Morbid Pop | The Most Bizarre Trend of the 60s
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- One of the most bizarre trends of the early to mid 60s were the so-called “Death Discs”, also known as “Splatter Platters”. Many of these songs were even banned by radio stations, which only helped increase their appeal to teenagers. Let's take a look at some of the best morbid pop songs of the 60s.
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Banned by the BBC is always the mark of quality.
Hahaha! True!
Namely, Peter Hitchens.
That definitely explains their current staffing model.
Where would we be without people like Mike Read to guard our morals? 😀
Banned by the Catholic Church is also a sign of quality.
The humorist Dave Barry wrote that he was in a rock band with the horror fiction writer Stephen King. They parodied splatter platters with a song about teenage lovers in a car after it crashed. King wrote this gem of a line: "I awoke and saw her lying there. I brushed her liver from my hair."
The Rock Bottom Remainders! With keyboardist Al Kooper occasionally appearing as group leader.
And sometimes they come back? 😊
With Mitch Albom and occasionally Warren Zevon
"Oh Loretta
How could I let ya
Stand unattended near the threshing machine"
@@psikopat57 Dead is betta.
This trend perfectly captured the intensely dramatic emotional world of the teenager.
When I was little (ie. the 1980's) my grandma only listened to oldies stations and I always wondered about these songs. Grandma explained that drinking before driving was common and there were no seatbelts or air bags so fatal crashes were super common. I was never required to wear a seatbelt as a little kid (once again, the 80's...) but I usually did anyways. I guess these songs had an effect on me I never really thought about.
I believe belts were only mandated in 1963, and even then it was only a lap belt.
Here in Mexico seatbelts were only mandatory since the early 2000s. I wore mine when I was a kid in the 90s and I still remember adults rolling their eyes lol
@@thewesty101
That wasn't the case in most of the US for decades, and most (if not all) of these songs are from the US. Where are you talking about?
@@ezakustam many were british as well
@@thewesty101 It depends on the state. WV didn't make seatbelts mandatory until 1993. I think New Hampshire was the last.
The pompadour of Wayne Cochran is so outrageous it just makes you smile.
The bigger the hair, the closer to God!
He looks like one of the rich characters from Hunger Games! 😂
I couldn't tell if was wearing it, or walking alongside it.
@@tomhaskett5161 I couldn't tell if he was wearing it, or it was wearing him.
He formed a Heavy Metal band in the 1980s
When I was a kid, one of the radio stations I listened to created an extended crash version of 'The Leader of the Pack.' There was around twenty seconds of screeching breaks, a car horn and glass breaking after the "look out look out..." lyrics. Best version, ever.
Hahaha! Cool!
Sounds kinda funny actually
Should’a done it for Leader of the Laundromat!
@@MonotoneTim "Dang it."
@@YesterdaysPapers Looks to me like you have more than enough suggested material to put together a Vol.ll or even a Vol. lll of this topic's music -- incl. at least a few album tracks. Another early Romeo & Juliette scenario was, "Running Bear" (loved Little White Dove) by Johnny Preston -- among others. Then there's Noel Harrison -- A Young Girl ("DEAD!"). And can't leave out Pat Boone -- Moody River. Regarding album tracks, there's "Elegy" on, Colosseum -- Valentyne Suite.
This excellent overview goes to show teenagers have always had morbid sensibilities - Goths and Emo kids were just continuing a trend these records started (without getting all psychological /sociological they reflect the anxieties of teenagers about adult live and sexuality and interesting this trend happened just as the culture of the teenager as we know it was getting established)
Good insight !
@@mariannwatt2678 thanks!
As a middle aged Goth I approve of your observation
Idk if it's just morbidity, it's also the crushing poignancy of feeling things intensely when yr a youth, before adopting the rational stoicism of adulthood. It's the struggle between indulging in feelings and managing them, reflected by the awkward narrative of carrying on after a loved one's demise. Funny how a bunch of these songs also double as an ad for traffic safety. The "culture of the teenager" was also more mobile back than with more readily available vehicles. It's not the same thing as borrowing the plow horse for an ice cream social at the chapel.
Alice Cooper is around to tell that tale!
A lot of these ‘ morbid’ songs may have been inspired by the tragic death of Eddie Cochran by car crash in England in 1960 , he was a rising star and died very young
and the plane crash the killed richie valance, the big bopper and buddy holly...the day the music died
Twenty flight rock to heaven prototype rocker he was. Gear!
@Lyler Taley ......so often, I read “ahead of his/her time” regards musicians, but Eddie Cochran truly was.
And James Dean.
Eddie (with buddy holly) were 2 of my faves in high school
Funny how we always thought of these topics as being dealt with in grunge and emo music but the '60s truly seemed to be the beginning of that highly emotionally-dramatic era of teenage angst.
I mean, teenage angst has probably always been a thing. It's just expressed in different ways depending on the period.
Even 'Hamlet" is full of teen angst smh
Listen to Roy Orbison, he didn't do "splatter platters" but he definitely had a lot to do with the melodramatic side of rock n roll
Seems to be such a common thing back then that even The Lucy Show had a episode dedicated to such songs. "Lucy in the Music World" September 27, 1965. If I remember right Lucy gets a job at a record studio and when asked about what kind of song to write she says something to the effect of "A song about death, all the teenagers love songs about it."
Hilarious Now my troussuae just sits on the shelf cause the surfboard came back by itself.
Most of these are pretty mild - not just by today's standards, but by 1700s standards (!) There must be thousands of folk-songs which are darker and bloodier than these. 'Henry Lee' comes to mind... 'Johnny, Remember Me' is genuinely eerie though...
