It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: The Final Nine Beers

I was able to catch up and finish the remaining nine beers in my beer advent calendar before Santa arrived, and most of the rest of the beers were pretty damn good.

Beer #16 was one that has been in at least one previous beer advent calendar, Riverlands Brewing's Hoppy Grinchmas.  It's a winter IPA.  You know how I feel about IPAs.

Name:  Hoppy Grinchmas

Brewery:  Riverlands Brewing Company

Location:  St. Charles, IL

ABV:  6.5%

IBU:  40

Good for drinking if:  You need a bitter beer to complement the bitter feelings you have watching your team play like ass in the first quarter of a football game against its biggest rival.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.5

Beer #17 was no beer at all.  It was a winter cider called Sled Zeppelin, and of course I loved the name.  The cider itself was pretty good as well.  It's an cran-apple cider with cinnamon.  Quite festive.

Name:  Sled Zeppelin

Brewery:  2 Towns Ciderhouse

Location:  Corvallis, OR

ABV:  6.9%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're starting to lose hope that your team is going to beat its rival.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

Next up was a pastry stout, S'Mores Wedda from suburban Alter.  As the name suggests, this was a stout with chocolate, graham cracker, and marshmallow flavors.  It was sweet and delicious.

Name:  S'Mores Wedda

Brewery:  Alter Brewing Company

Location:  Downers Grove, IL

ABV:  6%

IBU:  27

Good for drinking if:  Your team is at least starting to score, giving you some hope.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

Victory's Golden Monkey is one of my favorite American-made Belgian-style tripels, and Beer #19 was a holiday take on Golden Monkey called Very Merry Monkey.  As a good tripel should be, it was a hefty 9.5%, and they added some cinnamon, molasses, and ginger to give it a nice holiday feel.

Name:  Very Merry Monkey

Brewery:  Victory Brewing Company

Location:  Downingtown, PA

ABV:  9.5%

IBU:  25

Good for drinking if:  You need a strong beer to drink as you watch your team score ten points in the final two minutes of the game, and then beat your rival in OT to put your team in the driver's seat for a division title.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.5

Beer #20 was another good one, from suburban Blind Corner, which I had not heard of until cracking this one open.  John Frank Andy is a Scotch ale, and I love Scotch ales.  This one had notes of roasted chestnuts, raisin bread, and toffee.  I don't know who John, Frank, or Andy are, but I'm glad they came together to make this one.

Name:  John Frank Andy

Brewery:  Blind Corner Brewery

Location:  Naperville, IL

ABV:  7.0%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're watching Sunday Night Football, not feeling great about your chances to advance to your fantasy football finals.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

Beer #21 was from another local brewery with which I was not previously acquainted -- Azadi, which is characterized as a nano brewery.  The beer was Pista, a chocolate pistachio porter.  I love all three of those things separately and when combined.  My only minor gripe is that it wasn't stronger.

Name:  Pista

Brewery:  Azadi Brewing Company

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  5.5%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You have no idea that Christian McCaffrey is about to bring your fantasy football team out of the doldrums and into the finals.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

I drank the last three beers on Christmas Eve, and the first one was a Czech-style pilsner from St. Louis's Urban Chestnut.  I generally enjoy all their beers, and this one was pretty good.  I like pilsners, but I'll say it's tough to have a really good or a really bad one.  This was no exception.  Good, but not great.

Name:  Czech Pilsner

Brewery:  Urban Chestnut Brewing Company

Location:  St. Louis, MO

ABV:  5.3%

IBU:  35

Good for drinking if:  You're in need of a crisp beer while watching a fake fireplace in someone else's home.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

The penultimate beer was a style I haven't seen before:  a black kolsch.  Solemn Oath's Cold Black Night was a slightly maltier version of the light, crisp style Cologne gave the world.  I generally feel the same way about kolsches as I do about pilsners, but if you make any beer darker, I'm all for it.

Name:  Cold Black Night

Brewery:  Solemn Oath Brewery

Location:  Naperville, IL

ABV:  4.8%

IBU:  20

Good for drinking if:  You want something refreshing before eating lasagna.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Last but not least was a stout inspired by the cherry cordial.  With notes of chocolate, cherry, and vanilla, Old Nation's Frandor Claus was the perfect way to finish off the beer advent calendar.

