Line #70 Music/CreatureFeature


1	[[quoteright:327:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CreatureFeature_7803.jpg]]
2	->''"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and ghouls, step right up! Behind this curtain lies a ghastly concoction of delight, horror, fantasy, and terror! Your every wish is our command! Your every whimsical desire brought to life! But, I'm warning you, there's always a price. Welcome to the Greatest Show Unearthed!"''
3	-->-- "The Greatest Show Unearthed", ''The Greatest Show Unearthed''
4
5	Creature Feature is a [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve Halloween]] and {{Horror}} themed band from Southern California. The first two albums were the brainchildren of Curtis Rx and Erik X. Erik X decided to leave the band shortly after the release of the second album ''It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...'' to spend more time with his family. Since then, Curtis Rx has taken over the sole writing and performing duties of Creature Feature and released two albums and various singles on his own. Front man Curtis RX also composes and releases music under the name Curtis Rx and Rufus Rex.
6
7	Not to be confused with the album of the same name by Creator/SeananMcGuire, or the animal segments from ''Series/SesameStreet''.
8
9	!!Discography:
10	* ''The Greatest Show Unearthed'' (2007)
11	* ''Death of a Doll Maker'' (Single) (2009)
12	* ''It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...'' (2011)
13	* ''American Gothic'' (2015)
14	* ''Slashback Video'' (2017)
15	* ''Sometimes They Come Back'' (Single) (2018)
16	* ''Grim Grinning Ghosts'' (Single) (2018)
17	* ''The Greatest Show Unearthed Returns'' (2018)
18	* ''Bury A Friend'' (Single) (2019)
19	----
20	!!The Greatest Tropes Unearthed:
21	* AdultsAreUseless: In "Such Horrible Things", the narrator's parents don't seem to do anything about him doing things like shoving his sister down a well and burning the house down.
22	* AlienInvasion: "Look to the Skies", as an homage to ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'', and "Fodder for the Elder Gods", detailing alien [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] descending from space to destroy humanity.
23	* AndIMustScream: The narrator's fate in "One Foot in the Grave", in which he's stuck for eternity [[TheUndead in an unnatural state between living and death]] after being BarredFromTheAfterlife.
24	-->I've got one foot in the grave
25	-->And in its shackles I'm enslaved
26	-->But here I lie
27	-->With opened eyes
28	-->The pearly gates turned me away
29	-->In this sarcophagus I lay
30	-->No longer dead
31	-->But I am void of breath
32	* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: The narrator of ''A Feast For the Worms'' was so evil that his death was a cause for celebration. Even ''Satan'' was happy when he died.
33	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
34	** In "Such Horrible Things", the narrator's crimes include getting another boy lost in the woods where he died, burying his brother alive, throwing his sister down a well, and pretending to drown so he could laugh at people when they came to rescue him.
35	** "A Gorey Demise" lists various gruesome deaths, like "Greg, who died in the womb," "Larry, who bled and bled," and "Zack, who simply went insane."
36	* BadPowersGoodPeople: The coven from ''Wake the Dead'' try to stop a SerialKiller by resurrecting his victims. It's implied to go poorly for them.
37	* BigCreepyCrawlies: "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth" is an homage to ''Film/{{Them}}'', a film where giant ants become a national threat. The song talks of hidden underground creatures climbing up to terrorise humanity, and there's a spoken broadcast segment stating that they've established a nest in the storm drains.
38	* BigDamnHeroes: At the end of "The Unearthly Ones" an angry mob with TorchesAndPitchforks appears to chase [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight the Unearthly Ones]] away after the beasts approach and threaten the children.
39	* BlackComedy: "A Gorey Demise" [[AlphabetSong spells out the alphabet]]... with each letter for the name of a child who died. The singers treat it as a [[LyricalDissonance joyful reciting of obituaries]], including the [[TheManyDeathsOfYou various causes of death]].
40	* {{Bookends}}:
41	** From "American Gothic", "If there's nothing in the darkness, then why do you lie awake? Something in the shadows is keeping you from sleep."
42	** "Buried Alive" begins and ends with a HeartbeatSoundtrack.
