Frankenstein (song)
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| "Frankenstein" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Edgar Winter | ||
| from the album They Only Come Out at Night | ||
| Released | 1973 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:44 | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| They Only Come Out at Night track listing | ||
| "We All Had A Real Good Time" (Track 9) |
"Frankenstein" (Track 10) |
End of Album |
"Frankenstein" is a rock and roll instrumental by The Edgar Winter Group. The 1972 song featured an early popularization of the synthesizer, on the group's album They Only Come out at Night. The song topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week starting in May of 1973, and sold a million copies. It reached #18 in the UK the following month.[1]
Its name is derived from the fact that the final version of the song was pieced together from many different takes. (The riff was first used by Winter on the jazz oriented album Entrance in the song Hung Up. He later tried a variation on it Martians from the Standing on Rock album.)This is the result of Edgar Winter's playing many of the instruments on the track. It was originally supposed to be the B-side to another song, but the two were soon reversed by the label. This song is rumored to be the first ever song to have a double drum solo. In fact, the working title of the song was "The Double Drum Solo."[2]
[edit] Trivia
- The original version of the song was much longer, but due to the editing of the master, this version is no longer extant; however, a live recording of the full version of the song from CalJam '74 exists which runs 8:54. Listening to this version points out where the edits were made in the hit version; this track was released on a bootleg CD entitled "Rick Derringer Owes Me Money".
- The song was played at many Phish concerts, including the New Year's Eve 1995 - Live at Madison Square Garden show.
- The song was frequently played during the encore at many They Might Be Giants concerts in the 1990s.
- The song can be found in Harmonix's 2005 PlayStation 2 music video game Guitar Hero.
- The song was featured in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homerpalooza" and hummed in the episode Homer Defined.
- The Song was played in an episode of the NBC show My Name Is Earl where Earl starts a band
- The Song was played at the beginning of the movie Wayne's World 2.
- The song was featured in the video game Forza Motorsport. Although slightly edited, it was included in the games classic rock based soundtrack created by Junkie XL.
- This song was covered by the Brass Funk and Jazz Rock group Bonerama, from New Orleans, Louisiana.
- The song can be heard blaring from Pauly Shore's headphones in the film Encino Man
- Keyboardist Derek Sherinian recorded a cover of the song on his 2001 album, Inertia.
- The band Overkill did a metal-version of the song on their album "Horrorscope".
- To imply that something is cool, Beavis and Butthead often mouth-guitar the lead guitar hook from this song.
- This was the entrance music used by 911 in ECW.
- This song was covered by the Massachusetts born guitarist Gary Hoey.
- Jazz Bassist Marcus Miller covered the song on his 2005 album Silver Rain
[edit] Other songs with this name
- A 1973 song was featured on the debut album by the pioneering pre-punk band, the New York Dolls.
- The hard rock band Clutch also has a song titled "Frankenstein" on the 2001 album Pure Rock Fury.
References:
- ^ Rock Movers & Shakers by Dafydd Rees & Luke Crampton, 1991 Billboard Books.
- ^ Morse, Tim. Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time
| Preceded by "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" by Stevie Wonder |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Edgar Winter Group song) May 26, 1973 |
Succeeded by "My Love" by Paul McCartney and Wings |
