album, Odyssey and Oracle...the sublime Time of the Season and the rest of it. And toss in Bowie's Scary Monsters for good measure.
Dick Cheney = Satan
as you hinted at, it seems the rise of the Zombie coincided with the 25th anniversary of Thriller. With the death of MJ could the zombie thing be a public honoring of the king?
The mascot, Eddie, of one of the greatest bands ever, Iron Maiden, is a zombie!
I'm voting for robots but that's a write in I guess.
That Concrete Blonde song seemed like it was both pro vampire and pro zombie...
"You were a vampire and I'm the walking dead"
Aren't zombies walking dead?
Awesome comment Cynthia! Vampires = waaay too overexposed right now. A brilliant, timeless world-weary yet electric sophistication seems to follow these legends... trending perhaps toward opera and mathrock. However zombies are the clods of monsterism, a fun-loving but simple bunch that might like, say, punk and country sentimentality. It's a tough call.
Actually, your guest for the next part of the show, Pearl and the Beard, also have a great Zombie song in their repertoire!
What about the Cranberries "Zombie" from 1994.
Yes, they use "Zombie" as a metaphor, but it rocks.
I'm with CJ on both and Werevolves have the best party singalong. But hey - what is the G Love Zombie song?
nobody wants to be a zombie. being a vampire is hot, you wear black.
I'm not going to argue either way, but the Cranberries' "Zombie" was one of the most important songs to me as a teenager. The idea that I was destined to take part in what I saw as a conforming adult world was very scary to me.
Let's not forget the classic episode of Buffy, "Once More With Feeling," in which vampires and their slayers burst into song, musical-theater style.
VAMPIRES are NY
Zombies are NJ
How about Dead Can Dance in the Vampire chic category? I seem to remember one of the band members actually bought a church and setup a home studio there.
We prefer VAMPIRES.
We are in Budapest now on vacation for 2-weeks.
We are going to TRANSYLVANIA for the real thing on October 31.
Mike and Virginia Zullo
Upper Eastside, Manhattan
Twilight = sucks, no pun intended
AND
The recent graphic novel "The Walking Dead", soon to be an AMC TV series, is amazing, more a study on social behavior than on how to best behead the walking dead.
Despite my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and the vampire characters Spike and Angel, a favorite of mine is the John Coulton song "Re: Your Brains" about what happens when that annoying manager in your office becomes a zombie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlznuyPOeM
But two of my all time favorites from childhood are for phantoms - the organ theme to "The Haunted Mansion" - or the wonderful and memorable "Headless Horseman" by Thurl Ravenscroft - both by Disney (Is that vampirism by association?)
As far as music goes, neither wins... NOTHING beats werewolves!
Werewolves of London!!!!!
What about Ozzys "Bark at the Moon"? Where are teh warewolves?!?
"the world is a vampire.." - smashing pumpkins
Zombies represent the worst element of Modern Society:
Janelle Monae asks:
"Are we really living or just walking dead now."
I know she's more sci-fi, but it's a repeated theme in many zombie movies
Forget about Vampires. My favourite music video has a werewolf --- "It's A Wonderful Night"!! But, I'm also in love with Rockapella's "Zombie Jamboree".
There is a psychological theory that the zombie is constructed to contain our fear of each other. After bears, the greatest threats we face are from our fellow men, who look just like us. Since the "monsters" among us don't look like monsters, folktales and storytellers create monstrous versions of humans so that we can psychologically cope and identify the monsters.
Zombies are great because, while threatening, they are even more vulnerable than we are, move slowly, and are easily decapitated.
There are also at least two legit operas about vampires -- Heinrich Marschner's Der Vampyr and a 20th-c. work based on 'Dracula' staged at the Houston Opera in the '90s (can't remember composer right now). Zombies simply haven't existed in the cultural imagination for long enough a time -- at least not in any consistent form -- to make significant impact or to have much mileage.
Zombies of course....
The Zombies!!!!!
Time of the Season
What about Philip Glass' Dracula? The music is absolutely beautiful, and you hear the naked, scratchy sound of a violin bow on a string all the way through. The most sophisticated vampire piece around.
Buffy Ste. Marie did a great vampire song that is seductive, atmospheric and sad....one line:
Oh my little rosary, never used it very well, now I never will...
Vampires rule
agree with Mr Moon on the SEX issue of today's subject. don't forget Philly Joe Jones' "Blues for Dracula"
i think half japanese would land on the zombie side of thinks, though Jad has worn a black cape once or twice.
here a list to consider: http://lamentforastraightline.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/something-feels-wrong-halloween-tunes-2009/
Duh! Bela Lugosi's Dead...Bauhaus. best song ever. vampires win.
Thriller is great as is the Zombie Jamboree so I'd have to give my vote to the zombies in music although in movies I've always preffered vampires.
Bauhaus's Bela Lagosi is Dead. Best Vampire song ever.
check out uncle monsterface's mashed potato vs vampire. classic. (from an album that features another song about vampires and one about giant zombies taking over the world). double irony - jocelyn from pearl and the beard sings on that album. well.
i think vampire beats zombie in a fight. unless overwhelmed by numbers (or unfair fast zombies). songs are a draw, but if it was a band full of actual zombies, that would be more fun to watch.
the real question is, where the hell are the songs about vampires by vampire weekend?!
i am thinking vampires have won this battle....
outkast's "dracula's wedding"
slint's "nosferatu man"
xiu xiu's "brian the vampire"
radiohead's "we suck young blood"
et cetera
all zombies have going for them is grunge yuck
Vampire Weekend's name seemed largely incidental, but the video for "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" has the band transformed by the light of the full moon into...goths?
