They’re scary! They’re lurking in the night! They’re inhuman! They’re monsters! And while, of course, they’re also not real, they made for great subject matter for classic rock songs. Monsters give anthemic, big-voiced singers a chance to rise up and scream a little bit or to get weird with lyrics and storytelling. It’s a monstrous win-win!
Here below, we wanted to explore three classic rock songs that use the trope of monsters to write catchy tracks. A trio of tunes that highlight those creatures who go bump in the night (or come from outer space) to bring about worry and our possible demise. Indeed, these are three classic rock songs about scary monsters.
[RELATED: No Skips: 4 Classic Rock Albums You’ll Never Have to Fast-Forward]
“Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon from Excitable Boy (1978)
This 1978 track, which hit No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Warren Zevon’s only song to break into the Top 40, features Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass. As far as the subject matter, the tune was written with a smirk and done so in about 15 minutes, according to Zevon. Still, it depicts the hair monsters walking through London looking for people to attack, including a little old lady who got mutilated late last night. Featuring a big rock lead-guitar solo and catchy piano chords, the song has become a big hit and on it, Zevon sings and howls,
I saw werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of SoHo in the rain
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fooks
For to get a big dish of beef chow mein
Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo
Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo
You hear him howling around your kitchen door
You better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again
“The Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley (1958)
This 1958 comedy song, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts, is all about a big purple monster who’s come down to Earth from outer space and is looking for people to chew up. Strangely, the creature also wants to play in a rock band! Written in about an hour by its author Sheb Wooley, the song has subsisted over the years both for its storytelling and its outlandish main character. In the song, Wooley describes the alien,
Well I saw the thing comin’ out of the sky
It had the one long horn, and one big eye
I commenced to shakin’ and I said “Ooh-eee”
It looks like a purple people eater to me
It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
(One-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater)
A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (one eye?)
“Godzilla” by Blue Öyster Cult from Spectres (1977)
This Long island, New York-born band writes about the giant lizard from Japan in this riffy, buzzing rock track. The creature came to be known by audiences first in 1954 in the first Godzilla movie. Then as a metaphor for the atomic bomb, Blue Öyster Cult plays on that looming doom in this track from their 1977 LP Spectres. Sings lead vocalist Buck Dharma,
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down
Helpless people on a subway train
Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them
He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
Oh no, they say, he’s got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah
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Photo by Pete Cronin/Redferns
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