Name:  Frandor Claus

Brewery:  Old Nation Brewing Company

Location:  Williamston, MI

ABV:  7.0%

IBU:  30

Good for drinking if:  You're watching an old Simpsons episode before you launch into several hours of holiday music videos.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Scorched Earth Doppelbock and Brutalist Old Acquaintance

Beer #14 in the advent calendar was a delightful doppelbock from exurban brewery Scorched Earth.  Appropriately named Doppelbock, this was exactly what a doppelbock should be:  malty, a little sweet, and strong.

Name:  Doppelbock

Brewery:  Scorched Earth Brewing Company

Location:  Algonquin, IL

ABV:  7.7%

IBU:  21

Good for drinking if:  You're watching a football game between two state schools from Alabama that most people probably think are respectively located in ancient Greece and north Florida.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

Chicago nano brewery Brutalist gave us Beer #15, a winter ale called Old Acquaintance.  It's made with cascara, which I had to look up.  It can refer to either a plant known for its laxative properties or an herbal coffee cherry tea.  I sure hope it's the latter.  Either way, it's a good winter ale, and whichever cascara it might be adds a blunt, almost dark chocolate flavor.

Name:  Old Acquaintance

Brewery:  Brutalist Brewing Cooperative

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  5.9%

IBU:  27

Good for drinking if:  You're hoping you don't need to head to the shitter while you figure out how a group of Louisianans with anger management issues will fare against azure gamecocks who just want to fight.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: The Next Four Beers (Again)

I'm still a couple beers behind, but here are the last four advent calendar beers I had.

Beer #10 was from another of my favorite local breweries, More, whose flagship location is in Huntley (which is about 40-45 miles northwest of Chicago).  This one was Praga Nocturne, a Czech-style dark lager.  I love Czech dark lagers, and it's not a style you see much in the States, unfortunately.  This was expectedly good -- malty and crisp at the same time.

Name:  Praga Nocturne

Brewery:  More Brewing Company

Location:  Huntley, IL

ABV:  5.2%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You want to enjoy the warm embrace of kith and kin.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

Number 11 was kind of a mind fuck from Akron's excellent Hoppin' Frog.  Named Chocolate Orange Stocking Stuffer -- with a chocolate orange gracing the label and it's 7% -- I assumed it was going to be a stout.  I was particularly excited about this because Goose Island's Midnight Orange Bourbon County Stout variant from 2018 is one of my favorite beers, so I'm always looking for another great chocolate orange stout.  You can imagine my shock when I poured it into my glass and it looked like a light wheat beer.  I thought maybe it was going to be a white stout (also a mind fuck), but then I read the back of the label and realized it's a shandy!  I have nothing against shandies, especially when they're 7%.  I kid you not, this tasted like Zima.  And I don't say that in a bad way.  I think I might have discovered what flavors when into Zima.  This whole time, it was chocolate and orange.

Name:  Chocolate Orange Stocking Stuffer

Brewery:  Hoppin' Frog Brewing Company

Location:  Akron, OH

ABV:  7.0%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're cousin-in-law is on your diving board, but can't swim.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

The next beer in the advent calendar was a more traditional winter beer, from local brewery Hopewell.  The aptly named Winter Lager was a nice malty, slightly sweet lager with some winter spices.  All in all, a great winter beer.

Name:  Winter Lager

Brewery:  Hopewell Brewing Company

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  6.0%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're decorating a pine tree you temporarily upended your living space to accommodate.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Beer #14 was from another one of my favorite local breweries, Pipeworks.  Unfortunately, this one was an IPA from their "Vs. Unicorn" series.  Abominable Snowman Vs. Unicorn is at least a hazy IPA, which I like better than traditional IPAs.  This one has Idaho Z Mosate and Cryo Simcoe hops, whatever that means.