I remember that episode. I can still recall the chorus to the song sung by Lucy:
Now my body just lies on a shelf
Since his surfboard came back by itself
😀
It's not HIS parents' disapproval in "Leader if the Pack", it's HER parents' disapproval. Otherwise, It's a great subject, and there's something about these songs that is strange and, yes, morbid. "Ebony Eyes" is quite unique.
I'm not sure "Dead Man's Curve" at 5:09 actually involves a fatality, either. It's a bit vague.
in a similar vein, i don't think Patches had a girlfriend, i think she was the gf (8:21-8:22); these days, tho', it'd possibly be a different story.
@@101Volts It does. His rival dies in the crash, but the protagonist is only seriously injured. Hence, why there's a part where he tells the doctor about what happened.
I remember a novelty song called "I Want My Baby Back" which parodied the teen tragedy songs . The girl ended in pieces, and the boy ends up buried alive with her singing "I got my baby back!" Sickly funny!
Yes! It's by Jimmy Cross, came out in 1965, and was voted the World's Worst Record in 1978 by listeners of the Kenny Everett Show in London
Exactly 😊 i have that 45. Talk about morbid.
i kinda-sorta remember it.
A fun fact is that The Shangri-las were a huge influence on Morrissey, if you listen to, for example, I can never go home anymore, you'll definitely feel it
Never go home anymore was my mom’s favorite song. My sister and I were tweens then and were already rolling our eyes. Poor mom
Speaking of the Shangri-La’s…their very first hit song, “remember (walking in the sand)” featured the piano playing of a young and unknown teenage Billy Joel.
Great song.
And later covered by Aerosmith....
🚬😎
@@craigfazekas3923 On backing vocals one of the original members of the band, Mary Weiss
@@craigfazekas3923 LOVE Aerosmith's version!
@@michaelrochester48 I didn't know Mary sang on that version...Now I'm going to have to go listen to it, and see if I can pick out her voice. 😊
"This single was refused airplay/banned, yet went on to sell a million copies..." These songwriters/producers certainly knew what they were doing at the time. And Joe Meek. What a friggin' genius of the highest order. Another great video!
Yep, I love Joe Meek.
getting banned by the bbc was always a good selling point
look what it did for the sex pistols
Um reading a book about joe meek a man ahead of his time but just a little unstable still great brit R&R history cheers
@@mariannwatt2678 he wasnt unstable. he was gay at a time when it was a criminal act in britain. same uk laws destroyed brian epstein
@@thewkovacs316 He was unstable he loved his drugs and messed about with the occult , yes he was definitely unstable.
Now it almost seems to me The Smiths song "There is a light that never goes out" from The Queen is dead is a sort of tribute or revival of this trend from the late 50s early 60s. Also The Smiths covered Twinkle´s "Golden lights". Overall Morrissey was very interested in the prepsychedelic rock and pop sounds of the late 50s and 60s and The Smiths even featured Sandy Shaw in a version of "Hand in glove". Also he loves James Dean and Rebel without a cause´s report on teenage and young angst of that era. Generally all of that shaped The Smiths and Morrissey´s own "mope rock" and most of The Smiths´ album covers are full of 50s and early 60s images of gloom. Whereas The Cure went straight towards the more fantasy driven and hallucinatory goth rock of the 80s The Smiths seems focused on those other older sources of depression and darkness from a more realistic point of view. He even wore a quiff hairstyle for that. It kind of is a counter to the usual associations of the 60s with "swinging london" and the psychedelia of the summer of love to go for the dark gloomy sounds and aspects of that era. Morrissey for that also was influenced by british so called "kitchen sink" realism and neo-noirs from that era such as film The Unvanquished and so he put an Alain Delon picture from that film as the cover for the previously mentioned album The Queen is dead. Another great indie artist with a taste for the dark side of the 60s was Dan Treacy´s Television Personalities which gave that a more "dark mod" view and it has been suggested that he influenced Morrissey and the Smiths also but in the case of Dan Treacy he also was influenced by the dark beatnik vibes of the Velvet Underground
True. It seems Morrisey was also very influenced by an early 60s British film called "The Leather Boys", a biker film with homosexual undertones.
How Soon Is Now is pretty psychedelic, their most famous song is not typical of what they usually went for, Johnny Marr did not get along with moz and the band was able to do a lot more too, some of the songs you've latched onto are almost unlistenable IMO
@@YesterdaysPapers or Scorpio Rising, with it's nazi biker stuff, moz probably liked it too
Yeah, speaking of 80s indie bands who sorta called back to this kind of stuff My Bloody Valentine also went through a similar phase of writing bubblegum pop songs with morbid lyrics right before their original singer left the band and Kevin developed the glide guitar thing. The "Sunny Sundae Smile" EP is definitely their best pre-Bilinda release and is full of those morbid pop songs with buzzsaw guitars - "Paint a Rainbow" for instance is a song that sounds sickeningly sweet and wholesome but is actually about necrophilia.
@@jmckenzie962 blechhh
"Sad songs they say so much."
If you take sad lyrics and combine them with an upbeat or beautiful tune, you have a lethal combo for a hit!
Its one of my favorite combinations. It's why I like Steely Dan... upbeat poppy kind of music with sad stories about the worst parts of society.
Semi charmed life or numb little bug good examples?
