# As a kid, did any songs scare you when they came on the radio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774 "2006-11-09T22:17:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/41 "2006-11-10T14:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield. After part of it was used in _The Exorcist_, it became a hit single. The association was enough to make us kids stop whatever we were doing and talk in awed whispers about the whole shocking story. [/QUOTE] Hee hee, this reminds me of the part of High Fidelity where he goes over to the girl’s house and is evaluating her record collection. He has to write her off when he sees that she owns not just Tubular Bells, but Tubular Bells 2! **Eleanor Rigby** creeped me out, especially the part about her keeping her face in a jar by the door. :eek: **Hotel California** , ditto. There was also one with “car accident, accident victim \” in it; not DOA, but something about him looking over at his girl and she’s missing an arm or something?? I wasn’t a kid, but “Don’t Worry Be Happy” creeped me out, and doubly so after they played it at a college friend’s memorial. Also, “Be Alone Tonight” from the School Daze soundtrack, as the same friend had performed in a skit singing that song. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/42 "2006-11-10T14:42:22Z")
I never heard it on the radio, but some of the film score from Disney’s _[The Black Hole](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078869/)_ (not to mention the movie itself) freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/43 "2006-11-10T15:55:56Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] I never heard it on the radio, but some of the film score from Disney’s _[The Black Hole](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078869/)_ (not to mention the movie itself) freaked me out. [/QUOTE] Oh shit. That movie freaked me out horribly. The idea of a BLACK HOLE you can’t escape…AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/44 "2006-11-10T17:09:11Z")
A new thread made me recall another one- The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald- very ominous. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/45 "2006-11-10T17:44:12Z")
I agree with a lot of these, _Edmund Fitzgerald, Timothy (never heard the song but looked up the lyrics, Good Lord!) and The Theme to Unsolved Mysteries_ Now mine - The Intro to _You Took the Words Right Outta My Mouth - Meatloaf_ and the intro to _Lunatic Fringe_ ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/46 "2006-11-10T17:52:21Z")
Zager and Evans’ _In the Year 2525_, I guess just because it seemed so bleak. Can’t remember the title, but there was some mid-60’s thing in which the marrator of the song gets all horny while watching a belly dance or some such thing. The chorus goes “stop, stop, stop all the dancing, lord I have to leave”. Creeps me right out just thinking about it, even now. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/47 "2006-11-10T18:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield. After part of it was used in _The Exorcist_, it became a hit single. The association was enough to make us kids stop whatever we were doing and talk in awed whispers about the whole shocking story. [/QUOTE] To this day that song _still_ freaks me out. ---
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/48 "2006-11-10T18:03:57Z")
There’s a song by, I believe, ELO that starts out with the lyrics run backwards. When I was a teenager I played my stereo quietly all night. Sometimes I would wake up and it sounded like someone was preparing to sacrifice me to Satan. Scared the crap out of me. I can’t place the song title or remember the intelligible part of the lyrics. Sound familiar to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/49 "2006-11-10T18:09:12Z")
The intro to “Face the Music” is backwards- it says “The music is reversible, time is not. Turn back. Turn back. …”, but ELO did a few songs like this. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/50 "2006-11-10T18:24:13Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] Zager and Evans’ _In the Year 2525_, I guess just because it seemed so bleak. Can’t remember the title, but there was some mid-60’s thing in which the marrator of the song gets all horny while watching a belly dance or some such thing. The chorus goes “stop, stop, stop all the dancing, lord I have to leave”. Creeps me right out just thinking about it, even now. [/QUOTE] _Stop, Stop, Stop_ by The Hollies. A stalker classic. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/51 "2006-11-10T18:37:50Z")
I totally 2nd _Tubular Bells_ – very creepy, indeed, and add The Who’s _[Boris the Spider](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=33:9rq8b594psbe)_ to the list. Creepy Crawly, Creepy Crawly, Creepy Creepy, Crawly Crawly. \ ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/52 "2006-11-10T18:39:53Z")
