Judgement Night vs The Crow - Round 6
Rollins Band, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Dinosaur Jr, Del the Funky Homosapien, Therapy?, Fatal.
Welcome to Round 6 of my deep dive into two of the 1990’s best loved compilations. The Crow soundtrack and the Judgement Night soundtrack were released six months apart and went on rotation in the Walkmans of every rock, rap, and metal loving teenagers of the day. If you’re new to this blog and want to start at the beginning you can see my other articles here. Basically I am taking a random track from each album and using a strict set of criteria (i.e. chaotic whimsical randomness) to determine which track is better! I’m not a music journalist and this is a just for fun blog about my favourite hard-rock and metal bands over the years.
Henry Rollins should need no introduction. If you have managed to make it this far in life without hearing about him, then maybe take a moment to listen to a synopsis of his life here. You should also check out Black Flag. As a teenager in the 90’s I became enamoured with the Rollins Band and this track was one of my favourites. The Aquanaut is a big fan of Henry’s and a Rollins Band deep dive may feature in a later post. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it:
The track the Rollins Band perform on The Crow OST is nominally a cover version. The original was a electronica jam performed by proto-punk band Suicide. You can hear it here. Rollins version isn’t so much a cover version really, as Henry figuratively grasped the song with both of his muscular arms and tore it to pieces before swallowing it whole and regurgitating it with all of the venom and passion he is famous for. I’m not overly familiar with Suicide, but it seems they were kind of an avant-garde, electronica, punk, performance act that left a big impression on anyone who saw them live. They were actually banned from performing in CBGB’s in New York after some curfuffle (which took a lot of effort considering the other acts who played there over the years). Vocalist Alan Vega was still performing and making art in 2016 when he passed away in his sleep. He was 78. Henry Rollins was the first to lead tributes to him.
Rollins actually name drops Vega and band mate Martin Rev in the opening line of the cover version and it is a fine tribute to obvious childhood heroes of his.
Dinosaur Jr were one of the 90s alt-rock acts that defied genre. They were not grunge, though they happily had the likes of Nirvana support them on tour. What set them apart from their peers were J Mascis drawling slacker style vocals and his screeching feedback fuzzy guitar play. Their influences ranged from classic pop and rock to metal and they have a beautiful cover of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’. There was some infighting and departures from the band over the years, but they reformed in the late 00’s and released a number of critically acclaimed albums as late as 2021. This puts a smile on my face as I always felt Dinosaur Jr’s affected dispassionate vocals and slacker attitude belies a lot of heart and optimism. The world is a better place when they’re making music.
Teren Delvon Jones aka Del the Funky Homosapien, is a cousin of Ice Cube’s and his first album was released with help from him. He has had a stellar solo career, but is perhaps most famous this side of the Atlantic for his collaborations with Gorillaz. Yes, that’s him rapping on ‘Clint Eastwood’ under the moniker Del the Ghost Rapper.
This is yet another genius pairing on the Judgement Night soundtrack. Dinosaur Jr provide the fuzzy riffs and funky beat. Del’s rapping is an effortless flow as he channels his best intellectual rapper slacker persona. Honestly it’s an astonishing rap performance. Overall, this is another great tune.
The penultimate showdown in The Crow features a ludicrously tense and violent shootout between the protagonist Eric Draven and ALL of the bad guys. It happens in the main villains lair above the nightclub mentioned in my previous post featuring the band Medicine. This time the band providing the diagetic music are My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. When I first saw the movie as a teenager I mistakenly thought the band were notorious Chicago metallers Ministry. This is a relatively easy mistake to make as the tune ‘After The Flesh’ , is a proper Industrial Metal banger.
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult (or TKKK as they are sometimes known) started in the late 80’s and along with bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, were at the forefront of the Industrial Metal sound that became huge in the 90s. However, unlike those two bands, they later veered away from this sound into a more sleazy disco genre.
Apparently the shoot for their scene in The Crow was filmed in an abandoned cement factory over a full two day period. This was outside in the rain and cold and the band really felt for the extras in the crowd scene (who had to huddle under blankets in between takes). The Crow has one of those ‘No Animals were harmed or mistreated during the filming of this Motion Picture’ messages in the credits. Pity the same couldn't be said for the cast and crew.
Therapy? from Larne in Northern Ireland are one of the Aquanaut’s favourite bands and we will have a deep dive on them pretty soon. Please subscribe below so you don’t miss it!
1993 to 1995 saw these three guys become one of the most popular hard-rock bands in the world seemingly overnight. They had charted with several e.p.’s and singles in the UK charts during this time and even had a Top Ten hit with ‘Screamager’.
Therapy?’s contribution to the Judgement Night soundtrack is with a rapper called Fatal.
Here is where it gets tricky. I’m not 100% sure who Fatal is. But, as far as I can determine he also performs under the moniker Joe Fatal. I think this is the guy here and also here.
It really took be some time to track him down this far. If you’re curious, have a check yourself for him online. I’ve struggled to find a full discography for the guy.
If anyone out there knows more about Fatal and how he came to collaborate with the trio from Northern Ireland please pop it in the comments below!
Anyway, their collaboration is rough and messy but actually progresses into a pretty hard and heavy tune as you can hear:
I’m giving each track a score here.
Rollins Band - superb reimagining of the Suicide track. Actually a great vocal delivery by Henry Rollins also. This is how you shout and bellow!
Dinosaur Jr and Del the funky homo sapien - Brilliant funky tune and a superb rap delivery.
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Industrial Metal sleaze and apocalyptic riffs for one of the most memorable scenes from The Crow
Therapy? and Fatal - dirty grimy sludgy punk rock and rapping from Northern Ireland and Queens NY (I think).
It’s now
The Crow 7
Judgement Night 7
Next week we try and wrap us this epic battle between the two soundtracks. Can Teenage Fanclub & De La Soul prevent The Jesus and Mary Chain from blowing the PA with feedback? Are Cyprus Hill & Sonic Youth too high for the Violent Femmes to catch? Hit subscribe below so you don’t miss the amazing and bloody conclusion to this battle.
Nailbiter!