Frankenstein (instrumental)
| "Frankenstein" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by The Edgar Winter Group | ||||
| from the album They Only Come Out at Night | ||||
| B-side | Undercover Man | |||
| Released | February 21, 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Genre | Instrumental rock, hard rock, progressive rock, funk rock | |||
| Length | 4:44 (Album Version) 3:28 (Single Version) |
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| Label | Epic Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Edgar Winter | |||
| The Edgar Winter Group singles chronology | ||||
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"Frankenstein" is an instrumental song by The Edgar Winter Group from their album They Only Come Out at Night.
In live performances of the song, Edgar Winter further pioneered the advancement of the synthesizer as a lead instrument by becoming the first person ever to strap a keyboard instrument around his neck, giving him the on-stage mobility and audience interaction of guitar players.[1] The song topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week starting in May 1973, and sold over one million copies. It was knocked from the #1 spot by Paul McCartney's "My Love". In Canada it fared equally well, reaching #1 on the RPM 100 Top Singles Chart the following month,[2] the same month that saw it peak at #18 in the UK.[3]
The song's title, coined by the band's drummer Chuck Ruff, derives from the fact that the original recording of the song was much longer than the final version, as the band would often deviate from the arrangement into less structured jams. The track required numerous edits to shorten it. The end result was pieced together from many sections of recording tape using a razor blade and splicing tape. Winter frequently refers to the appropriateness of the name also in relation to its "monster-like, lumbering beat". (One riff was first used by Winter in the song "Hung Up", on his jazz-oriented first album Entrance. He later tried a variation on it, "Martians" on the Standing on Rock album.)
Winter played many of the instruments on the track, including keyboards, saxophone and timbales. As the release's only instrumental cut, the song was not initially intended to be on the album, and was only included on a whim as a last-minute addition. It was originally released as the B-side to "Hangin' Around", but the two were soon reversed by the label when disc jockeys nationwide in the USA as well as in the Canada were inundated with phone calls and realized this was the hit. The song features a "double" drum solo, with Ruff on drums and Winter on percussion. In fact, the working title of the song was "The Double Drum Song".[4] The single was one of the few No. 1 chart records to include an extended passage featuring the ARP 2600 synthesizer. The group performed the song on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973.[5]
The song was actually performed three years previously when Edgar was playing with his older brother Johnny Winter at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970. This rare recording was recently released as one of several live bonus tracks included in the two-disc Deluxe Edition CD of Johnny Winter's Second Winter. Rolling Stone lists it as one of the top 25 best rock instrumentals.[6]
Sections of the song were edited and sequenced into ident and jingles on Alan Freeman's Top 40 show on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 (UK) for many years, often followed with Freeman's trademark opening line 'Greetings Pop Pickers...'
Contents
Personnel
- Ronnie Montrose – guitar
- Dan Hartman – bass
- Chuck Ruff – drums
- Edgar Winter – ARP 2600 synthesizer, saxophone, drums
Covers
"Frankenstein" has been covered by the bass player Marcus Miller as well as the rock group Phish. In 1991 it was covered by the thrash metal band Overkill on their album Horrorscope. The Southern California band Bazooka, led by drummer Vince Meghrouni, covered "Frankenstein" on their 1993 debut album Perfectly Square. In 1996, British psychedelic glam group Doctor and the Medics wrote lyrics to go along with "Frankenstein" and included it on their album Instant Heaven. Derek Sherinian's 2001 solo album Inertia includes his cover of the song. It was covered in 2003 by surfer-rock guitarist Gary Hoey. Tomoyasu Hotei covered it on his 2009 covers album Modern Times Rock'N'Roll. Claude François, the French singer and writer of "My Way", used the song, played with a brass section, as an introductory theme to his live concerts. Primus covered the song at midnight during their 2012/2013 New Year's Eve show. A few bars of an edited version of the song feature at the very beginning of the 1993 film, Wayne's World 2, as the Paramount Pictures 'Stars' logo appears. Those Darn Accordions recorded an accordion-based version of the song for their 2004 album Lawnball.
References
- ↑ Keyboard Magazine, November 01, 2008 – page 19
- ↑ Top Singles – Volume 19, No. 18, June 16 1973, at collectionscanada.gc.ca
- ↑ Dafydd Rees & Luke Crampton, Rock Movers & Shakers, 1991 Billboard Books.
- ↑ Morse, Tim. Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time, 1998.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Rolling Stone, The Twenty-Five Best Rock Instrumentals
| Preceded by | US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single May 26, 1973 (one week) |
Succeeded by "My Love" by Paul McCartney and Wings |
| Preceded by
"Daniel" by Elton John
|
Canadian RPM 100 number-one single June 16, 1973 (one week) |
Succeeded by "Playground In My Mind" by Clint Holmes |
