Creepy Classics Calendar 2014 - #4: (Beware of) The Blob! (The Five Blobs, 1959) youtube/watch?v=-I3VHKO3qGM Clocking in at #4 on our Count-Up is a song I cant believe Ive overlooked for two years. The Blob opens the 1959 monster flick which shares its title with vigor and pizazz. I dont know quite how to describe its musical style beyond Tequila-like...but I suppose thats not too far off the mark. Both pieces feature similar instrumentation (including a prominent, soaring saxophone solo), and both were recorded by small ensembles in Hollywood in 1958. But The Blob has two things Tequila doesnt: Lyrics...and mouth sounds! Sure, the lyrics are pretty repetitive, but they DO offer a fairly succinct depiction of the films titular monster: It creeps, and leaps, and glides and slides across the floor, right through, the door and all around the wall, a splotch, a blotch be careful of The Blob! *mouth pop* BEWARE OF THE BLOB! [repeat ad nausea] The Blob itself would go down in history as one of the 1950s most iconic movie monsters, and the film launched the career of star Steve McQueen. But this song rarely gets love, and thats a shame. Regardless of the simplistic lyrics, the piece showcases some seriously respectable musical chops. Session leader Bernie Knee assembled a team of studio musicians to record the song, and dubbed them The Five Blobs, somehow simultaneously the best and worst band name of all time. Following the release of the film, the tune climbed into the Billboard Top 30, and Knee balked at not having his contribution acknowledged in promotional material. Columbia Studios fired Knee, and in retaliation he reformed The Five Blobs under another label. What was originally supposed to be a one-time gig became...well...a three time gig. The Blobs recorded and released at least two more songs, but none ever equaled the success of the ditty which gave them their name.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 03:56:17 +0000
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