WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: The Goo Goo Muck

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. Now.

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<v Speaker 2>I frequently do these episodes about monsters from mythology, films

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<v Speaker 2>and comic books, but I figured I'd tried different medium today. Music.

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<v Speaker 2>I previously discussed this was probably a couple of years ago,

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<v Speaker 2>count Drugula from the song by of the same title

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<v Speaker 2>by the band Electric Wizard. This time we're going to

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<v Speaker 2>be discussing the Googo Monk. The origin story for this

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<v Speaker 2>monster goes back to a nineteen sixty two novelty horror

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<v Speaker 2>rockabilly tune by Ronnie Cook and the Gay Lads. This

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<v Speaker 2>was we have to remember sixty two as Boris Pickett's

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Mash, so novelty songs about monsters were all the rage.

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<v Speaker 2>Cook along with Ed James, are the credited songwriters. Most listeners, however,

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<v Speaker 2>are going to be familiar with the grittier nineteen eighty

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<v Speaker 2>one cover by The Cramps, the legendary psychobilly band founded

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<v Speaker 2>by the late Lux Interior and Poison Ivy. They'd already

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<v Speaker 2>featured two monster themed songs on their previous album I

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<v Speaker 2>Was a Teenage Werewolf and Zombie Dance. There would be

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<v Speaker 2>many more to come, so the cover here fit them

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<v Speaker 2>like a leather glove. As louder As Scott Rowley discussed

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<v Speaker 2>in a twenty twenty two article Cannibalism, the Cramps and

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<v Speaker 2>that Wednesday dance scene, the weird story of Googoo Muck,

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<v Speaker 2>the Cramps took the track in a slightly darker direction

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<v Speaker 2>via their Gotha billy style and some subtle lyrical tweaks.

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<v Speaker 2>While the original version of google Muck is concerned with

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<v Speaker 2>a teenage transformation into a cannibal monster with implied sexual connotations,

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<v Speaker 2>the Cramps really leaned into all of this. Their titular

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<v Speaker 2>googoo Muck is strongly sexual in its pursuit of female

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<v Speaker 2>human prey. Now I'm not going to walk you through

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<v Speaker 2>the entire song and its lyrics by all means, go

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<v Speaker 2>listen to either version wherever you get your music, but

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<v Speaker 2>I'll do my best to summarize here. The Googoomuk is

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<v Speaker 2>described as the result of a monstrous were wolf like

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<v Speaker 2>transformation brought out by lunar activity, strong were wolf vibes.

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<v Speaker 2>The Googoomuk describes itself as a teenage beast, and this

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<v Speaker 2>of course references a lot of the old like I

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<v Speaker 2>was a teenage were wolf, you know, I was a

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<v Speaker 2>teenage Frankenstein, and so forth, that whole trend that we've

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<v Speaker 2>discussed on Weird House Cinema. But then the lyrics also

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<v Speaker 2>reference tigers rather than wolves. This certainly brings to mind

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<v Speaker 2>the various war tiger and tiger transformation tales for parts

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<v Speaker 2>of the world where the tiger stands tall or at

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<v Speaker 2>least once stood tall as the pre eminent man swear.

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<v Speaker 2>This detail also probably speaks to the Eastern gazing quasi

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<v Speaker 2>tiki origins of the song. The lyrics, for instance, also

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<v Speaker 2>reference headhunters. Now, one interesting factor here is that the

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<v Speaker 2>only description we get of the monster's body is that

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<v Speaker 2>it boasts quote a way out body underneath that head.

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<v Speaker 2>Now this is pretty vague, but it makes me imagine

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<v Speaker 2>a were tiger who still looks perhaps comically like a

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<v Speaker 2>human from the neck up. But it also brings to

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<v Speaker 2>mind various traditions of creatures like the sphinx and the

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<v Speaker 2>manticore involving hybrid beast bodies with a human face or head. However,

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<v Speaker 2>considering the sexually charged nature of the song, it probably

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<v Speaker 2>speaks as much to the idea of bodily lust contained

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<v Speaker 2>beneath the character's streak clothing you know, you know, aching

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<v Speaker 2>for release. Scott Rawley speaks to all of this is

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<v Speaker 2>while expressly tying the Cramps Google Monk to lust, hormones

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<v Speaker 2>and frothing fluids, and by many estimates, this sums up

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<v Speaker 2>something very key to the Cramps whole vibe, the intersection

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<v Speaker 2>of horror and horniness, full of double entendres and references

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<v Speaker 2>to retro weird cinema. Tune in for additional episodes of

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<v Speaker 2>The Monster Fact the Artifact or Animalist Stupendium each week.

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<v Speaker 2>As always, you can email us at contact at stuff

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<v Speaker 2>to Blow your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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