Name:  Abominable Snowman Vs. Unicorn

Brewery:  Pipeworks Brewing Company

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  7.6%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You are glad to be in a structure with central heat, rather than at an outdoor stadium in Pittsburgh.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

Hair Band Friday - 12/12/25

1.  "Eyes of a Stranger" by Queensrÿche

2.  "Feels Like Love" by Danger Danger

3.  "Too Cool For School" by Roxx Gang

4.  "What Keeps Me Loving You" by XYZ

5.  "Autoblast" by Black 'N Blue

6.  "Hard Times" by Tora Tora

7.  "Kamikaze" by Vandenberg

8.  "Stick to Your Guns" by Dokken

9.  "Can't Get Loose" by Sammy Hagar

10.  "Over and Out" by Britny Fox

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Cigar City Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

The next beer in the advent calendar is from what I think of as Florida's premier craft brewery, Cigar City.  Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Brown Ale is pretty much just like it sounds -- a roasty, malty brown ale with notes of raisin, cinnamon, vanilla.  It's a very solid offering, and at only 5.5%, it's not to heavy either.  All in all, a delightful winter beer.

Name:  Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Brown Ale

Brewery:  Cigar City Brewing

Location:  Tampa, FL

ABV:  5.5%

IBU:  25

Good for drinking if:  You want to watch a football game featuring a team from the same city as the brewery of the beer your drinking, and you want your beer to taste like a cookie.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Maplewood Xmas Ale

Beer #8 in the advent calendar was a welcome sight, or taste if you will.  Maplewood is one of my favorite local breweries, this one is their Xmas Ale, which I think was just released this year.  A dark and roasty ale with holiday spices, this is what a winter beer should taste like.

Name:  Xmas Ale

Brewery:  Maplewood Brewing Company

Location:  Elk Grove Village, IL

ABV:  6.5%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You need the perfect winter beer to help you cope with the fact that your oldest spawn is of driving age.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Mikerphone Ode To My Family

I'm still a few behind, but tonight I had Ode To My Family by suburban Mikerphone, which generally does good stuff.  Their Smells Like Bean Spirit coffee stout line is a favorite of mine.  Billed as a "Berliner-style weisse ale with cranberry, cinnamon & orange peel," Ode To My Family is expectedly a little tart.  I'm not a huge fan of Berliner weisses, as I generally don't like sour beers, but this one was pretty good.  I don't mind when the sourness or tartness comes from a flavor that's supposed to be sour or tart, and here, the cranberry flavor doesn't offend me because of that.

Name:  Ode To My Family

Brewery:  Mikerphone Brewing

Location:  Elk Grove Village, IL

ABV:  6.3%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You need a red beer while you're watching your Hoosiers rain down a barrage of threes on Penn State.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: The Next Four Beers

As tends to happen in December, I've got too much shit going on, so I get behind on my beer advent calendar.  I had to return some video tapes last Wednesday and Thursday, so I managed to muscle down three beers Friday night.  Then I had stuff going on Saturday night and last night, so I'm behind again.  But I'll try my damnedest to catch up over the next few nights.  Meanwhile, here are beers 3 to 6.

Beer #3 was from Rockford-area brewery Pig Minds.  It was called Piggy Pudding, and it was billed as a winter amber ale with figs, orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  These all sound like things that make for the perfect winter ale, but something was off.  It was a little sweet, but not in a good way -- almost like sometimes when you get a draft beer at a bar and you can tell the lines aren't clean because it has a weird taste to it.  Maybe I had a bad batch.  I'll definitely have to try it again.

Name:  Piggy Pudding

Brewery:  Pig Minds Brewing Company

Location:  Machesney Park, IL

ABV:  5.8%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're sitting on your couch watching a college football championship game between two teams for which you have no rooting interest, other than the possibility that one of them winning may mean that Notre Dame doesn't make the College Football Playoff.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

I followed Piggy Pudding up with Ski House from Allagash, which is the first non-Illinois beer in the advent calendar.  Allagash is one of those breweries that can do no wrong in my book.  Obviously, Allagash White has carved itself out as the premier white ale made in America.  Ski House is a slightly stronger white ale (at a solid 7.5%, as opposed to 5.2% for their standard White), with some ginger and citrus to give it a wintery feel.  It was pretty enjoyable.