Numb Little Bug is a good example. As is It's Not Fun
th-cam.com/video/u8907bPImRY/w-d-xo.html
Both The Shangri-Las "Leader Of The Pack" and "Terry" by Twinkle got plenty of radio airplay in Britain in 1964/5 on the new offshore "Pirate" stations and on Luxembourg. The fact that The BBC decided to "ban" them (which in practice only meant that they weren't played on The BBC Light Programme's weekly chart show) added to their appeal but didn't stop them from being freely heard by the Pop-Music lovers of the time.
I think, in this day and age, people underestimate the importance of pirate radio stations in the 60s, and their impact on record sales. Anyone who was part of the ‘happening’ crowd listened to these stations, so they still had access to the songs that the BBC refused to play. From that point of view, by refusing to play certain songs, the BBC created a lot of free publicity because people would tune in to Luxembourg, or just buy the single, to see what the fuss was about.
@@GrilloTheFlightless I totally agree. Unfortunately a lot of this attitude has been fostered by The BBC over the years, with their insistence that there was no significant "national" pop-radio in The UK prior to the advent of Radio One in late 1967. Some of those offshore stations had signals strong enough to cover most of the country even if they weren't "national" in the true sense of the word.
It's interesting to think how the premature death of rock n roll stars like Eddie Cochran or Buddy Holly, or actors like James Dean would've romanticized this topic, and perhaps inspired this genre
It's very likely that it had to do with that.
Nothing more tragic than the death of a handsome, popular young'en; mourn the lost potential.
More so Eddie Cochran than Buddy Holly, especially for UK music fans since he died in England. The Teddy Boys especially worshipped him.
@@elc1960 Were the Teddy Boys a band?
@@oldiesgeek454 No, the Teddy Boys were those early rock fans in the UK who in the early 1960s refused to accept that the Beat Groups like Cliff Richard and later, The Beatles & The Rolling Stones were the wave of the future in music. They loved American rockabilly performers like Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Johnny Burnette, Bill Haley and the 1950s era Elvis. They wore black leather jackets and slicked back their hair a la James Dean and Elvis. I'm not sure why they were called Teddy Boys. For a better, more complete definition I suggest you ask some of the other commenters here on this post, as they're mostly from the UK and some may have personal knowledge that, being an American, I can't provide. Cheers!
Going way way back, there's 'Little Bessie', an old Appalachian mountain song about a little girl who's dying and sees Jesus. The subject matter may seem maudlin and weird by our standards but not when one realizes that, what with epidemics, accidents, diseases, malnutrition, and other hardships, a child's death was a common fact of life. It is the sort of song that lends itself to a sentimental treatment but when Roscoe Holcomb-an old traditional mountain singer-does it, his rendition takes you right into the room where that little girl is dying. It's the aural equivalent of a Victorian post mortem photograph.
I think you could trace it back to 1955 with "Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots" by The Cheers, there were a few records like "Endless Sleep" by Jody Reynolds and "El Paso" by Marty Robbins in 1958. I think the fear of nuclear war likely played a role in the popularity of morbid pop songs. As innocent as we like to think of the 50's and early 60's as being, they were actually scary times. We were losing the space race to Russia at the time and "duck and cover" drills were a part of everyday life.
Fun fact, prolific game show host Bert Convey was in the Cheers.
Jody Reynolds had some truly world-class singles (Endless Sleep, The Fire of Love, Tight Capris - not to mention Requiem for Love and Stranger in the Mirror with a pre-Billie Joe Bobbie Gentry).
One of my first loves and I were forced to separate as young teens by her parents, it was absolute devastation to the point of suicidal thoughts. I never knew this to be a genre, but I absolutely loved the tone and rebellious nature of Leader of the Pack as a child, it spoke to me.
If there were to be a part two, Big Bad John should make the list. Another one that I can remember is "Laura (Tell Me What He's Got That I Don't Got)" from 1966. In 1967 there were about three versions of the song charting nationally. The song asks Laura to tell the narrator what does her new man have that he doesn't before pulling the trigger on himself. The trigger part isn't mentioned until the end of the song, so you have no clue you're listening to a death disc until the end.
Excellent! The Beatles' "Yes it is" might deserve a mention though, seemingly subtly dealing with the topic of death. But when you know that Julia Lennon indeed wore a scarlet dress when she was run over and killed, this becomes chillingly haunting with a shocking boldness to it...
Don't forget Baby's In Black
@@oren587 day in the life also
Good Morning
@@theyrekrnations8990 Don't you mean -- "Good Mourning"?!
@@gilobregon good one went over my head at first
Wow. That hair on Wayne Cochran!
Shangri las had some incredible songs with intricate chord structure and Melodies written by the record people. “Out in the streets” is my absolute favorite from them.
I love "Out in the Streets". "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" is another big favourite.
"Give Us Your Blessing" has to be my favorite ❤
That's not hair, That's left over cotton candy. 😆
My favorite by the Shangri-Las right now is "Dressed in Black". And it's actually sung by Betty, not Mary.
@@brucedillinger9448 good eye!
The song “Laurie” (Strange Things Happen) by Dickey Lee, 1965, really traumatized me as a kid when I realized what they were singing about. But now I produce a lot of this type of music myself, because death is a real theme in life, it’s universal, and we will all have to do it.
And he had another death song in the 1970s with "Rocky".
Same is true of defecation tbf.
It's also helpful to remember that deaths in motor vehicle accidents were extremely common in those pre-airbag, minimal safety regulation, one-for-the-road times. I remember more than one “in memoriam” page in my high school yearbooks. Add in the Vietnam war, and death was much more relatable than you might think.
Now, MVA deaths are way down, but we have school shootings. 🤷🏼♂️
Still "Unsafe at Any Speed," JAE X?
