No Filler Music Podcast - Rewind: Slashers and Synthwave - The Music of John Carpenter

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

John Carpenter is often referred to as the master of horror. His iconic Halloween franchise defined the slasher film formula for decades to come. But for fans of synthwave music (and the use of synth in cinema), we have Carpenter to thank for that as well. His extremely effective use of synths to build atmosphere and heighten tension in his films went on to influence countless synthwave artists and film composers. On this Halloween bonus episode of No Filler, we listen to a couple tracks from his 1982 score for Halloween III, and talk about his legacy in both film and music. Tracklist: "The Fog Theme" "Chariots of Pumpkins" (Halloween III) "Local Boy, No Way" (Halloween III) "The Upside Down" (Stranger Things) "Halloween Theme"  This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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If you haven't heard it, it was a blast. We covered a band called The Undoing of David Wright. Those guys know how to bring the spooks, man. That's right. So yeah, Q, this is our annual Halloween episode. And, I mean, this is, it's been a scary year just in general, Q. I feel like we, you know, a lot of times people are like, oh man, I love this time of year, you know, I get, I like to scare myself, watch Halloween and, you know, watch scary movies and dressed up in costumes and stuff. It's like, dude, we've been scared shitless the entire year as a, as a collective globe, right?

It's, it's been shit. Yeah, this is an interesting, interesting year on the blip of human existence. But yeah, what are you going to do, Q, if a trick-or-treater knocks on your door? What's the plan? What are you going to do? I don't know. But, I mean, let's think about our options here. You get a nice big PVC pipe and just, like, hold it up and then just, like, drop the candy through the pipe and it just kind of lands in their bucket.

That way, you know, hey, you can maintain distance and still provide treats. So you're talking like at an angle? Sure. Like a downward angle so it slides into the bucket. Yeah. I mean, think about it. They're kids. They're short.

Well, I was thinking maybe like blow dart style. Okay. Just smack them right in the face. Yeah, that is another. Nothing but candy corn. Unwrapped candy corn. Yeah. That's another great option is just to throw it at them too, you know.

Yeah. You got lots of, lots of options. I heard one of my coworkers, he's going to just put a bunch of like, lollipops, he's going to stab them in the ground, and they can just grab a lollipop, which I think it's kind of cool. Of course, there's going to be a kid that grabs like 10 of them or whatever, but you know what? Of course. Good for that kid.

There's always that one kid, man. Think about it, man. This is a relatively safe thing in the year of the pandemic. You know, you interact with them for maybe 10 seconds at most. They probably are going to have a mask on already. Everybody's going to be dressed up as a nurse or a doctor. You already have the mask on. Sure.

zombie nurse, zombie doctor. Done. But all right, Q, if you are a horror movie aficionado, you may have recognized the song that played us in. That was the theme from The Fog, which came out in 1980. This was a John Carpenter film,

starring Jamie Lee Curtis, you know, fresh out of the the grips of Michael Myers, John Carpenter said, you know, I'm going to use Jamie Lee Curtis again. I'm going to make a film about creeping death, is one word you could use.

But yeah, the fog is basically about, it's about fog, Q. Have you seen the film? No, but this guy that I work with on the weekends, he highly suggested. He's been in an 80s. Horror kick recently. It's the best decade for horror, no doubt.

But yeah, it's about a fog that sort of brings in this ghost pirate ship kind of thing. Really cool special effects and stuff. But yeah, if you haven't guessed, we're talking about John Carpenter and his ginormous influence on not only like horror movie soundtracks, but synthwave, right? nods to John Carpenter all the time. We're going to play something that sort of speaks to his legacy. But yeah, we're going to focus on one soundtrack in particular. I just wanted to play that theme song because it's like the perfect. It just sounds like the theme song to Halloween in general.

I had that organ in the beginning of it, right? The cool little piano line. It gave me a proper spook, dude. So it's perfect. Good. But yeah, many of you would, you know, when you think John Carpenter and music, you immediately think of the Halloween theme song, right? That spooky-ass piano. Super eerie piano, yeah.