Name:  Ski House

Brewery:  Allagash Brewing Company

Location:  Portland, ME

ABV:  7.5%

IBU:  15

Good for drinking if:  You're sitting on your couch watching a college football championship game between two teams for which you have no rooting interest, especially since there was not the possibility of either team knocking Notre Dame out of the College Football Playoff.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Beer #5 was from one of my favorite local breweries, Dovetail.  They specialize in European-style beers, and their selection was their Winter Hopfenlager.  Their standard Hopfenlager is a more-hoppier-than-normal German-style lager.  For the winter version, they added some malt.  It still had three "C" hops -- Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook -- so I wasn't a huge fan, but I liked it better than the regular Hofpenlager.

Name:  Winter Hopfenlager

Brewery:  Dovetail Brewery

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  5.1%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're sitting on your couch watching a college football championship game between two teams for which you have no rooting interest, since whoever wins is all but guaranteed to make the College Football Playoff.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

Thankfully, Beer #6 was more along the lines of a traditional winter beer, but with a twist.  I happened to be at Midwest Coast yesterday, but I didn't have this one.  Winter Garden is described as a "chocolate rye porter."  Porter is probably my favorite style of beer.  This one was interesting.  The rye gives it a bitterness to offset the chocolate malt.  It's not sweet at all, and I'd probably describe it as "blunt," if that makes any sense -- certainly more on the side of a robust porter than a sweet porter.

Name:  Winter Garden

Brewery:  Midwest Coast Brewing Company

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  7.8%

IBU:  50

Good for drinking if:  You're still celebrating the fact that your alma mater -- which, prior to the beginning of the season, was the losingest program in Division 1 football history -- beat a team they hadn't beaten in 37 years, beat the #1-ranked team for the first time in program history, clinched their first Big Ten title since LBJ was president, clinched their first outright Big Ten title since Truman was president, and are now ranked #1 for the first time ever.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Hair Band Friday - 12/5/25

1.  "Body Talk" by Kix

2.  "Sometimes at Night" by Gorky Park

3.  "Piece of the Rock" by King Kobra

4.  "Get in Touch" by FireHouse

5.  "The Bottom Line" by David Lee Roth

6.  "Price You Gotta Pay" by Mr. Big

7.  "Eyes of a Stranger" by Y&T

8.  "Rock An' Roll Angels" by Whitesnake

9.  "Stick to Your Guns" by Bon Jovi

10.  "Baby's On Fire" by Sammy Hagar

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Church Street Rudolph's Red

Beer #2 is from suburban Itasca's Church Street, and it was brewed in collaboration with the proprietor of this lovely advent calendar, Beer on the Wall.  I assume that means it was made especially for the advent calendar, particularly because I was only the 8th person on Untappd to ever check it in.  Anywho, this one's a red ale called Rudolph's Red, and it's pretty damn good -- malty, caramelly, and not too heavy at 5.3%.  Not enough breweries make red ales anymore, which is too bad because it's really a great style of beer.  Hopefully Church Street keeps making it.

Name:  Rudolph's Red

Brewery:  Church Street Brewing Company

Location:  Itasca, IL

ABV:  5.3%

IBU:  37

Good for drinking if:  You need a nice malty beer after once again shuttling children to and from sports practices.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Roaring Table Jubilation

December certainly snuck up on us, didn't it?  Seems like just four days ago, I was drinking Underberg in a vain attempt to settle my engorged stomach after eating way too much turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, shrimp, cheese, cured meats, crackers, olives, and pie.  And now I have to start drinking a beer every night until Santa comes to visit.

Like last several years, I will once again be engaging in a 24-day weight-gaining enterprise I call It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer -- a daily look at a different beers throughout December.  I once again bought bought my beer advent calendar from local beer shop Beer on the Wall.  I'll also once again take this opportunity to express my disappointment that Costco once again didn't have its German beer advent calendar, which I also usually buy just to have unique German beers throughout the year.  But here's a shot of this year's calendar.  It's noticeably shorter than the last few years, which leads me to believe it's all cans -- but I dare not peek! Disregard the bunched up rug in the background.  My brain-injured dog likes to spite pee in our house when we have the gall to leave him alone for more than two minutes, so what you're seeing is a hopefully clean, but wet, portion of the rug propped up to dry.  It truly is the little things that drive you insane.