Vampires are sex so it's pretty easy to be a fan. But zombies are simply awesome and have so many facets to their personality. You've got everything from your rabid, fleshy-hungry beasts from the Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later to your sad, romantically-challenged Zombie-American, portrayed by Ed Helms.
Dracula songs are more about a dangerous individual, whereas zombies are more about the ills of society. But think about it, zombie movies are more about the people who have to get rid of the zombies, not the zombies themselves. And along those lines, some zombies have gotten quicker (28 Days Later, I Am Legend), so I would imagine zombie songs must have to reflect that! Vampires have gotten sexier and more complex, so maybe the songs reflect that as well.
BTW, great music zombie scene is from Shaun of the Dead when they tried to kill zombies by flinging vinyl records at them.
the pearl in the beard has a great song about zombies! ask them to play it!
Zombies, particularly, tend to rise on the pop-cultural radar at moments of great governmental debt. The late 80s, during Reagan's second administration, was the golden age of zombie films. One might even go so far as to argue that necrified zombies are the archetypal symbols of public debt.
She's right. Vampires are about people who drain the life force out of you. Not sexy!
There's a band called Dracula Zombie USA. I believe they supported both zombies and vampires equally. http://www.myspace.com/draculazombieusa
What about werewolves???
TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me" is an amazing song...could apply to vampires, werewolves, and zombies.
THE CRAMPS THE CRAMPS THE CRAMPS!
Lots of songs about the undead but "Zombie Dance" might take the cake. It also lends weight to the arguement that zombie = punk.
Enough of the dreary stuff. Zombies have more fun. see Zombie Jamboree (Back to Back. Belly to Belly, in a New York Cemetery.) thats Harry Belafonte of course and maybe earlier in Trinidad.
You're reminding me of one of my favorite a cappella songs: "Zombie Jamboree" sung by Rockapella. It's a "cute" zombie song. Please play it!
Vampires! so much sexier.
I think Lakme would be a great song for contrast and creepy serenity as they pursue and catch their prey.
What about werewolves?
TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me" is amazing, and could apply to vampires, zombies, and werewolves.
What about the Zombies (the British Invasion band) vs. Vampire Weekend?
Enough of the dreary stuff! Zombies have more fun -- see Zombie Jamboree by Harry Belafonte (and maybe earlier in Trinidad.)
the band the godrays had a song called "vampire's suck" which was more about break ups i think.
Definitive zombie song: "I walked with a zombie by thirteenth floor elevators
Zombie= cerebral (they eat brains)
vampires= sensual
The Brazilian Singer Caetano Veloso sings a song called Vampiro...which is simply AMAZING!!!!
Hey!
Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is the BEST vampire song around!!! Don't forget it!
Victoria
Zombies!
Also, fun Roky Erickson song, "I Walked with Zombies."
Son of dracula
nilsson
Yeah, werewolves are underrated! If they had been part of the debate, I would have thrown down for them.
That conversation was so fun!
62 comments in and someone mentions the Cramps???? They should've been mentioned within the first TEN!
Although I am not a fan of the genre - What about the werewolf? One of the best soundtracks I know of is from "An American Werewolf in London".
The Toadies - “Possum Kingdom”
In the pop culture, until the recent vampire craze, vampires are 19th century and zombies 20th century.
Obviously vampires win, but you need the zombies for the yin/yang big lovable stupid side of life.
Another point for zombies: I was recently surprised to find out the brilliant pop retro artist SHAG, known for mid-century cocktail and tiki themed imagery, played in kitschy California band Swamp Zombies back in the day.
Blackblackblackblack Number 1!!
"...like loving the dead"
The question of "better music" is tricky resolve, since it's hard to evaluate art. That said, if beauty is truth, and truth beauty, we can perhaps claim that great art points to something true, while things that are not great art--porn, romance novels, etc.--do not necessarily represent anything true, bur rather represent fictions designed to appeal to our baser instincts.
As such, we can give vampires two truths: the truth of the attraction of things that are dangerous, and the various truths of the various exploitations that are referenced by the metaphors in vampire songs.
Unfortunately, neither of these truths is as deep or significant as the truth referenced by zombie songs, namely the importance of individuals over the masses. This emphasis on individuals rather than communities is at the heart of the renaissance, of human rights, of artistic expression itself. It's the Declaration of Independence, it's Fight Club, and it's Fight the Power.
Indeed, the truth of exploitation referenced by vampire art only has meaning because of the moral framework implied by the truth of individual significance referenced by zombie art.
Zombies can have love songs, too - not just vampires. "My Body's a Zombie for You" by Dead Man's Bones, the musical project with Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields, is great.
It's not that deep, James.
Oh no I guess I missed the show! My brother was listening and frantically texted me the topic. I used to be in a band called, "DraculaZombieUSA." Ha! I think we were among the worst band names of 2006 in the Onion or something.
I am a teenage girl and dick cheny is not a vampire, he is a zombie, a mindless zombie
Song: Christian Zombie Vampire
Band: My Life w/ the Thrill Kill Cult
Great song and combines Vampires, Zombies and the scariest of them all, Christians
We have a "Twilight" - vampire themed singer scheduled to sing for our vampire cruise in January - please see www.fangsandfurcruise.com for details. It's a Twilight - True Blood - Vampire Diaries, Dracula, etc. cruise for fans and for writers/aspiring writers/screenwriters, hosted by Hollywood screenwriter Judy Burns (of "Star Trek" fame).
No one mentioned Zombie Nation?
I can't believe no one has mentioned witches in the comments-"Black Magic Women" or even the "Harry Potter" soundtracks, anyone?
Vampires have more to explore in literature than zombies do, seeing as they have "lives" but the Cranberries' Zombie makes a great musical argument. Where can I see the two guest's lists?
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