Songs Inspired by Stan Lee’s Characters

Stan Lee at Tokyo Comic Con 2016.

On Monday, the world lost one of its brightest storytelling minds. Stan Lee, creator of many of Marvel’s most iconic superheroes, passed away at the age of 95.

With a career spanning more than seven decades, almost everyone has been inspired by Lee’s characters, including musicians. There are many songs referencing the likes of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man and the Hulk.

In honor of Stan Lee’s life, Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at some of the songs that took inspiration from his characters. Here are five that show the reach of Lee’s work. (Note: Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” is not about the character, so it is not on this list.)

1.       Ramones, “Spider-Man”: Quintessential New York punk band the Ramones covered the theme to the 1967 ‘Spider-Man’ cartoon for their final album, ‘iAdios Amigos!,’ in 1995. Surely fans of the original program, the song is done with the same kind of raw, “short, fast and loud” style as their originals. Ramones would find themselves associated with the web-slingging superhero again in 2017’s ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming.’ (video)

2.       Joe Satriani, “Surfing With The Alien”: The title track to Joe Satriani’s “Surfing With The Alien,” was written about Stan Lee / Jack Kirby hero the Silver Surfer. The song ended up giving him his big break, cementing him as one of the best guitarists of all time. Satriani also controversially put a picture of the character on the front cover of the album. (video)

3.       Paul McCartney & Wings, “Magneto And Titanium Man”: Paying homage to a couple of Lee’s villains, Paul MCartney and Wings included “Magneto and Titanium Man” as a B-Side to their “Venus and Mars”/ “Rock Show” single. McCartney is a big fan of Marvel Comics and was inspired to write the song after purchasing comic books during recording sessions in Jamaica in the 1970s. (video)

4.       The Traits, “Nobody Loves The Hulk”: This 1969 garage-rock track tells the story of how the Hulk came to be and how no one loves him because of how he looks. The song makes you sympathize with the character, after all, its not his fault he giant, green and menacing. (video)

5.       The Black Lips, “Spidey’s Curse”: Written in 2011 about a 1984 PSA, The Black Lips’ “Spidey’s Curse” is about Spider-Man alter-ego Peter Parker being inappropriately touched as a teen. The story is told pretty faithfully in the song, with the narrator commenting that he never knew the story of Spider-Man was so dark. Then, the song breaks the fourth wall to let the listener know that they are talking about a PSA that the narrator was shown by his teacher and that the song becomes about how that comic made him feel. (video)

Stan Lee has created some of the most beloved characters in both comic book and animation history. So many musicians have been inspired by his work and have written songs about his characters (like the ones above). With such a prolific library of stories and characters that have been inspiring artists and fans for decades, Stan Lee’s legacy will continue to live on. Excelsior!

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Find more music from these Marvel-inspired artists at Vinyl Bay 777. As Long Island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.

Six Album Covers by Famous Comic Book Artists

On Tuesday, Universal Music Enterprises announced a new deal with Marvel Entertainment that would bring back their Hip-Hop Variant program. The program puts Marvel characters into famous hip-hop album covers for special edition reissues. LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ featuring artwork from Tim Bradstreet’s ‘Punisher #1,’ 50 Cent’s ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ featuring artwork from Brian Stelfreeze’s ‘Invincible Iron Man #1’ and GZA’s ‘Liquid Swords’ featuring artwork from Denys Cowan’s ‘Contest of Champions #1’ are the first three albums to be getting the comic book treatment. Each album will be available as a double color vinyl Variant Collector’s Edition and a deluxe edition that also includes the original comic book and a 3D lenticular print of the cover limited to 3,000 copies each.

Comic book art has had a place on album covers for decades. And it hasn’t been for just hip-hop albums either. Hip-hop and rock artists have booth seen fit to go for a more animated style when it came to packaging their creative visions. And some of them have even commissioned work from some of the most important comic artists in the field.

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at some music’s most iconic album covers drawn by some of comics’ most iconic artists. Here are six covers with some serious talent behind them.

1.       Big Brother and the Holding Company, ‘Cheap Thrills’: Big Brother and the Holding Company’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ has one of the most recognizable album covers of the 1960s. It was drawn by underground artist and noted music lover R. Crumb (known best for his controversial character Fritz the Cat) at Janis Joplin’s request. In an interview with the album’s art director John Berg, it was said that Crumb did not want to be paid for the work because he didn’t want “Columbia’s filthy lucre.”

2.       GZA, “Liquid Swords”: For his second solo album, Wu-Tang’s GZA enlisted the drawing prowess of fellow New Yorker Denys Cowan for its cover art and videos. By the time of the album’s release in 1995, Cowan had already made a name for himself in both comics and music, having drawn for both DC and Marvel, as well as collaborating on the one-time Prince comic book in 1991. As stated above, Cowan will be revisiting this album cover for the new Marvel / Universal deal.

3.       Gorillaz: Besides being the pet project of Blur’s Damon Albarn, the other collaborator on cartoon band Gorillaz is artist Jamie Hewlett. Outside of the band, Hewlett is best known for his irreverent comic series ‘Tank Girl,’ about a female bounty hunter who becomes an outlaw.

