Too Scary for TV? ‘Mary’ by Supergrass Gets the Hammer Horror Treatment. A Halloween Treat:

Halloween is almost here, so let me hand you the perfect soundtrack: Supergrass, “Mary (Scary Version).” It’s groovy, it’s catchy, and it comes with a little horror flick attached. Crank it, then check the doors.

The song is the third and final single from Supergrass’s self-titled 1999 album. It peaked at number 36 on the UK chart in November of that year, which is a modest showing for something this fun. The chorus goes full falsetto scream, and the video is built around it.

Now the fun part. The video was directed by Sophie Muller and set up as a tribute to the old Hammer Horror films. Every time that screaming chorus hits, you get a new spooky scene: a room full of poltergeist chaos, a family breakfast that goes very wrong, and a bathtub scene you’ll want to watch with the lights on. It’s campy, it’s theatrical, and the band plays right through it like nothing is happening.

It was reportedly banned from TV for being too frightening. So an edited version came out that swaps the scary bits for pictures of onions. Yes, onions. Apparently somebody decided the nation was safer watching a vegetable than a haunted bookshelf. Adults can handle a Hammer Horror homage, and honestly the onion cut might be scarier for what it says about the people who made the call. That’s why this clip is the “Scary Version.” (That last bit is my read of the title, not an official statement.)

A few more nuggets for the road:

• The band started in Oxford in 1993 as Theodore Supergrass. Mick Quinn says they dropped “Theodore” after about two months because it was “a bit rubbish.”
• The opening chord pattern has been compared to Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, the music every movie trailer grabs when something ominous is coming.
• In 2007, Quinn sleepwalked out of a first floor villa window in France and survived with a broken heel and two spinal fractures. Even their real life gets weird.
• The band reunited in 2019, and this official upload hit their YouTube channel that July. Plenty of people have found it since.

So pour a drink, dim the lights, and hit play on the video below. Happy Halloween, and watch out for the onions.

Links: Official video · Song background · Video credits

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Blake Walley

Blake Walley is a writer, reporter and producer. An idealist and truth-seeker obsessed with the future. A new media trailblazer and outside-the box-thinker. Former Las Vegas bartender influenced by Gonzo journalism. Inspired, eccentric, and always up for a challenge. Blake has been making waves for over 10 years with his original analysis and creative style.

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