Horror Rock Pioneers - Screaming Lord Sutch

Continuing our look at the pioneers of Horror Rock we today take a look at what I consider one of the big three of horror music – Screaming Lord Sutch (the other two members of the horror elite being Screaming Jay Hawkins and Alice Cooper). 

Lord Sutch was actually born David Edward Sutch on November 10, 1940.  He played during the 60’s and was best known for his signature song Jack the Ripper. Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, his backup band, were early shock rock pioneers. Screaming Lord Sutch was quite the character. He was a British musician who was directly influenced by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, so much so he changed his name to Screaming Lord Sutch.

Sutch, like his idol, Jay, emerged from a coffin at the beginning of shows. He had an array of onstage props that included knives, skulls, axes, bodies and severed heads. He wore makeup and had long hair, a definite no-no at that time. His costumes ran the gamut from leopard skins, loincloths and buffalo horns to Roman soldier outfits, but he is probably best remembered for dressing as Jack the Ripper onstage. His onstage antics included attacking his piano player with a knife during the song Jack the Ripper and reportedly flinging heart and liver into the audience (real hearts and livers from a butcher shop).



Horror songs by Sutch included Big Black Coffin, Midnight Man, Jack the Ripper, She’s Fallen in Love with a Monster Man, Monster Rock, Murder in the Graveyard, Monster in Black Tights, Dracula’s Daughter, Only here for the Blood and many more.

One interesting thing about Lord Sutch is the caliber of musicians he either played with live or recorded with. Among them were: Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and Noel Redding – talk about an all-star brigade!

Sutch wound up, incredibly enough, in politics after leaving the music scene. He formed his own political party called the Official Monster Raving Looney Party. He ran for parliament close to 40 times and never won once. He was known for dressing outlandishly and brandishing such slogans as “Vote for Insanity, You Know it Makes Sense.” Sutch claimed he stood for the four R’s “Reading, writing and rock and roll.” You gotta love it!

Sutch suffered from depression, and committed suicide June 16, 1999 by hanging. He was definitely a pioneer of shock rock, so let me raise my bloody knife in salute to you, Screaming Lord Sutch.

Wanna hear some Screamin Lord Sutch? Go here…

 SCREAMING LORD SUTCH
and click away to hear snippets of his songs!

And here are some music videos from SCREAMING LORD SUTCH:

Rondo Award Hall of Fame

One of my favorite categories in the Rondo Awards is the Hall of Fame. I really like the idea of saluting creative individuals for a lifetime achievement in building a better world of Gods and Monsters. This year I made 3 nominations for Hall of Fame. . .


First and Foremost was TV Horror Host Morgus the Magnificent. 

Morgus was based out of New Orleans, Louisana and was played by actor Sid Noel. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Morgus as a host – 50 years! His show was syndicated in various cities across the U.S. throughout  the years, and returned to the scarewaves in 1996 for a limited 10 episode run in New Orleans. Sid is alive and well today and still resides in the New Orleans area - I love the thought of him accepting the award in person, if he’s able to make it.


My second nomination was one that I make every year. It is the dynamic duo of doom who worked together to make a huge horror impact on the world of comics – Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein.

Bill inherited EC comics when his father passed away and changed the course of the company, steering it head first into horror. He hired Al Feldstein as his right hand man and creative partner. Al wrote and drew many of the EC stories, and both served as editors. They virtually created their own brand of stories – their “New Trend comics” which were, in actuality, morality tales. Yes they were horror stories, true enough, and oftentimes dripping with gore. But deep down they were revenge fantasies, where not even death could stop those who had been wronged from wreaking vengeance on the unjust.

Upon seeing the wild success of EC’s horror line many competitors jumped on the bandwagon, putting out their own inferior versions of the EC standards: Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Weird Science Fantasy, and Shock Suspenstories among others. To this day EC comics are still inspiring a generation of horror fans… who hasn’t heard of the Crypt Keeper?  Unfortunately Bill isn’t around any longer, but Al is, and again, I’d love to see him accept the award on both of their behalves.




My third nomination was a man who was another one of my biggest influences growing up – Alice Cooper. 

I first discovered Alice Cooper in a box of old cassettes my uncle had lying around. I am pretty sure the first album I heard was Billion Dollar Babies. I was instantly hooked – The makeup , costumes, stage show, and subject matter all came together along with some terrific music to make an impact that is still felt to this day. Just look at artists like Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Wednesday Thirteen – all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alice for paving the way. Alice is currently touring and will even be playing some gigs with Rob Zombie – man I’d love to be at those shows!!


Now, when it comes to music I also would love to see Screaming Jay Hawkins eventually get in as well as Screaming Lord Sutch, both early predecessors of Alice’s. But Alice was the one who brought horror into the mainstream music industry much like Bill and Al had the comics industry decades before. Appearances with horror legend Vincent Price only further cemented Alice’s spot as the unquestioned king of horror music.