Psycho Killer and Other Mood Music: A Definitive Theme of Childhood
For several summers of my elementary and early middle school years, a single mix-tape was THE music I chose for myself. It was catchy, it was up-beat, it was Rock And Roll, and it had a definite theme: looking into the hearts and minds of certified whackos. This mix-tape was known as: Psycho Killer and Other Mood Music.
This was my start of becoming fascinated with madness, with looking at the nature of walking (or more often crossing) the line between living within society’s boundaries and creating a new world that exists only inside the mind. What people escape to when the stress of reality gets to be too much for them says something about common pitfalls that exist for all of us.
The mix-tape was my introduction to some of my favorite musical artists, including The Kinks and Warren Zevon. For the longest time I had no idea who was responsible for the individual songs on the tape; the liner notes only consist of the song titles. But with this new-fangled interweb contraption, I’ve been able to find the songs, so the world at large can explore a little fragment of my childhood. Enjoy.
Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
Brain Damage / Eclipse – Pink Floyd
You May Be Right – Billy Joel
Social Disease – Elton John
Destroyer – The Kinks
Psychotic Reaction – Count Five
Excitable Boy – Warren Zevon
All The Madmen – David Bowie
Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
21st Century Schizoid Man – King Crimson
Brain Salad Surgery – Emerson Lake & Palmer
Ok, so the last one isn’t Emerson Lake and Palmer, but for the life of me I can’t find a version of the song on Youtube, which is a shame, but the video that takes its place gives a similar feeling. That is, if you’re on some kind of strong psychedelic drug and are basically just imagining the Emerson Lake & Palmer song. Which seems a fitting way to end this post.
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So for some reason I didn’t see this post when it first went up, but stumbled across it today when the Brooklynite article was posted. I notice there’s no mention of the psycho who originally made the mix tape. ;-) If I can ever find the time (and get around to buying the appropriate software) I intend to redo the tape in a digital version. Need to be able to recreate the heartbeat – glass breaking sequence and the segue from 21st Century Schizoid Man into Brain Salad Surgery, though.