And, yeah, but if you're a fan of the Halloween franchise, you probably remember not being too thrilled with Halloween three. Is that the one where he's in a, where he busts out of a hospital or something? Now, that's the second one. Okay. Halloween 3EQ doesn't feature Michael Myers in the film. What? And a lot of people were like, what the fuck? You know, how can we have a Halloween film without Michael Myers?

Is he even, like, brought up in the film? Like, is it, is Jamie Lee Curtis in it? Is it the same universe? Yeah, it's the same universe, but he's just not in it. And it's been a while since I've seen it, but basically the idea, it's really silly when you break it down. But basically it is about a, this company that makes masks for kids to wear

called the Silver Shamrock Company. And basically the masks with you, basically. I don't know. It's like I said, it's been a long time since I've seen it. That's beside the point. The point is, I mean, I think IMDB covers it nicely. Kids all over America want silver shamrock masks for Halloween.

Yeah. That's all it says. But no, obviously there's some carnage involved, right? Because it's a Halloween film. But the point I'm trying to get at, Q, long-windedly as usual, is that this is, to me, one of his best films, scores, sorry, one of his best scores. I think, I stand by, dude, I fucking love the thing. Have you seen The Thing? No, man, I'm sorry. I know, I'm sorry. You've got to watch that, man. That is one of the best horror films of all time. And I apologize to everyone else who's listening who just screamed out loud. I'm sorry.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I love the first Halloween. That's like a fucking legend, legendary film, right? And that one I've seen countless times. Yeah, it's great. It holds up. It's a fucking masterpiece. I'm going to make a promise to you all on this Halloween Eve.

I will watch it tonight. The thing? Oh, dude. You're going to love it. It's got some of the best practical special effects in movie history. I mean, just mind-boggling, dude. Yeah, I don't know what I'm waiting for, but... Oh, my God, dude.

There's no time like the present, brother. And there's definitely no time like Halloween. Yes. Anyway, this is a lot of talking. Let's play some tunes here. So, as you may or may not know, John Carpenter's is known for his synth music. And specifically, Q, he used an EMSV-C-S-3 synth.

I don't know what that means either. I thought that sounded familiar. But anyway, and I think we even played a track off of Escape from New York in our Com Trues episode because we talked a little bit about the history of Synth Wave and stuff like that, right? The score for Halloween 3 features a very heavy like synth score, which is why it's my favorite of the Halloween scores. But also I think it's got some of the coolest, most, um, synthwaive EQ music of all of his work until he gets to his later stuff, which we'll talk about

later. All right, Q. We're going to play the second track on the record. I couldn't tell you what scenes playing in the film, because I haven't seen it in years, Q. But this is John Carbenter and Alan Howworth, which is somebody he collaborated with quite a bit. But this song is called, are you ready? This is the perfect name, Q, for Halloween night.

I'm ready. Chariots of pumpkins. I'm all about it. Very atmospheric. Very atmospheric. Mood setting. Very synth-wavy. You know, that sounds like new synth wave that's coming out now.

Yeah. And what I should say is they sound like him, right? They are emulating him and, you know, other synth-wave pioneers like Van Jellus. Georgia on Mordor, Tangerine Dream. These are all people that, artists that synthwave musicians of today kind of look back to, you know. So yeah, Q, Carpenter basically, he said that he didn't really have any interest in synthesizers

other than the fact that they provided a way for him to sound big with just a keyboard. So, you know, if you listen to, like if you pay attention to the score and stuff on the very first Halloween, right? Like he would do these, you would call him like stings, right? We would just be this like loud and sudden, like synth sound, basically that would kind of coincide with Michael, like, killing somebody or something like that, right? Well, think like the movie Psycho with the, you know, draw the shower curtains back.

Yeah, that's definitely similar, yeah. But anyway, like, basically he used, you know, the tool that just. allowed him to sound like more than just a keyboard, right? Although the irony is that the Halloween theme song is just that piano, you know. Individual keys. Dude, man, that score holds up. It is so effective. Yeah, man.

I love that soundtrack, man. Even the, man, what was her name, the character that Michael is after? Jamie Leakertis. No. Oh, dear. Lori, her name is Lori. Her theme song, even her theme song is great. What I'm saying is QM, you need to listen to the Halloween soundtrack.

