He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)

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Name = He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)


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Artist = Alice Cooper
Album = Constrictor
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Released = 1986
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Last single = "I Love America" (1983)
This single = "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" (1986)
Next single = "Teenage Frankenstein" (1987)
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"He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" is a song from American shock rock musician Alice Cooper's 1986 album "Constrictor", and the theme song of ', a slasher film and sixth part of the "Friday the 13th" film series released in the same year. The song celebrates the return of the Jason Voorhees character, after being killed off in ', the fourth film, and being entirely absent from the fifth installment, "". Another song from "Constrictor", "Teenage Frankenstein", and Cooper's song "Hard Rock Summer", which did not appear outside of the "Jason Lives" soundtrack, are also featured in the film.

The song features the famous "chi-chi-chi, ha-ha-ha" / "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma" Friday the 13th sound, an audio signature of Jason Voorhees.

The song is well-known for its music video, which combines clips from "Jason Lives" with original footage featuring Cooper performing the song and Jason Voorhees, played by C. J. Graham as in the film, menacing teenagers at a midnight showing of "Jason Lives". This video is not present on any of the DVD releases of the film, most likely due to licensing issues.

"He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" was a minor success, popular among fans of Cooper's later work and fans of slasher films. It has been called "strangely New Wave-ish" [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:os320r4ac48z "Prince of Darkness"] at Allmusic.] and said to "perfectly enscapulate the "Friday the 13th" films and the era in which they came to prominence." [ [http://www.x-entertainment.com/halloween/2004/october5/ Alice Cooper: The Man Behind the Mask!"] , an article at X-Entertainment.]

A demo version of the song, with a slightly rockier and much more upbeat feel, and a "Movie Mix" version were featured in the four-disc retrospective boxed set "The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper", which chronicles Cooper's career. The song was also available on a compilation album of songs from his two late-1980s MCA albums, "Constrictor" and "Raise Your Fist and Yell", entitled "Prince of Darkness".

The song has been covered by Finnish metal band Children of Bodom in 2002, but was never released. The song has also been performed live by another Finnish metal band, Lordi. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znC3rsZyQ1s YouTube - Lordi He is back (man behind mask) and monster man ] ] In addition, the song was covered by One Man Army and the Undead Quartet, which was released on the Swedish death metal group's 2007 album "Error in Evolution".

A reference to the song is made in the 2005 novel "Friday the 13th: Hate-Kill-Repeat"; while attending a party, a character notices that the song being played is by Alice Cooper and that the premise of it involves "something about a man behind a mask". cite book|last = Arnopp|first = Jason|title = Friday the 13th: Hate-Kill-Repeat|publisher = Black Flame|date = 2005-10-25|isbn = 1844162710 ]

References

* [http://www.x-entertainment.com/halloween/2004/october5/ "Alice Cooper: The Man Behind the Mask!"] , an article at X-Entertainment.
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kiftxqe5ldae "Constrictor"] at Allmusic.

Footnotes