"Scream" is the ninth single by the

horror punk Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered by t ...

band the

Misfits MiSFiTS was the acronym for the ''Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy''. This organization has now changed its name to GPS, an acronym for Geek Partnership Society. It was founded in 1999 and was the parent non-profit org ...

, and the first single released from their 1999 album ''

Famous Monsters ''Famous Monsters'' is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Misfits, released on October 5, 1999. It is the second in the post- Danzig era of the band, and the last album to feature Michale Graves, Dr. Chud and Doyle Wolfgang ...

''. The music video for the song was directed by George A. Romero, famous for his ''

Living Dead ''Living Dead'', also informally known as ''Of the Dead'' is a blanket term for the loosely connected horror franchise that originated from the 1968 film ''Night of the Living Dead''. The film, written by George A. Romero and John A. Russo, ...

'' series of

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

films.

Background

"Scream" was written in a parking lot in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

while the Misfits were on tour. The band had learned that director

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...

was interested in using Misfits songs for his film '' Wishmaster'', but instead they decided to submit a song for the upcoming ''

Scream 2 ''Scream 2'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Jada P ...

''. They recorded a demo version of the song at a studio in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. Singer

Michale Graves Michael Emanuel (born March 21, 1975), better known by his stage name Michale Graves, is an American singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist for the 1990s re-incarnation of the horror punk band Misfits from 1995 to 2000, leaving briefly ...

described this early version as having a Peter Murphy influence. The demo was submitted to Craven but was not used for the film. "Scream" was later re-recorded for the band's 1999 album ''

''. This version had a slightly different arrangement than the demo version. It was released as the album's only single at the choosing of

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...

. The band later stated in the '' Cuts from the Crypt'' liner notes that they "never felt it was the strongest choice for either the single nor the corresponding music video that followed."

Music video

The music video was directed by George A. Romero, famous for his ''

'' film series. Bassist

Jerry Only Gerald Caiafa Jr. (born April 21, 1959), better known by his stage name Jerry Only, is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the Misfits and later the vocalist as well. He is the only member to appear in every Misfits lineup exce ...

has expressed admiration for Romero, calling ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American Independent film, independent zombie horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, written by Romero and John A. Russo, John Russo, produced by Russell Streiner and Karl Har ...

'' "still to this day one of the scariest movies ever made." At the time Romero was in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

filming '' Bruiser'' and needed a band to perform during the film's final murder scene. The Misfits agreed to perform in the film and to record two songs for the soundtrack in exchange for Romero directing their "Scream" video. According to Only, "It was an even trade, we shook hands and the deal was done. Business complications soon followed and I became very unhappy with my record label and my publishing company." No soundtrack was issued for ''Bruiser''. The Misfits' two songs, "Fiend Without a Face" and "Bruiser", along with the demo version of "Scream", were released in 2001 on the compilation album '' Cuts from the Crypt''. The "Scream" music video consists of black-and-white footage of the band members as

s terrorizing a hospital along with a number of Misfits fans, interspersed with color footage of the band performing live. A promotional

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

version of the video was included for free with the purchase of a set of Misfits action figures from 21st Century toys in 1999 and 2000. The video was also included in an enhanced

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

portion of ''Cuts from the Crypt'' in 2001.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals *

– bass guitar *

Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein Paul Caiafa (born September 15, 1964), known professionally as Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, is an American guitarist best known for his material with the horror punk band the Misfits and his own band eponymously named Doyle. Education ...

– guitar *

Dr. Chud David Calabrese, known professionally as Dr. Chud, is an American horror punk drummer best known for his work with the Misfits (band), Misfits. He has also been a member of Graves (band), Graves, Gorgeous Frankenstein, Doyle (band), Doyle and Bl ...

– drums

References

{{Misfits 1999 songs Misfits (band) songs Roadrunner Records singles

Background

Music video

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References