VS.
Hello all you goblins, spooks,
and freaky stuff that is growing underneath my bed. Welcome to “Halloween
Month” here at Rave Up Music! I am your ghost with the most Barius, and based
on the chimes that I hear ringing from my grandfather clock, it is time for
another installment of Cover Wars!
For this frightfully awesome installment, we are going to look at the music
from one of my favorite movies for all time: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Ever since it was released in
1993, The Nightmare Before Christmas
has been one of my favorite films to watch around both Halloween and Christmas
time. The idea of what happens when the two holidays meet has always fascinated
me, and makes me wonder what would happen if you mixed other holidays together.
For example, what would happen if mixed Passover with Easter?
ויסגעצייכנט
(Translate it)
There are a lot of reasons why The Nightmare Before Christmas is a
great film. The story of Jack Skellington wanting more than what he has in his
Halloween Town is a great character development story, especially when Jack
realizes that what he has is pretty awesome. The characters and creatures in
both Halloween Town and Christmas Town are fascinating, well-designed, and are
so unique that you remember them long after you see the movie. Plus, from a
visual aspect, the film is an achievement of what can be done in stop motion
animation.
However, this is a music review
blog, and so, we need to talk about what is the best part of the film: the
music/songs. Like most of the films involving Tim Burton in some capacity, the
music for Nightmare was composed by
good old Danny Elfman. Unlike previous Burton-Elfman collaborations, such as Batman, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a
full-blown musical movie, with 10 songs/reprisals. While Elfman has been known
to do darker, dramatic film scores, the songs in Nightmare cover a wide array of styles and genres, be it the sad,
reflective ballad “Sally’s Song” or the high energy, swing band style of “Oogie
Boogie’s Song.”
Again, if this was in the Disney Canon,
it would have been on my Top 10 Disney
Villain Songs…
My favorite song from the film is
the opening song, “This Is Halloween.” The song sets the mood for the movie:
dark, macabre, but a little bit of fun and excitement (more so in the vocals
than the music). In pop culture, the song has become synonymous with the film,
and there are few cover versions, ranging from our favorite video game metal
band Powerglove to Panic! At The Disco. However, the version has always stuck
in my head comes from the shock rock master himself, Marilyn Manson.
I wonder if Manson does his own make-up...
Though I might not have hinted at
it earlier in my 2wo review, I am not a big fan of Marilyn Manson. No, it is
not because of some the “showmanship” he presents on stage, but rather more
towards his music. I have nothing against industrial rock/metal music, but I
have felt that Manson’s music is a bit too gritty, and often not well-refined
when compared to some of his contemporaries. However, there are a few Manson
songs here there that I liked, including “Disposable Teens, “The Beautiful
People,” and his disturbing take on the Eurhythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.” Hmm, "Sweet Dreams"...I
think I sense a future edition of Cover Wars…
In 2008, Walt Disney Records
released Nightmare Revisited, an
album that features cover versions of the songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas from many modern music artists,
including Amy Lee of Evanescence, Korn, The All-American Rejects, and of
course, Marilyn Manson’s cover of “This Is Halloween,” although Manson
previously released the song in 2006 on the reissued of the original Nightmare movie soundtrack. Manson’s
version has received praised from critics and Nightmare fans, but yet there are several people out there who
questioned Disney for their choice to have such a controversial artist featured
on their album.
So, for this special Halloween edition of Cover Wars, we are going to determine if the creatures and monsters of Halloween Town can stand up against the shock rock juggernaut. It is time to get in your scare on as we take a look at Cover Wars – “This Is Halloween.”
The
Original Version:
“This Is Halloween” serves as our
introduction to this bizarre world of goblins, witches, and ghosts, and it is a
lot of fun to listening to. Usually, an introduction song in a musical is
upbeat, and full of high energy to get you pumped up for the rest of the
movie/play. However, “This is Halloween” is a dark, slightly twisted intro, but
still has a strong beat that pushes itself to the end of the song. It does have
moments when it is a bit bombastic that does celebrates the fun that is
Halloween. Like a lot of other themes that are Halloween based, the song is in
a minor key, creating the somewhat darker feel to the music.
To add to the macabre feel of the
tune, the tonality shifts around a lot, going from one key signature to the
next. Heck, the tune does not even end in the starting key, which gives the song
a unique character and sound. To me, it kind of sounds likes a twisted circus
show, and I do not mean “Psycho Circus” by KISS.