The advent calendar began this evening with a selection from north suburban Lake Zurich's Roaring Table.  The beer is called Jubilation, and the can touts it as a "Winter India Pale Ale."  It features five varieties of hops that all start with "c."  We have Cascade, Cashmere, Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus hops.  I'd love to tell you what any of that means, but you know damn well I don't like hoppy beers.  And this one is hoppy.  I suppose the "winter" portion of it comes from the fact that it's a little bit darker than the normal IPA.  While I'm not a fan, at least I was able to drink it out of the commemorative Beer On the Wall glass that came with the calendar.

Name:  Jubilation

Brewery:  Roaring Table Brewing Company

Location:  Lake Zurich, IL

ABV:  6.8%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You feel like drinking a pine tree.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.5

Hair Band Friday - 11/21/25

1.  "Falling In and Out of Love" by Femme Fatale

2.  "Let It Slide" by Hurricane

3.  "Hot and Bothered" by Cinderella

4.  "Born on the Sun" by Dio

5.  "Feel Like Makin' Love" by Dangerous Toys

6.  "Does She or Doesn't She" by Black 'N Blue

7.  "Hold On I'm Comin'" (live) by The Quireboys

8.  "Bed of Nails" by Alice Cooper

9.  "You're All I Need" by White Lion

10.  "The Sun Also Rises in Hell" by XYZ

Hair Band Friday - 11/14/25

1.  "Rhythm of Love" by Scorpions

2.  "Streetwalker" by EZO

3.  "Take Her" by Rough Cutt

4.  "Bad to Be Good" by Poison

5.  "Sweet Child O' Mine" (live) by Guns N' Roses

6.  "Hunger" by King Kobra

7.  "Tonight" by Twisted Sister

8.  "Rock On" by Vandenberg

9.  "I'll Fall in Love Again" by Sammy Hagar

10.  "Skyscraper" by David Lee Roth

Hair Band Friday - 11/7/25

1.  "Breaking All the Rules" by Ozzy Osbourne

2.  "Widowmaker" by W.A.S.P.

3.  "Kiss the Clown" by Enuff Z'Nuff

4.  "Hot Sex" by Spread Eagle

5.  "Don't Go" by Judas Priest

6.  "Jet City Woman" by Queensrÿche

7.  "It's So Easy" (live) by Guns N' Roses

8.  "Dreams" (live) by Van Halen

9.  "Complication" by Loudness

10.  "Arizona" by Scorpions

Coverocktober Song #20: "Helter Skelter" by Mötley Crüe

We've reached the end of Rocktober, but be sure to tune in Monday for Crowvember, a daily look at nature's most misunderstood avian animal.

But before then, we have one more Coverocktober song for you.  It's Hair Band Friday, so our final selection will be Mötley Crüe's cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter."

"Helter Skelter" is one of my favorite Beatles songs, off of my favorite Beatles album, their self-titled 1968 four-sided masterpiece we know as The White Album.

As rock lore goes, Paul McCartney wrote "Helter Skelter" after hearing an interview with Pete Townshend, who described "I Can See For Miles" as the loudest and rawest song The Who had ever recorded.  Being a Beatle, Paul thought "challenge accepted," so wrote a blistering (literally, if you believe Ringo's outburst at the end) rock song that is considered one of the first heavy metal songs.

A helter skelter is a British term for a large amusement park slide that spirals along a tower.  So why is a cover of the song being included in Coverocktober on Halloween week -- and Halloween itself, at that?  Well you see, there was this guy one time who thought this song about a slide (that even specifically refers to a slide) and a couple other songs on the White Album were actually coded songs that predicted an international race war.  That guy's name was Charles Manson.  "Helter Skelter" was part of his motivation for the Manson Family's horrific Tate-LaBianca murders in the LA area in 1969, and it ended up being the name of the best-selling book written by Vincent Bugliosi (the prosecutor in the Manson murder trial) about the murders and the subsequent trials (a chilling but worthwhile read), as well as the name of a 1976 made-for-TV movie based on the book.  After Manson Family members murdered the LaBiancas, Patricia Krenwinkel wrote the misspelled "Healter Skelter" in all caps on the LaBiancas' refrigerator door in Rosemary LaBianca's blood.  Cults, am I right?

