Listen to John Carpenter’s scarily fun rock ’n’ roll record from 1985

It’s been said that every musician wants to be a filmmaker and every filmmaker wants to be a musician. John Carpenter has been doing both for over 40 years, taking on writing, directing, and composing duties for most of his films. Carpenter is currently playing rock star, on tour promoting his two Lost Themes records, playing rearranged versions of his classic film themes to sold-out audiences around the world. In 1985, the horror master recorded an album’s worth of material alongside Nick Castle (the original Michael Myers) and Tommy Lee Wallace, who worked as production designer and editor on 1978’s Halloween before going on to write and direct the Carpenter-produced Halloween III: Season Of The Witch. Recorded as The Coupe De Villes, Waiting Out The Eighties was never meant to be officially released and only given out to friends and family. Well, one of those friends and family must have dropped it off at the local record store when they were switching over to CDs because YouTube user TGRT91 has uploaded this gem of a record for your listening pleasure.
The album kicks off with Nick Castle taking on lead vocal duties on the New Wave-esque title track with film composer—and frequent Carpenter collaborator—Alan Howarth sitting in on bass. The album credits Tommy Lee Wallace with lead guitar and Carpenter with bass, rhythm guitar, and the bulk of the synthesizer tracks, with all three musicians switching off on lead vocals. Carpenter’s bluesy register is probably the most noticeable, as he sang on the band’s theme song to 1986’s Big Trouble In Little China.