Played just once on KELP El Paso (570 AM) on October 12th,1979 as part of the Local Artist spotlight, THE DEAD (B-side – The Dead [Instrumental]) was banned from the air after three listeners committed suicide that night. Station manager, Herb Shepp, bought 47 of the 50 pressings simply to destroy them, calling the record “evil”. He switched KELP’s format to Gospel barely a week later in order to “cleanse the frequency”.
Lead Singer, Elissa Darke managed to hold onto three copies until a drug overdose claimed her life just eight months later. No one knows what became of her belongings.
A collector in Manhattan, Ks tracked down a copy in May of 1983. That night he set fire to his home, killing himself and his menagerie of cockatiels. The record was destroyed in the blaze. This is one of the two remaining copies of this lost classic.
Click below to listen...
10 comments:
Is that candle holder a griffin? It looks remarkably similar to one that my Mom has.
:D
It is! I got it off of ebay after years of seeing one featured on the mantel of my favorite Halloween villain (debatable) in Tales of the Darkside's pilot - Trick or Treat. The old man Gideon has a smaller version of the griffin on his mantel...and it lights itself creepily before he pays his dear price for being a cruel, greedy, mean old man (debatable).
Wren, I've decided to spread its curse.
Like that cassette in THE RING.
Or like the Lords of Salem album!
Indeed!
Fun listen!
As an aside, I'd just like to know what exactly is wrong with me that a story like that would just make me MORE interested in possessing the item.
haha
just never play it!
What a super little track. That's gotta go on my next Halloween mix.
Right?
LOADS of great tunes on this guy's albums. The commercials are funny too.
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