Today, we continue the saga of that little-known troubadour, Tommy Treacle. The Jan 25, 2025 blog post exposed his failed commercial attempts to produce horror film themes in the 1970’s. As the 1980’s matured, the many genres and subgenres of heavy metal music began to morph and multiply at an astonishing rate. Mr. Treacle found this to be fertile ground for song re-interpretation. In a rare interview with Metal Mania Magazine in 1987, he explained that his initial interest in the project was based on an inability to clearly discern the lyrics of speed and thrash-metal songs. He decided to slow it all down with folk-style arrangements in an attempt to broaden the appreciation for the lyrical elements. This was generally met, by the bands and their rabid fans, with vicious invective that included extreme profanity, colorful threats of death and dismemberment, bursts of saliva (and other unnamed secretions), as well as actual bodily violence. He was stripped naked and nearly lost a testicle at a bowling alley in Dayton, Ohio (it was found 1/2 block away near a Shoney’s and successfully reunited with its owner). He has since stated that time will bear out his unorthodox approach and that it was “all worth it in the end.” On the above track, you will hear a portion of Slayer’s song “Necrophobic” from that same album, followed by Tommy Treacle’s altered arrangement. Please enjoy.
Great Exudations 