SPOOKYSONGS

The Crypt Jam – The Crypt Keeper

In October of 1992, America’s earholes were assaulted by the one and only Crypt Keeper. Looking back on things, 1992 was a pretty stale year for horror flicks. The top notable film was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but calling that “horror” is realllllllly stretching it. Fortunately, on television we had much better fare. You had Unsolved Mysteries, with its horrifying theme song. You had Nightmare Cafe, produced by Wes Craven and starring Robert Englund. And you had Tales from the Crypt, a balls-to-the-wall gore and nudity-fest on HBO, back when only your friend’s uncle had HBO.

The show was an anthology of twisted tales, with wraparound introductions by The Crypt Keeper, a ghoulish puppet loved telling awful puns. He was basically Waldorf from the Muppets, but 100 years after death.

Each week, we were treated to another set of horrific stories. The theme to the show was famously done by Danny Elfman, and has traces of his Batman, Beetlejuice, and Simpsons themes, all rolled into one… though probably closest to the Beetlejuice theme.

Eventually, people clamored for a soundtrack album to be released, so they did! And the final track was a full-on rap production, The Crypt Jam. The song was written by the Keeper’s voice actor John Kassir, and music by Chuckii Booker, who is a big-time record producer and had some minor hits in 1992.

I can remember this song getting some airplay during October (at least of 1992). Always a treat when the DJ would acknowledge that Halloween existed.

We are welcomed to the Keeper’s party… a “monster bash”, if you will. A perfect early-90s hip-hop beat kicks in, and we’re treated to 4-and-a-half minutes of bliss. During the song, CK is basically just telling us exactly how awesome/awful this party is going to be, and all the things you can expect.

The video is where things really take off; We have body parts tapping by themselves, a sort-of-Thriller dance scene, and the Keeper dressed up like a dead John Lennon (too soon?). I think what’s great is if you took out the gore and skeletons, this wasn’t very different than any other 1992 rap video. We get interspersed scenes from different Tales episodes. It’s all perfect.

This song is perfect for any hip-hop spooky song playlist, alongside “The Addams Groove”, “Freaks Come Out at Night”, “Are You Ready for Freddy”, and “Nightmare on My Street”.