@@coreycox2345 ?
Death was more relatable then than now?
Yes, teens were more likely to know other teens who had died.
@@nateetan8911 Seemed that way to me. Road accidents, sports mishaps (water sports and skiing esp) and ODs peeled off a couple of kids every year in my high school. It was sad but it was also just weirdly kind of normal.
I loved The Shangri Las I Can Never Go Home Anymore ,in it a girl ignores her mums advice and runs off with a boy.Then the angels take her mum to be their friend and the girl as you can imagine is distraught and regrets her actions.
I love that song as well.
Musically-speaking, I'd say that "Leader...." is good. But, "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" is also quite good. A couple of winners, though, that's for sure! "Then suddenly, a miracle -- a boy" (!). My own fave by them is, "Ŕemember (Walking in the Sand)".
A good death disc from early 70s is "D.O.A." by Bloodrock, very haunting song! Nevermind i see someone already mentioned it hehe! Anyway, great video, cool songs!
Thanks for sharing ☺
I had a 45 of that one back in the day!
Radar Love by Golden Earring is another
I still have my 45 single of that song. One of the most eerie sounding hit records I've ever heard.
It's a good song but dark as fuck
I used to avoid listening to it but now that I listened to it a few time I enjoy it.....
I'm just weird like that
I might be talking out my ass, but this feels like a spiritual successor to the murder and tragedy folk ballads of the 20's and 30's. Johnny Cash and many other country artists of the 50's and 60's have plenty of morbid ballads like this under thier belts.
I remember trying to get my mom to buy me the "Dead Man's Curve" 45 at the J.C. Penny's store. She asked what it was about, I told her, and she scrunched up her face, shook her head and said "Noooo." This was the same store where we did talk her into buying The Beatles Second Album (US).
a favorite of mine played it a lot Saw J n D in Ma. n 65
We played "The Beatles' Second Album" and "Meet The Beatles!" over and over. And the DC5's first album too.
@@basilmarasco1975 We tried to talk mom into buying both albums but she wouldn't do it. The 2nd Album got played to death.
I personally bought the 45 of “I Am The Walrus” in a paper picture sleeve at Penney’s. I still have it, I think.
Our Penney's didn't sell records; I spent all of my allowance and babysitting money at Darryl's House of Music. He probably loved us kids lol. Anyway, that's a really precious memory about your mom 🙂
I would argue that one of the most famous "Death Discs" which was released years after the craze died out was "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. Likely, though, it's not thought of as being a "Splatter Platter".
Occult rock is rife with death themes. Even in the video for their single ‘Burnin’ For You’, the guy burns up in a car.
That, and Paint it Black.
I just told a twenty-something the meaning of the lyrics, and they had no idea. Drug OD.
Very different time. Culture had changed a lot by the '70s. These subjects were hardly controversial or new by then. I mean, they're called Blue Oyster Cult and came out well after bands like Black Sabbath, so what do you expect?
These used to get heard at car shows. Probably still do. I had a Studebaker Lark from 2007 through 2017, and I remember suggesting I might use it to run over the sound system if I heard "Last Kiss" once more... 😀
Ron Dante sang “Leader of the Laundromat”. He was the voice of the Archies! Yes the same Sugar Sugar guy
I think these Death Discs offered a salve for Teenage Angst. Far more medicinal than the horror/slasher movies of the decades that followed.
A number of years ago, my late friend Gerald Adams was telling me about a song he hated called "Seasons in the Sun," which I went and listened to on TH-cam. I guess with it's 1974 release date, that's a little later than this spate, as would be Blood rock's "D.O.A." in 1970, but Google is telling me it was first in written in French by Jacques Brel in 1961. He thought the music was far too chipper for the lyrical content.
The English translation of Seasons in the Sun considerably alters the entire tone of the song from what I understand. Look up Nirvana drunkenly murdering the song live, it's a riot
@@samwindmill8264 I assume that's why he knew the song. He was a fan of Nirvana despite being much older than its primary audience.
Tragic death by fatal disease songs and TV movies were popular in the early to mid 1970's. Probably started by "Love Story".
Glad to see that even in less permissive times that the BBC banning a song did not stop it from being a hit. Never heard it but the follow up by Zager and Evans to their global smash 'In the Year 2525' was a song called 'Mr Turnkey'. Apparently it is about a mans last thoughts as he commits suicide in prison after having been found guilty of assaulting a woman. Don't think it was a hit anywhere.
The morbid year of 1968 had some good morbid songs. Honey by Bobby Goldsboro hit number one on the US charts in April 1968 just after MLK was killed and the Doors Unknown Soldier and the Animals Sky Pilot sang about death of Soldiers right in the middle of the Vietnam War. The end of 1968 had a Memphis Girl Group the Goodies singing Condition Red which is similar in style to Leader of The Pack. Dion closed the year RFK and MLK were killed with hit Abraham Martin and John and a actual song from a funeral was on the Billboard top 40 in December of 1968 which was the Grapes of Wrath by Andy Williams sung by him at RFK's funeral. I enjoy Yesterday's Papers so keep up the good work.
lot of messed up stuff going on around the end of the 60s
@@donsurlylyte kinda reminds me of the 2020s so far.
The song, “Honey” always brought me to tears.
Incidentally, I was born in 1968
1965 - Jimmy Cross - I Want My Baby Back. It also carries a reference to Leader Of The Pack
But the bizarreness didn't end in the 60s - 1970 saw Timothy by The Buoys and D.O.A. by Bloodrock There were other later ones but I don't remember them offhand.
