Friday Night Videos: Eric Burdon, the Animals and War

Welcome once again to Friday Night Videos!

Inspiration will sometimes come from the oddest places.

Take for example the case of Eric Burdon, The Animals and War.

I "discovered" Eric Burdon while going through a stack of old 45s back in my teens. The Animals' song "House of the Rising Sun" painted such an evocative picture for me that I was obsessed with it for years.

Fast forward to the late 90s early 2000s.  I began listening to more of Eric Burdon's "new" band, War.  "Spill the Wine" was pretty much on constant rotation for me for the longest time.  Combine these two and a vista was painted for me in sharp relief.  Eric Burdon has the distinction of being the only living person I have stated up as an Occult Poet, he is also the only character I have used both in my Willow & Tara based Buffy game and my lighter tone Hex Girls game.



House of the Rising Sun is a haunting song.  It is no surprise to me that it was used in the teaser trailers for American Horror Story Coven last year.  For me the House was a house of ill-repute, but it became something more; something much darker.   In my games Burdon found the house and uses his occult powers to keep others away.

Don't let me be Misunderstood also had a similar effect on my writing.  You could almost construe it as an adventurers lament and not just a man to his lover.



We Got to Get Out of This Place.  Vietnam or "Subterranean Fantasy Fucking Vietnam".
Bloggers have spent thousands of pages of text on analyzing the pulp writings of old and their effects on the genesis of D&D, but what about the music?  I saw just like the late 70s and 80s captured the mood of the time and D&D, the 60s are what influenced the authors of the games.



Have you ever played a gnome? I have played one and that was during the start of D&D 3.0.  Jassic Goodwalker.  Jassic was a long haired overfed leaping gnome with a fondness for wine, song, and women.  Spill the Wine was the song that gave birth to Jassic.  Never played a gnome after Jassic, but I would dust of his sheet in heartbeat.


Till next time.