43	** In "A Gorey Demise", the first thing you hear is a character's laughter. The last thing you hear in the song is also a character's laughter.
44	** "Grave Robber at Large" begins and ends with a crow cawing and an EvilLaugh.
45	** "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth" begins and end with sound clips from ''Film/{{Them}}''.
46	** "The House of Myth" begins and ends with thunders and a hooting owl.
47	** "Dem Bones" begins and ends with instruments played to sound like rattling bones.
48	** "The Greatest Show Unearthed" begins with a record starting and ends with a RecordNeedleScratch.
49	** "A Corpse in My Bed" begins and ends with the audience cheering and the announcer speaking.
50	** "Aim for the Head" begins and ends with clips from ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968''
51	** "Nearly Departed" begins and end with the zombies moaning.
52	* BoundAndGagged: The song of the same name, detailing the story of a kidnapped daughter.
53	* BurnTheWitch: "Here There Be Witches" is about the various tortures inflicted on "witches" during a massive witch hunt.
54	* BuriedAlive:
55	** "Such Horrible Things" has the narrator do this to his brother (who gets better).
56	** "Buried Alive", where the narrator wants this to happen to him after reading too much Poe.
57	** "A Gorey Demise", E is for Erik who was buried alive.
58	* CardCarryingVillain: In the chorus of "Such Horrible Things", the narrator tries to deny that he's a bad person who does awful things, until he gives up and says, "Ah, hell...it's exactly what it seems!"
59	* CircusOfFear: "The Greatest Show Unearthed" and its sequel "The Greatest Show Unearthed Returns" is about a travelling carnival of fantasy and terror, where your every wish can come true (for a deadly price) and the sights will drive you to insanity.
60	* CreepyCircusMusic: "The Greatest Show Unearthed" has this as a primary part of the tune.
61	* DarkIsNotEvil: ''Wake the Dead'' is about a necromancy cult resurrecting the bodies of people who fell victim to a SerialKiller in an effort to stop him.
62	* DeathOfAChild:
63	** The song "A Gorey Demise" is mentioned in the album's description as "an alphabetical list of children who met their untimely demise", and is a reference to "''[[Literature/TheGashlycrumbTinies The Gashlycrumb Tinies]]''" by Edward Gorey, an alphabetical book detailing the deaths of a group of children. The lyric that's the most blatant about this is about letter G, Greg, who was miscarried.
64	** In "Such Horrible Things", the narrator gleefully recounts when he was six and playing hide-and-seek with the neighbor boy. He deliberately got him lost in the woods, where he presumably starved to death or was eaten by a wild animal.
65	* DeathSeeker: The narrator of "Bad Blood" says: "I am not one for this world / And I long for the day that my life snuffs out" and proceeds to give advice on how to put him in the ground for good.
66	* DemBones: The song of the same name, about a person who collects a lot of [[CreepySouvenir Creepy Souvenirs]], mainly sketelons.
67	* DirtyCoward: In ''The Unearthly Ones'' the titular monsters flee as soon as an angry mob shows up to fight them.
68	* DisproportionateRetribution: The "[[VillainProtagonist protagonist]]" of "Such Horrible Things" burned their house down... Why? ''They didn't like it's color''.
69	* DrugsAreBad: While it doesn't outright say it, a lyric in "A Gorey Demise" is "O is for Olive who lived life too fast", while the sound of someone snorting cocaine can be heard in the background.
70	* EarlyPersonalitySigns: The narrator of "Such Horrible Things" boasts of being a terror since he was born, biting the nurse as a baby, putting superglue in his father's hair when he was two, and stabbing the mailman when he was four.
71	* EldritchAbomination: "Fodder for the Elder Gods" is about the titular creatures coming down to earth to bring about the end of humanity.
72	* EnfantTerrible: The narrator brags about "Such Horrible Things" he did since he was two.
73	* EyeScream:
74	** "A Gorey Demise" lists the deaths of 26 people in alphabetical order, including F, for Frank who was stabbed through the eye.
75	** The collector of "Dem Bones" thinks his new guest has got lovely eyes and wants them in a display jar.