There was a song called "Condition Red" that was played on AM in 1968/69 that was a parody (at least it seemed to us high school kids) of the Teenage Death Song genre, especially "Leader of the Pack". It had all the tropes of the genre: disapproving parents, boyfriend speeding away on a motorcycle and getting hit and killed by a car.
Funny, but I hadn't thought of that song until I saw your video. Great work! Thanks!
Edit: Also "Bringing Mary Home" by the Country Gentlemen 1965 was a nod to the "Vanishing Hitchiker" urban legend in which the driver picks up a hitch hiker who requests to go home. When he drops her off at her house she vanishes. The driver then goes up to the house and is greeted by a woman who tells him that the girl he picked up was her daughter who died 13 years ago. There are lots of versions of this story, so this is just one of them.
Condition red, the goodies i have the 45
@@RavenThom So do I. Found it in a "used records" store about 20 years ago. The "Goodees" were a Memphis female trio who had won a local talent contest and were then signed to a subsidiary of Stax Records.
And "Condition Red" is actually a better song than "Leader of The Pack."
The girl who hitched a ride disappears as the car is passing the cemetery. When the driver arrives at the address the girl gave him, he sees in the entrance a large portrait on the wall. He tells the mother, "That is the girl I picked up." The mother says, "That is my dear daughter, who died many years ago."
The more popular version of this urban legend is “Strange Things Happen In This World”.
Don't forget Leader of the Laundromat.
and then there was "Timothy" by The Buoys. Written by future pop star Rupert Holmes, it talks about a mine disaster in which two of the protagonists, suffering from hunger, survived, but poor Timothy was nowhere to be seen by their rescuers. And it inferred that....er,,, "My stomach was full as it could be, and no one ever got around to finding Timothy."
Early on in the death disc era -- around '60-'61 -- there was an upbeat song in response called "Let's Think About Living" by Bob Luman. 🎸
In the early 70s there was a song by Bloodrock called D.O.A. that was not Pop but was popular in San Antonio.
The song is about an airplane accident and is fairly graphic.
".....I remember, we were flying low and hit something in the air."
Yeah, you hit the ground...which technically is in the air? That's what you get for flying low.
Good track
Its about driving while high. "We were flying along", wasn't literal, just that they were super high.
Aerosmith borrowed most of the riffs from DOA for the ending of "Dream On".
Bloodrock was produced by Terry Knight who also produced Grand Funk...
Wayne Cochran looks like he might have influenced an ex-President in regard to hairstyles.😊
Hahaha!
& A Current Prime Minister
@@davidellis5141 "Bo-Jo?" 🤣...ex-Prime Minister!
Christ, Cochran could be Trump's smarter twin brother.
@@jerfacekilla This is true.😊
I'm glad you included the leader of the Laundromat song. Dr. Demento used to play it on his program latenight every Saturday when I was in High School.
Great list. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few more:
Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry
Honey by Bobby Goldsboro
Billy, Don't Be a Hero by Bo Donaldson and The Heywood
A Day in the Life by The Beatles
I was just going to mention the ultimate tear-jerker, "Honey" when I saw youi included it in your list.
Billy, Don't Be A Hero was covered in the UK by Paper Lace.
@@Krzyszczynski Here in the states, Paper Lace is best known for the Night Chicago Died. But his daddy makes it home and kissed his momma's face in that tune.
"Endless Sleep" by Jody Reynolds, IIRC, was changed to have the singer rescue his girl from the ocean. But it is one of the creepiest records out there. Dickie Lee also had another morbid hit with "Strange Things Happen," in which a guy unwittingly has a date with a ghost. And Tom Jones had a big hit with "Delilah," which makes killing your unfaithful girlfriend sound pretty groovy.
You covered some I was going to mention. so no need for me to repeat. We kids back then grew up with some morose songs, which was probably pretty healthy and gave us our first profound realizations of the idea of mortality. No use shielding kids from this with bans and safe spaces or fear of being "triggered." Everyone has to learn about these ideas, and what better way than through the art of story telling and song.
1975 saw the hit record, Run Joey Run by David Geddes, which peaked at #4 on Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was redone in 2010 by the cast of Glee.
David Geddes' follow-up single, "Last Game of the Season," is also a death song as well, because in the last verse we find out the blind man in the bleachers is the young football player's dad, and that the man died before the game started.
That song is torture.
I remember most of them. I never thought of the as death discs, just tragic stories. My favorite Leader of the Laundromat, I still have the 45!
just had to write and say the attention to detail and craft you put into these videos just give me so much joy. keep it up I absolutely love these!!
I really enjoyed your initial content taken from old music magazines but your more recent original pieces are even better! My favourite channel for 60's music content! I also recommend Heavenly Blue Orange if you dig Psychedelic music and groovy vintage footage.
Gonna check that out , thank.
I subscribed both of them, you guys make my day ALWAYS! 😀
I love heavenlyblueorange! such a great selection on that channel!
You missed the best one! My favourite was El Paso, by Marty Robbins. There was even a follow up where the girl,Feleena, can’t handle her feelings of loss and guilt over the death of her unnamed cowboy lover (who narrates the tale of his own death) after he was gunned down by a posse for killing a rival for Feleena’s affections in a gunfight. In the follow up she commits suicide.
El Paso was immortalised much later in Breaking Bad when Walter White, or if you prefer, Helsingberg, steals a car in a remote snowy town in New Hampshire, planning to return to New Mexico to take care of business.
