| The opening title song to the cult musical movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Science Fiction/Double Feature is lyrically crammed with references to sci-fi B-movies and actors. When any film fan listens to it, they recognise many of the movie titles and some of the actors mentioned. But do you know them all? Here is a list of all the references that are in the song. |
In the infamous opening sequence to the movie, a pair of now iconic giant red lips sing the title song. It was sung by its writer Richard O'Brien and then later lip synced, by co-star Patricia Quinn who played Magenta in the movie.
The very first line of the song refers to the British actor Michael Rennie and the 1951 cult sci-fi movie he starred in The Day The Earth Stood Still. Next comes Flash Gordon, in reference to the 1936 (13 part) serial. Claude Raines as The Invisible Man, a 1933 movie based on the H.G.Wells novel. The movie contains a nod to the Invisible Man, with a fully bandaged Rocky before he is brought to life. Then comes Fay Ray and her role in the classic 1933 movie King Kong. At the end of the movie Rocky lifts up the lifeless body of Frank N. Furter and carries him up the tower of the RKO logo, in a direct tongue-in-cheek nod to King Kong. It Came from Outer Space (1953) was based on a Ray Bradbury short story called The Meteor, that Bradbury wrote as a screen treatment. "Doctor X will build a creature", refers to the 1932 movie and directly to Frank N. Furter's building of Rocky in the movie.
The very first line of the song refers to the British actor Michael Rennie and the 1951 cult sci-fi movie he starred in The Day The Earth Stood Still. Next comes Flash Gordon, in reference to the 1936 (13 part) serial. Claude Raines as The Invisible Man, a 1933 movie based on the H.G.Wells novel. The movie contains a nod to the Invisible Man, with a fully bandaged Rocky before he is brought to life. Then comes Fay Ray and her role in the classic 1933 movie King Kong. At the end of the movie Rocky lifts up the lifeless body of Frank N. Furter and carries him up the tower of the RKO logo, in a direct tongue-in-cheek nod to King Kong. It Came from Outer Space (1953) was based on a Ray Bradbury short story called The Meteor, that Bradbury wrote as a screen treatment. "Doctor X will build a creature", refers to the 1932 movie and directly to Frank N. Furter's building of Rocky in the movie.
| "Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet", the classic 1956 movie. The song goes on to mention Leo G. Carroll and the movie he appeared in Tarantula (1955). Janette Scott was the star of the British film The Day Of The Triffids, adapted from the novel of the same name by John Wyndham. Dana Andrews was the star of the 1957 British horror movie Night Of The Demons. And finally George Pal was the producer of the 1951 movie When Worlds Collide. | |
Weird Retro Fact: The Rocky Horror Picture Show comes in at the number one slot, in Weird Retro's article, the Top Ten: The Horror Of Movie Musicals.
