Interview: Actress/Singer Tuesday Knight on her ELM STREET Theme ‘Nightmare’

Cult actress and recording artist Tuesday Knight on the re-release of her NOES 4 theme song.

Until the theater lights dimmed and the projector above whirred to life at the 1988 premiere of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: THE DREAM MASTER, actress Tuesday Knight—who boldly accepted the unenviable challenge of succeeding Patricia Arquette as Kristin Parker—had no idea the smoldering, synth-driven track she composed with writing partner Michael Egizi in a feverish three hour stream of consciousness rush months earlier would grace the film’s title sequence.

“I nearly fell out of my seat,” Knight tells SHOCK. “I thought the song might be played [in the background] on a stereo or jukebox or something… I had to control myself in the theatre, but I was screaming on the inside.”

 Nearly thirty years later franchise devotees continue to thrill to Knight’s passionate croon prophetically warning us Kristin is still “running, running from this nightmare” as the little girls in white dresses do their creepy chants and morbid chalk drawings on the sidewalk outside of 1428 Elm Street…the locale and medium to which the experience was limited—the track, “Nightmare,” did not appear on the film’s official soundtrack—until two improbable developments recently came to pass: First, the original master, previously feared lost, was uncovered in a box deep within the bowels of Warner Brothers. And, second, at the behest of thousands of fans she’d met at horror cons over the years, Knight braved the sort of daunting red tape snarl Freddy might have designed to torture a napping bureaucrat to license and release the song herself, initially as an addendum to the 2015 remaster of her underrated self-titled 1987 pop record and, now, as a tricked out, ultra deluxe limited edition vinyl single which boasts signatures from fellow DREAM MASTER alum Lisa Wilcox (Alice Johnson), Brooke Bundy (Elaine Parker), Brooke Thesis (Debbie Stevens), and Danny Hassel (Dan Jordan) as well as a “Greetings from Hell” postcard duplicated from Knight’s own set original.

“You know, it’s the songs that are effortless and quick that tend to be the big hits,” Knight muses. “I basically wrote this as a love song to Freddy. It only made sense, since people were so in love with the villain, not the hero.”

This seemed like an invitation for SHOCK to hit the No-Doz and delve deeper into the not-so-dreamy origins of “Nightmare.”

Happily for us, Ms. Knight agreed…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpIH2sWz9EE

SHOCK: Talk to me a little bit about how you came to play Kristin Parker in THE DREAM MASTER.

KNIGHT: I didn’t pursue the part—my agent sent me in for it. I met with Renny Harlin and Rachel Talalay and got the job on the spot. I had landed a full-time role on GENERAL HOSPITAL playing the “Bad Girl” and had also done THE FACTS OF LIFE and FAME, but this was my first big feature film. It was really exciting—I am a huge horror fan and loved both the original NIGHTMARE and FREDDY’S REVENGE. I hadn’t yet seen DREAM WARRIORS [at that point] because I was just finishing my first album and had been playing every club possible as well as juggling the acting work I already had, but when I got the role I was told to go home and watch the third film and emulate Patricia as much as I could. I think they were panicking over having to replace her. So I took some notes. Really, though, I wanted to make the role my own. 

SHOCK: Your self-titled solo record dropped a year before THE DREAM MASTER hit theaters. Did your love of acting and music develop on parallel tracks or were you more about the music and acting was a target of opportunity?

KNIGHT: Before [THE DREAM MASTER] I was all about the music—it’s what I grew up in. [Tuesday’s father was Baker Knight, who wrote songs for Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and many others—ed.] But during the filming of NIGHTMARE I discovered acting was my real passion and since then music has always been a close second. The perfect situation is to be able to do both like I did for “Nightmare.” From a marketing perspective, the ELM STREET role stopped me from my first potential tour [for Tuesday Knight].  So it was partially my fault that it didn’t do as well as maybe it should have, but overall it really worked out for me in life. 

SHOCK: On a related note, I was fascinated to read you sang backups on Quiet Riot’s massive 1983 album METAL HEALTH. Was it interesting to be a part of such a huge cultural phenomenon?

KNIGHT: That was my first big move in music. I became really close with the lead singer Kevin Dubrow—we started dating after the album was finished. Record companies like to put a bit of fear in people so the band had been told by the label that METAL HEALTH had to do better than the previous ones. Which [is something] all labels tell everyone, but that album still sells more than anyone ever would have imagined. There was some big magic in that album.

SHOCK: How long after you locked down the Kristin role did you approach director Renny Harlin about contributing a song?

