BATTY INDUCTEE NUMBER 15

"IN THE BEGINNING GOD SAID 'LET THERE BE LIPS'.  AND THERE WERE.  AND THEY WERE GOOD." Today's inductee is the harbinger of a phenomenon which remained big for decades!  As the opening theme song for a film which has come to represent perhaps the pinnacle of the 70s phenomenon known as the "midnight movie", it has the highest credentials for inclusion.  Therefore, my 15th inductee into the Batty Halloween Hall of Fame is . . . 

SCIENCE FICTION/DOUBLE FEATURE by RICHARD O'BRIEN

Just hearing the opening notes of this song brings back memories of standing in a long line outside the movie theatre at the Echelon Mall.  It's around 1987 or 1988 and more than once I would be entering the darkened theatre space to encounter the wild and wooly world of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.  As the projector kicked into gear and those iconic crimson lips zoomed at me from the screen, the lilting piano launched into a song full of classic science fiction and horror movie references which, as a lifelong genre fan, rang more bells than Quasimodo on twelve cappuccinos!  My first encounter with ROCKY HORROR was actually way back in the early 80's when high school friend Paul N. used to play the soundtrack cassette.  I had no idea what was going on but I liked the tunes and the horror/sci-fi angle peaked my interest.  It was only about five years later that I actually ventured forth into the movie theatre at midnight and learned "Don't dream it . . . be it!"