Project 1001: Scream, Dracula, Scream! by Rocket From the Crypt
Your inspiration is a memory / That you know you never had / Your desperation lies before me / (And you only kick half an ass)
Rocket From the Crypt is one of those punk bands to emerge from Southern California in the 1990s. Think bands like Bad Religion, the Offspring, Green Day, Blink-182 among many others. Unlike those bands, for some reason I was completely ignorant to Rocket From the Crypt. They didn’t hit the charts like some of those others and I don’t think they got much radio airplay in Chicago, where I was living at the time. I think the reason for less airtime is that this band seems less concerned in its approach with making palatable-to-the-masses faux-punk. They come across as a bit truer to punk’s roots. Rocket From the Crypt isn’t exactly ball games and barbeque-friendly the way some of their contemporaries were and lacks some of the posing more popular bands felt compelled to foist upon fans. It’s a shame because this album is terrific. It’s got all you want from a punk rock record: the attitude, the raw guitar riffs, the high energy tempo. And they give you a bonus horn section to distinguish themselves from more traditional three or four piece outfits. This is one I’ll be listening to again in the near future. My rating:
NME declared the album “great in any era” and “will surely satisfy all your rock'n'roll cravings.” The 8/10 review went on:
“"Punk is dead" are the last words in the liner notes. This is a lie. RFTC know that all that green hair and snot-grobbing ain't the thing, just the accoutrements. So, true to their name, they inter the rotten basterard and then rewire it. This is back-to-basics rock so good that it obliterates all memory of anything that eve happend to necessitate its homecoming. In other words, it's not back to anything at all. It's just basics.”1
The L.A. Times graded the album 3 stars (out of 4)
“In its first formal album for Interscope, Rocket unleashes an explosion of energy that is remarkable for, among other things, the way it blends in key moments mainstream accessibility and alternative rawness. Mixing everything from horns to occasional strings, blues and punk, Brit pop-rock and surf celebration, Rocket makes music that is more expansive than Green Day, yet more jagged and urgent than Soul Asylum.”2
A four-and-a-half-out-of-five star review for AllMusic declared:
“Rocket from the Crypt keep the rock & roll torch burning with their fourth full-length, Scream, Dracula, Scream! (named after the infamous '70s black horror flick Scream, Blacula, Scream!). The presence of RFTC's innovation and energy is still right in your face, and with an added trumpet player in the band's lineup, the horn section is more apparent than ever; also, there's a loud party atmosphere that fails to cross the line of obnoxious. Tracks like "Born in '69" and "On a Rope" provide headbanging fun, but Rocket from the Crypt play anything but long-haired butt rock; this has enough of a cool edge to scare Henry "The Fonz" Winkler out of any roller rink.”3
Rolling Stone gave the record three starts while praising the band over contemporaries:
“Maybe they haven't made an album pasteurized enough to top the alternative charts, but Rocket From the Crypt do offer an alternative to whiny-boy rock and cookie-cutter punk. Dracula supplies a lunch-pail-and-thermos soundtrack for the jobless generation.”4
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Theunis Bates wrote:
“In the mid-1990s, punk was big business. Green Day and The Offspring had turned the genre into an endless parade of Ramones riffs and Johnny Rotten sneers. Scream, Dracula, Scream! made punk (dis)respectable again. With its blend of Stax horns and hardcore guitars, Rocket From The Crypt’s major-label debut showed punk could transcend stale Seventies nostalgia.
“The album inspired listeners bored with green-haired fakes to shout punk’s praises once more. More importantly, the album freed up the sonic palette available to garage acts. It proved that, in the right hands, even a trumpet could sound punk.”5
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 252. Scream, Dracula, Scream! by Rocket from the Crypt
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: n/a
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on October 10, 1995. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey6
• Number one album: Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morisette7
• Number one movie: Se7en by David Fincher8
• Most watched TV programs: ER, Seinfeld, Friends, Caroline in the City, Frasier, Single Guy, NFL Monday Night Football, Baseball Playoffs, 20/20, Wings9
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Lost World by Michael Crichton10
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: My American Journey by Colin L. Powell with Joseph E. Persico11
Some other albums released that month
Sport
• Oct 8 Dolphin's Dan Marino breaks Tarkenton's NFL career completions record.
• Oct 8 Edgar Martinez drives home the tying and winning runs to rally the Mariners to a 6-5 win in the bottom of the 11th, beating the Yankees to win the AL Division Series.
• Oct 14 Atlanta Braves become 1st team to sweep in NL playoff (beat Reds).
• Oct 17 MLB American League Championship: Cleveland Indians beat Seattle Mariners, 4 games to 2.12
Notable Births
• Oct 8 G. Herbo [Herbert Wright III], American rapper (PTSD), born in Chicago, Illinois.
• Oct 13 Jimin, South Korean singer-songwriter (BTS), born in Busan, South Korea.
• Oct 21 Doja Cat, American rapper and singer-songwriter ("Get Into It (Yuh)"; "Paint the Town Red"), born in Los Angeles, California.13
Historical Events
• Oct 3 Former NFL running back, broadcaster, and actor O.J. Simpson is found not guilty of the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman in Los Angeles, California.
• Oct 6 51 Pegasi discovered as the first major star, apart from the Sun, to have a planet orbiting around it.
• Oct 16 Million Man March held in Washington, D.C. (over 830,000 African American men attend).14
Notable Deaths
• Oct 12 David McLean [Eugene Joseph Huth], American actor known for appearing in Marlboro advertisements dies of lung cancer at 73.
• Oct 19 Don Cherry, American jazz trumpeter (Ornette Coleman), dies from liver cancer at 58.
• Oct 21 Maxene Andrews, American pop and sing jazz singer (The Andrews Sisters - "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"; "Rum and Coca-Cola"), dies of a heart attack at 79.15
Bates, Theunis, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 757.
Ibid.