"He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" is a song by American rock musician

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

. It was released as the lead single from his 1986 album '' Constrictor'' and was used as the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

'' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.'' The song features the famous "ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma" (in its popular misheard version, "ch-ch-ch, ha-ha-ha") sound effect, a trademark of the ''

Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year ...

'' series. The song has also been described as celebrating the return of series antagonist

Jason Voorhees Jason Voorhees () is a fictional character and the antagonist of the Friday the 13th (franchise), ''Friday the 13th'' series. He first appeared in ''Friday the 13th (1980 film), Friday the 13th'' (1980) as the young son of camp-cook-turned-kil ...

, after being killed off in the fourth film '' Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter'' (1984) and appearing only in flashbacks and hallucinations in the fifth installment '' Friday the 13th: A New Beginning'' (1985). "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" was a minor chart success, popular among fans of Cooper's later work and enthusiasts of slasher films. It has been said to "perfectly encapsulate the ''Friday the 13th'' films and the era in which they came to prominence."Alice Cooper: The Man Behind the Mask!"
, an article at X-Entertainment. The 7" single featured a "live" version of "

Billion Dollar Babies ''Billion Dollar Babies'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on February 27, 1973 The album became the best selling Alice Cooper record at the time of its release, hitting number one on the album charts in the ...

" as its B-side. The 12" single featured "Billion Dollar Babies (Recorded Live)" as well as a haunting "live" version of "

I'm Eighteen "I'm Eighteen", or simply "Eighteen", is a song by American rock band Alice Cooper, first released as a single in November 1970 backed with "Is It My Body". It was the band's first top-forty success—peaking at number 21—and convinced Warne ...

". Both versions were in fact originally recorded in the studio for the ''

Alice Cooper a Paris ''Alice Cooper a Paris'' (more commonly known as ''Alice in Paris'') is a French television special starring shock-rocker Alice Cooper. A series of music videos of songs from his then-current album ''Special Forces'' (1981) with a few songs from ' ...

'' TV special in 1981 during the ''

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

'' era, which were remixed in 1986 with crowd noise to resemble "live" recordings.

Other versions

A demo version of the song, with a slightly rockier and much more upbeat feel, as well as the final release version, were featured in the four-disc retrospective

boxed set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper ''The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper'' (1999) is a 4-CD box set by Alice Cooper. It includes select tracks from every studio album released until then, plus many B-sides, unreleased songs, and other rarities. It also includes Alice Cooper's auth ...

'', which chronicles Cooper's career. The song was also available on a compilation album of songs from his two late-1980s MCA albums, ''Constrictor'' and ''

Raise Your Fist and Yell ''Raise Your Fist and Yell'' is the tenth solo and overall seventeenth studio album by American rock musician Alice Cooper, released on September 5, 1987, by MCA Records. It features the track "Prince of Darkness", which is featured very brief ...

'', entitled '' Prince of Darkness''. ''Prince of Darkness''at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. The unused demo version instead became the song ''Trick Bag'', also on the Constrictor album.

Music video

The song is well known for its

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, which combines clips from ''Jason Lives'' with original footage featuring Cooper performing the song and

played, as he is in the film, by

C. J. Graham C. J. Graham is an American actor who became known for playing Jason Voorhees in the sixth installment of the ''Friday the 13th'' film series, '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives''. Career A 6'3" former nightclub owner, Graham was spotted ...

menacing teenagers at a midnight showing of ''Jason Lives''. It was directed by Jeffrey Abelson from a concept by Keith Williams. Some of the film footage features the Paintball scene where Jason was played by

Dan Bradley Dan Bradley is an American stunt coordinator and second unit film director. He has worked on ''Independence Day'', ''Spider-Man 2'', ''Spider-Man 3'', ''The Bourne Supremacy'', '' The Bourne Ultimatum'', ''Superman Returns'', ''Indiana Jones and ...

, which was filmed before he was replaced by Graham. This video was not present on any home media release until 2020 when Shout Factory's line Scream Factory released it as a bonus feature on their ''Friday the 13th'' deluxe box set.

Track listing

Charts

Cover versions

The song has been covered by some other artists. Finnish

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

band

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of frontman Alexi Laiho, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Seppälä, ...

recorded a version in 2002, but was never released, and "He's Back" has been performed live by another Finnish metal band,

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...

. In addition, the song was covered by

One Man Army and the Undead Quartet One Man Army and the Undead Quartet was a Swedish band, that played a fusion of melodic death metal and thrash metal. The band was formed by vocalist Johan Lindstrand after the breakup of The Crown. After two albums on Nuclear Blast Records, they ...

, which was released on the Swedish

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

group's 2007 album ''

Error in Evolution An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

''. Synthpop artist Digital Love released a version for Halloween 2022.

References

External links

* ''Constrictor''at

{{DEFAULTSORT:He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) 1986 singles Songs written by Tom Kelly (musician) Songs written by Alice Cooper Alice Cooper songs Friday the 13th (franchise) music Songs written for films American new wave songs Songs written by Kane Roberts MCA Records singles