Australian singles chart:
Hammer Horror entered the Kent Music Report charts on 20 November 1978 and peaked at #17. It was #96 on the Top 100 of 1979.
Album:
The song is on Lionheart which entered the Kent Music Report album chart on 27 November 1978 and peaked at #12.
Songwriter:
Kate Bush
Producers:
Andrew Powell, assisted by Kate Bush
Record label of Australian release:
EMI
Songfacts:
Hammer Horror is about two actors who are friends. One is playing the lead role in a production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a part he’s read all of his life and has been waiting for a chance to play. After many rehearsals he accidentally dies and his friend is asked to take over the role, which he does because his own career is on the line.
The dead man comes back to haunt him because he doesn’t want him to have the role, believing that he is taking away the only chance he ever had in life. The actor is saying, “Leave me alone, it’s not my fault. I have to take this role but I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do because the ghost won’t leave me alone and is really freaking me out. I see him at every corner.”
This was inspired by James Cagney playing the role of Lon Chaney as the hunchback in the silent horror star’s 1957 biopic, Man Of A Thousand Faces.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/kate-bush/hammer-horror
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
New to Bang a Gong? Click HERE to learn more about us.