Mötley Crüe's version was the last track on the first side of their epic 1983 album Shout at the Devil.  It was the perfect cover song for an album that drew the ire of parents and the PMRC, alongside songs with "devil," "kill," "dead," "beast," and "danger" in the titles.  Their version is an even more hard-rocking, but generally true-to-the-original, version of the song.  Happy Halloween, piggies!

Hair Band Friday - 10/31/25

1.  "Tease Me Please Me" by Scorpions

2.  "Yngwie is God (Guitar Solo from Hell)" by Steeler

3.  "Cross Me and See" by Bonham

4.  "Women in Love" by Van Halen

5.  "Speak" by Queensrÿche

6.  "School of Hard Knocks" by Black 'N Blue

7.  "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses

8.  "All Lips 'n' Hips" by Electric Boys

9.  "I Don't Love You Anymore" (live) by The Quireboys

10.  "Ez Come Ez Go" by Tesla

Coverocktober Song #19: "Monster Mash" by The Misfits

Yesterday we featured a cover medley of two Misfits songs, so today we're featuring a cover song by The Misfits -- their version of the Halloween classic "Monster Mash."

The now-iconic and enduring original version of the song was released by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers in 1962, and it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, just before Halloween.  It has reentered the Billboard Hot 100 five times over the years, reaching #10 in 1973 and the Top 30 within the last few years.

In the early '60s, Pickett was an aspiring actor who was also in a band.  At a show one night, he started doing an impression of Boris Karloff, a horror movie icon best known for his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the original 1931 version of Frankenstein.  The crowd loved Pickett's impression, so he decided to capitalize on it.  He and his fellow band member Lenny Capizzi wrote "Monster Mash," with Pickett doing his Karloff impression as he sings about a mad scientist whose monster arises and starts dancing (a variation of the popular dance craze the Mashed Potato), and then he invites all of his monster friends.  And then they fucking party.

In 1997, The Misfits recorded a cover of the song as part of a promotion relating to the DVD release of a 1967 Rankin Bass stop motion animation film called Mad Monster Party -- which starred, you guessed it, Boris Karloff.  The Misfits then released their version of "Monster Mash" as a single in 1999 and rerecorded it for their 2003 album Project 1950.  The song is notable because it was the first song on which bassist Jerry Only sang lead vocals.  I'm posting the 2003 version because I like that version slightly better than the 1997/1999 version.  Like the original, they use bubbling and chain sound effects at the beginning, before it turns into a punked-up, fast-paced version of the song, with sing-along backing vocals.  All in all, a pretty damn fine cover that both pays homage to the original and makes it their own at the same time.

Coverocktober Song #18: "Last Caress/Green Hell" by Metallica

Our next selection in the darkness of the last week of Coverocktober comes courtesy of one of the best cover bands there's ever been, Metallica.

In 1987, the band released a five-song EP of covers called The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited, and then in 1998, they released Garage, Inc., which included a full album of new covers on disc one and then Garage Days (which had been unavailable since its original run in 1987) and some additional covers that had been B-sides to singles or were one-off recordings on disc two.

One of the covers from the 1987 Garage Days EP was a medley of two Misfits songs -- because it takes two Misfits songs to make one three and a half minute song -- "Last Caress/Green Hell."  Then at the end of the song, there's a little wonky, out-of-tune version of the opening riff to Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills."  The Misfits songs are pretty true to the originals, but Metallicized.

"Last Caress" has been a standard at Metallica live shows over the years, though they usually leave "Green Hell" out of it.  The song was also the centerpiece of a minor controversy.  At the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards, the band was supposed to perform "King Nothing," but MTV forbid the band from swearing or using pyrotechnics.  So they did what any good metal band would do:  they played a song about murder and rape, which got them banned from MTV for a few years.

