Five scarily good albums that were released on Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th. A day predominantly associated with evil, and maybe there’s some validity behind that, but it doesn’t necessarily apply to the world of music, as artists such as Black Sabbath, Phil Collins and St Vincent have all released some of their best records on this fateful date.
Perhaps the most fitting release is that of Black Sabbath’s debut. When that album was put out into the world, it was more than just a gritty piece of rock, it was a record which borderline scared its listeners, creating what some considered a fictional world, one littered with monsters and terror. I’m not sure if the date of release was intended, but if not, it’s one hell of a coincidence.
While a lot of the other albums released on this date don’t carry the same spooky gravitas that Ozzy Osbourne and co did, there are still some truly great albums which have been put out – distorted guitars, dream collaborations, excellent solo offerings, Friday the 13th seems to be a day when artists well and truly bring their A game.
So, it begs the question, what are some of the greatest pieces of music ever released on such a spine-chilling evening?
The best albums released on Friday the 13th:
St Vincent – ‘Masseduction’
Does anybody embody the vision of a rockstar quite like St Vincent does? Every record that she puts out comes with pulsing guitar, killer vocals, and the sort of energy that you only ever really get in a shaken-up can of Red Bull. We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing the greatest St Vincent albums, but her only record, which was released on Friday the 13th, was her 2017 release Masseducation.
This was a landmark release for Vincent, given it was her first record, which made it in the Billboard Top 10, and what an album to creep into hit territory with. There’s no filler on this record, as she managed to culminate years’ worth of thoughts and feelings and condense them into one block of solid tunes. From start to finish, this is a scarily good release.
Phil Collins – ‘Face Value’
Phil Collins has written music from a young age, but when he joined Genesis, he stepped away from writing and focused predominantly on arranging. “The spirit of Genesis was Tony, Mike and Peter,” said Collins. “I didn’t regard myself as a songwriter then. But there were things in Genesis I was highly influential in. My strength was arranging […] I was very into the first line-up of Yes – the one with [guitarist] Peter Banks. I remember listening to them and loving the way they took other people’s songs […] And did something different with them.”
His natural knack for songwriting, paired with his newfound expertise when it came to arranging, meant that Collins was able to make some of his best work when he became a solo musician. When he eventually had full control over what he was putting out, Collins penned some of his greatest work, which resulted in classic records such as Face Value, and with such a massive discography behind him, it’s tricky to definitively say what Collins’ best record is, but this Friday the 13th release has to be in contention.
Robert Plant – ‘Carry Fire’
Robert Plant is an artist who has never attempted to mimic his younger self within his music as he’s gotten older. Partly because he knows he wouldn’t be able to, but also because he doesn’t want to. “Songs like ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’,” said Plant when discussing his older music. “I find my vocals on there horrific now. I really should have shut the fuck up!”
The result is that as Plant has gotten older, so too has he allowed his voice to mature. He still sounds exceptional, but in a much more controlled way, leaving behind the unrelenting screams of Led Zeppelin and opting instead for something much more grounded. You can hear that on 2017’s Carry Fire, which is arguably one of his greatest ever releases, and it happened to be put out on a day associated with bad luck… as if.
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – ‘Lotta Sea Lice’
Collaborations with other artists aren’t always a good thing. A lot of the time, two different musical minds can rub up on one another, creating a sense of friction, and in turn stunting both musicians in their tracks. No artist is able to run with their own inhibition because they have another artist trying to pull back on it. It’s an incredibly tricky balance to strike.
However, despite many great creative minds often falling into this trap, Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile released some truly exceptional music when they decided to team up. The duo came together in 2017 for the record Lotta Sea Lice, which was widely regarded as a classic by all who heard it. A collaborative partnership and a release on Friday the 13th… It’s a recipe for disaster, but Vile and Barnett turned it into some kind of wonderful.
Black Sabbath – ‘Black Sabbath’
Perhaps the greatest debut of all time, and it’s incredibly fitting that a record which sent chills down the spine of everyone who listened was released on a day predominantly associated with evil, and when Black Sabbath released their self-titled album, they took rock music and merged it into something completely new.
The songs were heavier, doom-laden, the kind of thing you don’t play at night, and they spoke of witches, monsters, and ghouls – this was the age of a brand new style of music, a complete precursor of the heavy metal genre, and rock music in the modern age simply wouldn’t sound the way it does without bands like Black Sabbath, and Friday the 13th, February 1970, will forever go down in history.