76	* [[FateWorseThanDeath A Fate Worse Than Death]]: The song of the same name. While the trope is brought up, the song is more about how there are so many gruesome ways to die, but even then, it could be worse.
77	* FlayingAlive: "Dem Bones" is about a madman [[CreepySouvenir with a collection of body parts]] doing this to the latest poor schmoe to end up in his TortureCellar.
78	* GeniusLoci: "Mad House", which is about a house that's absorbed all the anger from its inhabitants and terrorises them.
79	* GraveRobbing: "Grave Robber At Large" is about this topic.
80	* {{Goth}}
81	** PerkyGoth: Their music certainly gives off this vibe... [[Main/LyricalDissonance If you can get over the lyrical content...]]
82	* GoryDiscretionShot: In "Such Horrible Things", the singer mentions cryptically "that one time" when he was 14. This goes directly into a guitar interlude under which screaming can be heard and which ends with the singer chuckling happily, implying that the events of age 14 were too graphic to describe in words.
83	* HauntedHouse: "The House of Myth"
84	* HideAndSeekHorror: In "Such Horrible Things," when the narrator is six, he plays hide and seek with the neighbor boy and gets him lost in the forest, never to be found.
85	-->''When I was six''
86	-->''I used to trick''
87	-->''The next door neighbor's son''
88	-->''In the woods we would run''
89	-->''Time for fun''
90	-->''Hide-and-seek has a cost''
91	-->''He would be forever lost!''
92	* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: In the end of "The Unearthly Ones", an [[TorchesAndPitchforks angry mob]] attempts to hunt down the ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight.
93	* ILoveTheDead / MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: "A Corpse In My Bed".
94	* ImAHumanitarian: "How to Serve Man" is about cannibalism.
95	* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The song of the same name.
96	* InsaneEqualsViolent:
97	** This appears to be the case in "Such Horrible Things".
98	** And in "Dr. Sawbones".
99	-->There is this longing for blood
100	-->That I am trying to quench
101	-->There is this yearning for pain
102	-->That is forever entrenched
103	-->There is this spot on my soul
104	-->And it will never come clean
105	-->There is this flaw in my brain
106	-->That is far from serene
107	* UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper: Though it's never specifically addressed, it's heavily implied the song 'Dr. Sawbones' is about Jack the Ripper.
108	* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: In "Such Horrible Things", the narrator terrorizes everyone in his life starting from the moment of his birth and keeps getting away with it. Until, at 16 years old, he finally gets caught after burying his brother alive and is sentenced to life in an insane asylum.
109	* LesserStar: Erik X. Poor Erik.
110	* LyricalDissonance: A lot of their stuff has a fun, bouncy beat.
111	* MonsterMash: "A Gorey Demise" starts with an undead dinner party before the host begins singing "the annual obituaries”
112	* NoodleIncident: According to the narrator of "Such Horrible Things", nothing happened when he was fourteen...except "that one time", followed by the sounds of people screaming and a car crash.
113	* NotUsingTheZWord: "Aim For the Head" uses the word "ghoul" instead. "If you kill the brain, then you kill the ghoul." Fitting, as the song is based on ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968''.
114	* OminousMusicBoxTune:
115	** The beginning of "Mommy's Little Monsters".
116	** Also prominently featured in the instrumental "Death of a Dollmaker".
117	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: "Primitive State" is all about a werewolf attack, using classic horror movie portrayals with the werewolves as hungry destructive monsters that turn every full moon.
118	* PunBasedTitle: "The Greatest Show Unearthed," for the song and the first album.
119	* PuppeteerParasite: "Look to the Skies" is about aliens who have come to earth to take over the bodies of people while they sleep, and is heavily modelled on ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''.
120	* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain:
121	** "Aim for the Head"
122	** "Bad Blood" includes the line, "Remove my head to make sure I don't get up!"
123	* ShoutOut: See WholePlotReference, below.
124	** ''Grave Robber at Large'' has the lyric "Death is my business, and business is good!," in reference to "Killing is my Business and Business is Good" by ''Music/{{Megadeth}}''.
