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H.P. Lovecraft: The Rock N' Roll Years

rizla mission

13:01 / 21.01.03

I'm thinking of doing a vague feature for my zine (or something else) which would basically just be a glorified list of all the instances in which H.P. Lovecraft has inspired, or been referenced in, music..

So far I've got:

most obviously, 'H.P. Lovecraft', the surprisingly good '60s psyche band.

'The Darkest of Hillside Thickets', the Lovecraft inspired psychobilly(?) group whom I've never actually heard.

Cradle of Filth's (fairly silly) 'Cthulhu Dawn'.

An ace up and coming punk / extreme metal group brilliantly named 'Teen Cthulhu'.

Can anybody provide me with any other examples, even if it's just a song title or some lyrics? (I'm looking particularly at the goths and metalheads in the audience here..)

the imp of change

13:36 / 21.01.03

Last Exit for the Lost by Fields of the Nephilim
"....Cthulu calls, forever remain".
and some of their other songs too I think.

Saveloy

13:53 / 21.01.03

The Fall - 'Spectre vs Rector' (off Dragnet)

"MR James be born be born
Yog Sothoth rape me lord
Van Greenway [blah blah]
Sludge hai choi [blah blah]
Part one: spectre versus rector
The rector lived in Hampshire
The spectre was from Chorazina
In evil dust in the air
The rector locked his doors"

Yog Sothoth is something to do with Lovecraft, innit?

Jack Fear

13:55 / 21.01.03

Metallica did a tune called "Call of Ktulu (sic)."

There's a band called Blind Idiot God, which is a reference to Azathoth, IIRC.

I'll post more later: my computer is going batshit on me right now...

Old brown-eye is back

14:25 / 21.01.03

Another Metallica tune - The Thing That Should Not Be, off of Master of Puppets. According to the Encyclopedia Metallica it's based on The Shadow Over Innsmouth, from which it also quotes directly:

Not dead which eternal lie
Stranger eons death may die

Mmmmmmm. Dirgie.

Harhoo

14:34 / 21.01.03

http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/music.htm has a fairly exhaustive list.

Interestingly there are, somehow, two bands named Shub-Niggurath, both of whom sound absolutely superb in theory and yet are almost certainly unlistenable in practice:

"A French band whose influences range from “electroacoustic and modern jazz to 17th century Italian and contemporary classical."
and
"A Black/Death/Speed/Thrash Metal band from Mexico."

deja_vroom

14:40 / 21.01.03

I've been trying to find Shubb-Niggurath n Kazaa for ages, cos they were mentioned in a pitchfork article about scary-ass tunes, but with no success thus far.

You should try Univers Zero. They are openly inspired by H P Lovecraft (amongst other rather unpleasant things), and their tunes are really creepy.

uncle retrospective

14:48 / 21.01.03

The cover of Iron Maiden's Live After Death has the "within strange eons even Death may die" incribed on Eddie's gravestone.
Then there's a riot girl band called Lovecraft and a dodgy metal band with the same name.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:06 / 21.01.03

And an album by Rudimentary Penii, whose name momentarily escapes me, but on which every track was Lovecraft-inspired in some way, even down to just having someone reciting a biographical piece about him, over some seriously fucked late-70s punk. (Incidentally, Nick Blinko- not to be confused with Nicholas Blincoe- the lead singer, wrote a semi-autobiographical/Lovecraftian novel called "The Primal Screamer". Worth checking out. Blinko's schizophrenic, and eventually had a breakdown after the HPL-themed album, becoming delusional about having had a bunch of session musicians record said album but having killed them all afterwards. Or so I hear.)

gergsnickle

19:48 / 21.01.03

Well, there's a Vaselines song called Lovecraft, with the liner notes explaining: "H.P. was a great writer I hope we've done him justice."

Jack Fear

22:25 / 21.01.03

A French Free Jazz outfit called Yog Sothoth

Krautrock band called Necronomicon

A black metal bunch called NecronomicoN (no, really)

Electroscope has a song called "Dunwich"

The splendidly-named Malhavoc has a song called "Dunwich Horror"

Sanatorium has a song called "Dunwich Morgue" on their album Internal Womb Cannibalism, which also features such charming titles as "Intravenous Ejaculation," "Penis Epidermis Inflammation," and "Dead Virgin Whore."

Not Breathing seem to have done several Lovecraft-inspired pieces, including an album called Starry Wisdom with a track called "Bowels of Chthulhu," and a tune called "Unknown Kaddath."

AMG is God.

Saveloy

07:29 / 22.01.03

More Fall refs, courtesy Fallnet mailing list:

Possible Cthulu ref:

"Squid Lord
Revenge
Vast
Just
His intelligence
Spreads"

[from "Squid Law"/Seminal Live]

A line knicked directly from HPL's cannibal story "A Picture in the House":

"victuals (I) could not raise nor buy"

[from "I Feel Voxish Voxish"/Perverted by Language]

Smith also names and quotes HPL in "Horror in Clay" on his spoken word album The Post Nearly Man.

[aside]

And speaking of squid, this is too good to be true:

Giant Squid Attacks Yacht in Jules Verne Yacht Race! Giant Squid Collectively Weigh More Than Humans! (also courtesy bloke on Fallnet)

[/aside]

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

07:31 / 22.01.03

I think the Penii album was called "Cacophony", by the way.

Bill Posters

10:22 / 22.01.03

A very well-informed Lovecraft feller I asked about this has mailed me the following:

"The Rudimentary Penii album your friend refers to is called "Cacophany"
and is a kind of HPL concept album. There is also an American pianist
(whose name escapes me, which isn't much help) who has recorded a number
of Lovecraft-themed albums. And of course there was the 60's psychedelia
band called H.P. Lovecraft (which I don't think he mentions)."

Hope that helps.

grant

12:42 / 22.01.03

Tell me there's a mixtape at the bottom of this.

rizla mission

14:18 / 22.01.03

Well, um, this has certainly provoked a better response than I expected. Loads o' stuff.. thanks..

Only problem is, now I've got to get round to *gulp* listening to it all..

(Can't believe I missed the Yog So-Thoth line in 'Spectre vs. Rector'!. I've listened to Dragnet quite a few times now .. 'Psychick Dance Hall', 'a Figure Walks' and 'Flat of Angles' all sound pretty Lovecraftian, but I didn't think there were any blatant references..)

rizla mission

14:21 / 22.01.03

Oh yes, and; 'Blind Idiot God' is a fantastic band name!

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