4.       Joe Satriani, ‘Surfing With The Alien’: The only one of these albums to feature an actual superhero on the cover, Joe Satriani decided to put a drawing of Marvel’s Silver Surfer on the cover of his iconic second album, ‘Surfing With The Alien.’ The character was originally created by the legendary Jack Kirby, though the picture on the cover was taken from 1982’s Silver Surfer #1, drawn by John Byrne. Byrne has been a prolific creator in his own right, having drawn many of Marvel’s most beloved characters, including the X-Men and Fantastic Four.

5.       Iggy Pop, ‘Brick by Brick’: For the cover of Iggy Pop’s 1990 album ‘Brick by Brick,’ Virgin Records decided to reach out to artist Charles Burns. Burns had been known by then for his more macabre comics, based somewhere between horror and sci-fi, having been published in Art Spiegelman’s ‘Raw’ magazine and Sub Pop’s fanzine, as well as commissioned work for the likes of Time and the Village Voice and his own series of graphic novels.  

6.       Korn, ‘Follow the Leader’: When Korn released their 1998 album, ‘Follow the Leader,’ the artwork for the album became very associated with the band at the time. Not only was it the album cover, but it also ended up becoming the story in both breakout album single “Freak on a Leash” and the first single from their next album “Falling Away from Me.” The work was created by Greg Capullo, who was a comic artist with Marvel in the 1990s and has recently worked with DC drawing Batman.  

It is not unusual for musicians to use comic book art for their album covers. Musicians in both rock and hip-hop have done so, some collaborating with some pretty prolific artists. Marvel and Universal’s upcoming Hip-Hop Variant reboot will be attempting to make the connection even more clear by taking iconic covers and reimagining them with iconic characters drawn by Marvel’s best artists. The result is sure to be something special.

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Find some of these iconic albums and more at Vinyl Bay 777. As Long Island’s favorite new independent record shop, we have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.

Six Songs about Comic Books and Superheroes

New York Comic Con took place this past weekend. The event brought thousands of fans to the city to hear about the latest news in comic books, gaming, film and television, meet their favorite stars, purchase limited edition merchandise and cos-play as their favorite characters.

As many superhero characters have worked their way into our collective cultural consciousness, so too have they worked their way into music culture. There have been many songs written about the likes of Batman, Superman and others over the years. Some have been written to coincide with films made about said characters. Other times it’s because a character makes sense associated with their work.

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, has collected a list of rock artists who have written about comic book characters. Here are six songs that bring their character subjects to life.

1.       Ramones, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”: Most people are aware of the Ramone’s version of the “Spider-man” theme song. But what less people know is that their single “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” is also about a comic book character. Sheena, Queen of the Jungle was created by Fiction House in the late 1930s and was the first female character to have her own comic book title. Joey Ramone said in the booklet for ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s Go’ that he combined the character, who grew up in the jungle and fought slave traders, hunters and wild animals, with the “primalness of punk rock.” (video)

2.       Prince, “Batdance”: Written for the 1989 film ‘Batman,’ “Batdance” combines electronic elements with dialogue from the film and the original Batman theme. The song isn’t just about the Batman though, as there is just as much Joker dialogue as there is from the titular hero. (video)

3.       Queen, “Flash”: Queen wrote “Flash” in 1980 as the theme song for the film version of ‘Flash Gordon,’ which was originally a sci-fi comic strip by King Features. The song praises the hero who is “just a man” but “stands for everyone.” Pairing the theatrical bravado of Queen’s music with the film works well, as the song is just as campy as the film. (video)

4.       Anthrax, “I Am the Law”: One of those rare songs written about a comic book character that wasn’t commissioned for a film, Anthrax released “I Am the Law” in 1987 as a single from their album ‘Among the Living.’ The song is about ‘2000 AD’ character Judge Dredd, the vigilante “street judge” who would capture, convict and sentence criminals. “I Am the Law” captures the character’s story well and with the hardcore thrash metal grit it deserves. (video)

5.       Smashing Pumpkins, “The End Is the Beginning Is the End”: Frontman Billy Corgan  wrote “The End” as a musical challenge for himself, telling MTV back in 1997 that “for me, it was a great kind of artistic thing to do because it was very freeing. I wasn’t talking about myself or trying to represent the Smashing Pumpkins. I was trying to represent Batman.” A revised version was also used in the film version of the graphic novel ‘The Watchmen,’ which also works because the lyrics are more vague and dark than they are attached to the Batman himself. (video)

6.       Suicide, “Ghost Rider”: Inspired by the Marvel hero with the flaming head and motorcycle, Suicide’s “Ghost Rider” fawns over the character with lyrics that describe his appearance. The song’s low-sung darkness is broken up with Ghost Rider’s signature shriek. (video)

These are just some of the many songs written about comic books and superheroes. Such characters have been inspiring music for years and, in turn, songs like these, as well as films, have been able to make these characters part of popular culture and consciousness. Check these songs out and let us know what superhero songs you enjoy.

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Find music from these “super” artists and more at Vinyl Bay 777. As the top new independent record shop on Long Island, we have thousands of titles in various genres to choose from. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia in store at our Plainview location, or shop online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what kind of super finds you might uncover at Vinyl Bay 777.