125	** ''Aim For the Head'' samples news reports from ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968''.
126	** ''Bound And Gagged'' samples lines from ''Film/CarnivalOfSouls'' and ''Film/TheBrainThatWouldntDie''.
127	* SongOfSongTitles: As noted above, "BuriedAlive" is mainly {{Shout Out}}s to Edgar Allan Poe, starting with ''A Dream Within a Dream'', and ending with ''Literature/TheRaven''.
128	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: "A Gorey Demise". R is for... is it Reina, Reyna, Raina, Rayna, or Rena?
129	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: "The Art of Poisoning"
130	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The DeathSeeker narrator of "Bad Blood" gives this advice on how to put him in the ground for good:
131	-->''Cut me down\
132	In a hail of bullets\
133	Remove my head to make sure I don't get up\
134	To be safe just burn my body\
135	Before they consecrate me''
136	* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: Creature Feature features such creatures frequently.
137	** "Mommy's Little Monsters" is about bloodthirsty creatures hiding inside the closet, in the walls, behind the curtains, in the basement, in the attic, everywhere.
138	** "The Unearthly Ones".
139	--->''Beware the bumps in the night\
140	The shadows on your wall\
141	The nightmares of your youth\
142	Believe in the bogeyman\
143	Hiding beneath your bed\
144	Just waiting to break loose''
145	** "American Gothic" is about foul things lurking unseen in the darkness.
146	** "Lights Out".
147	--->''By day they hide and cower in the shadows\
148	Waiting for the darkness to come\
149	By night they shamble through the dark empty world\
150	Yearning for a single drop of blood''
151	** "The Creeps" asks if these things are real or just in your head.
152	--->''Growing in the dead of night\
153	Giving you the creeps\
154	Darkness, figures in the darkness\
155	Wandering just out of sight''
156	* TorchesAndPitchforks: In the end of "The Unearthly Ones", an angry mob with pitchforks and torches attempts to hunt down the ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight.
157	* VillainSong:
158	** "Such Horrible Things". The narrator was a right terror from birth to 18, when he's finally tossed in the madhouse for the rest of his life.
159	** "The Unearthly Ones" is sung from the perspective of the ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight, about them sneaking up on their victim.
160	** "Bad Blood" is about a character who is pathologically driven to evil, although this guy is a bit more of an AntiVillain, torn between trying to control himself and the comforting certainty of [[BeYourself just being himself]].
161	** Music/BillieEilish's "bury a friend" is heavily inspired by the singer's experience with sleep paralysis, and has the line "I wanna end me." [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning The Creature Feature version]], however, uses a more jaunty performance with the line changed to "I wanna end you," giving this vibe.
162	* WeAllDieSomeday: A few songs bring this up.
163	** "A Fate Worse Than Death": "No need to worry/We all meet our end someday."
164	** "Six Foot Deep": "Someday we all shall die."
165	** "A Gorey Demise": "One by one we bite the dust/We kick the bucket and begin to rust/Give up the ghost when your number's up/We all fall down."
166	** "Spill Your Guts": "Why all the fuss?/We'll all be dust/And soon we'll spill your guts!"
167	* TheWitchHunter: "Here There Be Witches" is about a witch hunt, with historically accurate tortures for whomever they decide it is (according to doctrine, the Bible doesn't tell us enough about what witchcraft actually ''is'', therefore there's no such thing as a witch. "Witches" were really just people with some combination of extraneous nipple, pet cat, odd birthmark, and LonersAreFreaks.)
168	* WholePlotReference:
169	** "Look to the Skies" for ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''.
170	** "Aim for the Head" for ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' and ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968''.
171	** "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth" for ''Film/{{Them}}''.
172	** "Buried Alive'' for the works of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe.
173	** "A Gorey Demise'' for Creator/EdwardGorey; specifically, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies".
174	** "Haunted" for ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}''.
175	** "The Greatest Show Unearthed" for ''Literature/SomethingWickedThisWayComes''.
176	* ZombieApocalypse: "Aim for the Head" and "Nearly Departed"

Context Music / CreatureFeature