Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston.
No one was surprised when True Blood was renewed for a fourth season on HBO. The premiere of Season 3 brought in approximately 7 billion viewers (citation needed), and contained some of the series' best and bloodiest moments thus far.
After all, once you turn someone's head around 180 degrees during grudge sex so that missionary position becomes some kind of dead-on-the-highway doggy-style, you just can't call a spanking kinky anymore.
To be fair, there were some lacking moments too. The whole fairy storyline had way too many Renaissance Fair moments, and we can't believe that anyone would knowingly leave an extremely pissed-off and powerful vampire king buried alive in concrete and not expect that to come back and haunt them later.
To be fair, we've established that most of the series' protagonists a) aren't terribly bright; and b) have the survival instinct of a lemming on meth listening to This Mortal Coil's It'll End in Tears.
Still, as always we're looking forward to the new season in June, and HBO has finally released a trailer containing the first of the music we'll be covering in this column.
Now that is not exactly a trailer in the strictest sense of the word, considering we get no footage and little more than a song, but trust us, the song is all you need to know - what you're hearing is a fairly rare Joan Jett cover of the Donovan hit "Season of the Witch."
If you have ever seen one of the three movies called Season of the Witch, including the third Halloween movie, then you've heard this song. It's been covered by so many people that tracking down the original artist was actually a little difficult when all we had to go on was the lyrics. Vanilla Fudge did a famous version, Hole busted it out on their MTV Unplugged appearance, and even Robert Plant has taken not one but several stabs at it.
Jett's version was released only on the Japanese version of her 2004 album, Naked, where she also covers "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Jett appeared as Columbia in the 2000 Broadway revival of the musical, but instead of the iconic tap-dance Columbia typically does in "The Time Warp," Jett performed a guitar solo. After she left, she was replaced by ex-SNLer Ana Gasteyer.
"Season of the Witch" sets the upcoming season up perfectly. If you've read the books, you know that a coven of witches will be erasing Eric Northman's memory, leaving him as a kinder, gentler, and apparently much more doable vampire than his previous cocky persona.
If you haven't read the books, then just sit back and let Joan Jett do her thing all over your computer screen while we prepare for what should be the best 12 vampire hours in modern history.
True Blood returns June 12 on HBO. Be sure to visit the Loving True Blood in Dallas blog, where Jef With One F will be a regular contributor to the podcast this season.
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