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June 3, 2014

Episode 169: Black Roses (1988)

Special Guest: John Fasano

Are you ready to rock? A cautionary tale of the evils of Rock & Roll, Black Roses tells the story of a demonic group who descend on unsuspecting Mill Basin to unleash a fury of Satanic music, claiming the souls of those who would choose to rock out.

We're joined this week by Mike "McBeardo" McPadden, author of Heavy Metal Movies: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos & Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Ear- and Eye-Ripping Big-Scream Films Ever!

By the way, Captain B.J. Hunnicutt was from Mill Valley, California.

Links:
Buy Heavy Metal Movies by Mike "McBeardo" McPadden
Buy Black Roses on DVD
Visit the Bazillion Points website
Visit the official John Fasano website
Read more about Black Roses on Geek Juice
Listen to our episode about Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park
For more about the "Satanic Panic" listen to our episode on Ricky 6
Listen to us try to talk about Sexette on our Myra Breckinridge episode
Listen to the original review of Black Roses on Outside the Cinema

Music:
"Dance on Fire" - Bang Tango
"One" - Metallica (8-bit version)
"Sucks" - KMFDM
"Startin' Up a Posse" - Anthrax
"MTV Get Off the Air" - Dead Kennedys

Listen/Download Now:

Watch:




4 comments:

  1. The Foreign ViewerJun 18, 2014, 9:41:00 AM

    Hey, Mike & Rob,

    Not to dis the movie (director's interview was truly informative), but your guest's story about working on the material for his epic metal movie book was the star of the show. Whenever I hear someone as committed to work as him, it always reminds me why I abandoned more creative ideas in my head than I've ever tried to actually put in motion. I hope his book sells big.

    Anyway, who'd have thought you two, for the most part, actually hate metal, considering you're fans of so much b stuff that can be tied to metal more often than not (Lemmy's participation in Troma stuff being only one example). :) Not to mention that your (usually great) choice of music for the shows often includes rougher tunes. Come to think of it, why the hell would you even watch those metal documentaries that you talked about in this show, anyway? :)

    I'm not a metal head, but metal is one of my favorite music genres. However, unlike rock movies, metal movies usually suck. The concept and soundtracks are usually great, but execution and budget usually leave a lot to be desired.

    The aformentioned 80s Trick or Treet, for example, did pass the quality test as far as I'm concerned (Fastway's sweet soundtrack was just a cherry on top). Nevertheless, I'd still love to see how Blackie from W.A.S.P. (who was suppose to play the lead villain originally) would've influenced this movie. The (now sadly late) actor Tony Fields who played the demonic rocker Sammy was great and probably did a better job than Blackie ever could, but still, you can tell that Blackie was their first choice.

    Sorry for that tangent, but I know you'll probably never cover that movie, so this was my best chance to talk about it. :)

    I'm surprised you haven't talked about Metalocalypse with your guest, as well. My opinion on that show is very split, but it definitely wasn't just a fluke.

    Not to go on another tangent, but I wish people (especially writers or reviewers) would spotlight cool movie soundtracks much more. Sometimes soundtrack alone gives the movie the right feeling.

    For example, Wes Craven's Shocker is technically a fantasy slasher, and not a metal movie, but not only is the soundtrack 50% pure metal, but it also ties Dave Mustaine from Megadeth AND Alice Cooper to itself. What would you call that, then? A metal movie, a pop horror, a metalspolitation flick, a product of its time, or all of the above? Or what about the original Night of the Demons movie and Return of the Living Dead? These are tongue in cheek horror movies about demons and zombies, but heavy metal and punk elements are so strong in them that you can't imagine them without these elements. Again, why? Because that was the popular style the moviemakers and kids were going with at the time, or because these are the key elements of these modern Brother Grimm tales? In other words, would these flicks be good chillers without heavy soundtrack, imagery and stylization? You could argue that Crow did the same thing, only with goth music elements, Brainscan with grunge, Johnny Mnemonic was the child of the industrial sound that bands like KMFDM produced (KMFDM song is even featured in the credits for the forgotten Johnny Mnemonic FMV game) and Matrix drank from the fountain of nu metal.

    Or am I just reading into things again...

    Anyway, thanks for another cool show and let's hope you'll get around to doing Sgt. Pepper's Club too. The movie may suck (and that ending is the very definition of a wtf moment), but its visuals, songs and cameos are fun and talk about that movie is always fascinating to listen to.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the response.

      As I said on the show, I like metal... but not the "metal" in this movie. I grew up a fan of the "Big 4" of thrash (Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth). As I have gotten older I've become less interested in metal - Slayer is the only band of those 4 that I listen to anymore along with Black Sabbath... but Sabbath, to me, has always been a heavy blues band (like Cream... but just darker, slower).

      As for the documentaries, "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" is pretty great - regardless of your love/hate of their music. "Heavy Metal in Baghdad" is pretty amazing because it's about trying to create in the warzone. As for "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" - that one is interesting from the angle of how the genre developed and it's fans.

      Growing up where I did, east side blue-collar suburbs of Detroit, there were two things that informed my musical tastes - metal and hardcore punk. When I got into jazz band in high school - that's when I started to get into things like Charles Mingus and my love of jazz. Also, tracing back the roots of the music... I'm a huge fan of Chicago blues.

      Plus, being from Detroit... you can't discount all the stuff from Motown to PFunk to Iggy & The Stooges/MC5... down the line.

      Thanks for listening and taking the time to write.

      CHEERS!

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    2. Actually, I prefer a little bossa nova! ;)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJkYGNiBkso

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    3. The Foreign Viewer: thanks for mentioning Brainscan and Trick or Treat, I gotta check those out soon! I would love to have more recommendations of great 80s/90s movies with solid soundtracks because I also love those kind of movies that have strong soundtrack (using music like they did in Miami Vice is always something that I have loved).

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