Still a pretty cool video, though…
From a lyrical standpoint, this
song does a great job of enticing you into Halloween Town, asking the children
of all ages that if you want to see something strange, then follow these
creatures into their world. Slowly, we are introduced to some the characters,
and how they fit into this world: the creature under the bed, the shadow on the
moon, and my personal favorite, the clown with the tear-away face.
He is no Pennywise, but that is pretty creepy…
Even though some of the creatures
are a bit terrifying, in their introduction, you grow to love them, and learn
they are really good people (?) who just enjoy scaring the piss out of you. The
song also does an excellent job telling us about our main character, Jack
Skellington, and how he is the Pumpkin King and how the citizens of Halloween
Town are loyal and dedicated to him.
Overall, the original “This Is
Halloween” is a great introduction to the world of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The song is dark, but still a bit
bouncy to make you enjoying it. The characters singing the song are
distinctive, and makes you want to stay in Halloween Town for a while to hang
out with them. Danny Elfman has composed a nice tune to reel us into the film,
and keep our interest all the way to the end.
Now that we looked at the
original, let us see what Mr. Brian Warner has for all of us. Here is the Marilyn
Manson version of “This Is Halloween.”
The
Cover Version:
Wow…I have got to say it…this
version KICKS ASS!!!
Right off the bat, Manson takes
the orchestral parts and gives them that industrial metal feel to them. The
sound choices that he and the band pick give the song the feeling that if you
hear that kind of music coming from a dark corridor, you would not dare going
down that way. The band does not used electronic sounds that are similar to the
original instrumentation, but the ones they do use add a darker twist to the
song. While the original music has a dark, yet playful feeling to it, the music
on this cover has a way scarier feel to it.
As for Manson’s vocal
performances on this version, it is one of his most unique works. Manson
manipulates his voice to imitate all of the monsters, ghouls, and creatures who
sing on “This Is Halloween.” While Manson does good job on some of the vocals,
particularly the lower, bass/baritone voices, his voice does get a little bit
cheesy when he goes into his falsetto range, and it does get a little bit of a
chuckle out of me. Since Manson is the only person singing all of these voices,
it gives the impression that the singer has either schizophrenia or multi-personality
disorder, making the song a little bit creepier.
What I really love about this
version of “This Is Halloween” is that it stays pretty true to the original
song structure, musical and rhythmic ideas, and lyrical content. The only things
that really changes are the instruments used to present the musical ideas, and
the occasional screaming in Manson vocals. Any changes made in the instrumental
and vocal music actually benefit the song, and improves some on the ideas that
Elfman composed for the film. Yes, it has its cheesy moments, but overall,
Marilyn Manson’s take on “This Is Halloween” is really fun, creepy, twisted,
and musically enjoyable.
The
Winner:
Picking a winner for this one is
very tough. Both version of “This Is Halloween” are performed with great
excellence that they remind me of how great of a film The Nightmare Before Christmas really is. The original version is
dark, fun, and a little scary, but not too much that it I will scare younger
viewers/listeners. At the same time, the Marilyn Manson version takes the
original version and twisted it up a bit, but does improve on the scary factor
of the original version.
As much as I like the Manson
version, despite not being a big fan of his, I have got to give this Cover Wars battle to the original film
version composed by Danny Elfman. While Manson does his best to emulate the
characters in the song, the original version gives us a good impression of the
characters that really sucks you into the world of Halloween. The Manson
version does improve a little bit on the instrumental music that it makes you
want to rock out, but the intent of “This Is Halloween” is to be mysterious,
yet still fun and slightly bombastic as to not scare younger audiences away
from the film. Still, Manson’s version is a good industrial rock take on a
classic song, and I still recommend it to any fan of either Manson or of The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The
winner of this Halloween edition of Cover
Wars is the original “This Is Halloween.”
WINNER:
The
Original by Danny Elfman and company
If you are interested in hearing
more music from The Nightmare Before
Christmas, I recommend picking up the original movie soundtrack, which
includes the score as well as a prologue and epilogue narrated by Patrick
Stewart.
Also, if want to hear more modern
music artist take on the music, I recommend picking up Nightmare Revisited as well. Some of the tracks are not that great,
but there are a few gems on there.
Well, that brings us to the end
of our first review post for “Halloween Month” here at Rave Up Music! Tune in
next time as we examine a Halloween-based compilation album distributed by a
modern horror/music icon. Until then, this is Barius, telling to good night,
sleep tight, and do not let the creature hiding under your bed get you. See you
soon!
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