Edgar Winter Group: Frankenstein

Being that it is TV Thursday and we are featuring Halloween themed songs this week, here is another song featured in a TV commercial, the Edgar Winter Groups’ “Frankenstein” as featured in the AT&T Radio Contest Winner ad. It seems that I know this woman from past experiences. Although I haven’t been on the air since 1994, I can still remember the names of the constant contest winners that seemed to bend the rules as much as possible when it came to contests.

Although the song is only at the very end of the commercial, it is clear that it is “Frankenstein” – a song that Edgar Winter began performing as a member of his brother’s band, Johnny Winter And. Although Frankenstein was not released officially until late 1972 with the Edgar Winter Group’s groundbreaking LP, “They Only Come Out at Night.” The original title of the cut during the Johnny Winter years was “Double Drum Solo.”

Edgar Winter drummer Chuck Ruff christened the tune as “Frankenstein” as the final product was created by numerous tape splices to get the song down to its current length. Edgar Winter plays clavinet, synthesizer, timbales, and saxophones on this tune.

The song was a number one American hit in the early summer of 1973 and reminds me of my summer after high school graduation and my first car, a 1964 Ford Fairlane 500. There were three Pittsburgh Top-40 AM stations (KQV, WIXZ, and 13Q – WKTQ) vying for listeners that summer and each seemed to play only three songs: “Frankenstein,” “Hocus Pocus” by Focus, and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” My favorite part of the song is where the synth goes from the right speaker to the left – it’s great in headphones.

The AT&T Commercial