If you want to spook yourself out even more tonight with the lights off and shit, do it. Oh, I'm already going to watch the thing, dude. I'm probably for sure I'm going to be spooked enough. Are you telling me legitimately that you've never seen it? That is correct, sir. Oh, dude, I am jealous right now that you get to watch and experience it. it's one of the most effective horror movies. It's got a great...

I love horror films that kind of revolve around, like, isolation, you know? Oh, yeah. A group of people trapped somewhere, you know. Hey, don't boil it. What else we got, bro? You got any other songs for us? We're going to play a couple more tracks. This candy's not getting any sweeter, you know what I'm saying?

Well, you know, we got to wrap this up before the kids start knocking on the door. All right, we're going to... I just wanted to play one more track. Let's jump down. This song is called Local Boy. No way. Man, that is so effective, dude. You know what?

For a movie that doesn't have Michael Myers in it, I could just picture him, like, walking through a house with all the lights off, like looking for his next victim with that song playing. Yeah, too bad. It doesn't happen. But yeah, the music stands by itself, right? Like it stands on its own.

Scary, dude. All right, Q, one more song. I wanted to play something a little bit more modern just to talk about Carpenter's legacy, right? I'm curious if you, if any, I don't know, what's a TV show that came out in the last, you know, few years that just dominated pop culture when it came out and Stranger Things. Stranger Things, exactly.

Yes, sir. And they specifically, you know, we're paying homage to Carpenter and other 80s film scores, right? But specifically Carpenter in some of these songs, right? So I wanted to play a song that, to me, just screams Carpenter. And it sounds like some of those stuff that we heard on the Halloween 3, the two tracks that we played. So we're going to listen to a song off the very first season of Stranger Things. The song, of course, is the creepiest song. And it is the theme song, maybe, perhaps, if you will, to the upside down.

And it's called The Upside Down. All right, here we go, Q. And this is, of course, let me just say the names here, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Makes me want to go back and watch the entire series. again. Yeah. The first season, that's just so great, man. I love the first season.

They do such a great job just building the universe, you know? So many nods to classic 80s films, too. It's kind of impressive. Like, there's some YouTube videos out there where you can find people that break down every Easter egg, every nod, you know? And it's crazy, man. It's crazy. Yeah, dude.

Just from the opening scene, you know. Anyway, all right, Q, that was that. I look at some synth horror music, specifically John Carpenter. But yeah, man, number one, go watch the thing right now, Q. You promised that you would. I will. I promise. We're eager to hear your thoughts on it next week, Q, okay?

Totally. I got you. I'm telling you. Get some depends ready, as in some diapers. Adult diapies? Yeah. Okay. You're going to have to turn the light on when you sleep tonight, for sure.

But now, this is one of the greatest horror sci-fi films of all time. I'm actually reading up on John Carpenter right now. This was a few years ago. I hope it's still a thing. But apparently he has mentioned interest in making a film based on. Dead Space, the video game series, which would be phenomenal. But that's like perfect John Carpenter, you know, a story, you know, dead space. Perfect.

Aliens in space. Cool. Dude, speaking in space, have you seen killer clowns? From outer space? No. Dude. You know how many people just screamed out loud when they heard that? That one's, that's just a goofy, like.

Colt classic. You should watch it, man. It's fun. Yeah, I might. Maybe I'll pull that up tomorrow, Q. Do it, man. All right. So, yeah, Q, that's it.

That was our Halloween episode. I got to get my candy bowl out here, you know? Oh, yeah. And figure out some way to safely distribute this candy. Maybe I'll throw it at them. I'm going with Blow Dark. I like the Blow Dark. All right, man.

Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween, everybody. Hey, if you want to find out more about us, go to our website, no-filler podcast.com. I'm not going to go through the whole spiel. This is a bonus episode. You know, all right. Yeah. But yeah.

Twitter at No-Fillard podcast. Find us there. And that's that, man. Next week, I don't know what we're going to talk about next week, Q, because I don't even know what day it is besides Halloween. It's Halloween, dude. It's Halloween, but. It's October 31st, 2020. All right, Q.

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