Stephen King Soundtrack Sampler
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, Rich Love assembles 11 great rock songs from Stephen King movies. Read Rich’s thoughts on each song and listen along to the Spotify playlist on top and/or the YouTube playlist at the bottom of the post.
In addition to his being a great author, Stephen King is renowned for being a champion of kick ass rock and roll and metal. He helped get The Ramones one of their few bonafide hits of the ‘80s and gave AC/DC an entire soundtrack all to themselves with MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE. He’s also championed a lot of actual metal—like Anthrax—but he hasn’t had as much great metal in his films as he’s had great rock and roll. So, here’s an 11-song kick ass playlist of songs from Stephen King movies.
1. “Poison Heart” by Ramones (from PET SEMATARY 2)
Yes, there’s another obvious Ramones song that’s gonna be on this list. But I thought I’d start with this one, originally off their second-to-last album Mondo Bizzaro and IMO is probably the last truly great Ramones song.
2. “Who Made Who” by AC/DC (from MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE)
There’s a story I read ages ago where Angus Young said that when Stephen King asked them to make the soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive, he replied “sure, but it’s not gonna be nice.” Funny then that the only non-instrumental they recorded for it was “Who Made Who,” one of the poppier tunes and a pretty great one and that. This was pretty much their only real hit between 1982 and 1990—a bit of a down time for AC/DC.
3. “Love Removal Machine” by The Cult (from IT (2017))
The biggest issue I was going to have coming up with this list is that I wanted to try to keep it from being just 10 Ramones and AC/DC songs. So, I’m going to nominate this great tune from The Cult, who are clearly trying to channel AC/DC on this one. One of their best tunes—this one’s a total banger.
4. “Revolt” by The Nymphs (from PET SEMATARY 2)
The Nymphs were a fantastic band that came out in that period in the early ‘90s when most of us were over hair metal, but alternative rock hadn’t broken through yet. I’d lump them in with bands like Life, Sex & Death, Warrior Soul, and Love/Hate—who, like the Nymphs, were basically hard rock bands that were far too weird for Warrant’s crowd but not nearly weird enough for the kids who liked Jane’s Addiction. They all got big record deals and a huge push, and none of them really got that big hit, despite that they were all pretty fucking great. The Nymphs are basically remembered these days because during an infamous heated meeting/argument at the headquarters of their record label, singer Inger Lorre (an absolute stone-cold fox) jumped up on her A&R guys desk, pulled down her pants and pissed all over his desk. Not gonna lie to you, in that moment, I would have been a bit jealous of that desk.
5. “Word Up!” by Cameo (from IT: CHAPTER 2)
So, I kept a few old rock and roll songs that I absolutely adore from Smokey Robinson and Jerry Lee Lewis off this mixtape because, while they’re great songs, they didn’t fit in with my kick ass rock and roll playlist. So why am I including this perfect slice of 1980s funk? Because it fucking belongs on any kick ass rock and roll list. Larry Blackmon has one the greatest, most unique voices of all time.
6. “Antisocial” by Anthrax (from IT (2017))
Stephen King has long been vocal about how much he loves Anthrax, and they’ve been big fans of his over the years as well, inspiring many of their songs including one of their classics, “Among the Living.” Anyway, this one’s a cover from a French ‘80s punk band named Trust and it’s one of my favorite Anthrax tunes.
7. “Sink The Pink” by AC/DC (from MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE)
Before AC/DC agreed to do the soundtrack to MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, they put out 1986’s Fly On The Wall album which, by their standards, was a bit of a flop. But it’s a great album. I think because AC/DC (like the Ramones) never changed up their style, people sort of under appreciate how good their deep cuts are. This is an absolute rocker.
8. “It (’s A Monster)” by Extreme (from SLEEPWALKERS)
Yes, Extreme are mainly remembered because of their early ‘90s acoustic ballads “More than Words” and “Whole Hearted” and the fact that their singer (Gary Cherone) went on to be the guy who sang for Van Halen who wasn’t David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar. And honestly, there’s a lot of “meh” material in the Extreme catalog. But for the eight or nine Extreme songs that work, they’re a funky, Americanized version of Queen that are pretty fucking badass. And this song—an absolute banger—is one that works incredibly well.
9. “I’ve Got Spies” by Dramarama (from PET SEMATARY 2)
Dramamrama were a great late ‘80s/ early ‘90s alt-rock/power pop band probably best known for their 1980 hit “Anything, Anything” (featured during the karate training sequence in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER). They probably came out a little too early to make the huge splash they deserved, and they were a little more paisley shirt college rock ‘80s-styled to last far into the ‘90s. Still, a great band with tons of great tunes like this one.
10. “Shitlist” by L7 (from PET SEMATARY 2)
L7 have had peaks and valleys in their career but have always kicked some ass. One of the best songs from really great band.
11. “Pet Sematary” by Ramones (from PET SEMATARY)
You didn’t think I’d come up with a Stephen King rock and roll playlist and NOT include this one, did you? Not just a great Ramones song, but one of their few actual hits.