Or "The Ballad of Irving"
@@edlawn5481 Oh Yeah! The Jewish guy who wrote those self deprecating songs where the Jews were poking fun at themselves. The same crew did two whole albums.
They where popular at Jewish parties and Bar Mitzvah’s etc.
@@edlawn5481 "...but Irving was looking for one-forty-three."
Love your content, I always learn a lot. Thanks!
Excellent! I don’t know how I missed this one! Really well done!
I knew last kiss would be on here
Edit: But the scariest "car-wreck" song ever written was by a band called Bloodrock from the 70s... way ahead of its time musically, and lyrically haunting...
Let's not forget the car crash song that precedes all of these, "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus, a humorous 1956 novelty minor hit that presages this entire trend.
Yep, it was banned on more than 30 radio stations coast to coast, but still made it to #8 on the Billboard pop singles chart. Pour the crimson in me, Jimson!
aha! yes1 dig dig digaroney dig the flip side
'Pass the claret to me Barrett!' th-cam.com/video/xBUsFRgUjTc/w-d-xo.html
I heard it was banned for the phrase “Shoot the juice to me, Bruce” which implied gay sex.
I remember it from Dr Demento
10cc parodied/perfected the genre, depending on your viewpoint, on their first album with 'Johnny Dont Do It'. It was their second single - which sank without trace - between Donna and Rubber Bullets in 1972.
The guy on the motorcycle on Leader Of The Pack was Robert Goulet. You can just about hear Elvis shoot his television set. The show was I Got A Secret. The contestant's secret was stuntman. Poor Dickey Lee! He had no luck with the broads. Laura in Strange Things Happen In This World croaked too. He also did the country version of Rocky in the '70s.
@chasjohn57.Whenever I hear Dickie Lee, it reminds me of Mickey Dee, the nickname for McDonald's.
There was a radio station in Philly back in seventies. I think WIBG, but I only remember it as "wibbage". They where going under or changing their format and call sign. The announcer was always saying "wibbage is dead" and they went out with a show called The Evolution of Rock which went on for a few days. They covered each year from 1956. Each year started with sound bites of major news events. They played the hit songs of each year with plenty of artist's interview clips. They got to the era of the death discs and the narrarator called the genre "cash in the crash". To this day me and my friend still laugh about "cash in the crash". I have thought about writing a book on the subject for years.
HY LIT , Joe Niagra , and Jerry Blavitt ( the greeter with the heater) were disc jockeys at WIBG
There's a song by the band Thursday called "Understanding in A Car Crash" made in 2001. It's not a homage or in the Morbid Pop style at all but it has a similar vibe and imagery, but steeped in early 2000s teen angst rather than early '60s teen angst. I think that's interesting, not to mention the song is really good.
I’ve been enjoying a lot of the colourful pop music from the 1960s since being a 4 yr old in 1968 when my older sister had a pile of 45s and the transistor in the kitchen always playing radio 1 or 2 . I’m not a Pop Music Historian but in all my years I’ve never heard this term “ Morbid Pop “ or “ Death Discs “ or recall hearing anyone highlighting these songs & the gatekeepers ‘ reaction to them. The BBC 2 vcr copied documentary on here from around 1990 about Joe Meek doesn’t even mention the phrase . GREAT WORK MR. 🏴❤️ hey - my big sis has the Twinkle song Golden Lights !
"Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Leader of the Pack" were on constant rotation at my previous workplace. It was a family restaurant. I always thought it was pretty messed up. Though to be fair, none of them were the worst songs on their playlist. I'd say that would be "Happy Birthday (Sweet Sixteen)" I mean, death is one thing, but child grooming... yeesh 😬
Yeah, I always thought it was funny that people go nuts over "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"... if you recited the lyrics in monotone, that shit is depressing.
@@jamescovan8853 that and people using "band of gold" as a song for their first dance
I wouldn't say Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen is about "child grooming" at all. No grooming involved... and not really a child. Yes, he's noticing she's growing up and becoming more beautiful in his eyes at age sixteen, but that's about it. The song strongly implies he's basically ignored her prior to that. Further, we don't know the age of her admirer/singer. But that wouldn't really matter as she's reached the age of consent in the majority of states, both then and now.
What above 'Love Man' by Whitesnake? 'I've spent close on sixteen years
Watching your pretty flower grow
Little girl, little girl, now tell me
Everything you know
About the oceans and the skies,
The mountains and the trees,
And then I'm tell you about
The birds and the honey bees'
@@lordprotector3367 I'd never heard this song before, so I had a look at others from the Whitesnake catalogue. "Sweet Talker" is just as bad! David Coverdale is on record as saying the songs are "diary entries of particular times" in his life, which IMO adds to the sheer level of horrific in lyrics like these.
There was also Moody River by Pat Boon. As an American the first time I heard Johnny Remember Me was from seeing the movie Telstar, that film introduced me to some really cool music!
My goodness! You have certainly exhumed some classics there! Brilliant editing as always - but I'm going to have to exorcise my PC now!
Hahaha!
Great vid! Keep em coming
Very Enjoyable trip as always. Thanks. Cheers!
And When I Die (1966) by the New York genius Laura Nyro. It was a Billboard No.2 hit for Blood Sweat and Tears in November 1969. At No.1 was Nyro's Wedding Bell Blues. At No.10 was Nyro's Eli's Comin'.
"And When I Die" is not exactly a death song; more like an inspirational song. Very churchy and gospel sounding. More people need to recognize Laura Nyro's songwriting gifts. She was brilliant.