"Green Hell" is a blistering hardcore song, originally released by The Misfits in 1983, but in my mind, that takes a backseat to "Last Caress."  The original version of "Last Caress" (recorded in 1980) is one of my favorite Misfits songs, and it's widely considered one of their best songs and one of the best punk songs ever, for that matter.  In a 2019 poll, it was voted by New Jersey residents -- New Jerseyeans?  New Jersers?  New Jerseyganders?  New Jersies? -- as the best song ever released by a band or artist from New Jersey, beating out Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, and other great Jersey bands and artists.  That's crazy.

The lyrical content of the song is disturbing, purportedly the fictional confession of a killer and rapist.  The opening stanza is about as brutal as it gets:  "I got something to say / I killed a baby today / And it doesn't matter much to me / As long as it's dead."  That's followed by a stanza about raping "your mother."  Then the chorus is about longing for "sweet lovely death," though whether that's the killer wanting to die or talking about giving his victims "one last caress" before they die is unclear.  But the way Glenn Danzig sings the song has a macabre beauty to it, where if you weren't listening to the lyrics, you might think it's a punk cover of a late '50s/early '60s teen tragedy song.  It's a hell of a song, but certainly not for the faint of heart.

Coverocktober Song #17: "If You Have Ghosts" by Ghost

Back in 2013, Swedish metal band Ghost released a five-song EP called If You Have Ghost.  It was produced by Dave Grohl, who also played on a couple of the tracks, and all but one of the songs on the EP were covers.  But these weren't your standard metal covers of other hard rock or metals songs.  The band covered ABBA's "I'm a Marionette," Depeche Mode's "Waiting for the Night," Swedish pop group Army of Lovers' "Crucified," and Roky Erickson's "If You Have Ghosts."

Their cover of "If You Have Ghosts" seems to fit with the band's mystique and, of course, fits very well with the band's name.  Now if you're not familiar with Roky Erickson, I'll give you some background.  Erickson was a co-founder, lead singer, and rhythm guitarist of the influential Austin-based psychedelic rock band The 13th Floor Elevators, whose 1966 song "You're Gonna Miss Me" -- with Erickson's howling vocals -- is considered a treasure of both the garage rock and psychedelic rock genres.  Then in 1969, he got busted with a joint, and rather than face up to a decade in a Texas prison, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, so he was sentenced to a state mental hospital, where he remained until 1972.  In between electroconvulsive therapy treatments, Erickson wrote songs, many of which would end up on future albums.

After he was released, he formed a band that would become Roky Erickson & The Aliens, and Erickson's lyrics and music took more of a hard rock and horror-inspired turn.  In 1978 and 1979, the band recorded songs that would end up on a self-titled EP in 1980 and a full-length album, The Evil One, in 1981.  CCR bassist Stu Cook produced the songs, and the recording sessions were interrupted when Erickson got arrested while having a psychotic episode and then had to spend three months in a state hospital before returning to finish the songs.  He also did a lot of drugs.

"If You Have Ghosts" was on The Evil One, and the original song is kind of a frenzied southern rock power pop song, with Erickson seeming to go off the rails a couple times.  I'd say Ghost's cover version is far more polished, with staccato strings kicking the song off, crisp vocals from Papa Emeritus II, some nice guitar solos from some Nameless Ghoul, rhythm guitar from Grohl, and generally a more clean feel than the original.  But they turned it into one of their anthems.  Also, The Nameless Grohls would be a great name for a Ghost/Foo Fighters tribute band.

Coverocktober Song #16: "Black Sabbath" by Type O Negative

Well folks, we've reached the ultimate week of Rocktober, which means it's Halloween week!  And that means the Coverocktober songs from here on out will be songs that feature dark, macabre, or creepy themes.  So let's start with one of the all-time perfect Halloween week songs:  "Black Sabbath."

