Happy Halloween!

In the words of the late, great Zacherley:

"Gather 'round creeps, gather 'round fools,
gather 'round spirits and gather 'round ghouls.

Listen to me, for I have a story,
of blackening fright and all things gory.

Of grinning pumpkins and demon cats
of wicked witches and scurrying rats.

Beistle art

They've all come together to celebrate and feast,
Larry the wolf, and Igor the beast.

For this is the night when little babies cry,

and orange mist pours from their eyes.

Monster girls and monster men,
patiently wait for the fun to begin.

What do they know that you've never seen? 
Well, I'll you my friend...

The glorious hootenanny called HALLOWEEN!"

With so many losses of horror and music icons in recent times, for the last post this year we're going to celebrate the life and legacy of yet another icon who left us for the next realm: Lemmy from Motorhead. Lemmy bucked the rock 'n roll odds by living fast and hard, but dying old. In his 70 years on earth, his music helped define heavy metal as a genre, his cracked voice (and face) became one of the most recognizable in rock 'n roll, and he made major contributions toward keeping the tobacco and whiskey industries in business. 

To honor him, last November Metallica released a song named after Lemmy's beloved bass amp, "Murder One." The video tells Lemmy's life story in Aeon Flux-style animation. See Lemmy get stranded in Canada by his first band Hawkwind, then have revenge sex with all his former band mates' girlfriends, and finally form the "dirtiest band in the world," just to show 'em. Clearly Lemmy was a master of the long game! Just spending five minutes in an animated version of his neon-lit, whiskey-soaked, chain smoking life feels a bit hard on the health--to make it to 70, Lemmy must've literally been larger than life.

And not to forget the legend himself, here is Motorhead's version of Ozzy's "Hellraiser," used in 1992's Hellraiser III film. In the video, Lemmy plays poker with Pinhead and (of course) outwits him. Silly Pinhead--don't you know your evil is no match for Lemmy's superhuman powers?

But don't get too sad at Lemmy's passing. It's Halloween after all, and besides, Lemmy wouldn't want it that way! When you find yourself feeling down, just take the advice of Lemmy and his good friend Big Mouth Billy Bass: