As a special Halloween treat, we are pleased to present this unique and hilarious DJ mix made up of the best (worst?) in Dracula-themed disco created by our crate-digging friend Robert Skvarla of the Evil Eye Podcast. Read below for what Robert has to say about this mix and follow along with the track listing after pressing play on this super fun mp3. Happy Halloween, creeps!
“Disco is one of the most maligned genres of popular music. You’ll still find people unironically saying, “Disco sucks!” online and off. And to an extent it’s true—disco did suck, or rather individual artists and singles sucked. However, this is also true of the vast majority of rock, punk, and metal. The whole truth is, most music sucks. What distinguished disco is that it may have been the first genre of pop music that wore that label as a badge of pride. The purpose of disco wasn’t to awe critics or win awards, there was no Lester Bangs of disco. Disco intended to sway bodies in the lurch of a crowd in dark, sweaty clubs. It wanted to convince total strangers to lose themselves in each other for a moment, however brief. Sometimes this led to minor miracles, as in Donna Summer’s 17-minute orgasmic opus “Love to Love You Baby”, but most often it meant novelty tracks and one-off singles. Porn star pop stars, dancing ducks. Nothing was off limits.
The most persistent of these trends was Dracula. Singles devoted to Dracula would appear and fade from memory throughout the United States and Europe beginning in 1975, but you can’t keep a good vampire down and inevitably the Dark Prince would resurrect to terrorize the dance floor again and again through the end of the decade. It’s hard to track how many trips Dracula made to the discotheque between 1975 and 1980 because the nature of this kind of ephemera is such that producers would identify a fad and churn out singles to turn a quick buck. We all know Rick Dees, few of us have heard the names May Ambruster and Stefan Klinkhammer.”
Track List:
Voltaire – “Dracula Disco” (1977, Canada)
Mokka – “Rock Me, Dracula” (1979, Germany, appears in Dracula Blows His Cool)
Meco – “Love Me, Dracula” (1979, United States)
Frederik – “Olen Dracula (1977, Finland)
The Vamps – “Disco Blood (Part II)” (1977, Brazil)
Solcyst – “Haha!… I Need Your Blood (Disco Dracula)” (1980, Germany)
Possession – “Black Dracula” (1978, Italy)
Andy Forray – “Drac’s Back” (1979, United States)
Gloria Gaynor – “Love Is Just a Heartbeat Away” (1979, United States, appears in Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula)
Pat Hodges – “Fly By Night” (1979, United States, appears in Love at First Bite)
Emmie Yokoyama – “Disco Vampirella” (1979, Japan)
Pan Demonium – “Dracula’s Dream” (1979, Germany)
Hot Blood – “Dracula Goes Dreamy” (1977, Germany)
Monsieur Goraguer – “Sexy Dracula” (1976, France)
Hot Blood – “Even Vampires Fall In Love” (1977, Germany)