This is one of the rare examples of an eponymous song off an eponymous album.  As the title track and first track from Black Sabbath's 1970 debut album, "Black Sabbath" is just a creepy, badass song that announced a new genre of music.  Can you imagine what this must have sounded like in 1970?  Less than two months after the end of the '60s and flower power, heavy metal was born with this song.  It starts off with rain and some distant church bells, perhaps in a quaint village in the English countryside.  And then plunges into the devil's triad -- an inverted tritone (I have no idea what that means!) that was very rarely used in music because it was said to summon Satan.  It doesn't get any more metal than that.  But then it does.  Ozzy's voice is chilling, and the lyrics are chilling, describing a figure in black pointing at the narrator, who tries to run away.  Turns out it's Satan, and he's smiling.  That's never a good sign.  The lyrics were inspired by a now-infamous metal legend, experienced by bassist Geezer Butler a couple years earlier.  He had painted his apartment black -- as one does when he is obsessed with the occult -- and he had, among other things, a black occult book that Ozzy had given him, which was written in Latin (obviously) and contained various pictures of Satan.  Butler put the book on a shelf next to his bed before he went to bed one night.  Then he wakes up in the middle of the night to see a giant figure in black standing at the end of his bed and pointing at him.  After the figure disappeared, Butler got up and the book was gone.  Now I would have immediately painted my room a different color and removed all occult books from my flat, but Butler wrote a song instead -- and we thank him for that.

The original is a classic, but I assure you, it's not as creepy as New York goth metal band Type O Negative's cover, which closed out the 1994 Black Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black.  Type O Negative transforms the song with their cover, going full-on doom by ramping up the Satanic references, adding weird sound effects and chants, and slowing the song down to a snail's pace.  Lead singer Peter Steele's deep voice is the stuff of nightmares on this song.  Type O Negative's version makes you feel like you're trapped in a bog, trying to escape from some cannibalistic cult in the middle of the night, but you can barely move through the sludge, and they're closing in.

Coverocktober Song #15: "Don't Believe a Word" by Def Leppard

As seems to be the pattern, I failed to post a Coverocktober hair band song on Friday, so you get two songs/posts today.

As you may know, Def Leppard is one of my favorite bands.  Not only is their original music great, but they can play a damn fine cover song.  Back in 2006, they released their ninth studio album, Yeah!, which was a cover album paying tribute to the British rock-and-rollers of the '70s who influenced them. As I learned on a bonus CD I bought (containing several extra songs and a couple band interviews), the band chose nearly entirely songs by British bands and chose only songs that were released before Def Leppard signed their first record deal. It's quite different than any other cover album out there.

Most of the songs are not songs that you would normally hear on the radio, except maybe on a "deep cuts weekend." The band wanted to choose songs that were hits in the UK, but not necessarily huge hits. Hence, no Rolling Stones or Beatles songs. But what we do get is a great gathering of songs from the likes of T. Rex, David Bowie, The Kinks, ELO, Thin Lizzy, Roxy Music, Badfinger, Free, Mott the Hoople, and Faces, among others.  Musically, they played the songs as closely to the originals as possible (which was their intent).

I love this album, not only because the songs are great, but also because it got me into (or more into) many of the bands they covered.  There is no better example of that than their cover of Thin Lizzy's "Don't Believe a Word," which was originally released on Thin Lizzy's seventh studio album, 1976's Johnny the Fox.  Of course, I knew of Thin Lizzy before Yeah!, but I hadn't delved into their catalog outside of the hits.  I loved Def Leppard's version of the song, so I checked out the original, and then that snowballed into me getting every one of Thin Lizzy's albums.  Now, Thin Lizzy is on my short list of favorite bands -- which, granted, is still like 25 bands.  So, thanks Def Leppard!

At barely over two minutes long, "Don't Believe a Word" is short but sweet.  The original is one of my favorite Thin Lizzy songs, thanks to Def Leppard's cover.  I've always been taken by Phil Lynott's lyrics, and in this song, he's essentially telling a woman "don't believe anything I tell you, especially if I tell you that I love you."  He's pouring his heart out to her, but hedging his bets, giving both of them an out.  If he wants to ditch her, he can say, "I told you not to believe me when I told you I love you," or if she says she doesn't love him or isn't interested, he can say, "no big deal because, as I said, I was just kidding."  And if she wants to ditch him, he can't protest because then she'll say "you told me not to believe a word you said."  Classic!