@@elc1960 Absolutely. A few weeks ago Rolling Stone and several other media announced that production of a documentary on Laura will commence late 2022. Cheers.
Well, that was interesting. For one I had no idea of these songs were called "Morbid Pop Songs", Death Discs", or "Splatter Platters". The majority of them were banned by the BBC which I never thought they would do that. But still these songs became big hits in England. I do remember many of these songs when I was a kid growing up in the 60's and heard them on the airwaves on our local Top 40 AM station out here on the Central West Coast of California. I never heard "Leader of the Laundromat" by 'The Detergents'. The name of the band and their song sounds like they were a punk rock band from 1977. Classic!
They became hits in England because, even though these singles were banned by the BBC, the pirate radio stations were playing them. And those were the stations that young people listened to.
@@YesterdaysPapers It wasn't until I heard some years later I heard about pirate radio out in the waters off of England. (International waters, right?) I was just thinking if The Beatles wrote and recorded "Run for Your Life", "Eleanor Rigby" "Rocky Raccoon" and "Maxwell's Hammer" in late 50's or early 60's, would the BBC ban these songs back then?
@@undergroundwarrior70 Probably. The BBC even banned "A Day in the Life" in 1967.
@@YesterdaysPapers That I did not know. Maybe because "I saw a car crash today, and no one really knows he was from "The House of Lords". Heavy! And what about if Emerson, Lake and Palmer if they released their song "Lucky Man" in the late 50's or early 60's? I am sure the BCC would have banned that song back then. (Would have been wayyyyyy to progressive for the young ears to listen to back then).
On break and I found this channel
Please make more of these
This has to be one of the best channels I've found in the post year
Wow. Your special videos not on the singles of the week are superb. We get so much new information from them. The Leader of the Pack is a classic here in America but I had no idea it charted three separate times in the UK. It is indelible in my mind as part of the soundtrack to Kenneth Anger's 1963 underground film Scorpio Rising, the first film I think to use all rock songs on its soundtrack and as such an extremely influential movie.
First time hearing Johnny Leyton's song and indeed it is haunting and excellent. An early example of a hit "splatter platter" here in America might be Nervous Nervous' Transfusion from 1956 with the lines "I jump in my rod about a quarter to nine/I gotta make a date with that chick of mine/I cross the center line man you gotta make time." Complete with a plethora of screeching tires and car crash sound effects. Clever lyrics! Maybe more of a joke/novelty 45 rather than a true tearjerker.
YP your visuals are wonderful, like the one at 30 seconds. I know how much work it takes to find just the right clips to illustrate your videos. You might already know this site, but just in case, Prelinger Archives has thousands of clips on every subject free of copyright issues.
Thank you, Willie! Glad you enjoy these videos. "Johnny Remember Me" is indeed a great song. Most of the songs Joe Meek produced in the 60s are brilliant. Even the weaker songs are still great to listen to because the sound of those records he produced is so weird and unusual. I'm familiar with the Prelinger Archives, I've used some footage from those archives. Great stuff.
The Shangri Las were one of the greatest girl groups of all time ! Wonder what they're doing these days.
Great vid and format
Great choice cranking the reverb on the music while you're talking. Fits with the theme, maintains the atmosphere without having to turn it down completely
Back then they used huge plate reverbs and actual reverb rooms miked up.
I love this trend from the 60s. There were some really morbid ones about murder, too. It influenced a lot of punk rock later on.
The darkest and most morbid musical poetry of the 60s was in French, by Jacques Brel. La Mort (covered as 'My Death' by Bowie), Le Moribond ( 'Seasons in the Sun' in English, but rather grittier in the original), Tango Funebre (Funeral Tango), Le Pendu (The hanged man) plumb depths that the Shangri La's don't quite reach. Brel performed 'Le Pendu' with a noose around his neck on stage. 'La Fanette' is the tale of a double dealing girl and her lover drowning accidentally ... to which Brel offered the interpretation 'the story of a perfect crime'.
'My death waits for me in the last leaves of the tree that will make my coffin' - take that, Jim Morrison.
This is incredible. I like Jim Morrison's work but he doesn't come close to this.
@@alicewolfson4423 Scott Walker probably best adapted Brel to English. th-cam.com/play/PLOzdG_QQMqT8_durstn1y51m3ng4iRbRA.html
Bowie sang this during his Ziggy Stardust tour, and "Port of Amsterdam" during the Aladdin Sane tour. He was a fan of Brel.
You forgot Suicide is Painless
Tom Jones's hit song, "Delilah" details a murder and Cat Stevens's "Lady D' Arbanville" talks about a man viewing his lover in her coffin.
I had this in my Watch Later and it was worth coming back to. Subscribed
Amazing video, I was so engrossed by it. I knew of 'leader of the pack' from a long time ago and the spin-off biker death songs but I didn't realize it went so deep in these funky melodramatic directions.
the most morbid pop song ever released is timothy by the buoys...released in 1970
also banned from airplay but still made it to the top 40, topping at 17
dont think it ever got airplay in the uk
if you havent heard it...i wont spoil it....so search for it on youtube
According to Mystery Science Theatre, Timothy was a duck. 😉
i have that 45 yes! morbid!!
Very cool and chilling song!
Rupert Holmes. The Pina colada song guy wrote it. Said he made it gross on purpose to get his group attention.
One word: Cannibalism.
I don't know when it came out but I was sure you were going to talk about the song "DOA" , whose band I can't remember. That was one of the most chilling and creepy songs I had ever heard. About a kid being in a car wreck and slowly dying after seeing his girlfriend dead and while being loaded into an ambulance. I could be remembering it wrong but it made an impression. Very morbid.