KNIGHT: I think we were half way through shooting the film and they all knew that I had just done an album because my single “Out of Control” was on the Top 10 Dance Billboard Charts. So I told them I could come up with some music and Renny said you have a few days to bring me something. My writing partner and I went back to the studio and we actually put that song together in less than three hours. We wanted to do something that worked well with the score of the film, which is why we put it in at the end of the song—that was my call not the studio’s. We delivered it that very same day. When we pulled up to the New Line Cinema studios Renny and Rachel came out to my car and I played them the songs just through my car speakers. They took it, and I was happy. I handed them the tape and that is what you got. 

I heard a few other cast members submitted music, too, and were denied, which I felt caused some tension on the set. But I think Renny was just thinking, one, it was a good song, and, two, I was already signed to a major label and releasing albums. Business is business. You just have to go with it.

SHOCK: You noted in the Facebook post announcing the NIGHTMARE EP that you were “a little sad that ‘Nightmare’ didn’t make it on the soundtrack” and added, “the disappointing thing about being a young artist, you get very excited about something and you sign things you shouldn’t.” That sounds ominous—care to expand?

KNIGHT: With it being a title song and me being a recording artist they knew they would have to pay a lot of money if that made it onto the soundtrack. It’s just the industry. It would have been great to have it on the soundtrack or even released it as a single. But it is what it is. If you let disappointment get in your way in this business it will destroy you. I moved on and less than a year later I had another charting song as the main title of a film called MAD ABOUT YOU. 

SHOCK: Has the enduring power of that song and the connection fans of the film have forged with it over the years surprised you?

KNIGHT: As an artist it is good to know that something you did will be here forever. And since I have received fan mail about it for the last twenty-nine years and it seems to be a song that never loses its power…I guess I have to consider it my part in cinematic history.

SHOCK: How long has the idea of releasing this yourself been percolating?

KNIGHT: I never really thought of releasing it until I did my first convention and everyone was asking where they could get a copy of it. So this is a labor of love. I care about the fans, they have been so nice to me so I want to try and give back anyway I can. Now, I own fifty percent of that song, but Warner Bros. Music owns the other…and it is in [the contract] that I can self-release but only a limited number of copies. My manager said we should just do it because a lot of people were talking about the NIGHTMARE EP that we released on CD and a lot of fans were bummed because we didn’t do vinyl. Basically, I have released a Greatest Hits that features this song, I have released an EP with every version of this song, and I feel like I can finally put it to rest with the vinyl—the way that it was meant to be. We are excited…I hope the fans are, too. 

SHOCK: Was it gratifying to have so many Nightmare alum sign on for this release?

KNIGHT: We have all stayed very close through the years and we support each other in what we do. It’s always fun to talk about old times—which is what we will be doing as we spend hours signing these.

SHOCK: Fan response to news of this release has been euphoric. It must be

nice to know you’ve connected in that way. Do you enjoy meeting fans at conventions?

KNIGHT: I love meeting the fans—they are the best. Just the nicest people around. I have become very close to some of them. I was nervous when I did my first show in New Jersey, but people were so welcoming. They brought me food, candy, flowers—all kinds of gifts.  I always take the time and talk to each and every one if I can.

SHOCK: You’re in the studio now from what I understand. How has your music career has evolved in the years since THE DREAM MASTER?

KNIGHT: I’m more of a Sheryl Crow kind of girl so I have gone more acoustic rock direction, working with the amazing Ellen Shipley who wrote all of Belinda Carlisle’s biggest hits. I am now continuing on to finish up an entire album. I might even do a couple of my father’s songs. 

SHOCK: What are your thoughts on being part of the NIGHTMARE legacy?

KNIGHT: Acting in an ELM STREET film is a really big thing, and knowing there are people who may be ashamed of it is nuts. It’s like being one of the Beatles—the fans are crazy for it. I have come a long way in my acting career since I did that film, but I still have producers and casting directors tell me what big fans they are a fan of the Freddy films… It doesn’t hurt to have one on your resume! Of course, I wanted to be in my film longer—who doesn’t? I was supposed to be—they cut a bunch of scenes they felt were taking too much time away from the new victims. But I knew I was going to die. And I sure do think fondly of Kristen and Freddy. Kristen encapsulates so much of what women should be today—not a victim, but someone who spoke up for what was right even when people thought she was crazy and, although she got it in the end, went down fighting. I see no victimization in that. Freddy—and Robert—will always have a special place in my heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVLvL8CvCqo