Tuesday, November 1, 2022

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Soundtrack LP


Label: Ode Records; Year: 1975; Format: Vinyl LP

Even though Halloween was yesterday it is still the season and when I was sitting down last night to write the review after having listened to the LP I was plain tired hence a twenty-four hour delay it is. I don't exactly remember how old I was when I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, but I was very young. Over the years I have seen the movie several times again and always loved it for its celebration of trash culture and B-Movies. It has been years since I saw it last hence it's time I catch it again some time soon. Since I am not a movie buff and definitely don't consider myself knowledgeable when it comes to the world of cinema I read up about the impact of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the intranet and have come away with some interesting angles. First and foremost since this blog of mine concentrates so heavily on punk rock it is interesting to see how the costume designer Sue Blane has directly or indirectly influenced early punk rock fashion, especially when it comes to the torn fishnet stockings and colorfully-dyed hair. Let's also not forget that the movie spawned the musical career of Meatloaf as two years after the release of Rocky Horror Meatloaf released his most popular album ever, Bat Out of Hell. At the same time the movie launched careers of actors like Susan Sarandon or Tim Curry amongst others. But how about the music on this record and so crucially important to the movie itself? Everybody will have heard "The Time Warp" at some point in their lives, there is no doubt about it. It is definitely the hit song on the record and of the movie, but let's not fool ourselves to think that the rest of the music is not interesting. All the music was written by Richard O'Brien aka Riff Raff in the movie and I shall just conclude that his dialogues for the movie and the accompanying music make this movie and soundtrack so much fun that it should not come as a surprise that almost fifty years after its original release the movie is a cult classic and has a worldwide following. I'll put on "Time Warp" again now and raise a glass to everything outside the norm. Please do yourself a favor and watch the movie and let's do the time warp again!! 

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