Well, since I don’t get to be the first one to mention _DOA_ by Bloodrock… A couple from Jim Morrison, perhaps?: "When I was back there in seminary school There was a person there Who put forth the proposition That you can petition the Lord with prayer… Petition the Lord with prayer… Petition the Lord with prayer… … **You cannot** petition the Lord with prayer!!! && “All hail the American night!” \ \ ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/53 "2006-11-10T18:43:15Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] To this day that song _still_ freaks me out. [/QUOTE] Well, it’s not a song. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/54 "2006-11-10T19:06:25Z")
I wasn’t really a kid, but in the late 80’s I would drive around old country roads late at night in my '76 Ford LTD and play the _Abigail_ and _Them_ albums by **King Diamond**. It was so creepy, I hade some amped Bose speakers that were not only loud but had a lifelike ambient clarity that would make my hairs stand on end during some of the creepier parts. They are horror story albums and though they are heavy metal and King Diamond has a ridiculous falsetto, there was just something very Gothic and scary about the whole experience… flat Ohio Farmland bereft in Fall and King Diamond wailing about Deranged Families, Mental Patients, and hauntings and possessions over my shoulder, all at 80 MPH on narrow backroads at 3 in the morning with my headlights turned off makes for adrenaline and some strange thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![JacksonRoykirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JacksonRoykirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacksonRoykirk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/55 "2006-11-10T19:22:52Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] In the mid-70s, there was a song with (I think) the title “Love Rollercoaster,” and there was a story going around our school that someone had been murdered in the studio while this song was being recorded; if you listened really closely, you could hear the murder victim screaming in the background. So, whenever it was on the radio, we listened _really closely_… and while I never heard anything definite, that song always creeped me out just by association. [/QUOTE] It’s an urban legend. I thought the Straight Dope had an article on it, but I can’t find it. But Wikipedia explains it: The real source of the scream – and the origins of the rumor – were explained by Ohio Player Jimmy “Diamond” Williams: “There is a part in the song where there’s a breakdown. It’s guitars and it’s right before the second verse and Billy Beck does one of those inhaling-type screeches like Minnie Ripperton did to reach her high note or Mariah Carey does to go octaves above. The DJ made this crack and it swept the country. People were asking us, ‘Did you kill this chick in the studio?’ The band took a vow of silence because that makes you sell more records.” > **[Ohio Players](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Players)** > > Ohio Players were an American funk band formed in Dayton, Ohio. They were most popular in the 1970s and are best known for their songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models featured in Playboy. The singles "Funky Worm", "Skin Tight", "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster" and their albums Skin Tight, Fire and Honey, were awarded Gold certification. On August 17, 2013, Ohio Players were inducted into the... ---
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/56 "2006-11-10T19:39:17Z")
Thanks, **Wee Bairn** , that’s the one. After further research, I found that Fire On High was the title of the cut. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/57 "2006-11-10T19:41:02Z")
Williams is being disingenuous. There’s a simpler explanation for the scream: it’s supposed to sound like someone screaming on a rollercoaster ride. It’s a female voice, not Billy Beck, and it was probably added as a sound effect during the mixing of the song, not during the vocals recording. More at [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/roller.htm), which includes a sound clip. ---
**Author:** ![JacksonRoykirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JacksonRoykirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacksonRoykirk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/58 "2006-11-10T19:57:27Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Williams is being disingenuous. There’s a simpler explanation for the scream: it’s supposed to sound like someone screaming on a rollercoaster ride. It’s a female voice, not Billy Beck, and it was probably added as a sound effect during the mixing of the song, not during the vocals recording. More at [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/roller.htm), which includes a sound clip. [/QUOTE] :dubious: Snopes seems to confirm the Wikipedia explanation, down to the Desmond williams quote. ---
**Author:** ![JacksonRoykirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JacksonRoykirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacksonRoykirk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/59 "2006-11-10T19:58:29Z")
:smack: D’oh! “Diamond” Williams ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774/60 "2006-11-10T19:58:57Z")
Snopes just repeats the same Williams quote. But it also calls the voice female. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-a-kid-did-any-songs-scare-you-when-they-came-on-the-radio/379774.md?page=4)