This week’s soundtrack write up belongs to 1981’s Shock Treatment! It is a movie directed by Jim Sharman. It was also co-written by Sharman and Richard O’Brien.

Richard O’Brien is the same person who wrote “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” And like Rocky Horror, Shock Treatment is full of dance worthy tracks! There is a on going debate whether Shock Treatment is a continual of Rocky Horror Picture Show but I am not going to pick  a side on that debate.

There are some returning characters but they are not played by the same actors. They are returning actors (like Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn and Little Nell Campbell) but they are not playing the same roles they did in Rocky Horror. So it is really your own called whether or not you feel like this is a continual or something that is completely on it’s own from Rocky Horror.

The movie has Janet and Brad Majors (played by Jessica Harper and Cliff De Young) who have recently been married and visit the town of Denton, Ohio. The town is now owned by a major company called Farley Favors and now the whole town of Denton lives within a TV studio.

While Janet and Brad visit a live taping of Denton they are picked out from the audience as contestants for a game show. The prize from the show was getting Brad into a mental hospital and  Janet transformed into a major TV pop star. Throughout the whole time there are various songs that discussing Denton, and the relationship of Brad and Janet.

I picked three random songs from the soundtrack to discuss:

Denton, U.S.A:

This is one of the opening songs and it is one of my favorites from the soundtrack. It’s up tempo beat and weird town anthem of what they envisioned there perfect town to be.

Shock Treatment:

This is the main song and it is sung in the mental hospital that Brad is held prisoner in. Janet has reveal her true diva self to Brad and he is helpless to do anything about it because is trapped in a cage.

Bitchin ‘In Kitchen:

This song is sung while Brad and Janet are on the game show. They are airing out their problems and difficulties they have in their marriage so far. The game show host concludes that the best prize for them is that Brad have a “mental check up.”

Until Next time!