Bloodrock is the band
@@laurencethornblade8357 Gee, I wonder why I forgot their name.
Thouight it was an airplane crash
I remember that ditty. a bit morbid crackling in over AM 630 kxok in St. Louis🎉
Good song!
An archtype of the death disc genre was undoubtedly Teen Angel by Mark Dinning, released in 1959. One of the first songs I remembered, as my mom used to sing and play it on her guitar when I was a little kid.
Great one!!! Also love that you had Wayne Cochrane on here with that magnificent hair!
Johnny , Remember Me is a fantastic 👌 song. Very haunting & innovative.
Yes, I love the sound of that song.
@@YesterdaysPapers Joe Meek's material is always so interesting.
@@danarcher9012 Yes, I love a lot of the stuff he produced. Love the strange, unusual sound of those recordings.
No mention of Joe Meek killing his landlady and himself?
Oh yeah, one more thing: "Ebony Eyes" was the only Top 40 pop hit by the Everly Brothers that they wouldn't play in concert, because they didn't want to bum out their audiences.
Great video loved hearing these old tunes again. It also reminded me of a much later recording released in 1971 by a band called Bloodrock, D.O. A. This would have to be my favorite of this genre.
Depeche Mode's "Blasphemous Rumours", 1984, could also be considered a member of this genre.
Also the 1968 Country song Carroll County Accident by Porter Wagoner. The trend continued into the 70's with Billy Don't be a Hero, Wildfire and Season's in the Sun.
Jan Berry is a freakin' genious. May he rest in peace.
Isn't Brian Wilson's whole Pet Sounds a tragedy album in some way?
Death discs, yes, but good songs, definitely. We still remember them for a good reason. Honourable mention to the very weird I Want My Baby Back by Jimmy Cross, even down to the use of a shovel into dirt as the percussion. The final chorus is sung from inside the coffin with the lid closed, after he joins his deceased girlfriend. Another 'fun' one is 1964's I'm Gonna Jump from The Toggery Five, raw and angst ridden.
Didn't Kenny Everett do a 'Worst record of all time ' feature which this particular track won!
Don't forget SCREAMING LORD SUTCH arriving on stage in a coffin. The lid lifts and Sutch sits up then looks to the audience singing Bonnie Moronie holding onto a skeleton.
I witnessed this in 1991 at Wintersun Festival at Coolangatta Queensland.
I had to pause this video and listen to that Jimmy Cross record based on your description. I love it, thanks for your comment
@@johnkayak5488 I believe Lord Sutch borrowed some of his antics from Screaming Jay Hawkins. But Hawkins might have actually gotten the idea for the the coffin arrival, which he used in some of his 1960s appearances, from Sutch. There used to be a clip of Hawkins rising from a coffin, with, I believe Dick Clark looking on, and singing "I put a spell on you." up on YT, but it seems to be gone.
@@soulfoodie1 He did, on Capital Radio in 1977 - "The World's Worst Wireless Show" (sometimes with vomit-like sound effects as he spoke the title). Listeners were invited to vote on what should be in the "Bottom Thirty".
Just watched this on my other account YP (I mostly watch you on my TV on that account) but I had to hop on the laptop and tell you once more how much I enjoy your top tier presentations and channel. I bought a 45 rpm of Wednesday's Last Kiss in the 70's - such a catchy tune. You really are one of the best. #MadRespect ❤
Thank you very much, Rachel! Glad you enjoy these videos, really appreciate your words. Best regards to you and Sue.
My dad was from that generation & I grew up hearing some of these songs but they never struck me as particularly morbid or dark.
This was really fascinating. I really liked it.
I would suggest "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvis, and "Warm Leatherette" by The Normal!
warm letherette was released in 1978 this is another era
This was a brilliant episode 👍
I grew up in the 60s, and remember my mom listening to these songs. I think she probably had most of these on 45 records. She loved music !
Three Stars by Ruby Wright is a classic early record. This was released in 1959 after the death of Holly, Valens and Richardson.
I vaguely remember that song , I think it had the line "Gee, we're gonna miss you everybody sends their love."
The weirdest death song I remember was Laurie by Dickie Lee. It's (ahem) haunting.
You CLEARLY did not experience the 60s or you'd know that THIS wasn't even a blip on the radar.
Great video! I usually dislike talking bits in records but I make an exception for 'Leader of the Pack.' I just adore that record, camp and cheezy as it is. A quite exhaustive list of teenage death songs, complete with opening lyrics, can be found in Stephen King's novel of the 80s: "Christine." They are used as chapter headings/epigraphs.
Excellent video Yesterday's Papers. Big fan of this genre of music. Another great one was I Want My Baby Back by Jimmy Cross. Wayne Cochran had a slight look of Conway Twitty in my opinion. I Wonder if these records led to the country songs like Red Sovine's Teddy Bear etc? Keep up the great work YP.👍
Thank you! I agree, "I Want My Baby Back" is great.
Then there was "Don't Cry Daddy" sung by Elvis. From the lyrics I don't know if the wife/mother of the song died or ran out on "daddy" and the kids.
Teddy Bear was morbid in another way. Sentimental songs like that have always been big in country music. Death songs too, like Big Bad John and Footprints in the Snow.
4:25 No wonder he survived and she didn't. That hair (or whatever it is) would protect against a direct his from a cement mixer.
My first time in this channel, love it 🥰
I appreciate your knowledge and thoroughness. It's nice to not have to second-guess or internally correct everything you say (in contrast to many other youtubers).